ARC August: Check-In

Posted August 16, 2019 by Andi in ARC August, Books, Review / 0 Comments

Unlike last year I am checking in in the middle of ARC August to show my progress. So far I have done pretty well for myself. I have finished 4 books, I’m in the middle of 2, and I DNFd one . Not too bad considering I went away for a few days and celebrated both my birthday and my mom’s. Would I have liked to have read more over the last 16 days? Sure. But I’ll take what I can. Here are two mini reviews for what I have read:

Stealing Home by Becky Wallace
Published by Page Street Kids
Published: July 9, 2019
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Fight for your dreams, even if it means breaking a few rules.

Seventeen-year-old Ryan Russell has life perfectly planned. If she keeps up her hard work, one day she’ll take over the family business: owning the Buckley Beavers, a minor league baseball team, and become one of the only female General Managers in the sport.

But when the newest member of the Beavers, child-phenom Sawyer Campbell, shows up, Ryan’s carefully laid plans are thrown a major curveball. Sawyer is far more charming than the arrogant jocks she usually manages, his ambition rivals her own workaholic nature—and he’s completely out of bounds. Fraternizing is against every rule in the Beaver’s handbook.

Then Ryan’s divorced parents butt heads over the future of the Beavers, and her mom plans to sell her shares to a business group known for relocating teams. If this happens, Ryan’s dreams of becoming GM disappear. In a bid to save her future, she partners with Sawyer to use his star power to draw in sponsors who will keep the team in Buckley. But the more time she spends with him, the more impossible it becomes to play by the Beaver’s rules, and she can’t afford a strikeout on the path to her dreams.

Full count with two outs, Ryan’s one pitch away from losing the whole ball game.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Stealing Home was a great summer read! It ticked all the boxes for things I love in a sports themed romance. Sawyer and Ryan had amazing chemistry and the bantered back and forth so well. There was also oodles of tension between them because they wanted something they couldn’t have, each other. But what I really loved about it was the fact that it was also a story about going after your dream no matter what it takes. It is so easy to think something is impossible and to give up on it, but Ryan was not that person. She fought for what she wanted and went for it. I struggled a lot with Ryan’s mom’s portrayal and the way she kind of turned towards the end, but all in all it was a quick, enjoyable read with a hot of heart and depth.

Hot to the Touch by Jaci Burton
Series: Brotherhood by Fire #1
Published by Berkley
Published: May 7, 2019
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Love burns white-hot in this first scorching romance in an all-new trilogy about a family of firefighters from the New York Times bestselling author of the Play-by-Play novels and the Hope series.

Firefighter Jackson Donovan doesn't look back--as a rule. So when his past comes roaring back to life in the form of not-so-damsel-in-distress Becks Benning, the last thing he wants to do is relive old times. No matter how tempting she makes it seem...

Now thanks to his two interfering brothers, Becks is living with them while she looks for a new place and tries to pick up the pieces of her tattoo business that went up in flames. Which means a grown up, smokin' hot Becks is in his house, sharing meals, and digging up old wounds. And despite his better judgement, the more time he spends with this smart, artistic, incredible woman the more he wants her in his bed--and his future.

Becks always had it bad for Jackson. Unfortunately for her, not much has changed--he's still honorable, hard-working, sexy as sin--and closed off. But there's more than one way to get to a man's heart and if Jackson doesn't want to recall old memories, she'll just have to help him make new ones. Because now that she's found Jackson again, she's not letting him go.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Hot to the Touch has been on my TBR for some time now but something just didn’t work for me with this one. When I was reading the book I felt more like it was being told at me and not to me and that really rubbed me wrong. I also didn’t find any chemistry at all between Jackson and Becks so I had no interest if they were a couple of not. His personality changed so much I just didn’t like him at all. Plus the pacing felt a tad off. Honestly, I have been struggling with Jaci Burton books for sometime and I think this was the one that finally has made me believe this author just isn’t for me anymore. This book just didn’t do it for me.

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