Title: Finding Alexei

Author: Kendall Ryan

Year of publication: Out today! The author kindly gave me a copy to read and review

The heroine: Waitress Ryleigh ?

The hero: Pro-footballer Alex(ei) Ivan

The blurb: He’s bossy, moody, and overprotective. He’s also a pro athlete who needs to focus on winning games and staying out of the headlines.

I’m fiercely independent and need a man like I need a second period each month. So when our worlds collide, I never expected him to be the one to jump in and save me. Especially not when my roommate disappears, leaving me with her baby.

I’m clueless about babies—and it shows. Good thing Alexei isn’t. With six nieces and nephews and an apparent hero complex, the dude is both sexy and more than capable. It’s a combination that makes it easy to forget we’re just playing house.

Standalone or series: Standalone.

The review: The one thing I love about reading a book by Kendall Ryan is that you know you’re going to read a great book, and Finding Alexei is no exception. Alexei Ivan, known as Alex to everyone, plays pro-football. One night, he finds a woman being harassed outside the topless club where she works as a waitress, and he intervenes. Something about Ryleigh captivates him, and he manages to persuade her to let him give her a lift home.

She lives in a seedier part of town and when he find out she has temporary custody of her roommate’s two month old baby, Ella, Alexei knows he can’t leave them in Ryleigh’s cold apartment. So he coaxes her back to his million dollar penthouse and impresses her with his handling of baby Ella. His sisters have given him six nieces and nephews, so he knows his way around looking after a little one.

Ryleigh’s life couldn’t be any worse. Her parents are gone, she has no other family, and she’s barely keeping her head above water. She can’t afford to look after a baby, but she knows if she doesn’t Ella will go into foster care and she can’t let that happen, not until she at least finds out what’s happened to Andi, Ella’s mother. She doesn’t know who Alexei is – she doesn’t follow sports – but she can’t resist his offer to help them both, nor can she deny the sparks of attraction that fly between them.

When their friendship becomes something more, Ryleigh knows she can’t expect Alexei to take on both her and the baby. When Andi finally reappears and explains the sad reason for her absence, Ryleigh is torn between wanting to follow her head and her heart. Will Alexei finally convince her he wants them both as a package deal, or will she walk away forever? If you love well written romances, this book’s for you.

Title: Dear Jane

Author: Kendall Ryan

Year of publication: Out today! The author kindly gave me a copy to read and review

The heroine: Assistant football manager Jane Royce

The hero: Quarterback pro footballer Weston Chase

The blurb: I broke her heart ten years ago and left town.

She hates me, and rightly so. It doesn’t matter that the rest of the country loves me, that I’m a starting quarterback with a multimillion-dollar contract. Because when I look in the mirror, all I see is a failure who was too young—and too afraid—to fight for what I wanted.

But I’m not that guy anymore, and all I need is one shot to convince her.

***

He has no idea what happened after he left. And now I’m supposed to work alongside him like we don’t have this huge, messy history?

But I’m older now, wiser, and I won’t let anything stand in my way of doing a good job for this league. Not even one overpaid, arrogant player who thinks we’re going to kiss and make up.

News flash, buddy: I am over you.

Standalone or series: Standalone

The review: This is a second chance romance between high school sweethearts who shared their first everything with each other. When Wes went to college, Jane reached out to him about something and he blew her off, so she stopped contacting him and he never knew what happened.

Ten years later, Jane’s father is the coach of the football team Wes has just been traded to and she is the assistant manager of the team. Wes needed to get away from his old team – and the city – after finding his fiancee with another team member. He’s nervous about seeing Jane again, but when she plays it cool he’s determined to show her he’s not the kid he once was.

Jane eventually tells him the secret she’s been carrying for ten years, and he is understandably shocked. He realises how much he let Jane down and he’s determined to win her back. Just when Jane starts to believe Wes has grown up and is as keen as she is to have a serious relationship, he suddenly stands her up again, telling her he’s not the man for her. Jane is distraught, and it takes a fellow team member and good friend of Jane’s to make Wes realise he’s been a complete fool.

Knowing he’s going to have to pull out all the stops, he does something really sweet to win Jane back. Luckily for him, she’s fallen in love with him again and forgives him. The epilogue goes into the future, so you can see what happened to them in the end. This was a sweet romance with some steamy scenes, and you can always rely on Kendall for a good story.

Title: Flirting with Forever

Author: Kendall Ryan

Year of publication: Out today! The author kindly gave me a copy to read and review.

The heroine: Marketing executive Natalie Moore

The hero: Paediatrician Camden Carter

The blurb: I’ve waited years for the perfect girl, yet she was right in front of me all along.

My best friend, Natalie, has been by my side through everything. Leaning on my shoulder, borrowing my sweatshirts…and making my pants too tight when she flashes me that sassy smile that drives me crazy.

But she has no idea about that last part. She doesn’t have a clue I’ve felt this way about her for years.

Until one night after too many cocktails, we fall into bed together.

I’m flirting with my forever…she just doesn’t know it yet.

Standalone or series: Standalone.

The review: This book is my my all-time favourite trope: best friends to lovers, so I knew I was going to love it before I even turned a page!

Camden, Jack and Natalie have been best friends since they were teenagers. Now they’re approaching thirty, their friendship is still as strong as ever, but they are all starting to feel unsettled at their disastrous love lives. Jack is a player who’s just been dumped; Cam’s work keeps him so busy he doesn’t have time for a love life; and Natalie can’t seem to find a man to settle down with.

Cam and Jack came up with a pact when they were sixteen: neither of them would pursue Natalie romantically. She’s just treated as one of the boys, and that has worked for over a decade. But suddenly, Cam sees Natalie in a different light, and he finds himself having to fight his attraction to her. For her part, Natalie has become very aware of Cam, of how gorgeous and thoughtful as sweet he is. She makes a comment about what an incredible boyfriend he’ll make someone one day, and then realises she wants to be that someone.

When Natalie admits she’s going through a dry spell sexually, because she and Cam have the kind of friendship where they can talk to each other about anything, they find themselves alone one night and he breaks the spell for her with his mouth. From there, it’s inevitable that they’re going to end up in bed together, even though they both try to fight it. When Jack catches them the morning after they finally give in to their desire for each other, Cam and Natalie expect the worst. Will Jack approve? Will Cam and Natalie find their happy ever after in each other? You’ll have to read it and find out, but you can never go wrong with a book by Kendall Ryan.

Title: Mister Tonight

Author: Kendall Ryan

Year of publication: Released today! The author kindly gave me an ARC to read for review.

The heroine: Gossip columnist Kate (last name not revealed)

The hero: Civil engineer Hunter (last name not revealed)

The blurb: Last night was the most embarrassing night of my life.

I was that girl.

You know, the highly intoxicated chick celebrating her thirtieth birthday with her two best friends—who are happily married. And the more I drank, the more I wanted to do something reckless to celebrate.

By reckless, I mean the sexy and alluring man dressed in a business suit standing near the bar. You know his type—tall, dark, handsome. I was sure he was out of my league, but I’d had just enough alcohol that things like that no longer seemed to matter. I’m not fat, mind you, but you can tell I like french fries, so there’s that.

He took me home, and I enjoyed the hottest birthday sex of my life. Well, until it came to a screeching and rather unwelcome halt.

There’s nothing quite like being interrupted mid-ride with a little voice asking, “What are you doing to my daddy?”

Just kill me now . . . or so I thought.

Come to find out, the man I rode like a bull at the rodeo is my new landlord.

Standalone or series: Standalone

The review: On the eve of her thirtieth birthday, Kate decides to find someone to have birthday sex with. She’s looking for Mister Tonight, not Mister Forever, because she doesn’t do relationships. After several failed relationships and watching her sister’s marriage to her soul mate fall apart, she’s convinced there’s no such thing as true love, so she only has casual hook-ups.

When she sees Hunter across the bar she’s at with her two best friends, she decides he’s Mister Tonight. They talk and have a drink, and she goes home with him. On the way there, he mentions he has a child. Hunter is a single father to four-year-old Maddie. When they get to Hunter’s place, they don’t waste much time and before you know it, Kate’s having the best sex of her life.

It all comes to a crashing halt when a small voice asks Kate what she’s doing to her daddy. Yep, the noise that Kate and Hunter were making woke Maddie up, and she’s come to investigate. Kate is mortified, dressed and gone within minutes, leaving poor Hunter not only unsatisfied but having to explain to his daughter what he was doing.

Kate is thankful she’ll never have to run into Hunter again after the embarrassing end to the night, so the next morning she takes one of her friends to the new apartment she’s leased. It’s above a garage behind the landlord’s house. As they near the new place, Kate can’t help but feel like the location is familiar… and then she discovers that her new landlord is none other than Hunter.

She loves the apartment and the renovations he’s done to it, so they agree to put their first night behind them and be friends. Kate prays that Maddie doesn’t recognise her in daylight, but she’s underestimated the memory of a four-year-old and Maddie delivers the best lines of the book when she sees Kate moving in. Maddie is resentful of Kate, because she thinks the new neighbour was hurting her father, but Kate manages to get Maddie to warm up to her by spending time with her and doing activities together. Kate and Hunter can’t seem to stay away from each other and end up having sex again a few times (despite their assurances they won’t again), and eventually the three of them go on outings together. The longer they’re around each other, the more Kate realises that she’s fallen in love with Hunter. She’s freaked out by that at first, because she didn’t think she wanted the whole family thing, but comes to realise that’s exactly what she wants.

Fortunately, Hunter feels the same, but they’re both nervous about breaking the news to Maddie that they’re a couple. She responds in typical four year old fashion: “Well, duh!”. Another winner from Kendall Ryan; this book will both make you laugh out loud and melt your heart.

Title: Bro Code

Author: Kendall Ryan

Year of publication: 2018

The heroine: Factory owner Ava Saunders

The hero: Corporate lawyer Barrett Wilson

The blurb: There’s pretty much only one rule when you’re a guy. Don’t be a douche. Turns out, the fastest way to break that rule is to fall for your best friend’s sister.

Ava’s brilliant, sharp-tongued, gorgeous, and five years younger than me. She’s the sexual equivalent of running with scissors. In a word, she’s dangerous. And completely off-limits. Falling for her could ruin everything.

Yet I can’t seem to stop, even when her company is threatened by a lawsuit, and my promotion hinges on representing the opposing client—and winning. I can’t see a way out of this mess that doesn’t end in a broken friendship, a broken heart, or a ruined career.

I may have broken the bro code when I fell for Ava. But do I have the balls to handle what comes next?

Standalone or series: Standalone

The review: Of all the books I’ve read by Kendall, I think Barrett is my favourite hero. He’s gorgeous. He and Nick Saunders have been best friends since they were kids, and Nick’s family have treated him as one of their own. When Nick’s father died, his mother remarried and had two children, and Barrett feels like an outsider when he’s around them. So he feels much closer to the Saunders family.

He put himself through law school and is on track to make partner at a big law firm in Chicago. He makes time to go back to Indiana, a three hour drive away, to attend a retirement party for Mr Saunders. Dad has had to retire because of a heart attack and is passing the reins of the family factory on to Ava, who has moved back home to run it. The most important thing to Ava is to keep the factory running because the workers there are like family and her father worked hard to keep everyone their jobs.

However, when Ava takes over, she doesn’t realise how badly the company is doing. If she doesn’t turn things around, she’ll have to close the factory and everyone will lose their jobs. They’re depending on her to save them.

When Barrett sees Ava again, the desire for her that he’s felt for years flares up again. When Ava walks in on him coming out of the shower, she can’t keep her eyes off him for one very obvious – and big – reason. Ava wants Barrett. Barrett wants Ava. But there’s the bro code, in which one does not have sex with their best friend’s sister.

Barrett tries to resist her but he can’t, and they have hot sex. When he goes back to Chicago, he invites Ava to join him there one weekend, and she goes. They both know this can’t be a long term thing – work would preclude that – but they can’t stay away from each other.

When one of the workers is involved in a serious accident, Ava and the company are sued. To add to Ava’s misery, some sleazeball named Roland is trying to launch a hostile takeover. He makes her an offer for the factory and claims he’ll guarantee everyone’s jobs but Ava doesn’t trust him. In desperation, she goes to Chicago to ask Barrett for help with the paperwork Roland has issued… only to find out that Barrett wrote it in the first place, as Roland is his client.

Ava flees, telling Barrett she hates him. Barrett realises he has to choose – his job or Ava. He makes his choice, ropes in Nick after confessing all, and helps his girl save her factory so they can have their happy ending. I adored Barrett. He was torn between his job and Ava, and he was so completely likeable that you just wanted to give him a hug. As always, there a few funny scenes where you’ll laugh out loud. I think this is my favourite book by Kendall so far 🙂

Title: Baby Daddy

Author: Kendall Ryan

Year of publication: 2018

The heroine: Bookstore owner Jenna Porter

The hero: CEO Emmett Smith

The blurb: We met in a trapped elevator.

Emmett was on his way to work, sophisticated and handsome in his tailored suit and tie.

I was on my way to the sperm bank. Awkward, right?

At thirty-five, my life hadn’t taken the path I thought it would and I was tired of waiting—I wanted a baby. And I was ready to take matters into my own hands to make it happen.

After our ill-fated elevator encounter, Emmett insisted on taking me to dinner—he also insisted on something else—that I ditch my plan involving a turkey baster and let him do the job. He would be my baby daddy. He was a wealthy and powerful CEO with little interest in diapers or playdates. And since he didn’t want kids, I’d be on my own once his bun was in my oven, free to go my own way.

But once his baby was inside me, it was like a switch had been flipped, and I got a whole lot more than I ever bargained for.

Standalone or series: Standalone

The review: This is the second Kendall Ryan book I’ve read, and just like the first one it was in equal parts hilarious and sweet.

Jenna is thirty-five and has given up on meeting Mr. Right, so she decides to fulfil her desire to be a mother by going to a sperm bank. On her way to the clinic, Emmett Smith steps into the elevator, and it breaks down as they’re on their way up. While stuck, Jenna confides in Emmett – a complete stranger – about why she’s in the building, and by the time they get out of the elevator he’s persuaded her to delay her appointment and have dinner with him.

Emmett thinks his proposal is perfect. At thirty-eight, he doesn’t want a family because he’s married to his job as CEO of the company he inherited from his father. He’s attracted to Jenna, so he proposes that he’ll get her pregnant the old-fashioned way – she gets the baby she wants, he gets to have sex with an attractive woman and everyone is happy.

Jenna eventually agrees, contracts are signed that Emmett will walk away once the baby is conceived and the baby making commences. Somewhere along the way, though, the lines they set up become blurred and both of them come to realise they don’t want to follow the rules of the deal. But when Jenna finds out Emmett is the CEO of the company who’s been trying to buy her bookstore for months, will she ever forgive him?

I really liked both Jenna and Emmett, and found myself really wanting them to fall in love and be together. If you haven’t read any Kendall Ryan books, you should. Start with this one. It’s a great read!