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Showing posts with label #SophiaHenry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #SophiaHenry. Show all posts

Friday, June 10, 2016

"Interference" (Sophia Henry) ★★★★ with GIVEAWAY


BOOK INFORMATION
Interference
Pilots Hockey #3
By: Sophia Henry

Releasing June 7, 2016
Flirt


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BOOK SUMMARY
“Sophia Henry tackles real issues that tug at your heartstrings,” raves bestselling author Rachel Harris. Now, in this sweet, sensual Pilots Hockey novel, a young single mom falls for a damaged coach pulling double-duty as a cop.
Linden Meadows doesn’t back down from anyone, especially if her family’s involved. So when her little brother’s new hockey coach benches him in the middle of a game, Linden lets him have it. She also notices that the coach is way hotter than she expects, but Linden won’t let herself get burned by another athlete. Been there, done that—and had a kid at seventeen to show for it.

When Jason Taylor isn’t taking abuse from hockey moms, he’s patrolling the streets as a member of the Bridgeland PD. After Jason pulls Linden over for speeding, he begins to see that there’s more to her than a big mouth . . . or a lead foot. Their chemistry leads to good company, intense conversation, and an intimacy that pushes beyond the boundaries of friendship. And yet Linden’s decision to keep her now three-year-old son, Holden, is a painful reminder to Jason that his own mother gave him up for adoption.


Linden’s sure she’s found the man to round out their family. But when Holden’s deadbeat dad forces his way back into the picture, Jason starts to back off. He needs time—to heal, to grow, and to love with all his heart.


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EXCERPT

“What do you recommend, Indie?” The woman asked, glancing at me before dropping her eyes back to the menu.
“Um, well,” I said, faltering. How did the cop’s mom know my name? Had he told his mom about me?
“She read your name tag. Don’t get your hopes up.” Officer Taylor nodded at my chest.
Warmth rushed into my cheeks as I skimmed my fingers across the badge pinned on the right side of my shirt. Name tag, duh. Stupid overactive imagination. Of course he hadn’t told his mom about me. He probably hated me.
The silly disappointment I felt was short-lived, lasting only until his snarky comment hit home.
“Well, the beef brisket is a customer favorite, but I’d recommend the ribs. I mean, everyone loves a pig, right?” I cocked my head to the side, pleased with my joke.
The cop’s lady friend choked on the swig of beer she had taken. She raised her hand and patted her chest.
“You okay, Mom?” He asked, clapping her on the back.
Aha! She was his mom. I knew it.
Taylor’s mom nodded. “Went down the wrong pipe,” she squeaked out before coughing again.
“Should I give you another minute?” I asked. I wanted to slink away. I shouldn’t have said that in front of his mother. I wasn’t a confrontational person. What was it about him that brought out that side of me?
“No, no. We’re ready,” she said and coughed one last time to clear her throat. “I’ll take the ribs.” She winked at me, then bit her lip to keep a smile away.
The cop’s mom was pure awesome.
“And for you?” I coughed my own smile away as I lifted my chin and focused my attention on the officer.
“I’ll have the same thing. I love pigs.” He held out his menu, a smug smile spreading across his face. “With fries, please.”
“Oh, good lord, Jason,” his mom hissed, emphasizing her annoyance with an eye roll.
Jason. Officer Jackweed had a first name.
“Touché.” I nodded as I plucked the menu from his hands, spinning away toward the safety of my computer. If I didn’t know better, I’d think the cop was flirting with me.
It took every ounce of willpower I had not to look over at Jason. Thanks to his mom, I now knew the name of the infuriating, hot, jerky, muscular, arrogant, sexy man I hadn’t been able to get out of my head since I saw him at my brother’s game.
“Indie!”
My head snapped up, breaking me out of the fog of thoughts I’d disguised while inputting the dinner order. How long had Kristen, a server who went by her initials, KK, been calling me?
“Yeah. Sorry. What?” I couldn’t get the right word out.
Get it together, girl. Stop thinking of Jason’s buff forearms.
“Did you make that Bloody Mary for table thirty-three?” KK asked.
“Table thirty-three?” I glanced at Jason, whose eyes caught mine, then shook my head and looked at the tiny printer on the end of the bar, buzzing as it spewed orders the servers had punched in from the dining room computer.
Damn. Bloody Mary for table thirty-three. Four ales, two reds, and a Weizen for various other tables.
Time to get my head back in the game, especially since the printer wouldn’t stop. No looking at Jason until I had to check on how his meal tasted. Usually, I wasn’t easily thrown, especially by a guy.
It’s because he’s new in town. That’s his intrigue. His mystery.
The drink orders never slowed, and I turned my focus back to my customers at the bar and in the dining room. On busy nights, I usually had a second bartender helping with the madness, but Stacy had called in sick at last minute and I hadn’t found a replacement. I couldn’t even be angry with her, since she was three months pregnant. I knew how fast morning sickness came on, and how there was no working around it some days.
I’d been so busy filling drink orders and waiting on my customers at the bar that I hadn’t even had a chance to check on Jason and his mom. Thankfully, a porter had brought out their meals. At my first free moment, I wandered over to Jason.
“You scared off your own mom?” I asked, nodding to the empty chair next to him.
“She’s using the restroom.” Jason took a sip of his beer. “Are you gonna throw sarcastic comments at me all night, or talk to me?”
“What do you want to talk about?” I asked, filling a pint glass with red ale.
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
Not a question I’d expected.
“How is that your business?”
“You smell like a dude,” he blurted out.
I curled my fingers around the glass, which had almost slipped out of my hand. “Excuse me?”
“Shit. I meant you smell like men’s cologne,” Jason said, backtracking. “It wasn’t an insult.”
“I like the smell of men’s cologne better than perfume.” I set the first pint aside and began filling a second.
“Why’d you skip the boyfriend question?”
“Because it’s not your business.”
Jason leaned in, his voice low. “It is if I want to ask you out.”
“You what?” I readjusted my grip on the glass and pushed the handle of the tap back to stop the flow of beer.
“I think we should hang out.” Jason wiped his mouth with his napkin and tossed it onto his empty plate.
“That’s the best you can do, copper? I thought you were smoother than that.” I winked and walked away, carrying the beers I’d filled to the end of the bar for a server to pick up. Then I made a Moscow Mule and checked on a few other customers sitting at the bar before printing Jason’s check and placing it in front of him.
“Will you please go on a date with me?” Jason asked, not missing a beat.
My heart pounded against my chest. I was both flattered and frustrated by his persistence. “You expect me to say yes, don’t you?”
“It’s obvious that you like me.” Jason’s blue eyes twinkled, catching light from the pendulum fixture hanging over the bar.
“I like looking at you,” I countered, “but your personality leaves a bit to be desired.”
“Really?” The skin around his eyes crinkled when he smiled.
“Let’s pretend I’d ever say yes. Where would a cocky cop take someone on a first date?” I couldn’t wait to hear what he thought was fun.
“It’s a surprise.”
“You ask me on a date and you don’t even know where you’re going to take me?” I lifted his plate and wiped crumbs and condensation off the bar with a towel. “That’s sad, copper.”
“Why would you assume that?” he asked, his tone indignant.
“Can I be honest?” I asked. Time to strike the final blow. Though Jason had my insides flipping like no one ever had before, now wasn’t the right time to start dating. I had a million things to worry about before opening up my heart again.
“Please.” He nodded.

“You moved to a small town to be a cop and coach hockey.” I paused. “You sound like a total bore.”




CAT'S REVIEW
"Interference" by Sophia Henry.  This tells the tale of Linden and Jason.  Jason is the perfect book boyfriend, in my opinion.  He's swoonworthy!  He's sexy and hunky but kind, gentle and caring.  His interactions with kids is heartwarming.  He, of course, has some faults and while I understood his thinking, at times I did think his "baggage" was a bit overdone.  But, that certainly didn't take anything away from his yumminess!  Linden took a bit longer for me to like.  While I appreciated her loyalty to her family, she comes across very strong and even a bit over bearing to me.  I loved her as a mom and eventually, she wore me down and I grew to love her too.  Together they work really well - they bicker and banter which had me smiling often as well.  The story itself is an enjoyable read.  While this is a hockey story, it's not a typical one.  Hockey is on the outskirts of it.  The focus is our couple and their journey.  As with many couples, there are ups and downs and situations that make the readers say "Uh-Oh!  Will they find their HEA?"  Ms. Henry has done a fine job of incorporating the important things in life - family, friends and love.  Don't miss out on Linden and Jason's journey!  (received copy for honest review)
★★★★






AUTHOR INFO

Sophia Henry, a proud Detroit native, fell in love with reading, writing, and hockey all before she became a teenager. She did not, however, fall in love with snow. So after graduating with an English degree from Central Michigan University, she moved to North Carolina, where she spends her time writing books featuring hockey-playing heroes, chasing her two high-energy sons, watching her beloved Detroit Red Wings, and rocking out at concerts with her husband.



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Friday, September 4, 2015

"Delayed Penalty" (Sophia Henry) ★★★.5 with GIVEAWAY!!


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DELAYED PENALTY
Pilots Hockey #1
Sophia Henry
Releasing Sept 1st, 2015


She closed her heart long ago. He just wants to open her mind. For fans of Toni Aleo and Sawyer Bennett, the debut of Sophia Henry’s red-hot Detroit Pilots series introduces a hockey team full of complicated men who fight for love.

Auden Berezin is used to losing people: her father, her mother, her first love. Now, just when she believes those childhood wounds are finally healing, she loses something else: the soccer scholarship that was her ticket to college. Scrambling to earn tuition money, she’s relieved to find a gig translating for a Russian minor-league hockey player—until she realizes that he’s the same dangerously sexy jerk who propositioned her at the bar the night before.

Equal parts muscle and scar tissue, Aleksandr Varenkov knows about trauma. Maybe that’s what draws him to Auden. He also lost his family too young, and he channeled the pain into his passions: first hockey, then vodka and women. But all that seems to just melt away the instant he kisses Auden and feels a jolt of desire as sudden and surprising as a hard check on the ice.

After everything she’s been through, Auden can’t bring herself to trust any man, let alone a hot-headed puck jockey with a bad reputation. Aleksandr just hopes she’ll give him a chance—long enough to prove he’s finally met the one who makes him want to change.

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EXCERPT
I’m pretty sure there were only two ways Crazy Hair could have looked better than he had at O’Callaghan’s. The first was as he did right now: sitting on a bench in the locker room wearing nothing but the lower half of his uniform, including his skates, sweat rolling over his sinewy pecs and creating a happy trail all the way into his hockey pants.
The second way—I can only assume—would be if he were completely naked.
“Aleksandr, this is Auden Berezin. She will be your translator.”
“I don’t need a translator.”
I almost laughed, because he’d said he didn’t need a translator in Russian.
“You must talk with the media at some point, Sasha. They’re riding my ass to get better answers from you than ‘was good game.’ ”
Aleksandr Varenkov, hot Russian hockey god, laughed, showing the perfect set of white teeth I’d noticed at the bar.
“You have your teeth in, but you haven’t even showered yet?” Orlenko asked.
Was Orlenko a mind reader? I sure hope not, because I would be fired for thinking about my client naked.
“I wanted to look good for pictures.” Aleksandr winked at me. Then he stood, and drops of sweat raced down the hard planes of his chest.
I’d never been so envious of perspiration in my life.
“Sometimes I talk in the shower. Will she translate for me in there?”
My cheeks began to burn, so I averted my eyes, lowering them to the black Cyrillic script tattooed down his sides, then thought better of that line of sight and studied the soiled beige carpet below my feet.
“Aleks—” Orlenko sighed, rubbing his forehead.
“Zhenya,” Aleksandr began. “You know I’m kidding, yes?” He shoved a towel onto the shelf above his nameplate and walked away without waiting for an answer.
“Yes,” Orlenko hissed. He’d said it under his breath, but I heard him and wondered what my grandpa had gotten me into. “Well, that was Aleksandr Varenkov, your client. He’s a talented player and a good man. But he can be a little—”
“Douchey?” I offered in English. I shouldn’t have said it, considering Grandpa’s professional reputation was in my hands. Then again, Evgeny Orlenko was Grandpa’s friend first, so maybe he wouldn’t be too hard on me. Besides, Grandpa knew what kind of mouth I had, and he’d sent me for the job anyway.
Orlenko laughed, and continued in Russian. “Wild was the word I was looking for, but your adjective may not be that far off.”
“I’ve got it, Mr. Orlenko.”
“Are you sure?” He inspected me through thick black-rimmed glasses that were too small for his puffy face.
“As a college student with an active social life, I’ve learned how to handle arrogant douche bags.” This time I was being paid to handle one.
“I shouldn’t be having this conversation about one of my clients,” Mr. Orlenko said, his lips quirking up, then back into a tight line. At least he was trying to keep a straight face. “You’re like a breath of fresh air, Audushka. I hope you stay that way even with his off-ice antics.”
Off-ice antics? What the hell did that mean and why would I have to deal with them? “Will I have to hang out with him outside of the arena? I thought I was here to translate for media interviews after games and some practices.”
“Aleksandr speaks very little English. He’ll need your assistance in all aspects of his career; interviews, community service. At least, until he gets acclimated. Vitya said you were here for the month, is that correct?”
“Yep. All of winter break.”
“You’ll be putting in a lot of hours.”
“I’m a hard worker. And I need the cash. Got cut from the soccer team, and I have to replace the scholarship money I lost.” I was running my mouth again. Maybe I did need to tone it down.
“Well, I’m sorry to hear that. The being-cut part.” He cleared his throat. “Here’s my card. I wrote my cell number on the back. If you have any trouble or if Aleksandr makes you uncomfortable in any way, please give me a call.”
“Thanks.” I scanned the card wondering if I should try to memorize his number now, since I wasn’t sure how stable this client sounded.
After Orlenko left the locker room, I realized I hadn’t asked him what I should do next, and he hadn’t given me instructions as to where I should wait while Aleksandr showered. Since I wasn’t part of the media, I was extremely aware of being the intruder standing in a room of half-naked men. A shower shouldn’t take very long, so I dug my e-reader out of my messenger bag and sat down on the stool that Aleksandr had just vacated.
“Ewww.” I jumped up and skimmed my palm against my damp backside. Hadn’t even thought about any runaway sweat that might’ve dripped from Aleksandr’s lean, hard body onto the stool.

Stop. Just stop thinking about the shiny, wet flesh covering his impeccably carved frame.


CAT'S REVIEW
"Delayed Penalty" is the story of Auden and Aleksandr.  She is of Russian heritage and he is a Russian hockey player.  Both characters have a bit of a rough background so that helps with a connection between the two.  I did like each character - Auden is working hard to stay in college and better her life.  Aleksandr is a stereotypical sports guy - until he meets Auden!   For me, there wasn't enough of the relationship development throughout the story. I ached to read more about the two of them together and watch them fall in love so intensely.  I did enjoy the hockey aspect as sports heroes are one of my faves.    This is Ms. Henry's debut novel, and I thought she did a good job - I liked her writing style and have confidence that in the future she will expand and grow as a writer.  It is a YA story, which isn't my usual genre although it is nice to go back in time and pretend I'm 20 again! :o)   I do look forward to reading future stories from her, believing that they will get better and better.  (received copy from NetGalley for honest review).


★★★.5




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Sophia Henry, a proud Detroit native, fell in love with reading, writing, and hockey all before she became a teenager. She did not, however, fall in love with snow. So after graduating with an English degree from Central Michigan University, she moved to North Carolina, where she spends her time writing books featuring hockey-playing heroes, chasing her two high-energy sons, watching her beloved Detroit Red Wings, and rocking out at concerts with her husband.