Rebecca Jenshak

4.4 stars

I think one of my favorite things about this Cocky Hero World is that I get to discover new authors to me. I haven't ever read this author and I am pondering how that is possible. Strong writing, strong characters, and a foundation to a story that grows. I have been intrigued by Adele since I read about her in a previous Cocky World Club book. I thought I had a pretty good idea about what her story would be like and how it would go. I couldn't have been more wrong, and I loved show more that.

Finn, my lord, was this man delicious. I loved the connection that Adele and he had. There was a sense of closeness that grew from their connection. It wasn't lust, and it wasn't instant love. Instead, it felt like two souls merging, as if the other had been waiting for the other all along. The emails that Finn wrote to her, were so sweet and honest with a lot of vulnerability. That was a nice touch.

The only reason that this didn't rank higher is it felt so rushed at the end, like the author was trying to make everything fit together in order for the book to end. After the slow build of the journey of these characters, I felt like it was an injustice to the book and the characters. I would have also liked to see the responses to Adele's gift at the end. show less

Jack Wyld is a good guy. The amazingly talented player and captain of the Wildcats hockey team, dependable, loyal, always ready to help his friends and teammates – and so handsome and hot he’ll set you aflame if you aren’t careful. But just two weeks before the playoffs are to start Jack has a near miss with a buck on a dark, snowy road and hits a tree instead, breaking his arm and severely injuring his knee. Unable to help his team on or off the ice, playoff hopes are dashed. It’s show more all his fault, isn’t it? What good is he to the team? Healing and rehab will be long and painful, and very possibly unsuccessful. So Jack withdraws: stops communicating with almost everyone, stops shaving, stops caring how he looks (or smells); tries to stop caring altogether. He doesn’t want pity; he doesn’t want to need help. He goes through home-care nurses as if they were Kleenex because he’s so grumpy and scary. Just a chapter in and you want nothing more than for this giant, handsome man to be happy again.

Everly Kent isn’t the first person that would come to mind to fill that role. Her big brother Tyler is on Jack’s team, so she knows all the Wildcats players, and her role until now has been as always-in-trouble-little-sister, sassy, stubborn, determined to have her own way. Everly has just graduated from college and is off to an internship in a couple of months, the first step into her grown-up life. She is in fact already grown up, but she fears no one sees her that way and this interior design internship is a way to prove to them she can take care of herself, doesn’t need anyone to worry or disrupt their lives for her anymore. She’s excited to prove herself, but why isn’t she more excited about the internship?

Maybe she’s not more excited because she loves where she’s at, being close to family and friends, watching the hockey games she loves. Her last little bit of freedom is being spent housesitting for her brother and his family and checking in on the others’ houses while they spend their off-season time elsewhere. And this is why and how she and Jack connect: he’s not checking in with any of his teammates and they’re worried. Everly agrees to drop by and make sure he’s okay. Doesn’t go well. He.Does.Not.Need.Help. He.Does.Not.Need.A.Walker. He doesn’t need to take a walk around the block, or have a nurse constantly bothering him, or anyone bringing him meals . . . get it? He does not need anything. And especially not this perky (gorgeous) little woman with attitude who won’t take no for an answer. Yes, sure, of course he noticed a couple of years ago that she didn’t look much like a kid anymore, but so what. He doesn’t want or need company, and even if he did, she would be off limits because she’s his friend’s little sister. He and his beard Barnaby (named by Ev, the smart-aleck) tell him to go away and stay away. Okay, fine. Except she’s in his pool when he comes downstairs the next morning. Climbed the fence.

With this premise, how can this audiobook be anything but wonderful? And with narrators Sebastian York and C. J. Bloom how can it be anything less than perfect? York’s big, deep voice is so commanding, so alpha, so domineering, which makes it so touching when he’s unsure or hurt or overcome with emotion. Bloom can play every emotion and is especially entertaining when Everly is at her most irritating, most annoying, sassiest.

The age gap is perfect: at 32 Jack is not a boy, but he’s no old man, and that handsome face of his is only going to get better. At 22 Everly isn’t a girl, she’s a woman, with knowledge and experience and the ability to think for herself. And there is a little spark there.

At the beginning Cranky Jack and Stubborn Everly just butt heads. She’s in his way. She doesn’t want to be in his way, she just wants to use that heavenly pool. But little by little things change, without them even realizing it. Their behavior is hilarious, and often sweet and touching. You’ll swoon when you’re not laughing. It feels like merely a crush or physical attraction, but we know better. Jack fires his trainer because he is “ogling” Everly, and then he just kind of shows up wherever she goes – like to a first date with someone she met online, to her night out with the girls; she just happens to bring him lunch, offers to cut his hair, helps him clear out his email. It’s not all laughs, though. There are family issues – his dad and her mom, job issues – his rehab and return to the team, her career, and there’s the fact that no one expects them to ever become a couple and maybe big brother won’t be too happy about it. But that’s all irrelevant anyway because this can’t be more than just attraction, can it?

Listening is without a doubt the best way to enjoy a book like Forever Wild, particularly when you have such talented voice actors as York and Bloom. They make Jack and Everly come to life with perfect tone, perfect pacing and all the nuances of their emotions. Author Rebecca Jenshak is new to me, but after listening to Forever Wild I know I’ll be going back to the rest of this terrific series to meet all the other characters we got a glimpse of and putting her on my automatic TBR list in the future. Thanks to Home Cooked Books for providing an advance listening copy of Forever Wild. I loved it. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own. show less

Their first meeting qualified as a genuine meet-cute – until it didn’t. On adjoining hotel balconies, single mom Grace muttering aloud about her 5-year old daughter’s flaky father, Flynn crossing fingers, toes and anything else that could be crossed hoping the made the team. He’s flirty and she thinks why not; it’s the last night in New York City before she and her author sister head home to Lake City. Grace and Flynn talk and talk, but it’s getting cold on those balconies so show more they take it inside, to his room. Where they talk and talk and talk some more until they fall asleep. No names. No handy panky. Just a really nice time where Grace feels heard and seen for the first time in a long time. Until she wakes up – in his hotel room - alone. Well, crap. Just how undesirable do you have to be for a guy to leave his own hotel room to get away from you? Grace is glad now no names, no hanky panky. Won’t have to ever see that jerk again.

Except Flynn didn’t leave the room to get away from her. He left to have an early, short, disappointing meeting to find out he did not make that team and when he gets back to the room he’s even more disappointed to discover Definitely Desirable Mystery Woman is gone. He tries but can’t get any info about her name, where she went . . . nothing. He can’t stop thinking about her though.

Grace can’t stop thinking about Flynn either, except that warm fuzzy from their night together is tarnished a bit by the humiliation of the morning. Back home in Lake City she decides she is giving up too much headspace to him when she thinks she sees his face on a billboard. Really, Grace? Get a grip.

She’s not hallucinating but getting a grip is going to be hard, when who shows up at her best friend Sabrina’s engagement party but Billboard Man, who is in fact the mysterious stranger who left her alone in NYC. And who is also in fact the youngest brother of Sabrina’s fiancé Archer.

As you can imagine it takes some talking on Flynn’s part to make Grace believe he didn’t run out, and then even though there is a burning-hot attraction between them and that same sense of comfort they felt that first night, as if they’ve always known each other, she is hesitant to start any kind of relationship. Flynn has just reluctantly joined the Lake City Mustangs baseball team, a team that has been in a championship drought like . . . forever. He hopes to get back in his pitching groove and be picked up next season by a “real” team. Nobody wants a woman with as many responsibilities as Grace has, nobody wants a single mom, nobody wants Grace; so why should she expect things to any different .

But things are different. They just click. Her daughter Greer loves Flynn from the start and he is so good with her it makes Grace tear up. He makes her feel seen, heard, desired. His dream is still to get back to the big time, but the team and the players and the town are starting to grow on him. Plus he’s back home where he can be close to his family again.

Spotlight is the fourth book in the Holland Brothers series, but the first one I have read. Author Rebecca Jenshak does an outstanding job of providing enough detail so you feel at home in Lake City and already know both Grace and Flynn’s families. And make you want to go back and read the rest of the series. Spotlight is fun and funny, sweet and romantic, steamy and sexy, addresses serious topics and emotions and leaves you completely satisfied. I received an advance copy of Spotlight and recommend it without hesitation and Jenshak is an author I will continue to put at the top of my TBR stack. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own. show less

Several girls at school often ask for sports romances, and this one definitely fits the bill. Austin is a talented high-school soccer player with a big heart, while Claire is a competitive ice skater until a serious fall lands her in a moon boot and changes her path.

"Stealing for Keeps" was told from both Austin’s and Claire’s points of view, which helped me to connect with them as individuals as well as a couple. Both were genuinely sweet characters, and Austin’s people-pleasing show more nature added a nice layer to his personality. Their romance was cute and easy to read.

I especially loved the side characters. Lacey and Rowan were great as their friends, and since this is part of a series, I really hope they get their own novel. Austin’s family was also a highlight, particularly his little brother Wyatt, who completely stole the show.

The story did lack some depth, but it was still a nice, comforting read, overall. There was a bit of closed-door spice, but nothing too concerning, making this a solid choice for readers looking for a cute sports romance with heart. show less