New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh kicks off her new Hard Play contemporary romance series with a sizzling story that’ll leave you smiling… sin.
Ísa Rain craves a man who will cherish her, aches to create a loving family of her own. Trading steamy kisses with a hot gardener in a parking lot? Not the way to true love. Then a deal with the devil (aka her CEO-mother) makes Ísa a corporate VP for the summer. Her main task? Working closely with a certain hot gardener.
And Sailor Bishop has wickedness on his mind.
As Ísa starts to fall for a man who makes her want to throttle and pounce on him at the same time, she knows she has to choose – play it safe and steady, or risk all her dreams and hope Sailor doesn’t destroy her heart.
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I love nalini Singh books. She has complex characters, strong women and steamy men who know how to deal with women with opinions.
CHERISH HARD is the first instalment in Nalini Singh’s contemporary, adult HARD PLAY erotic, romance series-a spin off from the author’s ROCK KISS series. This is twenty three year old landscaper Sailor Bishop, and thirty year old teacher/businesswoman Isalind ‘Isa’ Rain’s story line. CHERISH HARD can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty-you do not have to have read the Rock Kiss series to understand or follow the premise. The timeline of CHERISH HARD takes place several months ( or years) prior to the events of Rock Hard (Rock Kiss #2) where in we were first introduced to Sailor’s older brother Gabriel Bishop.
Told from dual third person point of view (Isa and Sailor) CHERISH HARD follows the building romance between teacher and businesswoman Isa Rain, and professional landscaper Sailor Bishop. Seven years earlier Sailor and Isa’s paths would cross when Isa’s boyfriend publicly humiliated our story line heroine in front of a group of high school and college aged friends. In the ensuing years Sailor has never forgotten the beautiful and heartbroken redheaded young woman that called to his heart-a woman who barely acknowledged his existence or presence. Fast forward to present day wherein Sailor will be hired by the burgeoning and billion dollar ‘Crafty Corners ‘ to redesign and update several properties. Enter Isa Rain, Crafty Corners new VP, shareholder and owner’s daughter, and the woman with whom Sailor will fall in love. What ensues in the building relationship and growing love between Sailor and Isa, and the potential fall-out as Sailor’s plans for the future never took into consideration the desire for family and love.
CHERISH HARD is a story of family and friendship. Isa’s mother and father have been married and divorced so many times she is unable to keep track of the growing numbers but our heroine’s lack of success in the love department is predicated on one man’s tirade that left Isa a shell of her former self. Sailor Bishop has known struggle from an early age including the abandonment by his father, and the battle his mother endured to keep the family fed, and off of the streets. Meeting Isa Rain finds our hero thinking about a future-a future that is in direct conflict with his business outline and plans to expand, but plans that are meant to be redirected when he falls for the woman he met years before. Growing up the privileged daughter of a wealthy businesswoman whose less than stellar track record of unsuccessful marriages meant Isa martyred herself to care for her younger siblings, and a step brother that has all but been ignored by both sides of the family.
The relationship between Isa and Sailor begins when they reconnect with one another in the school parking lot where Isa currently works. Barely recognizing once another their paths will cross several times before either one realizes the who and what of their previous encounter. The $ex scenes are intimate and intense.
We are reintroduced to Sailor’s brother Gabriel (Rock Hard), a professional rugby player; their younger half-brothers Jake and Danny, and parents Alison and Joseph Esera; Isa’s domineering mother and billionaire businesswoman Jacqueline Rain; her half-sister Catie, and step brothers Trevor and Harlow, as well as Isa’s best friend Nayna- a woman who is battling her parents in regards to her future.
CHERISH HARD is a sweet story of romance where the conflict level is low; the angst is limited to dysfunctional fallout; and memories of the past that remained burned in the mind but never to be forgotten. The premise is engaging and inspiring; the characters are dynamic and intelligent; the romance is provocative and impassioned. CHERISH HARD is a charming and wonderful start to a new series by an amazing author.