review || OUT OF BOUNDS

Out of Bounds by Lynn Raye Harris

Publisher: Kindle Worlds (3/12/2015)
Series: Kindle Worlds Novella -- Game For Love
Genre: Sport Romance
Source: Purchased
Purchase links || amazon || add to goodreads

Rating:  ★★★★1/2





When the stakes are this high, sometimes you have to throw out the rulebook... 

When San Francisco Outlaws tight end Malcolm Hughes comes home for his twin brother's funeral, he doesn't expect to pick up a runaway bride on the side of the road. 

Sabrina Miller thought she was gaining a husband, but the ceremony went south when she discovered her fiancé was already married. Now, with a storm bearing down and nowhere to go, she reluctantly accepts a ride from a brooding stranger. 

Forced to wait out the storm, Mal and Sabrina are drawn together by forces neither of them can explain. When Mal offers to let Sabrina spend what would have been her honeymoon in his beach house, he isn't thinking of seduction. 

But the chemistry between them is combustible--and impossible to deny. It's only for a few days and they're positive they can handle it. So when reality returns and they have to walk away, why does it feel wrong to let each other go? 

In the game of love, some of the best plays are out of bounds... 

Note: This story is part of Bella Andre's Game For Love series, but it can be read and enjoyed as a stand alone story.

{ review } .

I love what Lynn Raye Harris does with her military heroes; just love it.

So when I saw that she was writing a football story... while I knew it was going to be fabulous, I was curious as to where "my" LRH went. 

No worries, she's still there -- our military man is just a side story of sorts.

Rather than the military man being front and center... We actually learn about him because he's our lead's brother...

...and he dies.

This story starts out on a deserted road with a storm brewing. Sabrina just learned her fiance, who she was just about to walk down the aisle to, is really married; now she's crying and walking down the isolated road, big poofy dress and all. 

Mal is driving down said road when he comes across her. Being the gentleman that he is, he stops and offers her a ride. Later, Sabrina learns that he was coming home from his brother's funeral.

One of the biggest aspects of this story that I absolutely loved and appreciated was that it touches on the 'hero' topic -- about how athletes get paid more than military personel; that the men and women in the military are the true heroes.

Mal knows damn well that between him and his brother, his brother is the hero. And now that Chris has died? The very last thing Mal wants is the recognition and the fame. He's nobody's hero. He just catches a football. 

...Chris had chosen the Army becuase he had an honorable streak and wanted to make a difference. 

Mal didn't make a difference. He got paid ridiculous amounts of money to paly a game that consisted of putting on pads and running down a field while trying not to get crushed.

Sabrina, though, makes him see how it's a delicate balance -- his sport helps people through. Some people watch sports as a release from their every day grind.

While this was a quick romance -- they really did go from zero to sixty pretty quickly -- nothing about it felt off. Mal recognizes that Sabrina is someone he can break down in front of (even if it does go against everything a man desires for himself)... 

...He vaguely remembered sobbing in her arms.

Fucking manly. 

Sabrina recognizes that Mal is someone who can keep her heart safe.

Equally, though, Sabrina is a realist and knows that when all is said and done, his career is in one state, her life in another.

I loved every moment of these two -- but then again, being a LRH fan... 

...I knew I would.