Happy Release Day, Brooklynaire by Sarina Bowen → Review

Posted February 12, 2018 by FMA in 5 Stars - It fed my addiction!

Happy Release Day, Brooklynaire by Sarina Bowen → ReviewBrooklynaire by Sarina Bowen
Find the Author: Website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest
Series: Brooklyn Bruisers #4
Also in this series: Rookie Move, Hard Hitter, Pipe Dreams, Overnight Sensation
Published by Rennie Road Books
on February 12, 2018
Pages: 452
Genres: Romance, Sports, Hockey
Review Copy Provided By: Author
five-stars

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AMZ US AMZ UK Apple Books

A sexy new standalone from USA Today bestseller Sarina Bowen.

You’d think a billion dollars, a professional hockey team and a six-bedroom mansion on the Promenade would satisfy a guy. You’d be wrong.

For seven years Rebecca has brightened my office with her wit and her smile. She manages both my hockey team and my sanity. I don’t know when I started waking in the night, craving her. All I know is that one whiff of her perfume ruins my concentration. And her laugh makes me hard.

When Rebecca gets hurt, I step in to help. It’s what friends do. But what friends don’t do is rip off each others’ clothes for a single, wild night together.

Now she’s avoiding me. She says we’re too different, and it can never happen again. So why can’t we keep our hands off each other?


I was provided a review copy; this did not influence my opinion of the book.


❝He tastes like chocolate and confidence.❞

First things, first! THAT COVER, #cougaralert fans self Holy Abs! Second, the name, ‘Brooklynaire’, I love it. It is so creative and perfectly describes this book.

I am going to be honest here, and say that in the first book of the Brooklyn Bruisers series, Nate Kattenberger was not a character I liked. I had zero interest in getting to know him. His standoffish demeanor did nothing for me and I honestly wanted Castro for Rebecca Rowley. I even told Sarina Bowen that in my review of ‘Hard Hitter’.
“Call me crazy, but I would love for Castro and Becca to get together.” I loved Castro and thought he was the perfect choice! She didn’t listen to me. Instead, she gave us ‘Pipe Dreams’, the third book in the Brooklyn Bruiser series. But with that book, I got to know Nate and Rebecca better and by the end of it, I was begging for these characters to be together. “NOW … I am impatiently waiting for Becca and Nate’s story … taps microphone Hello, I need NATE AND BECCA! Who do I need to bribe?”

See, to me, that is the mark of an excellent writer, when a reader falls in love with secondary characters before they ever truly get to know them. And let me just say, if I were younger and single, I would be looking for MY Nate Kattenberger!

On the surface, one would think Nate had it all, he’s wildly successful, humble, smart, and sexy. But he didn’t have the one thing he wanted most, Rebecca Rowley. Besides thinking she wasn’t interested, he also had the fact that he was her employer standing between them. So, for 7 years, he kept up with the boss-employee dynamic. Until Rebecca falls and is seriously injured. His position is tested as his feelings for her over-ride his sense of right and wrong. All he can think about is taking care of her. When she’s not around he wonders how she is, is she hurting, is she recovering, is she getting the best medical care?

It only takes one night alone with her to throw caution to the wind.

Rebecca worked for Nate before he became the multi-millionaire he is today. She knows him better than anyone, yet she doesn’t know his thoughts or feelings for her. And while she has been suppressing hers for him the last few years, she needs her job worse than she needs a relationship. The impropriety of it all that would cause the gossip mongers to froth at the mouth was more than she could handle. Not to mention she knows she’s not good enough for the successful, Nate Kattenberger. So, after their one night together, she runs scared.

Sarina Bowen is funny, smart, and knows how to mix just enough angst to her stories the level out the sweetness. If you want a book that will make you laugh while tugging at your heart, ‘Brooklynaire’ is the perfect choice!

EXCERPT

I grab a towel off a waiting stack of them and toss it onto the edge. “You can sit and put your feet in.”

She’s wearing a short little knit dress that’s been making me crazy all evening, so it would be easy enough for her to strip off those stockings, sit on the towel, and drop both feet in.

And that’s what she does. She eases one stocking down over a smooth knee and tugs it off.

I don’t want to stand there staring like a middle-school boy. Okay, I do want to. But I don’t want to make her uncomfortable. So I go over to the sound system instead, and I set my phone on the speaker and cue up a really old playlist. One she’ll recognize.

When I turn around again, she’s seated on the towel, both legs hanging down into the churning water. “Ah. Wow.” She looks up at me, her eyes sparkling. “Nice place you got here.”

“Isn’t it?” I toe off my shoes and kick them to the side.

The first song comes on, and it’s a Macklemore tune that we used to play far too often in our first office. Rebecca laughs immediately. “You didn’t! I haven’t heard this playlist in forever. But I’ll bet I still know every transition. Lady Gaga is next.”

“She sure is.”

Rebecca kicks her feet, making a splash. “I have a little confession to make.”

“What’s that?” I loosen my tie and slide the knot out.

“Well…” She grins up at me. “I used to have a crush on you. Back in the early days.”

My hands freeze on the tie silk. “Get out of town. You did not.”

“No, I really did.” Her cheeks are pink. “That first year especially. But you were taken, and you were my boss. Those two things made it pretty easy to tamp down, when you’re a practical girl like me.”

I walk over and drop down beside her, my back to the water, though, because I’m still wearing trousers and socks. “So how does that work, exactly?”

“What?” She gives me a sidelong glance, but then looks away again and won’t meet my eyes.

“How do you stop wanting someone? I’m a practical person, but I don’t see how that makes it any easier. Nothing seems to mute the raging attraction I have for you.”

Her chin turns quickly toward me, and I seize the opportunity to kiss her. And it only takes one kiss—one slide of my lips over hers, and I’m on fire again.

We’re facing opposite directions, so it’s awkward as hell. But I don’t even care. I take greedy sip after greedy sip of her mouth, until she pulls back to stare at me. Her color is high and her eyes are bright and happy. “This is like Twister.”

“It’s better,” I correct. Lady Gaga comes on, just as Becca said she would. “Are we getting into this pool or what?”

Becca kicks a foot in the water. “I’m tempted. But I don’t have a bathing suit.”

“Oh, snap.”

She smiles and shakes her head. “Are you really getting in?”

“We don’t have to.” I’m never going to pressure her.

Her fingers trail across the surface of the bubbling water. “But this is an adventure, right?”

“Right.” I stand up and remove my socks. She’s watching me. And I can’t read her expression. “What?”

“Just wondering what else you’re going to take off.” She smiles.

“Come here.” The order rolls off my tongue.

But Rebecca doesn’t blink. She gets up and turns toward me, curiosity in her eyes.

“You tell me. What am I taking off?”

She puts two hands tentatively on my chest, and I make myself be patient. Everything I ever wanted is on the other side of this moment. I just need us to break through this awkwardness—the “will we or won’t we” tension. 

Her fingers find the top button of my shirt. “I’m not getting in the water unless you are.”

That’s a compromise I can live with. I find my lower shirt buttons and work upwards, until we meet in the middle. She pushes the two halves of my shirt apart and runs a hand down my bare chest.

My inner caveman stands up and cheers.

five-stars

About Sarina Bowen

Sarina Bowen is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance. She lives in Vermont’s Green Mountains with her family, six chickens and too much ski gear and hockey equipment.

In 2016, Sarina became a Rita Award winner! The Romance Writers of America honored HIM by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy with Best Contemporary Romance, Mid-Length.

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