Hi, lovelies! It gives me great pleasure today to host Amber
Malloy and her new book, “Winning Her”!
For other stops on her Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click
on the banner above or any of the images in this post.
Be sure to make it to the
end of this post to enter to win a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!! Also, come back daily to interact with Amber
and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks for stopping
by! Wishing you lots of luck in this
fabulous giveaway!
Winning Her
by Amber Malloy
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GENRE: Sports Romance
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BLURB:
In
the span of a year, Bane Carter acquired a new job, his brother’s four kids, a
crappy nanny and, worst of all, his ex-wife. What could possibly go wrong?
Rule
number one—never help an ingrate! Ignoring that hard-learned lesson put Dahl
Baby Hamilton straight in the path of her famous ex. All she has to do is save
her cousin’s failing restaurant, First Down, then she can go back to her
fabulous life. But the main financier—Bane Carter, her ex—finds out and decides
to make her life a living hell. Either she becomes the personal chef for an
ailing house manager, one neglectful nanny and his four charges or risk having her
reputation ruined. What’s an award-winning chef to do when her sexy ex-husband
is blackmailing her?
The
only black GM in the league, former football hero Bane Carter has his work cut
out for him. It’s bad enough that he has to navigate around a dysfunctional
team, but the recent passing of his brother and his wife have given him full
guardianship of their kids. On top of all that, the last thing he needs is to
bump into the woman who broke his heart at the worst possible time—the
beginning of his career.
After
two failed marriages, Bane realizes he has always been searching for the one
who got away the first time. Of course, he doesn’t expect to find her in the
same city, let alone cooking in his restaurant.
Reader advisory: This book contains references to a seriously
mentally ill parent requiring a minor to take on a caring role. There are
implied references to suicide via gunshot. There are also references to sex
work, sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape, and scenes involving sexual
harassment, violence and burglary.
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EXCERPT ONE:
From
the minute Dahl Hamilton had stepped into First Down’s kitchen, she’d worked
nonstop. Tasked with fixing the failing restaurant, she’d barely seen the
inside of her fabulous downtown loft, let alone her sweet, sweet bed. After
having labored in the kitchen for more than two months, she was finally seeing
all her hard work paying off.
The
Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times, among other publications, had awarded First Down
stellar reviews. Since the papers had hit the newsstands, customer attendance
had shot up by more than fifty percent. If everything worked out, she could
leave before autumn to work on more personal projects.
As
Dahl topped off the dessert plate with her ‘D’ embellishment, the incessant
ringing of someone’s cell caught her attention. That was a definite no-no in
the kitchen. She requested the name of the offender.
“Marco!”
the kitchen staff of twenty screamed in unison.
“You
know the deal.” Before Dahl plated one perfect, mouth-watering slice of
tiramisu cake, she pointed at the fine jar. The funds went toward their holiday
festivities. At this rate, First Down’s Christmas party would be one for the
history books.
“Smaller
cuts,” she advised her assistant at the next station over. The restaurant had a
full house, so the staff needed to move fast to keep up. During all the chaos,
she found time to teach the newbies a trick or two. “Use your wrist. No one
wants to bite a chunk of onion on their first date.”
Breaking
her signature snicker-cookie in half, she placed it on top of the whipped cream
ruffle.
“Hello,
Dolly. I wanted to make changes to the menu.” The office manager, Beth, breezed
into the kitchen. “Can we talk out back?”
She
slapped the woman’s hand away before she could grab the leftover half of the
cookie. “It’s just ‘Dahl’…and no.” She’d taken this consulting gig to help out
her cousin. Nothing in the fine print read that she had to take orders from
their idiot manager.
“We
can’t go outside—or we can’t change the menu?” she asked in that snooty,
superior tone.
Dahl
handed the dessert off to the server and faced Beth. “To both… It’s no to
both.”
“But
Melanie told me to tell you—” Dahl held up her hand to kill the twit’s whining.
She didn’t have the time. Instead, she went back to the orders. Soon the team
would be able to catch their own mistakes. Busy checking the tickets against
the meals, she missed the hush that fell over the kitchen. The usual clanging
of pots and silly banter flipped into a strange vacuum of silence.
“Why
are you here?” His deep, steely voice sent tingles up her spine. Dahl gazed at
the six-foot-seven wall of well-dressed, muscled sexy.
Against
her will, she smiled. “Hi,” she said.
Better
looking than any action star, Bane’s good genes were wasted on football, in
Dahl’s opinion. He should have gotten out years ago, but nope… Little boys grow
up to be big men with dreams that become everyone else’s nightmares.
“Once
again, why are you here?” Bane Carter asked. Her ex-husband smelled amazing.
“That’s
a loaded question, Mr. Carter. I’m going to need an assist.”
“What?”
“Maybe
rephrase…” She wiped her hands on her apron and leaned against the counter.
“Are you asking why am I in Chicago, why am I in the restaurant or why am I
still breathing? The throbbing vein in the middle of your forehead is screaming
that it’s the latter.”
Stepping
closer, he filled in the space between them. “Pick one through three,” he
growled.
Unable
to hide her nerves, she laughed. The attack of childish giggles overwhelmed
her. It often happened at the most inopportune times and she couldn’t help it.
His handsome face went blank before he abruptly turned and walked away. As
general manager for the Mavericks football team, Bane probably didn’t get
challenged very often—or most likely ever.
He
turned and left, as quickly as he’d come. Dahl sighed. After all these years,
she’d thought she was over him. “Okay, everyone, back to work!”
“Was
that Bane Win—?”
“Yep,”
she cut off her sous chef in an effort to deter any more questions.
“Did
anyone notice how fast Bad-management Beth dipped out when he came in?”
The
team laughed—but Dahl didn’t join them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This book is exciting, intriguing, and gripping! This book is full of romance, hope,
forgiveness, redemption, and second chances.
This
book comes with a reader advisory that states this book includes references to
suicide, prostitution, sexual harassment, sexual assault, rape, violence, and
burglary. Normally with such a strong
reader warning I probably would have passed on reading this book. As a survivor, I don’t tend to read such
graphic books. However, I love sports
romance books and the blurb sounded quite interesting, so I decided to give it
a shot.
Yes,
this book does contain the above mentioned, and I was very thankful for the
author being considerate enough to issue such a notification. However, what wasn’t included in the warning
that I was shocked to find was explicit sex scenes, profanity, and many expletives. I am not a prude, but this book definitely
had me blushing lol…
I love sports romance books!
I’m a sporty girl and I think sports are a great way to stay active and
meet new people – perhaps even a cute guy!
These books are easy to relate to and connect with!
I
really loved Bane stepping up to take care of his brother’s four children after
his brother and his wife pass. He is persistent
on keeping all the kids together and trying to make things comfortable, safe,
and welcoming for them.
I
really liked that both main characters were such strong, driven, successful, stubborn,
tenacious, and at the top of their fields.
It was inspiring to see such a power couple making it work in both their
home and professional lives.
Dahl
and Bane are both quite headstrong and there is some hilarious witty banter
between the two! Plus, I enjoyed their
viewpoints on how their previous relationship actually ended. It’s funny what little things you remember
and how time passes can change the story and what you remember!
This book also has a second chance theme – which is another fav
of mine!
So, a sports romance, a cooking theme, and second chances – this
book definitely has a lot of positives and winning sections!
I really liked the story line concept and found it very
intriguing!
I am
a huge sports fan and follow football, so I was excited to read this book about
a former football hotshot who is now the GM.
It is clear that author is also a sports fan and knows her football! I liked that she was able to convey football
terms that were easy to understand for even a novice, but were not
dumbed-down. She kept the true essence
of the sport in her writing.
There
is only one other dig I have is that I felt this book had a strong, domineering
male POV in the writing style. It felt
like many of the scenes with Bane were arrogant, cocky, cavalier, locker room
antics. Bane slapping that ass and often dropping f-bombs.
For example, a line from the book when Bane is talking to Warner: “Man,
at least I break them in slow. These new agents fuck them with no lube—or even condoms,
for that matter. It’s just a real rough ride.” Warner laughed. (Mallory
102). It seemed offensive, misogynistic, over the top, and inappropriate at times.
There are some
predictable scenes. However, there are
still a few very unexpected twists and turns that you won’t see coming!
This book is Book One in
the Perfect Stats Book Series. It can be
read as a standalone.
Please note that this book is strongly rated 18+ as it contains
adult situations, adult language, intense sexual content, etc., and of course
the author’s noted warning of additional heavy content.
All in all, there were just a few hang-ups for me, but overall,
I still enjoyed reading this book and would still recommend it! I think all sports romances readers will like
this book too! So, add it to your TBR
List and get to reading – you won’t be disappointed!
**Disclaimer: I received a
complimentary copy of this book and have voluntarily provided an honest, and
unbiased review in accordance with FTC regulations.**
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR BIO:
Amber Malloy dreamed of being a double
agent but couldn't pass the psyche evaluation. Crushed by despair that she
couldn't legally shoot things, Amber pursued her second career choice as pastry
chef. When she's not writing or whipping up a mean Snickers Cheesecake, she
occasionally spies on her sommelier. Amber is convinced he's faking his French
accent.
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CONNECT WITH AMBER:
Twitter:
Goodreads Author Page:
Goodreads Book Page:
Amazon Author Page:
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BOOK BUY LINKS:
Amazon Kindle eBook:
Amazon Paperback:
Barnes and Noble Paperback:
Kobo eBook:
The Book Depository Paperback:
BAM! Books-A-Million Paperback:
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Amber will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to
a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase is made, I may receive a small commission to help support this
blog. This does not cost you anything,
it just helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**
This contest is sponsored
by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish
Promotions. Prizes are given away by the
sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish
Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
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