A full review is included later in this post, but in short, I adored "Hard to Handle" and highly recommend it for all fans of contemporary romance. I am very much looking forward to getting my hands on the rest of the books in this series as soon as they are released!
About "Hard to Handle"
Hard to Handle, book one in the Play Hard series, an all new series of standalone books by New York Times bestselling author, K. Bromberg, is LIVE!
Hard to Handle, book one in the Play Hard series, an all new series of standalone books by New York Times bestselling author, K. Bromberg, is LIVE!
At first, the request seemed simple—sign a new athlete to the agency. Then I found out the new athlete was none other than the most wanted man in hockey today: Hunter Maddox.
Gifted. Sexy. At the top of his game. And the only man who has ever broken my heart. If signing him will help save our family business, I’ll swallow my pride and do what’s asked.
But when it becomes clear his uncharacteristic antics off the ice are a hint of something deeper, keeping things strictly professional between us becomes more than complicated.
But I know better than to cross that line.
I’ll never date a client. Not even for him.
***
Win the Stanley Cup and do it before time runs out.
Not a small feat, but it’s what’s motivated me since the start of my career.
And time is running out.
Enter Dekker Kincade.
Feisty. Dogged. Damn gorgeous. The one I let get away.
I have no idea why she’s traveling with the team, but hell if resisting her is going to be easy.
But I have a job to do, and I refuse to lose sight of that end game. Even if she confuses me. Even if she sees parts of me I’ve hidden from the world.
I can’t lose focus. Not even for her.
Read an Excerpt from "Hard to Handle"
I stare at Hunter. At his shirt plastered with sweat and how it clings to his body, despite the chill of the ice his skates are standing on. He has his warm-up pants on and is without a helmet, his hair curling at the ends from the sweat.
And all I see in his eyes is anger I didn’t put there. Or maybe I did. Rejection can do that to a man . . . but there’s something more here. Something I walked in on that doesn’t make sense.
“Don’t give me that look, Kincade,” Hunter mutters as he skates over to the penalty box where his electrolyte drink sits.
“What look?” I ask.
He half laughs, half snorts and meets my gaze across the distance. “Disappointment. Disproval. Disdain. I’m the king of all of them, so save your breath—or in this case—your glare, because it’s not going to work with me.”
“Are we working on emotions that start with the letter D today?” I ask. A hint of my embarrassment and anger over how I acted last night creeps into my voice, but I mask it with sarcasm. “If that’s the case, I’m more than impressed with your answers thus far.”
He clenches his jaw in response and then skates back over to line up more pucks so he can shoot them. And he does, one after another, each shot taken with laser precision and a healthy dose of fury behind it.
He goes through the first ten lined up and then stops to catch his breath.
His talent and skill are undeniable, but so is the beer bottle in my hand.
“Just because you’re the captain and star of this team, doesn’t mean management won’t frown upon this,” I say, unable to let this go.
“Screw the management.”
“No one likes a player who’s hard to handle and honestly, Hunter, you’re becoming hard to handle.”
“No one likes unsolicited advice from someone who has no bearing on his career, either,” he counters, the rebuke stinging but deserved.
The problem is, I do care about him. Doesn’t he get that’s where my hostility stems from?
And only a crazy person would say that, Dekker.
I put my hands up in surrender to both him and my own thoughts. “You know I only want the best for you.” I take a few steps in his direction in the first row of the stands. I’m close enough to catch the hitch of his movement and to see uncertainty flicker in his eyes. It’s almost as if he needs to talk but doesn’t see me as someone he can trust. I hate that. “What is it, Hunter?”
“Nothing. It’s . . . never mind.”
But I see it, and he knows I see it. The question is what do I see, though?
My Review
I adored K. Bromberg's "Hard to Handle," a sweet, emotional story featuring incredibly likeable, well-developed characters and a compelling plot that kept me turning the pages long past my bedtime. Main characters Hunter Maddox and Dekker Kincade were both wounded souls dealing with a lot of emotional baggage from their pasts, but something kept drawing them together no matter how hard they tried to convince themselves that they weren't interested in or capable of pursuing a real relationship. When they finally moved past the obstacles standing in their way and cast off the weight of the past, it was lovely to see how their relationship blossomed.
I enjoyed getting to know several of the book's secondary characters as well, particularly Dekker's younger sisters, Brexton, Chase, and Lennox. The three remaining Kincade sisters will be featured in upcoming books of the Play Hard series as they continue the family's efforts to recruit star athletes away from a rival agent who has been stealing business from KSM, the sports management agency founded by their father, Kenyon.
Overall, "Hard to Handle" was truly an excellent read, and I highly recommend it for all fans of contemporary romance. I can't wait for the next book in the series!
*ARC provided by the author via Valentine PR. All opinions expressed are my own.
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