A Bad Boy Romance… Hell is not fire and brimstone. It’s not the devil. Hell is playing one NFL game, getting a taste of fame, and losing it all in an instant. Chris VanceGoing pro meant millions of dollars, a beautiful home and a gorgeous wife. A drunk driver changes everything. Now, I’m a broke grad-assistant with serious anger issues. If it wasn’t for Coach offering me a job, God knows where … Coach offering me a job, God knows where I’d be. Then, a stunning graduate student walks into my favorite dive and dead parts of me come to life. A do-gooder, she stages a protest about caged kids and ends up sold to smugglers south of the border. I arrive just in time to save her and maybe, save myself.
She thinks I’m some kind of hero and I want to be that man.
Danni Hughes
I only allow myself one pity party a year. This time, I meet a dark, brooding stranger in a lowlife bar. Pretending I’m no goody-two-shoes, I take what he offers. After, he’s a real jerk and I’d be done with him except for his constant texts. I think there’s more to him than the bitter shell he shows the world.
When he saves my life, I’m sure of it
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Chris had it all until an accident changes the outcome of his life. When e is offered a job he connect with Danni and actually ends up saving her when she lands in trouble. She is a grad student helping her sister but Chris sees so much more in her. She has opened up his heart giving everything he has endured, will he and Danni’s journey lead them to a happily ever after?
Chris’s life changes in a blink of an eye he goes from having everything at his fingers tips to not knowing where his life will go next fortunately he meets Danni and helps her out of a situation thats him see that life may not be over yet. Danni doesn’t have an amazing life but she chose to look after her sister which in my eyes makes her an amazing person and after meeting Chris their lives take a new part both separately and together so I dare you not to fall in love with them. This is a great story of life not always being what you expected but that great things can come out of the changes you fear at the time.
Ms. Alden does it again! Another great read about FSCU personnel and the Pitbull’s football team. This one involves Danni (Danielle), teaching assistant and student and Chris, ex-NFL injured in a severe motorcycle accident, pre-assistant coach, and student. They go through a series of misunderstanding, things that go wrong with a side of Danni’s slightly disabled, occasionally snarky half-sister who lives with her. This is an intense, funny, quirky tale that should be read!
Red Robin
I received this book as an ARC and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
I love this series of books! I’ll admit that I was a little hesitant to read this book about Chris. He was not a character I found endearing in the other books. Boy am I glad that I was wrong and took a chance on this book! We got the backstory on how he became the man he was at that point in time. I loved seeing his transformation from surly with a huge cement chip on his shoulders to the loving and devoted man/coach you see at the end. Danni really helps him find his place back in the real world. She had her own share of bad luck, but never lost focus of who she was and how she wanted to be there for her sister. Danni loves Chris and helps him find the man is supposed to become. I loved the happy ending they thought might not be possible. Anything is possible!
Chris Vance has a real future in the NFL but a drunk driver puts a stop to it. He’s lucky to be alive, but is living in a personal hell. His fiancé left him, he won’t play another down and he doesn’t get any money from the team because he wasn’t injured on the field. How bad is that!! He’s feeling sorry for himself but then he meets Danni. She’s a grad teacher who has a mind of her own and a deep commitment to her students. Chris and Danni start to fall for each other but there are miscommunications and insecurities that get in their way. When Danni needs help getting out of a desperate situation, it’s so much fun to see just who comes to save her! Suffice it to say, there’s a reason Chris was drawn to biker bars and good fortune for Danni that this is a case of like father, like son! It’s a really well-written book and it would have been much better without the controversial political statement.
The third book in the FSCU Pitbulls a well written story with a very good storyline. Chris Vance and Danni Hughes’ story has suspense, drama, danger, kidnapping and romance. I would say read these books in order. I enjoyed reading this story.
You had me till you brought in politics!! Chris and Danni were likable, interesting characters. The story was interesting, well paced, until detention centers were Brough into the story. I felt it added nothing to Chris and Danni’s story and was just thrown in. I appreciate that you have a political view, sexy, steamy romance books may not be the best venue and frankly all it did was cost you a star or two. I’m giving this book 3 stars, but it would have easily been a 4 without the additional stuff.
****I received an ARC and this is my honest review****
A fantastic well written romance story. This engaging storyline had me addicted page after page as your reminded things can change in the blink of an eye, but nothing is impossible and you can still have dreams come true. The characters are interesting, relatable, and well developed while struggling to move forward with a new path. It’s filled with misunderstandings, kidnapping, hurt feelings and lots of chemistry. I voluntarily reviewed this ARC and excited to read more from this series.
I really liked this book. I think it was a really good addition to the Pitbull books. It was well written and packed full of content.
There were some ups and downs – but ultimately in the end, love conquered any obstacles that came up.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and look forward to the next.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to read Chris’s story. I didn’t like him very much for what he did to Jackson. I’m very glad I read it though. I loved his story. The broken hero finding his forever. I like that each book has an underlying real world issue that is woven in, it adds an extra layer to the story. The chemistry was great between Danni and Chris and there was lots of action and suspense. Great book!
Voluntary review of an ARC
Tough breaks sometimes lead to the best breaks
Tough Break (FSCU Pitbulls Book 3 by Stella Marie Alden is chock full of the highest highs, the lowest lows and everything in between. These two wonderful characters, Chris and Danni, are not only made for each other, they need each other. I love how these two begin with a sort of love-hate introduction to each other then slowly evolve and thaw toward each other to sparks flying, steamy chemistry. As in the first two books, there is a definite focus on communication; how it’s really hard and often misunderstood. Great dialogue demonstrates how the characters work through all this strife and realities of life.
Add in the plot, in all the different paths it takes these two on, the excitement, danger and the promise of the future make this book not only fun to read but full of heart and healing for both of them.
Overall, a very well written book with deeply, emotionally connected characters that really worked hard for their HEA.
A very well written read. Very emotional, suspenseful, real to life intense read. She has so much going on. Going for her Master’s and then Phd and then taking care of her sister and trying to help her. Then she meets him and he is not having any luck of his own. He had a dream that because of someone else gets taken away. They have so many twists and turns and bumps in the road on their way to learning about life and love. I recommend it. I received a review copy and voluntarily review it.
An accident changes Chris’ life in a blink of an eye. No longer playing for the NFL, broke, & fiancé long gone, his luck begins to change after accepts CJ’s offer to work with the Pitbulls. Meeting Dani transforms him completely, but old insecurities surface as he feels she deserves someone better. Dani, having to take care of her sister Karen who has Asperger’s, has her own inner issues to deal with. Independent & focused on work to provide a stable life for her & Karen, doesn’t know if being with Chris is the best thing. Lack of communication leads to tension & misunderstandings, & they have to figure out if what they have is worth it all. One thing Chris knows for sure is if the accident didn’t happen, he would never had met Dani. Another great addition to this series! Looking forward to the next book!
All it takes is one bad night to change a life forever. Chris was an up and coming NFL star. He had it all – fiancé, career and money. That all changed when he was in an accident and in a blink of an eye, he lost everything. He meets Danielle at a bar and the chemistry between the two was great. They need each other more than they realize and it works well for this story. I really enjoyed this book. I would highly recommend this book.
I received an ARC of this book and I am voluntarily leaving a review.
This is another great book by this author. The third in this series follows the new assistant coach chris. A once nfl star now reduced to helping others reach their goals in the field. Chris is on a downward spiral when he meets danni, both suffering from there pasts. I loved the spark between them. The stresses of their roles in the village and family dynamics. Great read.
It was tough for me to break away
Danni, a graduate student, meets Chris, graduate assistant coach, at a biker bar just before school starts. As the story progresses choices are made, things get real, and learning the relationship ropes is the only way for a happy ever after. Stella Marie Alden’s Tough Break gives the reader a glimpse of how things are for former NFL players that need to find a new future when their journey is stopped before it really begins. I absolutely loved that they both were struggling to find a new path forward and definitely interested in reading about the rest of the current team. It was tough for me to break away from reading this.
I received a free copy of the book from the author. I had the opportunity to review or not.
Wow. This started off so much better than the other books. It was funny too. I loved seeing Chris’s story as we don’t really get much about him in the others. We get to see the struggles he faced and was facing and how Jackson’s dilemmas also affected him. Him and Danni are hot together and their scenes and struggles are so real, you feel their emotions. I couldn’t stop reading because I wanted to know how they pushed through. I only wish there would have been an epilogue and maybe gotten an update on Karen.
I enjoyed this book very much. I must admit that I was not looking forward to reading Chris’ story as he was not a good guy in the first book of this series, (Misconduct) or we were lead to believe. I was pleasantly surprised, actually a few times in this story with the twists and turns Ms. Alden provided. Chris still comes across as an arrogant goof, but he’s got his reasons and if you can survive his first verbal bite towards you, you will see that he is quite a wonderful and caring guy. He was such a cool dude when he rides to the rescue. He also has no clue how to read women though, which gets him in a bit of trouble with Danni. I also love Karen and what she adds to the story to make it more believable. I also love this series as it moves on as you are getting different perceptions of what has happened in the other books but from this character in each of the new books. I recommend this book and series.
I received this advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.
I found this YA romance to be both enjoyable and refreshing. Very often YA read focus solely on the romance angle, which is perfectly fine and entertaining. But, I thought it was nice to have that paired together with a heavy dose of real world reality. That is exactly what Chris and Danni experience as their story unfolds. I could feel for Chris. To have your dream within your grasp and then in one single moment, have someone else’s bad decision steal it all away, yeah, that is going to wreck you. I found his anger and attitude realistic and I thought the author did a great job by not only having him suffer such a loss but showing him dealing with the fallout. After all we make plans and God laughs. As for Danni, it was pretty impossible not to love her. She was caring, passionate and very spunky. She is a woman determined to fight for what she believes is right and force people to look closer and to ask questions. I think that important idea and something no one should forget, regardless of their own beliefs or political affiliation. Along with the emotional turmoil, romance and drama, readers can expect some danger, suspense and excitement. A wonderful story about surviving life and finding love when you aren’t looking.