Her Sexy Challenge
by Sarah Ballance
Firefighters of Station 1, #1
Publication Date: August 14, 2017
Genres: Adult, Entangled: Lovestruck, Contemporary, Romance
BUY:
SYNOPSIS:
She might be the one fire he can’t put out…
Caitlin Tyler doesn’t do bridges—she just doesn’t know it until she lands her dream job and freezes halfway across her new town’s towering death span. Cue the cocky, infuriating fireman who goads her off the bridge. He’s hot, but he’s also exactly the kind of guy she wants to avoid…which she manages to do for a whole four hours.
Lt. Shane Hendricks is only two weeks away from leaving Dry Rock. He sure as hell doesn’t need to get involved with a woman he has to rescue twice in one day. The fact that she’s clearly annoyed by him doesn’t deter him from throwing down a challenge—one that proves hard to resist for all the wrong reasons.
They’re moving in different directions. Leaving should be easy, but falling for Caitlin might be the one fire he can’t put out…
EXCERPT #1
“Private Sex Advice to Women,” he said, making her jump.
This was ridiculous. It was her store. Maybe it hadn’t burned down because of him, or at least the rest of his shift had handled it while he goaded her, but that didn’t give him an unlimited open-door policy.
“I’m not interested in your advice,” she muttered.
“It’s a book,” he said. “So far you’ve given me childbirth, feminism, and sex. Is there a message here?”
Yes, yes there was. A message not to hang out in her store.
“An ABZ of Love.” The sound of flipping pages cracked the silence. “Hey, did you know alcohol can provide a form of substitute for a reasonably harmonious sex life?”
“You’re not getting me drunk,” she said, though she made a note to research if that might be true. As if a bottle of anything could compare to the smallest touch from a guy like him.
“I don’t recall offering,” he told her. His tone could have been teasing, though she didn’t know him well enough to make that call. All she knew was that her face was on fire, and it would just have to burn because there was no way she was putting in another call to the fire department, even if he clearly wasn’t on duty at the moment. “But,” he added, “if it’s a substitute for sex, and you’re refusing it, does that mean you’ve found other forms of self-plea—”
“Stop. Enough.” God, she hoped he was only there until she gave in, because otherwise she was about to make a huge fool of herself. Again. “I’ll do one thing. One. One nonsexual, non-alcoholic thing on what is absolutely not going to be a date, and then we’re done.”
She’d managed to emerge from the stacks before spitting out the entire sentence, which meant she had an unobstructed view of his infuriatingly cocky grin when he closed the book.
“I thought you’d never ask.”
So most people know that I’ve been reading Ms. Ballance since she starting with Noble Romance. Yes, we’ve both been around that long. The one thing that I can tell by reading this jewel of a book is that her writing just keeps getting stronger. I know, when I read my inner editor/writer takes a vacay but when it comes to authors that I have read for years, she likes to take a peek, too.
Ms. Ballance never ceases to amaze me with her dialogue. Suspense, romance, humor, etc., Ms. Ballance brings her “A” game. Caitlin and Shane are no exception. I was in tears, of laughter, during the bridge scene at the beginning of the book. Tears, I say. The dialogue between these two are always spot on, funny, intelligent and smexy all at the same time.
In fact, Shane gets bonus points because he reads and doesn’t down play that Caitlin has a book store. He encourages it, even if she tried to almost burn it down. Again, massive giggles. Knowing that this is a Lovestruck book, I know going in that the angst will be low and the black moment while there, isn’t a wimp out either.
Shane is the one that has to do the most growing up in the relationship. I loved watching him go from a cocky firefighter with one foot out the door to, wait…what IF I stayed? Caitlin knew where she was in the relationship and also where she was going in the long term. Shane just had to figure it out on his own.
The secondary characters that we meet are perfection. The town is adorable and the other firefighters are good, too. In fact, Matt and Lexi…OMG, like REALLY? I can’t wait to read their story next.
If you are looking for a great romance, low on the angst, this is for you. But Harlie, you haven’t talked about the “challenge” portion of the book. You just need to read the book to find out what they are. And no, it doesn’t have anything to do with sex. There’s no challenge in that. LOL!
ABOUT SARAH BALLANCE
SARAH BALLANCE is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary, historical, and supernatural romance and romantic suspense. She’s been married to her own romantic hero for what he calls a “long, long time” (and no, he’ll never hear the end of saying that). Together they have six children … and clearly too much time on their hands. She currently writes for Entangled Publishing.
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I so appreciate that you took the time to read and review for me, especially for this many years. And you always put so much thought into your reviews. As an author, I can’t tell you how much this means to me. Thank you! <3
Great review!!
It sounds like a great read 🙂
I’ll look into Ms. Ballance books to have some nice reading time.
I love her writing and her. We share a history!
😉
Harlie