Title: So Over You
Series: Chicago Rebels series, Book 2
Author: Kate Meader
Publication date: December 4, 2017
“Meader serves up a delicious mix of sports, sexy romance, and complicated, captivating characters with her second Chicago Rebels hockey contemporary (after Irresistible You)…Meader’s erotic scenes could melt ice, and her complex protagonists will keep readers eagerly turning pages.”
—
Publishers Weekly (So Over You)
“Things heat up on the ice in Meaer’s latest installment of the Chicago Revels series (Irresistible You, 2017)…Isobel and Vadim’s chemistry is off the charts, and Meader’s engaging details of hockey and Chicago pull you further into their world. Even nonhockey fans will be rooting for the Rebels by the last page.”
—
Booklist (So Over You)
“Hockey is a sport that moves a mile a minute, and it’s even more thrilling when the action off the ice has even more speed. In the second Chicago Rebels book, external conflicts make the path to a happy ending difficult for the couple, but that makes it even more satisfying in the end. Meader’s thought-provoking tale has well-rounded characters who touch each other’s lives — sometimes not too gently.”
—
RT Book Reviews (So Over You)
“Meader’s strength is creating characters who live, breathe, and jump off the page; Remy and Harper shine, and the supporting cast of characters, including Harper’s half-sisters, is very strong. The mix of sexual tension and emotional decisions will lead Meader’s series launch to many a keeper shelf.”
—
Publishers Weekly STARRED REVIEW (Irresistible You, Book 1)
“Meader takes her readers on a breathtaking, non-stop, glorious ride. The sex scenes are lyrically written with fresh, descriptive prose. Enough is included about hockey to add its fast rhythm to the book. Remy’s family is multi-faceted and fills the pages with joy. Readers will love the relationship between Remy and Harper, and will be excited for the next story — Isobel’s.”
—
RT Book Reviews Four and a Half Star TOP PICK (Irresistible You, Book 1)
Purchase here:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2AB4XtB
B&N: http://bit.ly/2y4VHdn
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2kBtoAr
iBooks: http://apple.co/2yzetwC
About the book:
Three estranged sisters struggle to sustain their late father’s failing hockey franchise in Kate Meader’s SO OVER YOU, Book 2 in the new sizzling Chicago Rebels series. Middle sister Isobel is at a crossroads in her personal and professional lives. But both are about to get a significant boost with the addition of a domineering Russian powerhouse to the Rebels...
Isobel Chase knows hockey. She played NCAA, won silver at the Games, and made it thirty-seven minutes into the new National Women’s Hockey League before an injury sidelined her dreams. Those who can’t, coach, and a position as a skating consultant to her late father’s hockey franchise, the Chicago Rebels, seems like a perfect fit. Until she’s assigned her first job: the man who skated into her heart as a teen and relieved her of her pesky virginity. These days, left-winger Vadim Petrov is known as the Czar of Pleasure, a magnet for puck bunnies and the tabloids alike. But back then...let’s just say his inability to sink the puck left Isobel frustratingly scoreless.
Vadim has a first name that means “ruler,” and it doesn’t stop at his birth certificate. He dominates on the ice, the practice rink, and in the backseat of a limo. But a knee injury has produced a bad year, and bad years in the NHL don’t go unrewarded. His penance? To be traded to a troubled team where his personal coach is Isobel Chase, the woman who drove him wild years ago when they were hormonal teens. But apparently the feeling was not entirely mutual.
That Vadim might have failed to give Isobel the pleasure that was her right is intolerable, and he plans to make it up to her—one bone-melting orgasm at a time. After all, no player can perfect his game without a helluva lot of practice...
Excerpt
He leaned in again, smelling of fame, privilege, and raw sex appeal. Discomfort at his proximity edged out the hormonal sparks dancing through her body.
“Does Moretti know that we have history? That you are the last person I wish to work with?”
Before she could respond, someone squealed, “Vadim!” A blond, skinny, buxom someone, who now wrapped herself around Vadim in a very possessive manner. “You said you’d be back with a dwinkie!”
A dwinkie?
Drawing back, Vadim circled the squealer’s waist and pulled her into his hard body. “Kotyonok, I did not mean to be so long.” He dropped a kiss on her lips, needing to bend considerably because she was just so darn petite! Not like big-boned Isobel, who could have eaten this chick and her five supermodel Playmates for a midmorning snack. A group of them stood off to the side, clearly waiting for the signal to start the orgy. And Vadim clearly wanted to give it, except he had to deal with the annoying six-foot fly in the sex ointment.
Why did the lumberjack hotties always go for twigs instead of branches? Did it make them feel more virile to screw a pocket-sized Barbie?
Yep, feeling like a schlub.
But he didn’t need to know that. All he needed to know was that she had the power to return him to competitive ice. This was her best shot at making a difference and getting the Rebels to a coveted play-off spot. Vadim Petrov and his butt-hurt feelings would not stand in her way.
“Do you need to talk about it, Russian?”
She infused as much derision into the question as possible, so that the idea of “talking about it” made him sound a touch less than manly. Big, bad, brick-house Russians didn’t need to talk about the women who done them wrong.
“There is nothing to talk about,” he uttered in that voice that used to send Siberian shivers down her back. Now? Nothing more than a Muscovian flurry.
“Excellent!” Superscary cheerful face. “Regular practice is tomorrow at ten, so I’ll see you on the ice at 9 a.m. Don’t be late.”
Pretty happy with her exit line, she walked away.
Far too easy.
A brute hand curled around hers and pulled her to the other side of the bar, out of the sight line of most of the VIP room. She found her back against a wall—literally and figuratively—as 230 pounds of Slavic muscle loomed over her.
He still held her hand.
If she weren’t so annoyed, she’d think it was kind of nice.
She yanked it away. “Who the hell do you think you are?”
“Who am I?” he boomed, and she prayed it was rhetorical. Unfortunately, no. “I am Vadim Petrov. Leading goal scorer for my first two years in the NHL. Winner of both the Kontinental and the Gagarin Cups. A man not to be trifled with. And you are, who, exactly? The daughter of a hockey great who was not so great when it came to running a team. The woman who can no longer play yet thinks she can offer ‘tips’ to me. To me! You may have pedigree, Isobel, but there is nothing I can learn from you.”
This arrogant, douchewaffle piece of shit!
Giveaway
A $25 Amazon Gift Card
About the author:
Kate Meader was raised on romance. An Irish girl, she started with Catherine Cookson and Jilly Cooper novels, and spiced it up with some Mills & Boon. Now based in Chicago, she writes romances of her own, where sexy contemporary alpha heroes and strong heroines match each other quip for quip. When not immersed in tales of brooding mill owners, oversexed equestrians, and men who can rock an apron or a fire hose, Kate lives on the web at
katemeader.com.
They found each other— but a part of her knew she was forever lost.
Kate Meader's Chicago Rebels series continues with Isobel and Vadim's story. A delightfully entertaining second chance romance that had me laughing consistently from her trademark witty humor. Ever since getting a little bit of everyone's backstories in the previous book,
Irresistible You, Isobel's was the one I was most interested in reading next.
Out of the three sisters who have taken over ownership of the Rebels from their father Clifford Chase, Isobel was "the golden child". When she showed a natural affinity for hockey as a young girl, he focused all of his affection and attention on her. He had lofty ambitions for her: reaching the pinnacle of women's hockey and all of the glory that entailed to his name. Sure, it seemed like she was the one who had it easy. To be the favored one. But with his favor, came lofty expectations that she worked herself to the bone to reach. When she climbed as high as she could go, the crash from grace was even more painful from the top.
Isobel is still coming to terms with her professional hockey career abruptly ending. Her entire identity, her passion, and her whole heart had been centered around playing the sport she loved. With one serious injury two years before, she was set adrift and without direction. Throw Vadim Petrov into the equation as the new player on the team, and you have one very unsettled woman. Vadim was her teenage crush, first lover, and forced out of the US by her father when his feelings for her were threatening to become too much of a distraction. They never got to have one last conversation before they were separated. She was in the hospital recovering from her head injury, and he was deported back to Russia. So to say that there were loads of unresolved feelings between them would be an understatement.
She had been young, immature, more sheltered than the average eighteen -year-old. All she knew was hockey. It was her life, and then Vadim had skated into it, and she’d seen something else. Her eyes had opened to beauty and passion and— hell, she’d been a teenage nightmare.
I have to say, I thought Isobel would be the star character here, but I think Vadim stole the spotlight from her. He was such an original character with a personality that kept me on my toes. On one hand, he was stiff and formal with people, almost a little haughty. But then he'd turn around and surprise you with these glimpses of humor that were even funnier because of the contrast. You'd think some of these traits would make him unlikable, but it had the opposite effect. Isobel was also enjoyable in her own right. She was disciplined, strong, and independent. I think a lot of readers could identify with her journey in having to rebuild her life from scratch. One event can forever alter the path you have mapped out for yourself, and there's nothing you can do but scramble to reroute and woman up.
Isobel is coaching a youth hockey team, but hopes to move towards coaching the Rebels eventually. Getting wrapped up in Vadim as she acts as a consultant for him would be
foolish inadvisable. Not only would she lose respect for dating a team member and risk her chances of coaching, but their one time together as teens was not exactly fireworks and earth shattering passion. Which brings us to one of the more unique aspects of this story. The fact that teenage Isobel was left unsatisfied all those years ago makes for a very quirky and entertaining twist. He may have a playboy rep now, but he certainly wasn't the "Czar of Pleasure". More like, the Czar of One Minute. Seeing him try to piece back together his shattered manhood was entertaining to say the least.
My only issues being that I would have liked to have seen the conflict go in a different direction. The forbidden aspect due to the owner wanting a relationship with a team member seems to be a repeating theme, and I wish we could get a little more variety in there. I don't really buy that her reputation would take that much of a hit for being in a relationship with Vadim. After Harper went public, everyone seems to be dealing just fine. The fact that one player talks smack about them, does not mean that that is the general consensus of all.
Then there was one point where Isobel was pretty hypocritical in an attempt to keep Vadim at a distance. One moment she was telling him that they never had a chance as teens because hockey would always be her first priority. Then pages later, she was internally judging him by saying that she couldn't be with him because she would never be her first priority. Not a game changer for me by any means, but it a little nitpick that bothered me.
Overall, I thought this book was funny, fast paced (despite the 400 pg. count), and a welcome addition to the series. If you're a sports romance fan, I highly recommend this series. Even if you haven't read the first book, this is easily read as a standalone. The series will continue with
Undone By You
the GM Dante Moretti's story in March 2018.
FOLLOW SMOKIN HOT BOOK BLOG ON:
