Ellie Davis has finally begun to mend the pieces of her shattered heart. With a new job slinging drinks behind the bar at Charlotte’s latest hot spot and a crush on her deliciously sexy bar manager things are finally starting to look up. New job plus new man equals the perfect anecdote to help Ellie forget all about bad boy Max McLellan…or so she thinks.This is Ellie’s journey and it isn’t … journey and it isn’t always pretty.
It isn’t always neat.
It isn’t always happy.
But it’s hers.
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Loved this story about Ellie and Max. I won’t spoil for future readers, but I loved these two and the secondary characters. I can’t wait to read about Piper and Gage! There is love, humor and some mystery. All make for a great read. Five stars and then some.
This book started it all for me with this author! This book made me laugh cry and fall in love with it’s characters. So go ahead and dive into this amazing series
I may have said this once or 50 times – but I LOVE second chance romances!!
I went into this a bit blind, I didn’t even read the blurb. I was surprised when it started with the characters in high school….but this was a great thing. We get to see Max and Ellie fall in love and enjoy all the angst of that time of life. Love it. We get to meet the group of friends surrounding these two and I believe some of them get future stories 🙂 But life happens and our young lovers are separated. The story then picks up 5 years later. This is a great second chance romance with a wonderful cast of characters. I will definitely be reading more
Ellie was in her freshman year when she first saw Max and knew he was out of her league, although that changed one night when he stopped her from being attacked.
Once they worked out their feelings for each other things were, going strong between the two and not even Max’s crazy ex could break them up. With Max heading to college, he assures Ellie that he will be back every weekend, they have the best night of their lives and in the morning Ellie wakes up alone, and that was the last time she sees Max.
Five years later Ellie has graduated and ready to start her new job away from everyone and thoughts of Max, until she gets a phone call that sends her back.
Deciding to stay she ends up working at her friend’s bar and sees Dillion, and thinks there may be something there, although Dillion comes with a crazy girlfriend, when Ellie thinks she can finally let Dillion in she sees him with his ex, again and when Max turns up she turns away from all her friends.
Being confused between Dillion and Max, Ellie realises that she has to listen to Max to see why he broke her heart for so many years.
Ellie has to work out whether she can give Max a chance after she hears the reasons why and Dillion is always there waiting for Max to slip up. Awesome second chance love story
I truly enjoyed this author’s Meltdown series, and I guess I expected this story to be as good. To be honest, I wasn’t impressed but thought it was okay.
Ellie has issues with abandonment, so of course, her boyfriend, Max, abandons her for 5 years. Not exactly the way I would describe love. It’s bad enough he has trouble keeping it in his pants, to begin with. When he returns, he doesn’t give her any explanation before they fall back into bed together. In fact, much of the story is him lying to her, screwing other people, dominating her, and being an untrustworthy prick. But, she’s naive and allows him to walk all over her, takes him back when he doesn’t deserve it, seems to be fine with his behavior… the list goes on.
There were a lot of gratuitous sex scenes. Not only that, but the sex scenes in high school were more mature than I would expect from fumbling high schoolers. She spends so much of her time thinking about him, obsessing about him, and wanting to make sure she does everything right so he is pleased with her. Had this been some kind of BDSM story, I think I would have understood more of the thought processes and sexual situations. But it wasn’t, and I didn’t. If they spent more time on their relationship and learning how to be honest with each other than they did in bed, they might have had a better relationship, to begin with.
I just found their relationship to be immature throughout. She was wishy-washy, and he was too dominating. I didn’t really like either of the characters. And there were a lot of background characters to keep track of. It dragged a bit, and there was too much time spent in bed instead of developing a relationship.
I have to say that I have never been more frustrated while reading a book. I didn’t know whether to throw my kindle or slap the two main characters silly. This is a book that almost made my DNF list, but I powered through because I wanted to see how this story played out!
While I like Max and Ellison’s story in general, they both needed to grow the hell up. Now I understand that they were young and still in HS when their story started, but people do grow in a five year time span. Max disappears for 5 years without a trace, but continues his life, goes to college, starts businesses and sleeps around, even though Ellison is his end game. Ellison is devastated and “clings” to life and just living day-to-day. Finally she comes out of the “Max fog” only to be played by a player. All of the sudden BAM, Max is back and the world rights itself. They fight, he tells her what she wants to hear, and they would have sex….rinse and repeat. I did start skimming pages because I felt the story was dragging.
There are lots of secondary character to keep track of, but did enjoy Kurt and Joss. Glad that Max and Ellison had such good friends and they had each other’s backs. Piper…never could figure her out.
Overall an OK book, but thinking that maybe, just maybe, if there were a few chapter from Max’s POV – that would have made a big difference in the story. Glad they both got their HEA in the end.
His End Game. Going into this story I thought the title was perfect, yet predictable. We’ve all read the contemporary romances where girl likes boy, boy doesn’t know girl exists. The typical high school story where they somehow come together and fall in love.
Well, this wasn’t your typical romance. When tragedy strikes, I was convinced I knew how the story would end, confused and lost along with the people left behind. So many emotions ran through me including anger, hope, sadness, loneliness, rage, empathy, grief. Then another major event happens and by now, through all these emotions, the title makes me angry because again, I think I’ve figured out how it will end and I’m not sure I like it. I don’t do spoilers so this is extremely hard to describe how I felt though each turn. His End Game was mentioned a lot throughout the book and each time it held a new meaning.
This novel had so many twists and turns, every time I thought I knew what would happen, the author surprised me. This is what makes a great book though. Nobody wants to read predictable. It kept my attention, I literally could not put it down. RB Hillard’s voice was strong, emotions raw and storyline suspenseful. I loved this book so much it’s going on my list of books to read again and again. Highly recommended!
His End Game had it all for me. RB Hilliard took me to a happy place where life is better than good and love can conquer all – then she ripped the world from beneath my feet!!! It was a long, hard struggle back from the sobbing, crumpled, messy state I was in, but she did eventually repair my broken heart and dried my tears. This is book 1 in the MMG Series which really makes me smile as there are so many great characters and possibilities to come. Three other books are currently available for you to continue on this amazing escape.
His End Game is a beautiful story that deals with once-in-a-lifetime young love, coming of age, self-consciousness, doubt, trust, and mystery surrounding suspicious circumstances. It will draw you in, have your heart beating in palpitations, and in the next breath, you are questioning everything you think you know.
Max and Ellie have an amazing chemistry and connection — nothing can compare. They’ve both met their end game – so what happened? What could possibly tear them apart? This book is written in Ellie’s POV, and since she has abandonment issues and a whole lot of self-doubt, things get scary and frustrating every now and then. Of course, the fact that Max is hotter than hot and has a long line of girls ready to claim him, doesn’t help the situation. Max has his work cut out for him when it comes to ensuring Ellie’s heart and her head both believe and trust in their future together. I am so happy that Ellie’s world is filled with friends who can see life a little bit clearer than Ellie, have faith in Max’s love for her, and help to steer her when she gets on the wrong path. Ellie can sometimes be her own worst enemy but it sure makes for a great story and great make-up sex.
If you love an HEA that takes you on a wild ride full of twists before getting there, His End Game is for you. It is chocked full of drool-worthy men, a few nasty b**ches that you’ll no doubt want to slam, colourful characters, life lessons, steamy sex, mystery, suspense, shocking realities, and a whole lot more. I enjoy reading RB Hilliard’s stories and I trust you will too.
His End Game by RB Hilliard a life changing five-star read. This is the first book in the MMG series, and what a first book, I won an e-copy of this book as well as a paperback and I still bought a copy!! I don’t know if it was the fact that like the main characters in this book Max McLennan and Ellison Elizabeth Davis or Ellie as she is more commonly known, and my own story with my husband are similar in the fact that I ran away when we were 17 and didn’t speak to him for several years only to find each other again and face the challenges that these two face, or if it’s just that RB Hilliard writes characters that you can’t not care about, and can’t help falling in love with.
This story focuses on Ellie and her struggle, first to accept that her first major crush Max likes her, then the struggle of losing him, only for her to move on and move away, then to get her life back on track and tragedy to strike again and have her moving back to Charlotte. Working at the Dragonfly and slinging drinks while she decides what to do with her life. Hot bar manager Dillon steps into her life and she is in a quandary, he’s the first guy she has had real feelings for since Max and he’s a hottie. Will he be the one to get her over Max or will she never get over him? Will the ghost of the past ever be laid to rest? Ellie faces a tough journey in her life, will she ever have it easy? She has a great group of friends and they will help her, but will they ever be enough?
I cry reading 20-30% of books I read but this is only the 2nd review I have sobbed while writing, I even sent the author a message telling her I was sobbing and hated her at that moment as I knew a major book hangover was coming as I had like a hundred pages to read, and didn’t want the book to end. RB Hilliard is a genius writer; I have a goddess writer and a muse writer in my life and now a genius writer added to the mix, I can’t wait to read the rest of the MMG series and everything RB has written!!
ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!! This is the first book I’ve read by this author and it definitely won’t be my last. R.B Hillard takes you on quite the emotional rollercoaster ride throughout this entire story. I love how well written her characters are. You feel all the pain and heartache Ellie feels when the love of her life, Max, just up and disappears without any explanation. For five long years Ellie has wondered what happened to Max. She even thought that maybe he had died and was watching over her. Trying her best to move on with her life she starts a new job bartending. She meets her incredibly hot, sexy coworker Dillon and thinks that maybe she can finally put Max behind her. There seems to be chemistry between the two, but Ellie isn’t quite sure what to do. Just as she’s about to give Dillon a chance, Max returns. Will Max be able to explain where he’s been for the past five years and why he didn’t reach out to her? Will Ellie decide to give Max a second chance or will she decide to make a fresh start with Dillon? This book will keep you on your toes until the very end. All of the characters in this story are incredible. I’m looking forward to reading all of their stories. I’m definitely hooked.
I really love this story. I wished it was written in 2 pov
Omg I loved this book and the entire series. Rb Hilliard is an amazing author and you should read all her books.
OH MY!! This is such an intense, emotional read that I could not put it down!! I love Ellie, the journey that she takes, from being raised by her aunt, burying herself in her books and watching the older guy in high school, she’s real and relatable. There is a great back and forth between Max and Ellie. He is protective and loyal and you can’t help but love the way he is. Ellie and Max have a full story, love, pain, heartbreak and a deep connection. My heart hurt at times and I had to wipe tears, then smiling at other times. This is a MUST MUST read and a wonderful beginning to a series with characters I cannot wait to dig into.
5+ Stars!!!
LOVED this story! Ellie takes us on a ride into her past and present and how they intertwine is amazing! Love love love Ellie and Max! One of my favorite series I have ever read!
I felt so many emotions while reading this its what I love most about reading is when the author gets their readers to fell what the characters are felling . The characters that we are meant to like we really like and the characters that we are meant to hate we really really HATE. Ellie and max were so meant to be together they don’t really talk to each other but the keep and eye on one another then one day the literally bump into each other I couldn’t keep the silly grin off my face she was a total goof loved it then the looks became more static was i jealous i wasn’t getting those kinda looks maybe 😉 but i was cheering on my girl who’s finally going to get the guy , and when they get togeather dang was that super HOT then something happens and my heart broke for her and then later on for Max .The friendship that Ellie has with Joss and Piper is pure sisterhood and then you have Kurt who is like an older brother to her that is her family thats who she has when she goes threw a really bad time of her life .I just loved this book if you havnt read you really need to one click .
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hero = 10
heroine = 10
chemistry = 10 ++++++
secondary characters = 10
pacing = 10
character development = 10
ending = HEA
author = LOVE