Novel Review: Hard to Handle (SBC Fighters, #3) by Lori Foster

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Genre: Adult Contemporary Sports Romance

Publisher: Berkley (Penguin)

Release Date: 2007

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Sometimes Fate delivers a left hook.

After Fate deals Supreme Battle Challenge (SBC) fighter Harley Handleman a sucker punch, his uncle secretly hires a pretty lifecoach to get Harley back in the ring of life. Anastasia Kelley has actually known Harley for years, but never as well as she's going to now. Hot for his fighter's form, she has trouble keeping it professional, especially since Harley doesn't know she was hired. And when Anastasia turns the tables on him, it's as if he's been hit below the belt. But that's also where is uncontrollable lust for her burns.

The Cover:

I don't really like this cover. The colors and the image could be all right. But instead it looks at blurry and weird, and it's giving a very definite boxing image, but not as much of a adult romance one. I just don't think it looks that great, or that it gives the best idea of the book.

Review:

Harley Handleman is trying, again, to win a title belt match, which means not getting hurt before the fight this time. Anastasia is a life coach, but after her last job, she’s thinking of taking a break. Harley rents a place from Anastasia, and they have a run in during a storm, as someone is apparently trying to harm her. But when that’s finished (mostly), Anastasia shows up where Harley is training, wanting to help him.

I liked Anastasia and Harley. He’s fighting Anastasia, as well as his uncle’s influence, but the attraction is definitely there. The chemistry between the two was very good, and I liked how that worked out.

There was a second, sub-couple plot. It was about Barber and Jasmine, who wants to be the singer in his band. They were rather cute together, and I really enjoyed their story. We also got to see the other fighters in the previous books and the next one, and I really enjoyed that. It was nice seeing them all again.

Overall this was a good book; sweet and hot. I enjoyed it, and look forward to reading more of Foster’s books.

Novel Review: Back in Black (SBC Fighters, #5) by Lori Foster

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance, Sport

Publisher: Berkley (Penguin)

Release Date: 2009

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Never before published from the New York Times bestselling author

Gillian is a PR expert hired to smooth out the rough edges on hot- headed sports club president Drew Black. He's rough, raw and ready for any challenge Gillian throws his way. But which one's going to end up on top?

The Cover:

I actually rather like this cover. It's embarrassing, sure, but I also don't like it cause of whether it's hot or not. I just think that the colors and the body work for the title and represent the book and the character (Drew) well. I think it works for this book.

Review:

Drew Black is a crude man, and he’s in charge of the SBC, which is why the higher ups have sent a PR person, Gillian, to work with him and his image.

I liked their relationship, and how they didn’t fight it forever but still tried to deal with his image and how their relationship affected things.

There was also a second couple in this book, who got almost the same amount of focus as the first. Brett is a new and coming fighter, and Audrey is protesting the sport. I liked that Audrey had a past, and how Brett tried to help with it. I also just found them really sweet together. I honestly enjoyed their storyline more than Drew and Gillian’s.

This was the last book in the series, and it ended like it. We got to see a lot of the couples from the other books, and that was nice. It was a very good, very satisfying conclusion. I enjoyed the stories; the characterization and writing were good, and the steamy scenes were very nice. I look forward to starting one of Foster’s later series.

Novel Review: My Man Michael (SBC Fighters, #4) by Lori Foster

Genre: Adult Romance Fantasy (with SEX)

Rating (Out of 5): 4 (maybe 3.5)

Publisher: Penguin (Berkley)

Spoilers?: Minor (main element is spoiled, with hints of other things)

Buy it here: Amazon.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Knocked out in one world, he?ll take on another.

On the verge of a title shot match, fighter Michael ?Mallet? Manchester is injured in a car accident. And just as quickly as his career was taking off, it?s over. Then Kaylie Raine appears, offering him a second chance at becoming whole. Even though Mallet thinks it?s the pain medication talking, he accepts her challenge. And on an extraordinary journey with Kaylie, he?ll get a chance to fight again?to save the woman who has saved him.

Review:

This was my first Lori Foster book in a while (aside from some short stories) (also, this one was the one I read before the one reviewed last week), and I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

This one takes a very, very different turn from the others in the series, which is why a lot of people don’t seem to like it as much. I didn’t have a problem with that, which is probably because I’d only read the first book in the series, and I read it a couple years ago, so it was very fuzzy in my brain. I can understand why some people would be upset, if they really liked the other books because of the fighter element and because they liked seeing the other fighters from the other books, but I didn’t mind.

The book starts with Michael, or “Mallet”, being in the hospital. He’s gotten very hurt, and has very likely lost the use of his legs. He’s grumpy and upset about this, generally not very good company. And then a girl shows up, who gets his attention but keeps disappearing. The girl, Kayli, wants his help with something. In the future.

(One thing that I [kind of] liked about the synopsis, is that it keeps this part of the book hidden. But I want to talk about that part, and apparently some forewarning wouldn’t be a bad idea, so I’m going to spoil that for you.)

This is the part of the book that I think most people didn’t like. Kayli is from the future, and she takes Michael back to the future with her. I did, at first, have a problem with the added futuristic/time-traveling element to a series that was otherwise contemporary, but it grew on me. And I really enjoyed this book, so I’m happy to overlook that.

I really enjoyed the world that Foster built in this book. This future has its problems, but is mostly just really cool. I liked it.

I also really liked Kayli and Michael. Michael seems to have changed a lot from the previous books (at least, from when we first saw him in SimonSays—I haven’t read the third book yet), and I really liked him. He didn’t seem to jump on the love-train too quickly, but once he decided that he wanted Kayli, there was no other choice for him. He wanted her, and so he was determined to have her. And he wasn’t too pushy, either. I really liked that part. I liked Kayli, too. She was sweet, and tough, and very shy, which was just really nice. Her naïve shyness was done in a very sweet, honest way, and I liked that.

And the sexy part of the romance was very nice, as well. Their whole chemistry, the way they interacted, was just really well done. I really liked it. Foster really knows how to make a good romance, which is something I'd forgotten.

There was a subplot romance in this book, which at first I didn’t like and really didn’t want to happen, but ended up turning out really well. I was a little surprised at how easily I opened up to it, but I did. I liked it. And I thought it worked rather well for the ending.

One part that I did not like about this book was the sexist part. Foster seems to be putting in little bits in her books about how women are just women and thus not as strong or capable as men, while at the same time having the women fight to prove how strong they are, and that was a very big element in this book. And it was really pissing me off a couple of times. It seemed like, at the end of this book, that the guys were coming around, but not that they really believed it, and that they still thought that women shouldn’t be fighting against men because they weren’t as strong or capable. And I just wasn’t as content with that part of the ending as I would have liked to be.

Also, with the fact that, throughout the entire book, Kayli was fighting for her spot as head of the defense team, and yet at the end of the book, she decided that she would give it up for Michael. I don’t like that she was going to do that, and I don’t think she should have been even thinking that way, at all.

That part of the book just really got on my nerves. As I said, it was a little bit better at the end, and the rest of the book is enough to make me say that I did really enjoy it, but that part still bothers me.

To sum up, I really enjoyed this book. A lot. And I’m really looking forward to reading the third and fifth books in this series, as well as Foster’s other books.

Novel Review: Simon Says (SBC Fighters, #2) by Lori Foster

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance (with steamy sex)

Rating (Out of 5): ~3-3.5

Publisher: Penguin (Berkley)

Spoilers?: No/Very vague or minor

Buy it here: Amazon.

Goodreads Synopsis:

With his perfectly chiseled, lava-hot body, Simon Evans, an ex-fighter, also has a perfect life—great job, great girl, and more than enough dough. All that changes, though, when he catches his girlfriend cheating. To shake things up, Simon goes full force back into the ring, ready to take his rage out on his opponents.

To make matters worse, the father who walked out on Simon and his mom eons ago wants to be back in the picture. He's hired his stepdaughter, Dakota, to find Simon. Hot on Simon's heels, the gutsy Dakota puts love on the back burner. But when attempts are made on her life, Simon steps in to protect her, putting both of their hearts on the line.

Review:

I’ve been kind of in-between books lately, not sure what to start, wanting to read a lot but not really getting into anything, and for some reason ended up picking up some Lori Foster books. I’ve had four of her books on my TBR shelf at home for a while, and in the last week-ish went through two and started a third in rapid succession. I’ve read a couple of her books before and liked them (mostly) , the first in this series (Causing Havoc)[which I have not reviewed…yet] being one of my first smutty romances. This was the second one I read over the week, the first one’s review is here, and was not as good as that one, but still generally a good read.

The SBC Fighters series focuses on the love stories of a group of martial artists/boxers? Or something like that? I thought they were boxers, but I guess they’re a little bit different from that? Either way, they’re fighters. They’re big, tough, protective men, some crude and some sweet, or a mix of both. Each book focuses on a different fighter and his love story, sometimes with a little subplot for another character’s story.

This book focused on Simon “Sublime” Evans, who is sweet and tough and protective. His girl is Dakota Dream, who is trying to get him to meet his biological father, only because the guy is holding something against her, but Simon wants nothing to do with him.

I thought that the fact she was trying to get him to meet his bio father would take a while to get out, but it didn’t, and I was glad for it. There was a much deeper plot going on with Dakota’s ex-husband, and her mother, and Simon’s bio father, and it was rather interesting. There was a moment near the end where Dakota got her revenge, which was needed, even if it seemed a bit showy and too well planned.

I liked Simon enough, but he wasn’t my favorite. I liked Dakota real well, too, probably more than Simon. We got to see the other fighters a lot, which I didn’t remember much of them from the first book, since it has been a quite a while since I read the first book, but I did like seeing them and reading their interactions. I liked Dean “Havoc” from the first book, even if I didn’t really remember him much. I liked all of the guys, really, and am looking forward to reading more about them in future books.

Foster, as I’m sure you know if you’ve read any of her books, is really good at writing romance and sexy scenes. They sometimes get a bit of a ritual to them, but usually have enough of a difference to where that’s okay. And the characters, at least for the most part, are very different from each other, with their own quirks and personality and reasons, that it’s always fun to read her books. And the sex, which there is always some of, is always good. The general attraction between the characters, even if their chemistry starts off at first sight, is very good. Foster knows how to write a good romance, and I’d forgotten that; I was very happy to be reminded of it.

This was not my favorite book in the series, but I still really liked it, and am really looking forward to reading more.

Teaser Tuesday[38]: My Man Michael by Lori Foster

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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So, how is everyone doing? I am recovering from getting wisdom teeth taken out, which is horrible. It’s also finals week for me, which is also quite horrible. I’m getting better, though, and when my finals are over, I not only get a little over a week off (yay!), but I get to see Jeff Dunham later this week. I’m pretty excited for that, and it will be a nice break after those horrible tests.

Here’s this week’s book, a little different from usual (since I usually try to do YA):

My Man Michael (SBC Fighters, #4) by Lori Foster

Genre: Adult Romance, Futuristic/Time-Travel

Publisher: Penguin (Berkley)

Publish Date: January 27^th, 2009

Goodreads Synopsis:

Knocked out in one world, he?ll take on another.

On the verge of a title shot match, fighter Michael ?Mallet? Manchester is injured in a car accident. And just as quickly as his career was taking off, it?s over. Then Kaylie Raine appears, offering him a second chance at becoming whole. Even though Mallet thinks it?s the pain medication talking, he accepts her challenge. And on an extraordinary journey with Kaylie, he?ll get a chance to fight again?to save the woman who has saved him.

Excerpts:

“‘I must point out that despite the differences in our worlds, your behavior is inexcusable.’

‘I find offering up virgins to be inexcusable, so I guess we’re at an impasse, huh?’” (Mass Market Paperback, pg. 104)

“‘Er, Mallet, I do believe she’s about to faint.’” (Mass Market Paperback, pg. 105)

So, what are you reading right now? Anything good? Horrible? Let me know in the comments!