Monday, February 9, 2015

Too Hot to Handle by Katie Rose Blog Tour


Katie Rose’s Boys of Summer series returns for a delicious double-header—with the story of total opposites who are drawn to each other like moths to a flame.

Nikki Case is no fan of baseball. Her ex gambled away a fortune on the sport, and now her PR firm has tasked her with cleaning up the league’s most notorious bad boys. The New Jersey Sonics are known for wild womanizing and booze-fueled brawls, so Nikki expects the worst. Her first stop in the battle to win hearts and minds is star hitter Jake Baldwin—a legendary ladies man so smokin’ he threatens to melt her tough-girl armor.

Although his teammates prank her without mercy, Jake admires the way Nikki gives as good as she gets. She may be the queen of frost, but there’s kindling beneath those sultry curves—and he’s just the man to ignite it. But when a PR nightmare lands the Sonics in headlines across the country, Nikki is ready to walk. Only then does Jake realize how important she is to the Sonics’ success—and that winning the love of a good woman is no game.

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http://amzn.to/1yb0h5e
Book 2
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo




“I wouldn’t say I could get any girl,” Jake drawled, obviously pleased with himself. “Just the ones I go after.”

“Hey Jake, did you hear about the new—” Jimmy stopped when Ryan caught his eye and discreetly shook his head in the negative.

Before he could spill the beans about their PR rep, Ryan said quickly, “I’d like to put a wager on that.”

“On what?” Jake lazily lifted the brim of his cap.

“What you just said. I bet I could name a girl you couldn’t get, no matter what.”

Jake rose, aware that Jimmy Reilly had exchanged a secretive glance with Ryan. Even young Brian McCauley, who had just come up from the minors, seemed in on the fun. But none of that was enough to shake his confidence.

“Who’re we talking about and what’s the bet?”

“The wager is for your jersey.” Ryan glanced at Brian. “McCauley there used to be number eleven. He’d like to wear it again. You lose and he does.”

Almost imperceptibly, Jake paled. Eleven had been his number ever since he started in the majors. Like most ballplayers, he was superstitious. He couldn’t picture starting over with anything else on his back, ever. But his rep was on the line. Taking a deep breath, he nodded.

“Okay. And if I win?”

The first baseman hesitated. Jake had a lucrative contract with the Sonics. Anything he wanted, he could buy . . .

“Your locker,” Jake answered for him, and got a shit-eating grin on his boyish face.

It was Ryan’s turn to look uncertain. As the oldest member of the team, he’d been grandfathered in on the best of everything. The softest towels were his, the later time slot for batting practice, and the biggest locker. Back at their ballpark in Trenton, it was positioned right next to the showers, and easily twice the size of everyone else’s.

“Worried?” Jake’s smile grew impossibly deeper.

Ryan glanced outside. Ms. Case was talking firmly with Pete. The older man’s shoulders visibly sagged in defeat as he nodded and followed her back to the netting behind home plate.

“Not at all.” It was Ryan’s turn to grin.

“So who’s the girl?” Jake asked smugly. As far as he was concerned, the locker was already his.

Ryan nodded in the direction of the head coach and indicated the woman beside him. “Her. Nikki Case. She’s our new PR rep.”




Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Shannan☆☆☆☆☆
I absolutely love this series. When you combine two of my favorite things, baseball and reading, you definitely get a grand slam! You can feel the author's love of the game come through the writing. The characters are so well developed. You feel invested in them within the first few pages. Too Hot to Handle is the second in the series but can be read as a standalone.

The New Jersey Sonics are known for their morals being less than the league standard. They are the team of misfits, the bullies. The star of the team, Jake Baldwin, is the bad boy, the forever bachelor. He always has a different girl on his arm. When the owners want to clean up their image, show that they are the next big thing, they hire PR rep Nikki Case. She puts rules into effect that make the players less than pleased. They see her as the ice princess, the enemy. Can a simple bet between players have her cracking her shell? Or will it all crumble when she finds out the truth?

This series is worth the read. Can’t wait for more.


Veronica☆☆☆☆
Too Hot to Handle is an entertaining sports romance. Nikki is an intelligent, successful, hardworking, and beautiful woman. It can be challenging to work in a male dominated field like baseball. The Sonics give Nikki a hard time and the practical jokes they play are amusing but she handles herself well and doesn't scare easily.

Sexy shortstop Jake didn't endear himself to me at the beginning of this story. He is introduced as a playboy but the dual point of view allows us into Jake's head and it didn't take long before I fell in love with him – just like Nikki.

But events unfold that had me hating Jake and I got very angry with him and I wanted to growl and throw my e-reader. But all's well that ends well and he got back in my good graces but there wasn't nearly enough grovelling. Also some of Jake's dialogue toward the end is really corny.

I'm definitely going to continue with this series and I'm hoping that at some point the author will write Pete's story for us (hint, hint Ms. Rose).


Angela☆☆☆☆☆
So I had to go back and read my review of Bring on the Heat prior to starting this book because even though I knew I enjoyed it, I couldn’t remember what it was about beyond the baseball aspect. After doing so, I was able to recall details about some of the characters in the book, which helped me as I delved into Too Hot to Handle and even though I didn’t really remember Jake, I was looking forward to another sweet romance. I must admit that while Jake can be quite sweet and caring, the romance between him and Nikki was HOT, not sweet and I’m not complaining one bit.

Nikki runs her own PR firm and is considered one of the best in the business for rebranding a person or organization’s image. When she agrees to help rebrand the New Jersey Sonics to get rid of their reputation as one of the league’s bullies and turn them into role models, Nikki has no idea of just how deep into her bag of tricks she’ll have to dig to make this job is a success. Not only is she up against the team’s resentful communications director, she also has to deal with a team full of men who often resort to adolescent pranks and prove more than once that they can throw a tantrum that rivals that of a two-year-old. While I understood Nikki’s frustration, I found myself snorting at the men’s antics more than once. However, her biggest obstacle is protecting her heart from Jake, the team’s playboy who accepts a bet to win her heart so that he can win the bigger locker and bragging rights. As expected, the playboy finds himself falling for the girl and soon forgets all about the bet as he gets to know Nikki. Of course any lover of romance books or movies knows that taking part in such a bet always comes back to bite our Hero on the arse and Jake is no exception.

I absolutely loved Jake and Nikki. I could feel their chemistry coming off the page and the sex scenes were freaking hot … almost too hot to handle (you know I had to go there). Much like Chase did in the first book, Jake also experienced some serious character development, especially in regards to his relationship with his mother and how it was affecting his ability to commit (<= not mommy issues though). And while Ms. Rose let fans of the series catch up with Darcy and Chase, this book is written so that it stands on its own. My only disappointment with Too Hot to Handle is that we didn’t get to see John get his comeuppance – hopefully that’ll happen sooner rather than later. I have added yet another book to my reread shelf and the wait now begins for Ms. Rose to release the next book in The Boys of Summer series.


Ruthie☆☆☆☆
This is the second book in the series – and I reviewed and enjoyed the first, so I was delighted to get to read Too Hot to Handle and share my thoughts on it. I think you could read this as a standalone, but if you are into sports romance, then why not start with book 1?

I really enjoyed the PR work to transform the team, and their retaliation measures! That Jake was so stuck in the middle added to the fun. It wasn't all that surprising that the bet became an issue, but I liked the way it was resolved. Hot guys, good sport and plenty of sizzling chemistry combine to make this a very enjoyable read. I am looking forward to the next installment already!


Also Available in The Boys of Summer Series

http://amzn.to/1A3dCzb
Book 1
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  iTunes

For reviews and more info, check out our stop on the
Bring on the Heat Blog Tour.




Award-winning historical author Katie Rose makes her contemporary debut with the Boys of Summer novels, Bring on the Heat and Too Hot to Handle, which combine Katie’s true loves: baseball and romance! When not watching baseball, Katie is at her lake house in New Jersey, hard at work on her next book.

Connect with Katie

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads



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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Too Hot to Handle (The Boys of Summer #2) by Katie Rose to read and review for this tour.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you so much for hosting TOO HOT TO HANDLE!! Great reviews ladies!

    ReplyDelete

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