3.5 Stars (rounded up to 4 for Amazon, Barnes and Noble, NetGalley and Goodreads)
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group, Loveswept
Date of publication: February 27th, 2018
Genre: Romance, Women’s Fiction
Series: Last Shot
Body Shot – Book 1
Hot Shot – Book 2 (review here)
Long Shot – Book 3
Where you can find Long Shot: Amazon | Barnes and Noble
Book synopsis (from Goodreads):
A haunted beauty inspires a Navy SEAL turned playboy bar owner to change his ways in this tender and sensual novel from the bestselling author of Hot Shot and the Heller Brothers series.
Waitressing at a tequila bar on the beach in sunny San Diego may not be what Reece Kirkwell wants to do forever, but for now it’s perfect—other than the flashbacks to the tragedy she caused in Boston. And the fact that one of her bosses is a domineering, first-class manwhore who’s as stubborn as he is sexy. If he’d just listen to her, she could double his business. But it would also mean getting close to someone, and that’s a risk she can’t afford.
Cade Hardy’s partners at Conquistadors are like his brothers, but he’s the money man trying to keep them all afloat. To blow off steam, he’s been sleeping around a little. The last thing he needs is business advice from their crazy-hot new waitress. Cade can’t figure Reece out. She’s smarter than she lets on, and she doesn’t hide her disgust for his active sex life. But after he recognizes her PTSD symptoms, Cade is determined to save her . . . unless she saves him first.
Trigger Warning: references to a mass shooting, PTSD
My review:
It took me a while to start reading Long Shot. I had a backlog of reviews to do before Long Shot. I wish that I had bumped it up sooner because I enjoyed it. I was also surprised by it. Why surprised? I wasn’t expecting the serious side of the book. It took me by surprise. I was not expecting not only the subject but the sensitive way the author wrote about it.
Long Shot is Cade and Reese’s story. Cade is an ex-Seal who is running a tequila bar with two of his ex-Seal mates. Cade is the brains behind the bar, keeping the books. He is also known for his love of the ladies. Reese was a waitress that was hired the end of Hot Shot. She is running from a tragic event. An event that haunts her in the form of anxiety attacks. It also does not allow herself to become attached to anyone. That all changes when Cade notices Reese and takes an interest in her. He makes her feel things that she doesn’t want to feel. He is also determined to help her deal with her issues.
I liked Reese. I felt awful about her PTSD and the event that caused it. When she told Cade about it, I wanted to cry. That is something no one should live through. I will admit, I thought that she was a witch with a b in the chapters before she revealed what happened. Then I understood why she was acting that way. Again, I wanted to cry. I loved that she fostered dogs. That is the first time I have read about the main character fostering an animal. I loved it.
Cade made me laugh. He was such a player. I mean, he had women coming to the bar in tears because he couldn’t give them what they wanted. Cade also had his demons and man, were they awful. I don’t blame him for doing what he was doing when he was younger. While he was a love them and leave them type of guy, he had a very sharp mind at business. He poured everything into the bar.
The romance between Cade and Reese did seem a bit forced. I didn’t see a spark between them until almost the end of the book. That is when Reese had to choose between working for her ex or working for Cade. The relationship didn’t flow for me. If that makes sense.
Now while I say the romance was forced, the sex wasn’t. Cade and Reese had some pretty hot sex. Those scenes were steamy and passionate. I loved how Reese knew what she liked and wasn’t afraid to let Cade know it.
The end of the book was pretty typical of a romance novel. All the plotlines were wrapped up happily. I did enjoy reading the epilogue and hope that the author decides to write more books in this series!!
I would recommend that Long Shot be a 20 and older book. There are graphic sex scenes. There is also language. No violence. I would reread this book and I would recommend it to family and friends.
I would like to thank Random House Publishing Group, Loveswept, and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review Long Shot.
All opinions stated in this review of Long Shot are mine.
**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**