Bad to the Bone by Nicki Bennett

A second chance at first love—if he has the courage to take it.

Alex can’t think of himself as anything but a failure. In high school, he was on the fast track to a career in pro football when he forged an unlikely friendship with a half-Comanche boy from the wrong part of town, Ricky Lee Jennings. Their shared love of books could have grown into more—but a homophobic teammate attacked Ricky Lee, and Alex wouldn’t risk his scholarship to defend him. Ricky Lee was kicked out of school, and Alex never heard from him again.

Now Alex’s glory days are nothing but a memory. An injury ended his football aspirations, his marriage fell apart, and his dreams of making a difference as an environmental lobbyist are as dead as his fantasies of sports stardom.

But all that could change in one magical night, when Ricky Lee shows up at their high-school reunion.

Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
iTunes  ~  Kobo  ~  Dreamspinner Press

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Sarah – ☆☆☆☆
This is a sweet, second chance romance between two high school friends who find each other again at their school reunion.

As adults, Alex has settled into the small town they grew up in and he runs his family’s hardware business with his sister. After being chased out of town as a teenager, Ricky Lee now lives in Portland and works in the tech industry.

As a Dreamspun Desires story, the book has lashings of drama, more than a little glamour, and a hint of a Cinderella story underneath it all. Alex and Ricky Lee are both a little bit too perfect and their high school nemesis and his friends are a little bit too horrible – but it all works in a classic Harlequin romance sort of way.

I actually found some of the supporting characters more interesting than Alex and Ricky Lee. I really enjoyed Alex’s sister, his cop best friend, and Ricky’s assistant. There is a crime story subplot that felt a little bit over the top but on the whole, this is an entertaining, if slightly fluffy read.

Growing up in Chicago, Nicki Bennett spent every Saturday at the central library, losing herself in the world of books. A voracious reader, she eventually found it difficult to find enough of the kind of stories she liked to read and decided to start writing them herself.

Connect with Nicki

Facebook  ~  Goodreads

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Bad to the Bone by Nicki Bennett to read and review.