Publisher: Loveswept

Date of publication: September 13, 2016

Genre: Sports, Romance, Contemporary Romance, Sports Romance, Contemporary, Soccer

Series: Hard to Play

Hard to Hold—Book 1

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Kobo

Goodreads Synopsis:

“Katie Rose writes sexy, skilled sports heroes who know how to treat a woman right!” raves Wendy S. Marcus. Now the award-winning author of the Bad Boys of Baseball series introduces a team of soccer stars who score on and off the pitch.

New Jersey Hurricanes striker Logan Hart lives for the grind of training, the adrenaline of competition, and all the perks of the road—until his ex hands him a baby and tells Logan to raise her on his own. He’s eager to pass this bundle of joy into more capable hands and get back to his hard-playing, hard-partying ways. But when a beautiful, blond drill sergeant of a nanny turns Logan’s life upside down, he sets a new goal: winning her heart.

Isabella Bennett takes pride in teaching the rich and famous how to become loving families. Her no-nonsense style is just what Logan and his crying, copper-haired cutie need. So why can’t she get the image of Logan’s tanned, muscular body out of her head? Isabella’s here to whip a new father into shape, not fall for a sexy ladies’ man. But their chemistry is too tantalizing to ignore, much like the temptation to trust someone with her deepest secrets—and embrace a loving family all her own.

---

Ever start off reading a book, read the first chapter, and think, “How am I going to get through this book”? Then make yourself continue reading the book and end up getting surprised.

Yeah, this happened to me with this book. I wanted to put it down and mark it as a DNF on my shelf. As I continued reading, I saw glimmers of a promising storyline and kept reading.

I started the book not liking Logan. I know he is a professional soccer player and had no time for a baby. The way he found out he had one (birth mom dumped the baby on him at a restaurant and left) was a shock. A big shock. Here is what got me, wouldn’t you immediately get a DNA test done to prove that the baby was yours?? I would. He did redeem himself; I started to like him and then loved him by the end of the book.

I was iffy with Isabella too. She went from an uptight, stuffy nanny to banging her boss within a couple of weeks. Didn’t fly with me because she made such a big deal about it at the beginning of the book. A whole chapter is dedicated to it. Then the next chapter, she slept with him. Made me scratch my head and go, “WTH.“

The only reason I kept reading the book was because of the plot. Take what I said about the characters and forget about it. The book had a good solid story about a man who was told he was a father, had the baby dumped on him, and rose to the occasion. The characters cared about baby Cinnamon, her well-being, and her welfare. That is what kept me reading. Isabella and Logan loved that baby and were willing to do anything to keep her safe.

The romance between Logan and Isabella wasn’t believable. They had nothing in common except for Cinnamon. Isabella was being all sorts of shady about her big secret with Logan. I am not going to give away her secret, but not letting yourself get into relationships because of it isn’t cool. All I am going to say on that.

The ending was perfect for the book, and I loved the very last pages of the book. All I had to say was, “You rock, Logan!!!“.

I would recommend Hard to Hold to anyone over 21. There is sex and language.

---

If you enjoyed reading Hard to Hold, you will enjoy reading these books: