When I met Ryan, I might’ve been trying to break into his basement.

It was for a good cause. I swear. Also, my dog broke in first.

Ryan Blake is jaw-dropping handsome, wealthy & cocky. Not quite my type. By some miracle, he doesn’t call the police on me when he catches me trying to rescue my dog. He even fetches a doctor for me. Don’t ask why.

I don’t figure I’ll see him again. Then, I do. Then, he kisses me. Once. Twice. Is three times the charm? To be honest, I swooned at the first kiss.

All swooning aside, we are seriously opposites. I wear cowboy boots and skirts. He wears suits and ties. He’s all New York City. I’m a Southern girl looking for a new start. We even talk at different speeds.

The list of things I don’t expect from Ryan is long. I don’t expect him to think twice about me. I don’t expect him to nearly bring me to my knees with a look. I don’t expect him to be so much more than I ever imagined.

I absolutely don’t expect to fall for him. So hard I’m skidding sideways just to catch my balance

Title: Sexy Suit
Author: J.H. Croix
Series: Cocky Hero Club - Standalone
Pages: 240
Genre(s): Contemporary, US, Opposites Attract
Hot Buttons: death of a sibling due to cancer (happens prior to events of novel), difficult family history (suggests abuse) <-- highlight to reveal (may contain spoilers)

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Sweet with Heat

4 stars

Sexy Suit is a new novel that’s part of the first intake into the Cocky Hero Club. These novels are all set in the new world inspired by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward's series of standalone novels that started with Cocky Bastard. This particular story is part of the Stuck-Up Suit world and Graham and Soraya, the couple from that book, appear in this one.

If you’ve read Stuck-Up Suit, I’m sure you’ll be delighted to catch up with Graham and Soraya, and see how much in love they still are - and what they’re up to now. But if, like me, you’ve never read Stuck-Up Suit, then they just appear as any other supporting characters. Simply put, this book stands completely alone - you do not need to have read any other book to read and enjoy this one.

So onto the book - and goodness it was an enjoyable book.

I’ve read a little of J.H. Croix before and each time she manages to pull me into her stories with her wit, humour and sweetness coupled with deliciously dirty sex. It’s a bit like the book equivalent of seeing a ridiculously hot, naked man cuddling a cutesy wootsy puppy. All kinds of goodness in her writing.

It’s a bit of an opposites attract romance with our sassy Southern heroine - a fish out of water New Orleanian recently transplanted to New York - and our slightly grumpy, slightly assholish, bona fide New Yorker. While I’m putting them into distinct boxes, one of the best things about Addie and Ryan is that they’re neither one dimensional, nor stereotypical. Ryan especially has quite an obvious  progressive emotional transformation thanks to Addie - and Barnable, of course.

While this is a sweet, almost gentle romance, it does has its funny moments such as when Barnable breaks into Ryan’s house, and his antics in general. I love dogs, but it’s unusual to find one with personality in a book that doesn’t come across as cringey and twee. Not so Barnable. Other authors take note - this is how you write a dog into a romance!

And let’s not forget the sex scenes - which are smoking hot. Shove you up against the door, I must have you right now kind of hot. But there was purpose to them and each time something happened it did drive the story on. Not that that’s necessarily required for me with sex in a story - it just so happened that that’s the way it happened in this one.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters, story, love story, conflict - everything was on point and it was a fun read. The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars was because I felt it stalled ever so slightly at the 1/3 or so mark. It picked up again and rallied right up until the end, which was swoon-worthingly wonderful - which definitely makes me feel guilty for the 4 stars. Yet 4 stars is still a solid rating for a book that I can’t see anyone disliking. If you like Ms Croix’s writing, or are just looking for a cute and sexy New York romance, then this is the book for you.

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AUTHOR BIO!

 

USA Today Bestselling Author J. H. Croix lives in a small town in the historical farmlands of Maine with her husband and two spoiled dogs. Croix writes steamy contemporary romance with sassy women and rugged alpha men who aren't afraid to show some emotion. Her love for quirky small-towns and the characters that inhabit them shines through in her writing. Take a walk on the wild side of romance with her bestselling novels!

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Harper
I fell in love when I was sixteen. Landon was my entire world and I thought he would be my forever. But I was young and dumb, and with one error in judgement, I destroyed any chance of a future we could’ve had together, along with our hearts.

Twelve years later and I’m going through the motions of life, but not actually living. Which is why I let my friends, Bridget and Simon, set me up on a blind date. Turns out, it’s not so blind after all. Because the man sitting in front of me is the same man who’s held onto my heart all these years.

Landon
They call me a Clutch Player because I’m good under pressure and quick on my feet. I was also quick to fall in love. The first time it was with baseball, the second was with Harper. And for a short time I had them both.

Until I lost Harper and all I had left was baseball.

For years, I focused on my career. I had accepted that baseball was my one true love.

Until I saw her again. I never imagined we’d ever get a second chance, but now that she’s sitting right across from me, I know there’s no way in hell I’m going to let her go again.

Title: Clutch Player
Author: Nikki Ash
Series: Cocky Hero Club - Standalone
Pages: 245
Genre(s): Contemporary, US, new adult
Hot Buttons: sex with dubious consent, teen parent, controlling (ex) spouse, accidental death of character <-- highlight to reveal (may contain spoilers)

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A rollercoaster read

5 stars

A total standalone, Clutch Player takes place in the Cocky Hero world that Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward created. It is related to British Bedmate and Simon and Bridget from that novel do appear in this one as supporting cast.

The first part of this book (until nearly 30%) shows us the origins story of Harper and Landon aged 16 and 17. I love a new adult story (or is it young adult?) and it was an absolute delight to see a couple get together and growing feelings for each other. Even in a second-chance love story, we rarely get to see the beginning other than in flashback - so to have a whole chunk of their beginning was really good to see. And although they are each other’s firsts, in sexual terms this was a fairly gentle section with no real explicitness.

After the 30% we move to ‘present day’ - or 12 years after the original section and Harper and Landon’s lives have gone in completely different directions. Although I was so excited to get to this section of the book, I honestly can’t say which section I preferred. Well, probably the later section only because of the sex and the HEA, obviously!

Both Harper and Landon were really interesting characters. I especially loved Harper’s change from a young girl in love, to a woman and mother, and then back to her roots and her love for Landon and more finding the person she was supposed to, and wanted to be. Landon was a cutie pie (a hot and sexy cutie pie) and he was the perfect hero for Harper. I liked the fact there was no messing about for him. He knew what he wanted and he wasn’t afraid to go after it. And he was a bit of a dirty talker, too, which always makes me weak at the knees!

And since he had the dirty talk down, it’s just as well that he backed it up with actual actions. And boy did he do that. The sex between Harper and Landon was delightfully hot. And frequent, too. There was some talk of anal sex,  a little anal play and then a quick flashback of the actual anal sex - which was easy to skip over if, like me, that’s not your thing. If it is, then it’s all good.

A lot of things happen in this book and it’s definitely a rollercoaster. I actually think that Ms Ash might be an evil genius. Every time the story got to a place where I was hopeful that things were on the upward slide, and she threw in a curveball (no pun intended!) and got me all riled up and reeling…and then hoping for things to be better. This happened both when I expected it and at times that I didn’t.

As I said, a lot of things happen in this book - at times emotional, upsetting and difficult things - and yet this book was surprisingly low on angst and the emotion was never so deep as to cause me, as a reader, to be overcome or overwhelmed. However, despite this, I judge a book on how entertaining it is - and boy was this book ever entertaining.

The writing was great - hugely engaging - and the characters were likeable and people you could really root for. There was a great mix of chat, banter, action and drama - and just enough emotion not to bog you down. This book has a little bit of something for everyone and it’s such a fun and entertaining read that I would recommend it to anyone to while away a couple of hours. A definite 5 star read.

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AUTHOR BIO!

Nikki Ash resides in South Florida where she is an English teacher and mom by day and a writer by night. When she’s not writing, you can find her with a book in her hand. From the Boxcar Children to Wuthering Heights to the latest Single Parent Romance, she has lived and breathed every type of book.

Reading is like breathing in, writing is like breathing out. – Pam Allyn

While reading and writing are her passions, her two children are her entire world. You can probably find them at a Disney park before you would find them at home on the weekends!

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