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Stone by Rie Warren Series: Carolina Bad Boys #1
on September 25, 2014
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance, New Adult
Pages: 317
Format: eBook
Source: Gift
Purchase Links: Amazon
Goodreads
Rie Warren delivers a steamy, humorous romance with one hell of an alpha male bad boy.
Hell on wheels meets Hell in high heels.
Bad boy mechanic Josh Stone likes to get his hands dirty any way he can—the filthier, the better. Ever since his wife walked out on him and their young son, he’s only had room in his heart for two loves: the kid and cars.
Roped into playing his best buddy’s gay boyfriend during a romance writers convention, the player meets the girl who’s gonna rock his world. Leelee Songchild. Shy, bashful, beautiful Leelee who blushes at the drop of a hat yet writes hardcore smut to rival Josh’s backlist of Penthouse Forum.
The only problem is his hands are tied. Josh can’t stab his old friend/fake lover in the back even though all he wants to do is take luscious Leelee to bed, and maybe, love her. When the truth comes out, all hell breaks loose.
Too bad romance is just for books.
– 2 Stone Stars –
Stone, At Your Service is book one in the Carolina Bad Boysseries by Rie Warren.
This is my first experience with this author and I was not impressed. I’m not a contemporary reader, but I do like to try them out now and then, so when I won a gift copy I gave it a try.
Josh Stone meets his dream girl at the most inopportune time. He is a rough-around-the-edges, single-dad who spends every friday night with a different girl, but when he sees Leelee Songchild all he can think about is getting in her pants and keeping her forever.
The story is written/told in Josh’s POV. I do like to read POV’s, but this one fell flat. Josh comes across more bi-sexual and not as the bad boy alpha he was supposed to be portrayed as. He is pretending to be gay to help his long time friend, but at times I questioned if something was going on between the two of them. His pursuit of Leelee was not at all engaging and I never felt a romance bloom/grow between the two. I wanted to like this book, but simply I could not connect with the characters, plot, or romance. Nothing felt right. The characters where Eh, the story felt off, and the writing was so so. All and all, nothing worked for me.
Stone, At Your Service was not the book for me. If the blurb intrigues you, I urge you to give it a shot. Just because it did not work for me does not mean it won’t for you.
I’ve got one of hers on my tbr pile. They seem to be hit or miss. People love them or meh. Makes me a little nervous going in. lol
I wasn’t sure what I expected. Maybe something more MCish. Oh well as you said books of any kind can be hit or miss.