Blog Tour:Excerpt and Review: Hat Trick by Liz Crowe

Author: Liz Crowe

Publisher: Tri Destiny Publishing

Release Date: July 7, 2015

Detroit’s expansion pro team has a hot star forward, fresh from the English Premiere League. Thanks to a series of fatal misunderstandings coupled with his famous temper, Declan MacGuire only has one thing left to him—soccer—and he’s determined not to make the same mistakes in his new life stateside. 

Emily Keller, an accidental low-level PR flunkie for the team watches as Declan gets sucked into a whirlwind romance with Cassandra Dean, the team’s Queen Bee groupie, trying not to be jealous while the woman maneuvers him into a sickeningly familiar situation.

When things escalate, the team is forced to take sides, and Declan faces the toughest choice of his life.

Hat Trick is the 4th book in the Black Jack Gentlemen series and the first one that I have read.  Although it is supposed to work well as a stand alone, I did fell like I as missing some back story with some of the characters and with the soccer team.  I really wanted to like this book.  I even read it all the way through hoping that I would ultimately like the story.  Honestly, I really didn't.  Just a warning there may be a couple spoilers in this review, so stop reading if you aren't a fan of them.

I'll start by saying that the writing style was fine.  I didn't mind the back and forth between Emily and Declan's point of view. In fact, that is a style that I enjoy. The problem was that none, and I mean none, of the characters were likable.  I also kept looking for the love story, but never really felt like I got it.  In  fact through most of the book Declan and Emily are with other people.  The story takes place over several years and shows the struggles each has with their horrid relationships.  Then it felt like all of a sudden Declan and Emily are friends, lovers and getting married. 

It seemed like there weren't many characters that displayed respectful behavior toward anyone.  I couldn't reconcile Declan's behavior when he first finds out about Cassandra's cheating.  Instead of breaking things off, he forces her to have sex with him and still wants to marry her.  Huh?  She slept with other men on your soccer team!  That is just gross. In fact, the entire team disgusted me.  How can they play well together and function as a team when they are screwing each other over off the field?  Then his behavior after he caught her the second time was just not acceptable nor justifiable.  I don't care what Cassandra did,bad as it was, it didn't excuse his behavior. Emily is just as bad.  After finding out that her husband was a cheater, she has revenge sex with the pool boy, then asks for a divorce.  I was stunned by Marcus's confession about what he didn't do regarding the divorce.  Can that even happen?  Wouldn't she realize that she never got a decree from the courts?

I could go on, but I won't.  I have seen rave reviews for this story, so maybe I'm missing something.  I just can't get behind a book when I don't respect any of the characters.  If you are a fan of the series, then you'll probably like this one.  It just wasn't for me.

Excerpt:

Declan grabbed his teammate’s arm and shoved him through the locker room door. “Don’t flirt with that poor girl, mate. She’s besotted with your sorry, diseased self. Don’t make it worse.”

Coop yanked his arm out of Declan’s grip and glared at him. “Fuck off, Scotty.”

Declan’s hackles rose, but not nearly as much as they normally would have. It was as if the past seventy-two hours had been a sort of temper purge, leaving him deflated, not his usual prickly self.

“I saw you doing the same with Emily, the hot PR cougar. She loves to pamper her pet.”

“Her what?” He was yanking off his tie and coat and wasn’t sure he’d heard the guy correctly.

“You, my fine troublemaking friend, are Emily Keller’s pet. Her toy. Her fantasy player, whatever.”

“You’re full of shite.” But his face burned hot yet again at the idea that Emily considered him anything but the latest in a long line of problem children for her particular function—that of shielding the team from the bright light of negative media attention. He was putting his shoes inside his locker when the door flew open, revealing his two coaches, Metin the Turk and Rafe the South American.

“MacGuire,” Rafe barked. “Office. Now.”

Dec looked around as if perchance there might be another “MacGuire” in a shit ton of trouble. Coop turned away from him and stripped out of his shirt. He noted all the other players similarly ignoring him like the leper he was.

Jason met his eyes from down the row of men in various stages of undressing. The place was so quiet he could hear melting ice in the baths next to the locker room. Both Metin and Rafe stood in their suits, arms crossed over chests, identically dark eyes narrowed and focused on him.

“Okay,” he muttered under his breath. He’d already begun taking off his shirt so he slid his arms out of it and was hanging it on the hook designed for the daily dress shirt when a throat clearing behind him made him stop and turn. Desmond, the tall, dark and legal, had joined the coaches.

“You can leave your shirt on, Dec,” the man intoned in his James Earl Jones voice. “You won’t be practicing today.”

About the author:

Amazon best-selling author, mom of three, Realtor, beer blogger, brewery marketing expert, and soccer fan, Liz Crowe is a Kentucky native and graduate of the University of Louisville currently living in Ann Arbor. She has decades of experience in sales and fund raising, plus an eight-year stint as a three-continent, ex-pat trailing spouse.

Her early forays into the publishing world led to a groundbreaking fiction hybrid, “Unconventional Romance. Worth the Risk,” which has gained thousands of fans and followers interested less in the “HEA” and more in the “WHA” (“What Happens After?”).

With stories set in the not-so-common worlds of breweries, on the soccer pitch, in successful real estate offices and at times in exotic locales like Istanbul, Turkey, her books are unique and told with a fresh voice. The Liz Crowe backlist has something for any reader seeking complex storylines with humor and complete casts of characters that will delight, frustrate and linger in the imagination long after the book is finished.

Don’t ever ask her for anything “like a Budweiser” or risk bodily injury. 

 Connect with Liz:

Website -  http://lizcrowe.com/

Beer, Books & More Blog - http://www.brewingpassion.com/

Facebook Fan Page - https://www.facebook.com/lizcroweauthor

Facebook Chat Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/lizcrowefans

Twitter Feed - https://twitter.com/beerwencha2

Amazon Author Page - http://www.amazon.com/Liz-Crowe/e/B00573TC7M/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1436316534&sr=8-1

Goodreads Page - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4350864.Liz_Crow

Beer Blog - http://www.a2beerwench.com/

Sign Up for Liz Newz - http://lizcrowe.com/newsletter-signup/

Buy links:

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25593655-hat-trick?ac=1

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Trick-Black-Jack-Gentlemen-Book-ebook/dp/B00ZVZIQRS/ref=sr_1_7_twi_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1435677893&sr=8-7&keywords=hat+trick

Blog Tour & Author Spotlight: Realtor series by Liz Crowe

Today we welcome author Liz Crowe who is promoting her new series, The Realtor Series: Life in the House Lane

About the series:

The Realtors:  Life in the House Lane

Love is an easy word to use, a hard one to demonstrate, and sometimes impossible to trust.

The Realtors is a sweeping epic, encompassing over ten years in the lives of two people who know how to love with their bodies, how to please and get pleasure, to control and be controlled.  When it comes to the deeper meaning of the one word they both need however, their strong personalities get in the way. While their physical connection sizzles they continue to disappoint one another emotionally.

Jack Gordon has it all--money, success, a string of women—but sustains a deep longing for something more. When he thinks he finds it with Sara Jane Thornton, his world is never the same again.  Sara releases his natural Dom, a side of him he'd thought buried out of frustration and unhappiness. Sara learns a true submissive must trust implicitly, something she cannot associate with him, no matter how many times she tries, and he fails.

With a rich cast of secondary characters, including a young man who presents a near-perfect foil to Jack's intensity, and who falls hard for Sara; The Realtors series is a romantic saga with an emphasis on contemporary life and love, with a healthy dose of white-hot eroticism. Modern, busy, driven characters living lives of purpose and real-time stress, seek the ever-elusive and highly coveted combination --a friend, lover and trusted advisor who will be there for the long haul.

Floor Time (The Realtors – Book 1): 01/23/2012

Jack Gordon is Ann Arbor's most delectable bachelor.  At age thirty-five, he's made millions as a top-selling Ann Arbor real estate broker and has the right connections to close a deal by any means necessary. With his rugged good looks and compelling personality, he has a virtual black book most men would kill for and he uses it often, never settling for one woman for very long.

While his D/s past remains buried, exactly where he wants it, an undercurrent of boredom and dissatisfaction runs through his life now.  A disastrous experience years earlier made him swear off the whole scene, but the more Jack suppresses his natural Dom, the more his frustration grows.  

Sara Thornton, a rookie in the real estate game, has fast-tracked herself to the top of the Ann Arbor market. Her life reflects a disciplined and focused routine, exactly the way she wants it.  However, as her career takes off, the fulfillment she seeks remains inexplicably out of reach.  The one thing she knows for sure, she will not join the Jack Gordon groupies in her company, no matter how tempting that might seem.

A chance encounter, then a difficult transaction, throw Jack and Sara together and the sparks fly high and hot and often. Forced to confront the compulsions that gain momentum with each sizzling encounter, their relationship seems to spiral out of control until Jack finally admits what he needs, and shows Sara what she's been missing.

Sweat Equity (The Realtors – Book 2):  02/06/2012

Jack Gordon thought he’d finally made it.  He had a wildly successful career, money in the bank and even returned to his life as Dom, putting an end to a string of unfulfilling sexual encounters. Now that he's made the ultimate commitment to Sara Thornton, he believes all is right in their world. However, a series of misunderstandings and a dose of self-fulfilling prophesy bring his perfectly crafted house of cards tumbling down around him, forcing him to confront lingering misgivings about marriage and trust.  Could those be the only two things he can never achieve?

Sara struggles with her intense need for Jack and her desire for less volatility in her busy life, two goals which appear to be mutually exclusive. Although willing to put in the time and emotional effort to make their relationship work, she finds it futile and frustrating, littered with clashes thanks to near-identical personalities and temperaments. Given Sara’s history, easing back into the comfortable status quo becomes easier than fighting a war with the one person who should be her safe haven. But will the easier choice satisfy her the way only Jack can? Is her "war" one that comes from without or within?

Buffeted by circumstance, temptation and distraction, Jack and Sara’s tenuous relationship crumbles, sparking a continuous quest for the ever elusive: trust, love and acceptance. By the time they rebuild a foundation for renewal, fate has other plans. This leaves them both reeling, once again questioning their destiny.

Closing Costs (The Realtors – Book 3):  03/02/2012

Love conquers all? Not likely, according to Sara Thornton. She's spent eight years coming to terms with the new parameters of her life while resigning herself to the idea that “happily ever afters” are best left to fairytales.  Sales manager for her successful real estate office and juggling an added element of responsibility she never thought she'd face, Sara continues to struggle with the men in her life.  Love, for her, has only meant hurt, broken trust and anger; all of which she’s completely banished from her life, so she claims.

Jack Gordon has come a long way since his early days of obsession with Sara.  As the general manager of Stewart Realty, his own level of responsibility for the well-being of others has ramped up. He’s even honed his caretaking skills, now that he has someone who loves him unconditionally.

Continuing to invest effort and rebuild their relationship, he and Sara grow close as friends. Despite this, his ultimate question remains unanswered; the one he keeps asking, no matter how many times she says no. Sara isn't prepared for the keen focus of his need--to have her back, once and for all. Her stubborn resistance nearly rips both lives apart

The epic conclusion to The Realtors series, Closing Costs brings Jack and Sara truly full circle. Proving that the heat of lust and obsession; the need for control and to be mastered in many areas of life can lead to love —surprising you when you least expect it – if you will only allow it.



About the author:

Microbrewery owner, beer blogger and journalist, mom of three teenagers, and soccer fan, Liz lives in the great Midwest, in a major college town. Years of experience in sales and fund raising, an eight-year stint as an ex-pat trailing her spouse around the world, and making her way in a world of men (i.e. the beer industry) has prepped Liz for life as erotic romance author. When she is not sweating beer inventory, sales figures or promotional efforts for her latest publication, she can be found walking her standard poodles or doing Bikram Yoga. If you want a beer education follow her beer blog:. For writing-related topics, including her backlist.

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