This week's Sexy Sunday is my stop on Beverly Hollowed's No Second Chances tour! Scroll down for a sizzlin' little excerpt and my review!
*THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS GRAPHIC SEXUAL CONTENT AND STRONG LANGUAGE
AND IS INTENDED FOR MATURE ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY.*
No nonsense mechanic Ally Brody is a "one chance only" kind of girl. When she catches her boyfriend of two years cheating with his assistant on a surprise visit to his office, there will be No Second Chances.
Determined not to fall for the wrong kind of man again, she comes face to face with Cole Thomas. He is gorgeous, charming, rich and everything Ally swore she should stay away from.
Cole wants Ally and he will stop at nothing until he gets what he desires. Bit by bit he breaks through her barriers and takes her on a journey of love and sexual awakenings. Will her obsessed ex, who refuses to accept it’s over, or a secret Cole himself is hiding, destroy their relationship before it even gets started?
Can Ally break her own rule and explore the possibility that Cole just might be the one worthy of a Second Chance?
Excerpt:
A little over an hour later, Cole climbed the stairs and approached his bedroom. He could hear soft music playing through the door. When he opened the door he stopped dead in his tracks.
The room was filled with flickering candles and there standing next to the wardrobe door, dressed in her black Louboutin, thigh high fish net stockings, and a black lace bra with matching thong, was possible the most perfect creature he had ever seen. She was truly breath-taking.
“Wow!” was all he could say as Ally slowly approached him, her eyes locked firmly with his. He could feel himself harden and strain against his trousers as his breath quickened, desire coursed through his veins like a steamroller.
“Wow, yourself,” she said confidently as she pressed her hand against his crotch. “I see you approve.”
“I do indeed,” he gave her a wicked grin and reached out to touch but she swatted his hand away.
“No, no,” she purred as she slowly walked around him gently running her hand from his erection to his back side and softly gave it a squeeze. “No, we are going to do this slowly. And you will behave.”
Cole smiled to himself. He loved just how confident she sounded. He remembered the first time they were together in her apartment and just how reserved and self-conscious she was. She had come a long way in such a short time.
He dropped his hands back to his side, although the temptation to grab her and throw her down on his bed was so powerful inside him, he resisted. This was her game and he was happy to play.
She stood in front of him once again and reached up and undid his tie, slipping it slowly from his neck and letting it drop to the floor. Then, as she met his stare, she reached up and began to unbutton his shirt. He fisted his hands at his side to keep from touching her; the desire to do so was so strong it was almost killing him.
As she pushed the shirt opened she softly kissed his chest and she pushed the shirt over his shoulders before it slipped down his arms. Cole reached behind himself and pulled it over his hands and let it fall to the floor.
Ally stood for a moment, watching him from beneath her long lashes before she dropped her hands from his firm chest to the waist band of his trousers. She opened the button and slowly eased the zipper down. Slipping her hands inside his trousers she let her finger tips brush against himself briefly making him take in a sharp shot of breath. He was struggling harder and harder to control himself. He wanted her. NOW!
Without thinking, he raised a hand to touch her breast.
She put her hands up and backed away. "Are you going to behave? Or is this game over?" she said almost petulantly. She raised an eyebrow and gave him a smirk.
Cole clenched his jaw and lowered his hands dutifully to his sides. He tried some deep breaths to keep his raging desire in check. He had never been so turned on.
She returned to his trousers moving her hands inside to the back and pushed them along with his boxers down over his back side, sending them crashing to the floor. Dropping to her knees in front of him...
BUY NO SECOND CHANCES NOW:
My Review:
This is the second book by Beverley I've read and it's becoming apparent that she looooooooves to tell an angsty, heartbreaking story with men who fall in love fast, hard and forever and girls who think they don't need saving but really do. This is not my kind of story usually, because a) (like I mentioned in my review of her first book, Forever and Always), I prefer my romance with a big, fat side of realism and Bev demands a swift and committed suspension of disbelief from page one. That said -- I know this going in, so I will review it for what it is: nuttin' but straight up fantastical romance. And what's reading for, if not to escape reality, right? 
So it's like this: hot, rich man meets pretty tomboy (in this case, a mechanic, no less) and he immediately weasles his way into her bed and her heart. The good news is he falls into headlong gob-smackin' love himself, even before she does, and commences to begin acting a fool trying to convince her to love him back while effing it up spectacularly on more than one occasion due to a devastating secret he's keeping. Oh also...there's a wack job ex stalking Our Heroine, which conveniently forces her to practically move in with Hot Rich Whipped Guy (complete with mansion and live-in housekeeper, personal doctor and private detective) from minute one for her own protection. Lots of hot sex ensues, some serious mind-shattering drama with Crazy Ex in which you keep expecting Whipped to miraculously save the day (*SPOILER* when it matters most he doesn't - refreshing twist), then Whipped's secret comes out, breaking Our Heroine's heart and ending the book on a $%^&*$#@!!! cliffhanger.
Damn you people and your cliffhangers. 
(I hereby promise never to abruptly stop in the middle of a story...I may leave some loose ends, but there shall be no full on dangling! Unless I change my mind...I'm a girl and I reserve the right. 
)
(I hereby promise never to abruptly stop in the middle of a story...I may leave some loose ends, but there shall be no full on dangling! Unless I change my mind...I'm a girl and I reserve the right. )
I digress.
What I like about Beverley's writing is that she manages to convince you that three days in bed with a hot man is a perfectly reasonable amount of time to fall in love (actually...what's so wrong with that, now that I think about it? What? 
). I always believe her characters when they say those three game-changing little words. Somehow she makes it work. I also appreciated that while Whipped is filthy stinking rich, he isn't a selfish, controlling, self-entitled prick. Too much. I mean, he has his moments, he's still a dude. But his efforts to control situations didn't spring as much from primal chest-beating as from concern and love. Also, Our Heroine - while she did make me want to smack her one time in particular and scream "NOOOOOOOO, DUMBASS!" (and if she'd listened...THAT wouldn't have happened...just sayin') - overall she wasn't an idiot and she didn't fall to pieces over microscopic misunderstandings. She did miss a lot of work though, and I have to wonder how she keeps her job. Maybe we'll find out in the follow up...
). I always believe her characters when they say those three game-changing little words. Somehow she makes it work. I also appreciated that while Whipped is filthy stinking rich, he isn't a selfish, controlling, self-entitled prick. Too much. I mean, he has his moments, he's still a dude. But his efforts to control situations didn't spring as much from primal chest-beating as from concern and love. Also, Our Heroine - while she did make me want to smack her one time in particular and scream "NOOOOOOOO, DUMBASS!" (and if she'd listened...THAT wouldn't have happened...just sayin') - overall she wasn't an idiot and she didn't fall to pieces over microscopic misunderstandings. She did miss a lot of work though, and I have to wonder how she keeps her job. Maybe we'll find out in the follow up...
All said, if you love a book that's unapologetically romantic and features a beautiful moneyed man who doesn't hide his feelings, this is a great book for you. It's an enjoyable read and I look forward to finding out how Whipped digs himself out of the hole he's in in the sequel. If he can...cuz after all, there are No Second Chances...
(See what I did there? Genius. 
)
)Rating: 4 smooches (out of 5)
Meet the Author:
I am Beverley, though my friends call me Bev, I am 38 years old and I live in Dublin with my Husband and 2 sons. I love to read and I love music.
I have been writing as long as I can remember.
I released my first book in December 2012 called 'Forever and Always.'
My new book, 'No Second Chances' (the first book from The Chances Series) was released on April 29th.
Some random facts about me.... I am a middle child, I have a fear of Mirrors and birds and I make custom jewelry.
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If you love that sort of thing, THIS IS YOUR BOOK! Admittedly, I like a big dose of realism with my romance (i.e. - I don't believe for one second that 
), but this book sucked me in and the author did it with the lovely relationship she set up at the front between Melanie, our 17 year old heroine (when we first meet her) and her father Alex, who is hopelessly, charmingly besotted with his daughter. 
). He is also endlessly patient not just with teenage Melanie but with adult Melanie, long past the point where a good man actually should be. I had more than one "Moonstruck" moment while reading where I wanted to slap Melanie and scream "Snap out of it!" -- I can only imagine that if Sam was real he may have wanted to, also. But Mel's cootch must've had super powers! 
