Release Date:
May 28, 2019
Publisher:
Montlake Romance
Summary
Heir apparent
to her father’s company, Lizzy Banks needs a man. The perfect man. But when the
rich “fundbabies” she usually rubs shoulders with prove impossible to hire, she
takes a chance on a raw beast of a man salvaged from the wreckage of a bar
brawl.
James Rowan
earns a modest income as a YouTube daredevil, but he can’t refuse Lizzy’s
million dollar deal. As she polishes his rough edges, creating a sophisticated
gentleman fit for the highest circles of society, not only does she bring out
the perfect man—it’s like she’s making the man of her dreams. How can she
resist?
Though Lizzy loves seeing James in his
clothes—and out of them—he isn’t the kind of man you bring home to Daddy. Her
father’s disapproval and the pressure of the campaign have her eyeing the
straight and narrow, but Lizzy’s finding it awfully hard to resist the devil on
her shoulder
Enjoy this excerpt!
There’s a long, almost-empty bar and a
couple of customers having nachos and chips and salsa at the tables.
But as I walk across the tilting
cement floor, every single one of those eyes is on me.
What am I doing here, again?
Oh, right. Probably trying to get
myself mugged.
Summoning my courage, I take a middle
stool at the bar and tell the bartender, who’s busy watching something on his
phone, “Tequila, the finest you have—straight up,” in a gruff voice that I hope
makes me sound like I can hold my own, in case someone is eyeing up my purse.
He doesn’t look up, merely smiles down
at whatever he’s watching as he pours me something from a bottle called
Montezuma and serves with his free hand. What the hell is Montezuma?
Great service. “Um. I
said the best you have.”
He looks up at me, finally seeing me
for the first time. A frown of annoyance on his lips. “This is the best,
princess. Also the only.”
I probably don’t want to upset him,
seeing how he has arms the size of tree trunks, covered in tattoos.
I take my shot and guzzle it down.
It’s awful, like paint thinner, squeezing tears from my eyes. Whatever. I tap
the bar for another. When my curiosity gets the best of me, I ask, “What are
you watching?”
“Jimmy.”
“Jimmy what?”
“Jimmy Rowan. The stunt guy on
YouTube? He’s going to get killed one day.”
“Hopefully not today.” I frown and
peer at the screen as he shows me. “What kind of stunts does he do anyway?
That’s so dangerous.”
He tilts his phone in my direction. A
guy in a helmet and nylon jumpsuit is throwing himself off an airplane. He’s
speaking into the camera saying, “So I was dared to pull the strings fifteen
seconds after any sane, normal human being would. So, let’s count down from
right about … now.”
My eyes widen, and my insides clutch
in concern for the idiot behind the camera.
Fourteen…
The static from the wind makes his
voice sound shattered, strained.
“Thirteen.” The bartender is counting.
I watch the idiot continue his free
fall as land grows closer beneath him.
“What an idiot,” I mumble, but I’m
still unable to take my eyes off the video.
“Five!” the bartender says. I look
away.
“Just tell me he lived.”
“Oh, he lives.” He shows me the camera
when the guy finally pulls the cord on his chute, and a few seconds later,
crashes into the ground. The guy growls, “Ouch,” then starts laughing, a low,
rumbly laugh. I can’t help but smile and shake my head.
“And he did this all because…”
“They dared him to. Five hundred
bucks.”
“He did all of that? For five hundred
bucks?”
“He gets more from the video views. A
man’s got to put food on the table.” He eyes me up and down. “Specially when he
doesn’t have a trust fund coming to him.”
Shaking my head, I push my empty glass
forward. “Bartender. Another drink. Please.”
I’m on my third.
He pours it for me. “Classy guy, that
Jimmy.”
“In what dictionary?”
He frowns as he sets his phone back
into his pocket and polishes a glass. “Huh?”
“What dictionary would define him as
classy?”
His eyes widen as if I’ve just
murmured something blasphemous. “Well, maybe not your class.
He doesn’t own a Rolls. But around here, he’s royalty. Jimmy hangs out here all
the time.” He nods at a dark corner booth situated to the right of the bar.
“His office is right over there.”
I see the cluttered tabletop and
wonder what kind of man leaves a tripod, camera, and old laptop set up in a
bar. He must trust the people who patronize this place. Either that or the
patrons fear him.
“Jimmy Rowan will do anything for a
dare—he’s a man of honor.”
“If he’d do that for five hundred,
what would he do for half a million or more?” I grumble, smiling and shaking my
head at the thought. At least I can still smile.
“He’d do anything. What? You
offering?” He eyes me with new interest, in kind of a smarmy way, as if he
thinks I’m asking to buy his services. Who the heck does he think I am? “Ladies
go for him.”
Oh god, he does think
that.
“No, thank you very much,” I
mutter. “Ladies or women? I don’t think a lot of ladies would go for someone
that foolish.”
He raises his gaze past my shoulders.
Silence falls over the room, and then the bartender murmurs, “Speak of the
devil…”
There’s a loud crash, followed by a
ruckus.
“What’s that?” I glance around at the
commotion.
The bartender smiles. “Jimmy Rowan.”
I turn my gaze to the door, and my
heart skips a beat. The tall, raw-looking sex machine the bartender refers to
doesn’t look anything like a Jimmy. The guy is too tall and eye
catching and too … well, hot.
***
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Inspection: I think it is time to sever ties with Josh Malerman. I absolutely loved Bird Box. But I have had a hard time connecting with anything else that he has written since. I was so disappointed with Inspection. I gave it about 100 pages, then gave up. It was confusing, boring and just not a good premise. Skip this one. It's not good.
Mine: I was all in with this one until the girlfriend showed up. Then it just went off the rails for me. I thought this book would go in a different direction. I couldn't get behind what the main character chose to do, so I gave up.
The Ghost Bride: I found this book confusing. It was over written and too flowery. The whole ghost bride thing was weird and not what I was expecting. I made it to the part where the main character entered the ghost realm, then I couldn't listen any more. Definitely not for me.
