Title: Red Card
Author: Carrie Aarons
Genre: New Adult Romance
Release Date: February 14, 2016
Blurb
She spent five years planning a future that will never exist. He spent five years trying to erase a past he can’t forget.
London is Leah Watson’s fresh start. When she secures the perfect internship during her study abroad semester, with an infamous celebrity public relations firm, she is determined to forge her own path - one that is nothing like her life back in Oklahoma. That plan is tested when British football’s bad boy, Killian Ramsey, decides that she's the one he wants and he's playing for keeps.
Will she put her future on hold - again - for the type of man she swore she'd stay away from?
Killian is one bloody good football player. After a tragedy shattered his entire world, the cocky and arrogant face he puts on for the media is a complete lie. When he meets Leah, his heart starts to beat for the first time in years. But when the feelings get too real, his perfectly constructed facade starts to slip.
Will he risk it all to be with her - taking whatever penalties are thrown his way - or will he play it safe?
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I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I LOVE soccer. It's my favorite sport to watch. Every 4 years when the World Cup comes around it is like Christmas for a month. So I love when an author writes a book about soccer players. But then make that soccer player a broody Alpha with a hot British accent and I am sold.
Leah is starting over. She thought the she would be spending the rest of her life as the wife of a pro (American) football player, but that is not the case. After being royally screwed over, she hops on a place to London where she will spend the semester working for celebrity PR firm. Within minutes of arriving she is thrust into a movie premiere where she becomes Killian's handler. Talk about being thrown into the deep end of a shark infested pool.
Killian Ramsey is good looking and an amazing football (soccer) player, but he is also a pretty big asshole. When he meets Leah, he immediately pisses her off and turns her on without even trying. The guy is that good. He is intrigued by Leah so he makes sure that she will spend her internship exclusively working for him. I like to call that a power play. Leah didn't have a choice and while I knew that she would be able to handle herself, I also knew that it was going to be a very interesting ride.
Killian finds Leah to be quite refreshing. She is basically the opposite of every woman he has ever been involved with and at first he thinks that her personality is an act. It doesn't take long for him to discover that isn't the case and that makes him want her even more. Professionally the two of them work pretty well together. At first Leah is a bit out of her league, but she adapts very quickly and falls into the role quite easily. Personally, Killian and Leah try to fight their attraction to each other, but them getting together is inevitable. Then the problem becomes staying together. Killian is not happy when he finds out about Leah's past and he has yet to move on from the tragedy he suffered. They pretty much get in their own way over and over again, which I found to be frustrating because I could tell that they truly did love one another.
Yes, Killian was a cranky bastard who was used to getting his way, but Leah challenged him and made him feels things he thought he would never feel again. Very early in the book Killian plays tour guide as he shows Leah around London. They had a wonderful day together and I knew right away that that was the real Killian. The one the fans saw on the field and in the limelight was just a facade. He let Leah see the real him, but the past comes back to haunt him. These two go through a lot during the course of this book and I even had a moment when I thought "Uhhhhh.....are they going to get their HEA?"
The first thing I did after I finished this book was recommend it to another soccer loving reader. Like I said earlier, we don't get too many books so I wanted to spread the word. I also went to the author's website to check out her other books since I had not read them and they are now on my TBR. I love when that happens.
The first thing I did after I finished this book was recommend it to another soccer loving reader. Like I said earlier, we don't get too many books so I wanted to spread the word. I also went to the author's website to check out her other books since I had not read them and they are now on my TBR. I love when that happens.
Excerpt
Trying to dash off to find the British Prince of Moodiness proves difficult in the six-inch stilettos the stylist had strapped onto my feet. I didn't wear clothing like this. I was the Oklahoma girlnextdoor, cute and pretty in my sundresses and boots. I didn't do skintight, short or heeled. I could hear the snickers of the PR handlers around me as I stumbled like a baby calf off of the carpet in search of my responsibility.
Turning down the block and moving away from the mayhem, I spotted a tall figure in the shadows. I'd read enough about Jack the Ripper before coming over here to be spooked, but then I saw the shine of a metal flask being raised to the lips, and I could only take one guess as to who that was.
I marched up, as best as I could in the shoes. "You need to come back and walk the red carpet."
Killian's skyblue eyes twinkled with sly amusement and barely restrained anger. "Oh, and you're going to make me, huh America's Sweetheart?"
The smell of what I'm sure was overlyexpensive whiskey blew across my face as he exhaled. He pretended to give an air of nonchalance, but I could read his body language better than he thought I could. He was so coiled and tense, he gave a cobra ready to strike a run for its money. Rage and sorrow poured off of him in waves, blanketing the dark side street in misery so abundant that I could feel it down to my bones. And something else. I don't know why it struck me, perhaps because the emotion was running through my veins as well. But this man...he was lonely.
"You're cheeky, I like that." He raised the flask in a salute to me and tilted his head back as the amber liquid disappeared into that appealing mouth. Damn it. This bad boy with a bad attitude was not going to ruin my career or my time here. I was done letting people decide the future for me, sweeping me along in the current just because I let them.
I knocked the flask straight out of his hand, sending little droplets of whiskey landing on both of us.
"Listen you jackass! I don't know who you are. In fact, I don't care if you're the Prime Minister of this country! This job, I really need it. I'm taking this shot and succeeding at it if it means I have to put my blood, sweat and tears into it. And some London bad boy parading his pissed off attitude around for the world to see is not going to stop me! So button your jacket, plaster a smile on, and get on that carpet!"
My breathing was ragged, all of the energy I'd saved up to get through the event suddenly spent. Jetlag, homesickness and heartbreak were taking over, and I could feel the pull of all three from the inside out.
The leer on Killian's face only proved that my tirade was all for nothing.
And then he moved. It was a blur of motion and speed before my back was against a brick wall. He'd pinned me, like a wolf circling in on their prey. Nervous tremors washed over my flesh, and I could hear the roaring in my ears. I was half afraid he would actually rip my throat out for speaking to him that way. The other half of me was too incredibly aroused to care.
Turning down the block and moving away from the mayhem, I spotted a tall figure in the shadows. I'd read enough about Jack the Ripper before coming over here to be spooked, but then I saw the shine of a metal flask being raised to the lips, and I could only take one guess as to who that was.
I marched up, as best as I could in the shoes. "You need to come back and walk the red carpet."
Killian's skyblue eyes twinkled with sly amusement and barely restrained anger. "Oh, and you're going to make me, huh America's Sweetheart?"
The smell of what I'm sure was overlyexpensive whiskey blew across my face as he exhaled. He pretended to give an air of nonchalance, but I could read his body language better than he thought I could. He was so coiled and tense, he gave a cobra ready to strike a run for its money. Rage and sorrow poured off of him in waves, blanketing the dark side street in misery so abundant that I could feel it down to my bones. And something else. I don't know why it struck me, perhaps because the emotion was running through my veins as well. But this man...he was lonely.
"You're cheeky, I like that." He raised the flask in a salute to me and tilted his head back as the amber liquid disappeared into that appealing mouth. Damn it. This bad boy with a bad attitude was not going to ruin my career or my time here. I was done letting people decide the future for me, sweeping me along in the current just because I let them.
I knocked the flask straight out of his hand, sending little droplets of whiskey landing on both of us.
"Listen you jackass! I don't know who you are. In fact, I don't care if you're the Prime Minister of this country! This job, I really need it. I'm taking this shot and succeeding at it if it means I have to put my blood, sweat and tears into it. And some London bad boy parading his pissed off attitude around for the world to see is not going to stop me! So button your jacket, plaster a smile on, and get on that carpet!"
My breathing was ragged, all of the energy I'd saved up to get through the event suddenly spent. Jetlag, homesickness and heartbreak were taking over, and I could feel the pull of all three from the inside out.
The leer on Killian's face only proved that my tirade was all for nothing.
And then he moved. It was a blur of motion and speed before my back was against a brick wall. He'd pinned me, like a wolf circling in on their prey. Nervous tremors washed over my flesh, and I could hear the roaring in my ears. I was half afraid he would actually rip my throat out for speaking to him that way. The other half of me was too incredibly aroused to care.
"I am bad. But I'm not a boy, I'm a man. Have you ever been with a man, little lamb?" He chuckled darkly, leaning his entire form into me and pinning my hips with his hands. "No, I don't think you have."
Author Bio
They say those who can't do, teach. Well, Carrie has no hand-eye coordination, and her idea of romance is a Netflix marathon complete with Thai food. So, she writes sports romance novels instead.
Beginning her writing career as a journalist, Carrie wrote about real-life crime and scandal before turning to the fantasy world of fiction. She lives with her husband in an apartment they are constantly outgrowing.
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