Heartless Hunk by Ann Omasta
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Heart Wants What It Wants
What you need to know about Heartless Hunk:
✔ Set in NYC
✔ Insta-love
✔ Complete stand-alone
✔ Recently Widowed Violet Markle
✔ Hot Hunk Oliver Adams, infamous reality TV star
✔ Fake Date romance
✔ Forced Proximity: “one bed”
✔ If you loved Stuck-Up Suit by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward, you will get to see a LOT more of Soraya, she is Violet’s best friend
Ann Omasta has created a compelling story in Heartless Hunk that pulls you in with great characters, dynamic writing, a pleasurable pace, with on point world building in which you feel that the stakes are high for these characters that you’ve grown to love. I loved this story. I’m sure you will too.
My Plot Summary:
In Ann Omasta’s Heartless Hunk, Violet’s late husband Dylan died tragically one year previously. Violet’s best friend Soraya thinks this is sufficient time for her to have mourned her childhood sweetheart and start moving on. (This time frame is my only real issue with the book. I just feel that one year is a little too soon.) Violet isn’t ready for a relationship and sort of agrees to a fling. She needs to go back to her hometown in Maine and doesn’t want to be looked at with pity; she needs somebody to go with her and fake being her boyfriend. Enter Oliver who appeared on a reality show and is known around NYC and well, everywhere, as the Heartless Hunk for things he did on the show. He needs to get out of town ASAP! They reach an agreement and head to Maine. Things get real, really fast but Oliver has a secret that could destroy everything.
WRITING STYLE: 5/5
PLOT: 3.5/5
WORLD-BUILDING: 5/5
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: 5/5
ROMANCE: 3.5/5
HEAT: 5/5
And then we come to Big Baller….
Big Baller by Katrina Marie
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Bentley is a rookie basketball player with the fictional Austin, Texas professional team. He’s a player and he’s not looking for a relationship. He’s mostly trying to stop riding the bench and earn some playing time on the court.
Jolene is a flight attendant who had her heart broken by Playboy Pilot’s Carter Clynes before he met his OTP, Kendall. Jolene has given up on men and does NOT want to date.
Bentley and Jolene meet on a flight and he sets his sights on her but she keeps turning him down because she knows he’s a player and will break her heart. Bentley keeps on trying..will he win her heart?
This was just okay for me. The pacing was very slow and did not grab my attention. The characters and dialogue were somewhat wooden. I did not really enjoy the portrayal of either H/h. Very unsatisfying I’m sorry to say.
So, one out of two isn’t too bad. What Cocky Hero Books are you most looking forward to?