review || BADASS { blitz }

Badass by Alana Albertson, Linda Barlow

Publisher: Bolero Books (5/12/2015)

Genre: New Adult, Erotic Romance

Source: IndieSage PR

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Rating: ★★★★

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I f**ked a SEAL—the human kind, the kind who shoots terrorists, sports rock hard abs and tattooed biceps, and scores an easy lay with every girl he ever wants. I should’ve known better. 

I should be studying harbor seals’ breeding habits, not conducting my own research into mating rituals of the Navy variety. 

He’s a jackass. An arrogant, womanizing, patronizing, Harley-riding jerk. 

 A one-night stand. One night of the most incredible sex I’ve ever had. Shane is trained to kill with his bare hands in 300 different ways—and he knows 300 ways to f**k me, too. 

Now my father is engaged to his mother. And we’re heading to Mexico for the wedding. The prick is blackmailing me. He’s threatening to ruin their big day if I don’t surrender to his demands. 

Quit is not in his vocabulary. I hate him, but I know he’ll never give up until he gets everything he wants. 

Screw that! I won’t give up—I’ll never submit to America’s cockiest badass.

about Alana || Alana Albertson is the President of RWA Contemporary Romance Writers, former President of RWA's Young Adult and Chick Lit chapters, and the founder of Academe Advantage, a college admissions & test preparation company. Alana Albertson holds a Masters of Education from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Stanford University. A recovering professional ballroom dancer, Alana currently writes contemporary romance, romantic suspense and paranormal romance. She lives in San Diego, California, with her husband, two young sons, and four dogs. When she’s not spending her time needlepointing, dancing, or saving dogs from high kill shelters through Pugs N Roses, the rescue she founded, she can be found watching episodes of House Hunters, Homeland, or Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team.

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about Linda || Linda Barlow is the author of 25 novels, with more on the way. She lives in New England with her mysterious spouse (who sleeps during the day, which has often made her wonder if he's a vampire) and their equally enigmatic and nocturnal cat. Linda has written in various genres, including historical and contemporary romance, romantic suspense, paranormal romance, New Adult romance, family sagas, and general mainstream fiction. Publishers have included Doubleday, Dell, Penguin, Warner Books, Hachette, New American Library/Signet, Berkley/Putnam, Silhouette and Harlequin. Linda is a USA Today bestselling author. She's proud to have earned a few awards over the years, including the Rita from Romance Writers of America for Leaves of Fortune; New Historical Novelist of the year from Romantic Times for Fires of Destiny; and a Career Achievement award from RT.

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{ excerpt } .

I pulled her to me, her thin dress clung to her body and I despite my anger, my only thought was ripping off her panties and taking her right there in the strand. She attempted to jerk away, her nostrils flared.

“When did you know? My mom had never shown you a picture of her son? Or mentioned my name?”

“No, I didn’t know. She said her son was a SEAL. You lied to me about what you did for a living. And even if I had known, which I didn’t, I had no way of contacting you. I gave you my number, but you didn’t call.”

“I’ve been deployed. We can’t text during firefights, despite what you see in the movies.” But even if I hadn’t been deployed, I would never have called her. We were too different—way too different.

“For the record, Shane the SEAL, the only reason I agreed to leave the restaurant with you was to set down some rules.” 

 “Rules?” I laughed openly at her. “You’re giving me rules?”

“Yes. We will inevitably see each other at family events. You and me, whatever the hell it was, can never happen again. And Dad and Molly can never find out. Promise me you won’t say anything.” 

I laughed. “Listen, sweetheart. If I want to fuck you, and you want me, which you do, nothing is gonna stop me.”

I wasn’t done talking to her yet. I grabbed her hand and we continued down the beach. 

“Dammit, the only reason I’m not running away from you is because I’m not leaving until you swear to me that you won’t tell your mom about that night. Or anyone else.”

I released her hand and playfully pinched her. “What makes you think I haven’t bragged about you yet? Our night was epic.”

“So the rumors I’ve heard about SEALs are true—you guys are a bunch of misogynist pricks who can’t keep your mouths shut about anything.”

My Teammate Kyle noticed my return first. “Is this the redhead you won’t shut up about?” 

I raised my eyebrows at him. “Sure is. Cassie, meet my buddy Kyle. I just found out that Cassie is going to be my stepsister.”

A look of horror flashed on her face and she clutched her stomach. 

Kyle let out a deep laugh. “Stepsister? That’s a good one, Tyler. Laugh my fucking ass off. Let me know how that works out for you.” 

One of the recruit’s eyes lifted toward Cassie, a full body eye fuck. 

“Hey Pinhead, are you checking out my stepsister?”

“No, Instructor Tyler.”

“You calling me a goddamn liar? Get in plank.” 

The guy dropped into the sand. I grabbed a hose and blasted him with water. Fuck him, no one was gonna look at Cassie while I was around.

“If your body isn’t straight, put your ass in the air.” I yelled at the motherfucker. But I wished Cassie were the one writhing in the sand, her ass in the air as I took her from behind.

{ review } .

This is a story told in two points of view, through the eyes of Cassie and Shane. As the synopsis says, we have a Marine Biologist student, Cassie, and a Navy SEAL instructor, Shane. These two could not be more different.

Cassie has a love for water and animals -- in fact, when she and Shane first meet, it's with her helping a seal pup who became entangled with human pollution. When Shane went diving that night, he was first struck by the red haired beauty at the shore, but when he saw her handling the seal pup...

Well, he was less than nice about it.

And this, my friends, is where we first see the back and forth that is Shane. He talks a shit-tastic game, that one, and has nasty things to say to Cassie, but at the same time, his mind is only on one thing -- taking her to bed.

Or against the wall. Or on a table...

Shane is an arrogant ass, no two ways about it. And Cassie? Well, she begins to seem as a bit of a girl. Yes, she has all the lady parts, but when he doesn't call her (when she knew damn well he wouldn't), she went allllll girl and got upset over it.

He didn't call for a few reasons, one being he wasn't a relationship guy. He was very much a wham-bam-thank you, ma'am kind of man-whore. But two, he was deploying for the next nine months. After a night of fabulous sex, he went and had to be celibate for nine months. Well, I'm sure 'had to be' is a tough term; I'm sure if he really looked for it, he could have found it, but that's neither here nor there. When he returned Stateside, though, well THEN he could have definitely found it.

But he didn't.

Cassie was on his mind, and didn't that just piss him off. Shortly after that, he learns that his mom is going to remarry, and the man she's remarrying has a daughter.

...a certain red-head daughter that Shane can't get off of his mind.

Did I mention Shane's an arrogant ass? Yeah? Yeah, thought so. He continues to be throughout the story, too. He wants Cassie but knows he shouldn't. When he does take her, he's sure to leave with the jarring pass of calling her 'sis'.

So altogether, then...

I actually did enjoy this story. Like I said, I found Shane to be an ass, and sometimes felt Cassie was a bit of a pushover, but the two of them together just worked for me. I felt that Shane hid his true feelings behind the cockiness he showed the world and when threats actually came to Cassie, his true colors shown. As an erotica-type story, it certainly hit the mark -- the whole step sibling fantasy being drawn out to stand over months. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the happily ever after of this book, but... [shrug] The book worked.

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