Tag: The Company

Review: Loverboy by Sarina Bowen

Posted July 24, 2023 by Holly in Reviews | 6 Comments

Review: Loverboy by Sarina BowenReviewer: Holly
Loverboy by Sarina Bowen
Narrator: Joe Arden, Emma Wilder, Vanessa Edwin
Series: The Company #2
Also in this series: Moonlighter, Moonlighter
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: December 1, 2020
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 278
Length: 9 hours and 11 minutes
Add It: Goodreads
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two-stars
Series Rating: three-stars

Secrets, desires, and exquisite pie. It’s all in a day’s work at The Company.
Growing up, I was the rough guy from the wrong neighborhood who couldn’t catch a break. Posy was the pampered girl I tried to impress. But all she gave me was a single kiss before I had to skip town.Now I’m back, and the tables are turned. Posy runs a struggling pie shop. I’m the VP of a secretive billion-dollar security company. Not that I can tell her.There’s a murderer on the loose in New York, and he seems to spend a lot of time at Posy’s shop. It’s my job to identify him before he can harm a hair on her pretty head.Going undercover as Posy’s new barista wasn’t my idea. I don’t even drink coffee. But now I have to call her “boss,” and do everything the curvy perfectionist asks of me. I’d forgotten how much we infuriate each other, and that she somehow fills me with both irritation and desire in the same breath.There’s nobody more skilled at stealth ops than me. I can bring this killer down. Right after I take a cold shower. And just as soon I figure out how to make a skinny peppermint latte with milk poured in the shape of a kitten...

I really enjoy Sarina Bowen’s books as a whole. She does romance really well and I love falling into her stories. Having said that, I am not a fan of her writing romantic suspense.

Posy runs a pie shop and is doing her best to make ends meet. Unfortunately, she can’t find a good barista and she’s killing herself trying to do it all. When Gunnar turns up and seems like the answer to her prayers, she wants to turn him away on principle since he burned her once already when she was just out of college, but she can’t since she’s desperately in need of help and he seems kind of down on his luck. If only she wasn’t still attracted to him…

Gunnar is a security specialist. When a murderer seems to be taunting their firm and the police from Posy’s pie shop, he agrees to go undercover to figure out what he can. He doesn’t expect to still be attracted to Posy, or to what to help her in all the ways. He can’t tell her what he’s up to, but he vows to keep her safe.

There were so many cringe-worthy moments for me in this book. All of the “Security Specialists” seemed so incompetent, plus the whole “lying to her for her own good” trope was really frustrating. I enjoyed some parts of the novel, and I was curious how things would play out with her ex, which is why I kept reading. But the rest was a complete let-down. I do not plan to continue the series.

Rating: 2 out of 5

The Company

two-stars


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Review: Moonlighter by Sarina Bowen

Posted July 10, 2023 by Holly in Reviews | 2 Comments

Review: Moonlighter by Sarina BowenReviewer: Holly
Moonlighter by Sarina Bowen
Narrator: Jason Clarke, Lucy Rivers
Series: The Company #1
Also in this series: Moonlighter, Loverboy
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: October 19, 2019
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 330
Length: 10 hours and 44 minutes
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
three-half-stars
Series Rating: three-stars

Only in my family could a professional hockey player earning seven million dollars a year be considered a slacker.
I'm at the height of my athletic career. Yet my arrogant brother is always trying to recruit me into the family business: a global security company so secretive that I don't even know its name. Pass, thanks. I don't need a summer job.
But the jerk ambushes me with a damsel in distress. That damsel is Alex, the competitive, sassy girl I knew when we were kids. Now she's a drop-dead gorgeous woman in deep trouble. So guess who's on a flight to Hawaii?
It's going to be a long week in paradise. My job is keeping Alex safe, while her job is torturing me with her tiny bikinis. Or maybe we're torturing each other. It's all snark and flirting until the threat against Alex gets serious. And this jock must become her major league protector.
Moonlighter is a stand-alone novel. No cliff-hangers, no prior experience necessary. Contains: hackers, hockey players, and a hotel room with only one bed.

I purchased the ebook with the audio add-on so I could switch between reading and listening. I enjoyed the narrators, but I spent more time reading than listening. I didn’t read this book when it was first released because I wasn’t interested in the premise. I also mistakenly thought this was a New Adult romance, and it didn’t make a lot of sense to me that a 20-something hockey player would be a great bodyguard. It ended up being better than I anticipated. Both characters are in their 30s and I liked the way things progressed between them.

I did not care for the suspense element. There were so many eye-rolling moments. I also didn’t love that it ended on a quasi-cliffhanger (the big baddie was left unresolved and – I assume – will be addressed in the next book).

I thought the romance, the storyline with Alex’s love-life troubles and Eric’s career issues were well done and they kept me reading, but I personally think the book would have been much better without the additional suspense element.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

The Company

three-half-stars


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Review: Moonlighter by Sarina Bowen

Posted October 22, 2019 by Rowena in Reviews | 1 Comment

Review: Moonlighter by Sarina BowenReviewer: Rowena
Moonlighter by Sarina Bowen
Series: The Company #1
Also in this series: Moonlighter, Loverboy
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: October 22, 2019
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Point-of-View: Alternating First
Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 370
Add It: Goodreads
Reading Challenges: Rowena's 2019 GoodReads Challenge
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-stars
Series Rating: three-stars

Dear readers, good news! Hockey player Eric Bayer is getting his own story. And it’s the start of a new series, too!

Only in my family could a professional hockey player earning seven million dollars a year be considered a slacker.I’m at the height of my athletic career. Yet my arrogant brother is still trying to recruit me into the family business: a global security agency so secretive that I don’t even know its name. Pass, thanks. I don’t need a summer job. But the jerk ambushes me with a damsel in distress. That damsel is Alex, the sassy, pushy girl I knew when we were kids. Now she’s a drop-dead gorgeous woman in deep trouble.So guess who’s on a flight to Hawaii?It’s going to be a long week in paradise. My job is keeping Alex safe, while her job seems is torturing me with her bikini collection. Or maybe we’re torturing each other. So the question becomes: who will crack first? And when our tropical fling is over, can I give her up?

Moonlighter jump starts a new series from Sarina Bowen. The series name is The Company and it’s a spin-off from her Brooklyn Bruisers series. Moonlighter is Brooklyn Bruiser Eric Bayer’s book and in it, we delve into his family business. His family business is reuniting him with an old friend that didn’t even remember him the last time that they came across each other. But she needs his help and his family has roped him into helping her. So he goes to Hawaii with her to pretend to be her boyfriend, to protect her from an abusive ex-boyfriend.

I was looking forward to this book ever since I found out we were getting it. Ever since reading Overnight Sensation, I wanted to know where Bayer disappeared to. He was there in the beginning and then he gets hurt, goes to stay at his Dad’s house and we never see him again so I remember thinking, where did he go? What is he doing? Well, all of my questions were answered with this book.

Sarina Bowen is really good at her job because I was entertained from beginning to end with this book. I enjoyed Eric’s backstory, I enjoyed Alex’s backstory, I enjoyed their shared history and the little bits of it that we learn and I enjoyed the romance between Bayer and Alex. Sure, there were a time or two when I wanted to smack some sense into both Erice and Alex but for the most part, this was another fabulous contemporary romance that I lost myself in on a lazy weekend.

Eric was exactly the hero that I knew he was going to be and that’s a good thing because I adored him in the Brooklyn Bruiser books that we saw him in. When he got hurt, I felt for him and when he disappeared, I missed him. He was a solid secondary character and an even more solid main character. I liked the differences between him and his brother Max and I really enjoyed seeing him come into his own with regards to his family life. He grew up feeling left out because he didn’t share the same aspirations to join his father’s security company as Max did. Seeing him really grow into his feelings for Alex made for such a delightful reading experience and I’m super glad that I read this one.

Alex was a pretty solid heroine herself. She was smart, strong, and filthy rich…but she didn’t have a perfect life. I liked seeing Alex really take charge of her situation. She didn’t let herself stay down, she was smart enough to surround herself with people who were invested in her safety and she was strong enough to really make a go of life as a single mother. Sure, she was rich as shit and could afford to surround herself with people who kept her safe but she had a good head on her shoulders and a caring heart that I really connected with. She put her foot in her mouth plenty of times but she wasn’t mean and she always went out of her way to make things right. I admired that.

The set up for this series wasn’t really there for me. Like, I know that Max and Scout will probably get a book but I didn’t really get a feel for them as individuals or even just get a feel for what the following books would be like but overall, I still really enjoyed the romance between Eric and Alex and I’ll continue to read whatever Sarina Bowen puts out because she’s Sarina Bowen and I always read Sarina Bowen books. This book was a delight and if you’re a fan of the Brooklyn Bruisers series, or hell, any book by Sarina Bowen, I have every faith that you’ll enjoy this one too so give it a go. You know you want to. 😉

Final Grade

4.25 out of 5

The Company

four-stars


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Sunday Spotlight: Moonlighter by Sarina Bowen

Posted October 20, 2019 by Rowena in Features, Giveaways | 6 Comments

Sunday Spotlight is a feature we began in 2016. This year we’re spotlighting our favorite books, old and new. We’ll be raving about the books we love and being total fangirls. You’ve been warned. 🙂

Sarina Bowen is one of my favorite authors, is a stickler on my auto-buy list and she’s got a new book coming out on October 22nd. Her new book is part of a new series that is a spin-off from her Brooklyn Bruisers series and it introduces some new characters while letting us keep in touch with some old friends from her Brooklyn Bruisers world. We’re getting Bayer’s book, you guys!

Sunday Spotlight: Moonlighter by Sarina BowenMoonlighter by Sarina Bowen
Series: The Company #1
Also in this series: Moonlighter, Moonlighter, Loverboy
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: October 22, 2019
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Point-of-View: Alternating First
Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »
Content Warning: View Spoiler »
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 370
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
Series Rating: three-stars

Only in my family could a professional hockey player earning seven million dollars a year be considered a slacker.

I’m at the height of my athletic career. Yet my arrogant brother is always trying to recruit me into the family business: a global security company so secretive that I don’t even know its name.

Pass, thanks. I don’t need a summer job.

But the jerk ambushes me with a damsel in distress. That damsel is Alex, the competitive, sassy girl I knew when we were kids. Now she’s a drop-dead gorgeous woman in deep trouble.

So guess who’s on a flight to Hawaii?

It’s going to be a long week in paradise. My job is keeping Alex safe, while her job is torturing me with her tiny bikinis. Or maybe we’re torturing each other. It’s all snark and flirting until the threat against Alex gets serious. And this jock must become her major league protector.

Moonlighter is a stand-alone novel. No cliffhangers, no prior experience necessary. Contains: hackers, hockey players, and a hotel room with only one bed.

If you read Overnight Sensation, Bayer gets hurt and then disappears from that book but in Moonlighter, we find out where he disappeared to and what he got into…and this book was such a delight, which is why we’re spotlighting this book today. It’s a good one and we’re hoping that this excerpt will whet your appetite for another fabulous book from Sarina Bowen. Check it out!

Excerpt

I pass out in the car, too. I don’t wake up until it stops. And then I discover I’m sleeping with my face propped against Eric’s muscular shoulder.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry.” I sit up straight, as if that might help him forget. There’s a little spot of drool near the collar of his polo.

Shoot me.

“It’s fine,” he grumbles. “Just another part of the job description nobody ever gave me. Bodyguard, and pillow to the rich and famous.”

He slides out of the car, and I follow, finding myself blinking up at the entrance to one of Hawaii’s chicest spa resorts. I’m too tired to appreciate the asymmetrical stone facade and the carefully lit water features. But it will be promising tomorrow in the daylight.

Eric already has our two suitcases in hand and it’s all I can do to grab my own carry-on bag and follow him inside the lobby. Luckily, there’s no wait at the check in desk, and all I have to do is hand over my credit card and remain vertical while the desk agent makes two key cards and small talk with Eric.

“There are three pools on the property. The dolphin experience is located down in the cove.”

“Great. Can you tell me where to find the gym?” he asks.

“On the lower level, sir. We have personal trainers, as well. Touch two on your in-room phone to schedule an appointment or a spa treatment.”

“Thank you.”

“Can I show you to your suite?” the woman asks.

“We’d rather just go on up ourselves,” Eric says, holding out a hand for the key cards.

“Certainly. Your suitcases are already on their way.”

“Thank you,” I whisper as soon as the elevator doors close on us. “I can’t handle people right now.”

“I noticed that,” he chuckles.

“Usually I’m a great traveler. Another symptom of pregnancy is extreme exhaustion. Apparently growing an entire human takes a lot of extra energy.”

“Ah,” he says. “Yeah, I’ve never tried that myself, so…” He runs a hand through his hair.

I don’t know why I feel the need to explain myself. It’s the middle of the night back at home. I’m asleep on my feet right now, but anyone would be

Luckily, moments later Eric opens the door to a plush suite. I drag myself inside. And because this is a very nice hotel, our luggage is already waiting for us. I unzip my suitcase and pull out a nightgown along with my toiletry bag. Then I disappear into the marble clad bathroom ahead of Eric. But somebody has to go first, right?

After I’ve changed and brushed my teeth, I take a look in the mirror. My eyes are red, and my hair is messed. I look like a disaster. And when I turn my head, I catch sight of a red indentation on my jaw. Good lord. There’s a Lacoste alligator molded into my face from sleeping on Eric.

There is really no end to today’s mortifications.

After brushing my hair forward to hide the mark, I put on a brave face and leave the bathroom. Eric is in the bedroom, hanging his suit jacket in the closet. My sleep addled brain spends a few seconds remembering how fabulous he looks in a tux. In Florida, when I was trying to figure out why he kept glancing at me, I allowed myself a few glances of my own.

My old friend is seriously hot. As fake boyfriends go, he’s an A-lister.

“You should get some sleep,” he says with a glance over his shoulder. I’m obviously not the only one who thinks I look like a zombie right now.

“So should you,” I point out. Then I turn around and count the beds.

There’s only one.

Oh, dear. I should have seen this wrinkle coming.

The Company

Giveaway Alert

We’re giving one lucky winner their choice of one of our Sunday Spotlight books. Use the widget below to enter for one of this month’s features.

Sunday Spotlight: October 2019

Are you as excited for this release as we are? Let us know how excited you are and what other books you’re looking forward to this year!

About Sarina Bowen

Sarina Bowen is the RITA® Award winning author of over two dozen contemporary and LGTB romance novels. She most recently hit the USA Today bestseller's list in February, with Brooklynaire. Formerly a derivatives trader on Wall Street, Sarina holds a BA in economics from Yale University.

Sarina Bowen is a New Englander whose Vermont ancestors cut timber and farmed the north country since the 1760s. Sarina is grateful for the invention of indoor plumbing and wi-fi during the intervening 250 years. On a few wooded acres, she lives with her husband, two boys, and an ungodly amount of ski and hockey gear.

Sarina's books are published in a dozen languages on four continents. In 2016, The Romance Writers of America honored HIM by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy with a RITA award for Best Contemporary Romance, Mid-Length.


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