Review: Sweet and sexy
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 08 29, 2013
Hockey season may have already ended, but GOING ALL IN will make you beg for some ice to cool yourself down! New York Empires players Marcus, Alex and Chris are each taken by surprise when they meet the women of their dreams at a Vegas Night fundraiser. Follow their adventures of love in this steamy anthology.Hedging His Bet by Cassandra CarrAnnalise Alonso is on the job as a waitress when a huge bald man sends her champagne tray crashing to the floor. Marcus Mitchell is struck by the sight of the tiny curvaceous woman in the white shirt dripping with bubbly and close to tears. Marcus feels something special for this woman, but Annalise can't understand why a rich, gorgeous man would pay any attention to a poor and damaged woman like her. But the harder Annalise pushes Marcus away, the more his protective instincts kick in, and he's determined to show her that she's the woman for him.A true Cinderella story set in modern NYC, Hedging His Bet is both sweet and sexy. I absolutely loved Marcus' character, he was sweet and sexy yet tender and playful. I truly didn't get what he saw in Annalise, as pretty much every word out of her mouth was either short or said in exasperation. I couldn't connect with her at all, therefore I had a hard time getting behind their relationship as a whole.The sex in the story was pretty good, quite vanilla but well written. The entire story was written well, but the strange and stilted dialogue along with a very abrupt ending left me desiring more out of the usually excellent Ms Carr.Casting the Die by Isabo KellyNathalie Mendez has a problem. She's had a vision of Empires goalie Alexander Semenov being shot and killed. When she tells him what she's seen, Alex wants to know why the team's sexy physical therapist is giving him a strange warning about a blackmailer he's told nobody about. Nathalie agrees to shadow Alex on his daily routine to see if they can figure out the location that she spotted in her vision, and as the two spend more time together, their feelings grow deeper. Can two extremely private people stop the threat against Alex without the press getting wind of their budding relationship?I really enjoyed Casting the Die by Ms. Kelly. Nathalie was a terrific character, very down-to-earth yet passionate in all she does. Alex is the strong, silent type, and their chemistry is immediate and strong. The dialogue between the two is fantastic, very realistic and almost like foreplay sometimes.I'm not typically one for paranormal elements in stories, but Ms. Kelly did an excellent job at weaving Nathalie's abilities into this story seamlessly. I did feel like there could've been more sexcapades between the pair, especially since their connection was so explosive, but overall I thought this was a great story.Playing Her Game by Stacey AgdernTrouble seems to follow NY Empires player Chris "Emo" Emerson, despite his best efforts to stay out of the spotlight. And keeping clear of the press is definitely what Chris needs to do while the Empires are on their winning streak. When Chris meets the "Girl in the Lace Corset", romance writer extraordinaire Melanie Gould, he can tell that this woman is different. Known for her wild, kick-ass image, Mel is absolutely not the woman Chris should be spending time with if he wants to stay out of the press, but neither can deny the immediate sparks that fly between them. When Mel's scandalous image threatens to derail Chris' attempts to lay low, the two of them have to come to terms with what exactly is important in life.Playing Her Game was completely confusing and I ended up having to re-read portions of this story over and over just to try and understand what Ms. Agdern was trying to get across. It was difficult to really "get" why Chris needed to protect his siblings or what Mel did to make her so brazen. The sex in the book was okay, rather skipped over and dry. While Chris and Mel did share strong chemistry and I liked them together, I felt like I was missing a big piece of back story that would've given me more understanding of what was going on. Overall, I was disappointed in this lackluster addition to an otherwise decent book.Reviewed by Deltafor TheRomanceReviews.com