RhoadesLoneliness. The pain doesn’t simply go away with time. It’s been years, and they tell me I need to move on. But I can’t. Blame and regret are my constant companions. Until I see him in the spotlight and everything changes. Night after night, I watch him dance. Thinking about him. What he’d feel like. What he’d taste like. And now that I know, I want him even more.And maybe…just maybe, he … more.
And maybe…just maybe, he might want me too.
But not yet.
Not before he knows he’s more than a pretty face. Not before he knows what he means to me. I need him by my side.
The two of us.
Together.
Austin
Why can’t I forget him? His hands touching me. His mouth on mine. Kissing me. Rendering me mindless.
Breathless.
Every night I lay awake burning for him. Dreaming. Thinking. Needing him.
No—I don’t. I don’t need anyone.
I lie.
I want him.
I want more. I am more. He’s seen that, and now here I stand with my dream on the horizon. All I need to do is take that first step. Trust him.
Trust myself.
Rhoades begins immediately where Austin, Book one, left off
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Felice Stevens is a smart woman, and she makes her characters intelligent and thoughtful. I love that. Austin is a dancer with a painful past and dreams of being an interior designer. Rhoades is a wealthy, occasionally ruthless, businessman with a broken heart. The two men are each what the other needs, despite the self-protection that makes Austin fight them being together, and the fear Rhoades has about letting go of his lost love. The secondary characters, especially Frankie and James, are wonderful. I’m so looking forward to more stories in this new series. The writing is strong, the characters are engaging, and the setting is vivid. I can’t wait for the next one!
This is the first book of Man Up series. Man Up is a dance club owned by James, who’s I believe will have his own story in the future.
You need to read the prequel to this series though, to get to know Austin, Rhoades (in a glace), James, Frankie, and the dancer boys from the club. Read Austin, I’m pretty sure you’ll love Austin.
In Austin, we knew that how mysterious Rhoades were when it comes to Austin. Yeah he had a secret, and Austin been hurt before, you know, the classics. But Felice Stevens has her way with words and always makes me wants more and more.
Rhoades is a captivating, sexy, seductive romance. I was blown away by how Rhoades in my head, almost like a spider, patiently waiting for his prey to get caught. But Austin is never an easy catch. He’s a fighter, and he chose carefully. This is a very slow burn and I understood why. Austin need to be cautious about Rhoades motives pursuing him.
I loved the way Rhodes taking care of Austin without Austin realized that 🙂
Drove him to pursue his dreams and facilitate that, and Austin’s just too happy to realized that hahaha…
I loved that friendship between Austin and Frankie is unconditional after all, and that Austin finally is the one who made Rhoades relationship with his brother better.
I believe Frankie would be in the second installment of the series. The king of Man Up, need his own HEA after all.
And as for Austin and Rhoades, I’m pretty sure we’ll see them in the near future again! And again!
And as for the cover, Felice and Reese Dante nailed it! Rhoades is ‘perfection!’
Recommended!
Austin and Rhoades’, individually, had to overcome some major issues from their past before they could even attempt to move forward together.
Austin, a dancer at Man-Up, has an enormous amount of trust issues and has learned to survive on his own by trusting his own instincts and keeping his life private.
Rhoades is a successful real-estate mogul who certainly has it going on professionally but an unfortunate accident involving his lover at the time—leaves him in place where guilt and remorse have paralyzed him emotionally.
Each character has so much to offer but seem to constantly get in their own way. I loved Austin’s best friend, Frankie, who is a crazy, fun-lovin’ dancer as well but also Austin’s voice of reason. I’m looking forward to his story next. These dancers at Man-Up aren’t just pretty boy-toys. They all are intelligent and hard-working guys—making as much money as they can while educating themselves in order to turn their dream careers into a reality.
There’s so much going on in this book with an amazing crew of new characters who will hopefully all have their story told.
True to any Felice Stevens novel, there’s plenty of angst with a message and all the feels.
I’m really loving this series so far. Highly recommend this one.
Rhoades is a total 4 1/2 star for me!! I need 1/2 star ratings, please!! What a great conclusion to this duet!! If you have not read Austin, stop and go read it before you begin Rhoades, because Rhoades is not a stand alone book, it is a conclusion. Rhoades picks up right where Austin left off…and takes us on one beautiful emotionally-charged roller coaster of a ride!! Rhoades gave us a more in depth look into the past stories of Austin and Rhoades, and we truly began to understand just who these men were, and how their pasts were affecting their current decision making, especially when it came to relationships, trust, and opening one’s heart to another. However, I do have to admit, although as I read deeper and more of the past events that Austin had gone through were revealed, such pain for one young man to experience, I understood his apprehension in regards to Rhoades; but he really did drive me crazy with his hot and cold attitude towards Rhoades. Whoa!! Man, oh man, was Austin frustrating!! I will admit that I did love his fierce independence, and his unwillingness to compromise who he was for anyone.
Now, can we speak about Rhoades?!!! OMG!! I absolutely loved Rhoades!! This is one sexy man, who was willing to fight for what he wanted once he, too, realized that it was OK to live and love again, and he wasn’t willing to allow Austin to completely dictate how their ending was going to occur. I loved his willingness to care for and love Austin without Austin realizing exactly what Rhoades was doing. Rhoades was one mysterious, smart, and did I say sexy already, man!!
Felice Stevens has a masterful way of writing stories about characters, and about friends and families, whether they are biological or not, that are emotional, heart wrenching, and joyous, and that draw you in from page go, and Rhoades is no exception. Lastly, let me just say that I absolutely adored Frankie, Cort, and James. Felice’s secondary characters are always just as complex and interesting as her main characters, and this is one of the many reasons why I love her books so much. I am so ready for the next book in this series. C’mon Frankie!!!
4.5
Rhoades and Austin were so perfect for each other, I just love them!
Such a lovely story of 2 men at crossroads in their lives, who ended up being just what the other needed. I enjoyed the slow burn and how they took their time to really get to know each other. They are both so very different, but true complements. With each of them having things in their pasts that truly affected their outlooks, it wasn’t always an easy path for them to find their way towards the other, but it was so worth it in the end.
I loved the secondary characters and how important each and every one of them was to the story, and the stories to come.