A forced sentence leads to a reckless passion…….HadleyWhen my husband walked out on me over a year ago, it devastated me. When the divorce papers came, it killed me. When we had to sell our house, it broke me. But then he moved in with his new flavor of the month and told our daughter his new woman wasn’t into children. That pissed me off.Now Riley feels abandoned, and I can’t make it better; no … feels abandoned, and I can’t make it better; no matter how hard I try. I’m desperate to help her adjust to the loss of a male figure in her life. The companion program that matches adults up with children who have loneliness and abandonment issues is my last hope.
The counselors tell me he’s doing community service hours, and I ask to sit in on his meetings with Riley. The minute I see him astride the matte black Harley, I know neither my nor Riley’s life will ever be the same again.
Trick
Community Service. Two words I should be thankful for, but I’m not. I resent the hours it’s away from building my business. The two previous kids I’d been paired up with didn’t work out because their mothers were more interested in getting in my bed. This next match with a little girl is my last hope. Unless this kid works out, I’m destined to serve time.
When they push her into the room wearing pink converse with a black dress, her crazy curls barely held back by the barrette in her hair, and studious glasses on her face, I can tell she’s scared – of new people, of change, of being pushed aside. Something inside of me breaks, and I want this girl to feel wanted again.
What I’m unprepared for is meeting her mom. The second our hands touch, there are fireworks, bright lights, and a picture of the future I could one day have. The future I’ve never allowed myself to wish for.
Community service becomes more than a chore, more than time I resent for being taken away from me. In the months that follow, I realize they’re just like me: they’ve been abandoned, left behind by the world, forgotten by those who should love them.
Thanks to the one last hope in both our lives – we found the light in the darkness we’d been searching for.
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I loved this one by Laramie Briscoe. Action packed and a strong damsel in distress. This was a page turner and had such a great sigh-worthy ending. Definitely recommend!
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book by Laramie. I absolutely loved this book. This book grabs your heart strings from the beginning and holds on to those strings until the end. There is a part in this book that I wanted to cry but was so glad when it came out amazing in the end. The character chemistry between Trick and Riley the amazing little girl that grabs your heart is freaking just so loving. You want to hug this little girl and never let her be sad. The storyline between the two of them is so very well written. Just have to love it. The chemistry between Trick and Hadley is off the freaking charts. You are with them every step of the battle they go through cheering them on to what is so obvious.I freaking loved this book.I highly recommend this book. It is a heartfelt could happen to anyone love story. I could easily relate to the storyline which was a plus for me
Trick is the story of a man with a past trying to make a life for himself and a woman trying to start over and make a life for herself and her daughter whose father abandoned her.
I loved Hadley from the start because she was strong. Not a whiny heroine, she put on her big girl panties and did what needed to be done to take care of her daughter and herself.
Trick, was loveable as he quickly and seamlessly fit into their lives and hearts.
The entire tale is a bit sugary sweet and everything flowed seamlessly. I would have preferred a bit of a stumble or two along the way, something they truly had to work to overcome.
Trick easily moved from parole to a free man, Hadley easily gave up doing everything for herself and they fell into their own little world without issue. That’s truly a sweet story and the characters were great I just like a little something more, I felt like without out that they were missing something.
4 solid stars overall. I love the author, love her writing, this one just lacked that one little element that makes me love a book.
There is nothing more swoon worthy than a big tough hero going soft for a little girl. With several additional reasons to swoon over Trick, I fell hard and fast.
After her divorce, Hadley will do anything to correct the loss her daughter, Riley, has experienced. A community program links them with Trick, not only an ex-con, but currently on probation and struggling to stay out of jail. Soon, it’s not just about filling a hole in Riley’s life, it’s Hadley finding the only man who could ever heal the hurt in her own.
Hadley was a great mother and I loved that she wasn’t perfect. She was real in everything she did and that shines through in this story. Even when Trick becomes something more to her than her daughter’s “companion”, she stayed true to her character – and that didn’t mean acting as though she didn’t have feelings for Trick.
Man, Trick was incredible! He first falls for Riley before he really takes a good look at Hadley. I loved that. Everything he did was with open honesty, refusing to make promises that could be broken. That was exactly what Hadley and Riley needed. Watching him as they healed him return was beautiful. He’s had a hard life and these two brought him a peace he never thought he’d find.
While there are a lot of scenes with Riley and that is definitely the catalyst of the story, this is primarily about Trick and Hadley getting to know and trust each other, learning to reach out and lean on each other as well. Things between them are scorching once they give in.
There is very little drama until the end, and that felt a bit contrived but I still enjoyed the pinch of angst. I must admit I did skim some as this tends to have a bit too much introspection which caused it to feel repetitive at times. Overall, I enjoyed it and I’d certainly read more from this author.
Absolutely amazing. Love Trick and Hadley. Sprite is funny. This book has the right amount of angst, sad and funny. Trick had a rough start and Hadley had to put all her energy and heart into Riley. How can a single mother put her and her daughter in line to get a hurt again? This is a must read single parent romance.
This was my first book by this author but definitely not my last. She really knows how to write steamy scenes! +hot+
What can I say? I devoured this book.
I loved the writing and the characters (Oh Trick! I want a guy like you!! You’re too good to be true!) and although the story lacked in secondary characters it didn’t actually bother me because Trick and Hadley as well as Riley filled the story to the fullest without needing the help of others.
There weren’t any predominant emotions in this book but a good mix of fun and sweet scenes, sad and emotional ones and let’s not forget the scorching hot moments.
The Story:
Hadley’s ex never wanted kids but she couldn’t believe that even after Riley was born her ex-husband still didn’t want to spend time with their daughter. When Hadley can’t take it anymore to see her six-year-old struggle with being abandoned by her dad, she wants her girl to know that there are other people besides her that she can count on and not abandon her like her father, she enters the companion program.
Trick is an ex-con and has to fulfill his Community Service hours or he must go back to jail. He doesn’t mind working with kids although he would rather be building his business, but his recent assignments didn’t work out because the mothers were more interested in getting in his bed than for their kids to get help. When Hadley and Riley are his last chance, Trick is not prepared for how his life is going to change. Likewise did neither Hadley nor Riley expect Trick to turn their lives upside down.
Can their lives fit together when they are so different from each other?
Thoughts:
Trick was my favorite character. I absolutely loved him although I’d hoped he’d stay bad at least for a little while longer because despite his past was he actually one of the best guys that could do no harm. He was not at all this bad boy everyone saw him for. I just wish we got to know the meaning behind his tattoos because he seemed so adamant that a tattoo had to have some importance.
Hadley was a good mother and determined to never disappoint her daughter like her father did. She wanted her daughter to have at least one person she could trust. I liked that a lot about her how selfless she was.
Some things were repeatedly mentioned by Hadley in the second part of the book which annoyed me a bit and I started to resent her because of that. I liked Hadley a lot at first but this ruined it for me.
It didn’t minder my love for Trick though!! =)
All three characters had one emotion in common: loneliness. Because all three of them felt lonely and abandoned in life for different reasons and because of different people and I liked that they found and helped each other partly without even knowing.
I anticipated some troubles with the kid named G because the story led me to believe that but I waited in vain. There was so much potential there and I had hoped to read at least something that made the change in him believable at the end because he’s still a bad-mouthed kid in my eyes.
Even though there was some suspense closer to the end I felt like that it was just added to have some drama in the book. It happened too sudden and felt also too rushed. I liked the story a lot without this chapter already so no need for unnecessary amendments.
I don’t want it to look like I’m picking the book apart because I absolutely loved the first half of the book and would have rated 5 stars if it weren’t for the second half although I liked a lot about the rest too.
The ending was sweet and I loved it. I liked how the characters spent time together and how they grew closer in a way that was cautious on both sides but also rather quick in a short time. They were a sweet family and I enjoyed how their lives got sewn together.
I absolutely LOVE all of her books! This one was great! Don’t miss out!