Wednesday, April 27, 2016

The Player and the Pixie by L.H. Cosway & Penny Reid Blog Tour


How can someone so smokin’ hot be so bad in bed? I mean, Sean Cassidy is absolute rubbish. RUBBISH. He is the epitome of walking, talking false advertising and I want a refund! Plus he’s an arsehole. So… what is wrong with me that I can’t stop thinking about him?

THE PIXIE

Lucy Fitzpatrick doesn’t like rugby.

As the little sister of Ireland’s most infamous rugby player, Lucy can’t seem to escape the championship-sized shadow cast by her big brother, or her mother’s frequent attempts to micromanage her future. Her rainbow hair is as free-spirited as her quest for inner peace, yet overbearing expectations keep bringing her down. And when she’s down, her compulsive little problem lands her in seriously big trouble.

THE PLAYER

Sean Cassidy is a cold-hearted brute… or so he’s been told. Frequently. By everyone.

His blonde locks, baby blues, and rock hard bod make ladies the world over drool with desire. As the rugby world’s second most infamous player, he should be basking in his success. But Sean has never been content settling for second place, and his frequent confrontations with Lucy’s big brother leave him cold. And when he’s cold, his compulsive little problem lands him in the lap of Lucy Fitzpatrick.

THE PLAN

Sean has a problem only Lucy can solve. Lucy has a problem only Sean can fix. The solution seems obvious: you scratch my back, and I’ll bail you out of jail. But when their business arrangement unexpectedly leaves Sean scorching hot and Lucy on the precipice of inner peace, can they convince the world—and Lucy’s big brother in particular—that this is the real deal?

Either way, both the Player and the Pixie are about to teach each other some pretty monumental lessons about family, life, but most importantly, love.

The Pixie and the Player is a full-length, romantic comedy novel, can be read as a standalone, and is the second book in the Rugby Series.

Add to Goodreads


Book 2
Buy Links

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




*Lucy*

Later that evening, I got ready for the party. My dress was cream lace, sort of floaty, and I wore my hair down with a single daisy clip at the side. I was sitting in a VIP room at the back of the venue with my brother, his fiancée Annie, and a couple of Ronan’s teammates. We were enjoying a few bottles of champagne and discussing the success the Irish squad had enjoyed during the year. Mam was elsewhere, socializing with the other team mothers, and I was glad. I just wanted to enjoy my night without her saying something about how unattractive or embarrassing I was.

We were all having a great time until the door swung open and Mr. Tall, Blond and Up Himself walked in. That would be Sean Cassidy to those not in the know, Sleazy Sean, as nicknamed by the rugby club. I tried to always see the good in people, but he and my brother didn’t have the best relationship. Not only had Sean slept with Brona, Ronan’s ex-girlfriend, but he was also universally acknowledged to be an arsehole.

It went against everything I believed in to say, because I liked to think everyone was redeemable in some way, but Sean just wasn’t a nice person. He actually seemed to be proud about the fact, like he wanted people to dislike him.

The conversation died down, everybody casting surreptitious glances at Sean who swaggered his way up to the private bar and loudly ordered a bottle of bubbly. That’s actually what he called it, but speaking of bubbly...

Almost of their own accord, my eyes wandered over his broad shoulders, muscular back, and down to what must have been the most perfect bubble butt I’d ever seen. You know how sometimes male athletes develop those really defined, rounded but masculine derrieres? Well, Sean Cassidy was most definitely rocking one of those, and I couldn’t resist the urge to ogle it. It was pure muscle and simply bite-worthy.

I snickered to myself when I realized I’d almost commented on it out loud. Okay, I’d officially had too many glasses of “bubbly” as Sean so douchebaggedly called it. He must have heard my snicker because his attention landed on me. He stared at me for a second, arched a condescending brow, then dismissed me all in an instant, returning his attention to the bar.

Huh.

After about thirty seconds everyone went back to their conversations, trying their best to ignore Sean. Ronan had told me once that Sean was the kind of person who thrived on attention, so ignoring his presence was probably the best course of action to take.

It was my own fault I couldn’t stop staring. We’d never spoken before. In fact, I’d only ever seen him from afar at parties like this one, or on television when there was a match on. But right now he was close, close enough for me to realize just how devastatingly and legitimately handsome he was: light blue eyes, a strong jaw, nice lips, attractive nose.

Sigh.

Why were the beautiful ones always such pricks, huh?

He leaned back against the bar, having uncorked the champagne bottle and poured some into a glass. He wore a shit-eating grin as he stared right at Ronan, holding the glass to his lips, his pinky popped. I knew he was getting to Ronan when my brother muttered to Annie under his breath, “Is he fucking shitting me?”






Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Stephanie☆☆☆☆
I enjoyed reading the first and was excited to get the opportunity to read and review the second in the Rugby series. Much like the first, it's sweet, sexy and includes the banter and humor that I loved in the first. Kudos to both authors. The story and characters are very well written. I really enjoyed this read.


Angela☆☆☆☆☆
Having enjoyed The Hooker and the Hermit, I was quite excited when I learned that Cosway and Reid were pairing up again to write The Player and the Pixie. As it’s been over a year since I read book one, I was relieved to learn that this book could be read as a standalone because 400+ books later, I couldn’t remember the finer details from the first book, but I did remember laughing loudly and laughing regularly while reading it. It was my hope that the authors would provide just as enjoyable of a reading experience again. And they did.

Lucy is Ronan’s little sister – Ronan being the hooker from The Hooker and the Hermit and we’re talking rugby positions, not a lady of the night. Sean is Ronan’s teammate – the one Ronan caught in a compromising position with his (Ronan’s) girlfriend, which led to their breakup. So with the stage set for Ronan’s little sister to fall in love with Ronan’s enemy, because this is a romance, that should be plenty of fodder for the couple to find themselves in humorous situations, and it was. But the authors also decided to up the ante a bit and give both characters some rather interesting baggage. As it turns out, Lucy is a kleptomaniac and Sean is shite in bed. Lucy’s compulsion to shoplift is stress driven and with her brother’s upcoming nuptials forcing her to spend more time with her mother, who is one of her biggest stressors, Lucy’s sticky fingers are out of control and Sean just so happens to catch her in the act. Now as Lucy’s fire during a recent encounter caught Sean’s interest, he blackmails her into going out to dinner with him. Sean’s baggage is a bit more than just being bad in bed, his self-image is not as confident as he leads everyone to believe because he’s been “put in his place” by his family for years and learned a long time ago how to hide it. Unfortunately, his way of hiding it means that he comes off rather rude, brutish, and insensitive, and this gets him a face full of Lucy’s drink to mark the end of their first date. But don’t despair, a series of events put Lucy back in Sean’s path and after an abysmal horizontal performance, Lucy agrees to teach Sean how to master an entirely different set of moves. Both agree to keep their arrangement a secret and to keep their hearts out of it because there is no future for Ronan’s little sister and Ronan’s enemy – at least not one together. Alas, this is a romance, so when hearts get involved, Lucy and Sean are faced with some rather excruciating decisions.

I loved the pairing of Lucy and Sean, especially as we learned more about Sean. He wasn’t at all what I expected and seeing him with his family made my heart hurt for him. In much the same way, I hurt for Lucy when I saw her dealing with the stress that was her mother. At first glance, they shouldn’t work together with her being a “colorful” pixie and him being a polished player from a well-to-do family. But they did because of what was behind the personas they presented to the public. While the authors do deliver plenty of laughs and there is no doubt that The Player and the Pixie is a romantic comedy, there were also many times that I just felt bad for the couple because every time Sean had a run-in with Ronan, we were reminded that Ronan would never accept Sean as Lucy’s significant other. Considering how much Lucy loved her brother, this left her feeling as though she had to choose between the brother she adored and a man she might be falling in love with. Sean’s feelings for Lucy meant that he hated putting her in that position, but hated the idea of not being with the woman he had fallen in love with even more. See?!?!? That’s a good dose of heartbreak mingling with the comedic moments I was regularly treated to. Obviously, as this is a romance, Lucy and Sean do find their way to one another with the help of a self-righteous shop clerk and an impromptu rugby game, but the journey is what makes the book and it’s one I’m glad I took. I do hope that Coswell and Reid team up again for another installment in the Rugby series because I would love to get to know the team better and see another “player” find himself taken out of the game.




Also Available in the Rugby Series

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

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

For reviews & more info, check out our stop on The Hooker and the Hermit Blog Tour.




L.H. Cosway

L.H. Cosway has a BA in English Literature and Greek and Roman Civilisation, and an MA in Postcolonial Literature. She lives in Dublin city. Her inspiration to write comes from music. Her favourite things in life include writing stories, vintage clothing, dark cabaret music, food, musical comedy, and of course, books.

She thinks that imperfect people are the most interesting kind. They tell the best stories.

Connect with L.H.

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Google+  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads



Penny Reid

SEX! It all started with sex, between my parents. Personally I don’t like thinking about it, but whatever works for you is a-ok with me. No judgment. The sex happened in California and much of my life also occurred in that state until I moved from the land of nuts (almonds), wine, silicon… boobs, and heavy traffic to the southeast US. Like most writers I like to write, but let’s get back to sex. Eventually I married and gave birth to 2 small people-children (boy-6, girl-4 as of this writing).

By day I’m a biomedical researcher with focus on rare diseases. By night I’m a knitter, sewer, lino block carver, fabric printer, soap maker, and general crafter. By the wee hours of the morning or when I’m intoxicated I love to listen to the voices in my head and let them tell me stories. I hope you enjoy their stories.

Connect with Penny

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Google+  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads



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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of The Player and the Pixie (Rugby #2) by L.H. Cosway & Penny Reid to read and review for this tour.

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