Ashley Stoyanoff Books | August 4, 2015 | New Adult Romantic Suspense
PRG Investigations, book 2
★★★★★
SOURCE: AUTHOR
Ten days ago, someone threw a brick through my front window. Nine days ago, someone keyed my truck right in my driveway. Eight days ago, someone spray painted the words ‘stay away’ across my garage door. That one really pissed me off. The jerk didn’t even have the courtesy to tell me what the hell I need to stay away from.
Each day it’s something new, a new piece of my property vandalized, and I’ve had enough.
Wanting a security system, something with cameras so I can catch the vandal, I let my best friend hook me up with her cousin, a private investigator with the PRG Investigations team.
His name is Vance and I’ve secretly been in love with him for three years. He’s a badass, a little scary, incredibly hot, and he’s never showed an interest in me … until now.
{ about ashley stoyanoff } .
Ashley Stoyanoff is an author of paranormal romance books for young adults, including The Soul's Mark series and the Deadly Trilogy. She lives in Southern Ontario with her husband, Jordan, and two cats: Tanzy and Trinity.
In July 2012, Ashley published her first novel, The Soul's Mark: FOUND, and shortly thereafter, she was honored with The Royal Dragonfly Book Award for both young adult and newbie fiction categories.
An avid reader, Ashley enjoys anything with a bit of romance and a paranormal twist. When she's not writing or devouring her latest read, she can be found spending time with her family, watching cheesy chick flicks or buying far too many clothes.
Ashley loves hearing from her readers, so feel free to connect with her online, or by email (ashley@ashleystoyanoff.com)
{ review } .
When I first saw the title, it kind of went with the whole 'game' theme I had going on in my head. Book one was TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE, so that's why my head went with the game.
It did not occur to me the scene in TWO TRUTHS were Piper jumps up and yells "Play it again!", but when I read that scene, again, but through Vance and Piper's eyes(um... yes, when I read the end of the book before the beginning of the book....) I thought about Luke Bryan's song (which is obviously where the whole idea came from).
...and when Piper was dancing freely at the bar and yelled for the song to be played again, and Vance, more in love with her in that moment than he had been before (not that he was fancying himself in love at that time, of course), begs for the song to be played again -- at that point, the song went on repeat in my mind.
And now every time I so much as look at the cover, the song starts to play. Again. And again. So dance on, Piper, dance on. And smile, because your boy loves your smile.
Anyway.
If you read TWO TRUTHS (which is not necessary), this book actually takes place during the break between Jase and Elena -- where Elena went back home. It was a) comical to read Vance's point of view through this (especially the truck conversation), and b) fun to see that PRG actually does do more than one case at a time -- and Ashley manages to line the stories up just right so it doesn't feel like the boys are overworked in the least bit.
Again, if you read TWO TRUTHS, you may have felt that the end of that book was where the beginning of this one would be -- after all, the boys do introduce Piper to Elena as a "new case" and Elena figures there's going to be more to it than that -- when in truth, Vance is so far gone with Piper at that moment, it's not funny.
Then again... Vance has been so far gone over that girl for a while -- something that Piper surprisingly never picked up on. She just assumed his need to stop by and fix something at her and Kim's apartment (his cousin) was more or less for something to do, not so he could check out his cousin's freckled roomie.
When Piper becomes the victim of a stalker, Vance comes to the rescue -- but he's a little bit pissed at her for waiting 6 months to get her new place up to security standards (at least, standards in his book). He knows damn well he's in her phone book and what name he's under -- which he announces to the room, making me love Wes so much more, again:
"You've got my number on your phone listed as (read to find out!) and it's been there since that first day you moved in with Kim. I'm gonna guess that you haven't deleted it."
Timidly, Piper ducks her head, refusing to meet my eyes as pink creeps up her neck, settling into her cheeks.
It's a gorgeous shade.
"Oh my God," she mumbled under breath. "I'm going to kill Kim."
Wes laughs, but it comes out as a wheezing choking sound, as though he's trying to swallow it. He turns his back to us, walking over to the French doors and bending down as though he is inspecting the lock further. He's not. I'm certain he's just trying to hide the shit-eating grin splitting his face.
He hooks Piper up with the works (security works, people), and when the alarms are tripped, he rushes to her rescue --
...yes, he has her monitors on his phone, and her key on his ring (but hey, all the PRG guys have it...).
Part of the reason why Vance hasn't acted on his desires sooner was, first, she was in a committed relationship, but when they broke things off, she was always nervous around Vance -- so he gave her her space. But he can't help but be drawn to her.
It's been almost six months since I've seen her last and I swear the woman is more beautiful now than she ever was. --Vance
I truly enjoyed Vance and Piper's book. I love that the cover is straight out of the book (I really like this cover, too....), and Ashley managed to make a great story with a good song. I didn't know much about Vance coming into PLAY IT AGAIN -- when I read TWO TRUTHS, Wes was the secondary character that popped out for me and I was a bit sad to find out that Wes's book wasn't going to be number two in the series. But my goodness, did I fall for this man. He's a good guy -- he's caring, he's protective, and he loves Piper something fierce. He cares about what Piper thinks and he understands what her insecurities are going to be and plans for them -- before they truly happen (like a dinner date that needs to be canceled).
Beyond the romance (which was spot-on), the suspense aspect of the story hit every point, too. The stalker mishap doesn't stop just because Piper gets a fancy new security system and a protective boyfriend.
I loved every moment of this book -- and my secondary, Wes, still made my heart smile again and again. As I said in my last PRG review: I have to say, Wes's reactions certainly managed most of my laughs. Still true. Still so very true.
And thank goodness, his book is next and it sounds phenomenal! I'm excited to meet this Sarah character... However -- I liked the few Jacob Cruz parts too. I think he should jump on board the book train...
It did not occur to me the scene in TWO TRUTHS were Piper jumps up and yells "Play it again!", but when I read that scene, again, but through Vance and Piper's eyes
...and when Piper was dancing freely at the bar and yelled for the song to be played again, and Vance, more in love with her in that moment than he had been before (not that he was fancying himself in love at that time, of course), begs for the song to be played again -- at that point, the song went on repeat in my mind.
And now every time I so much as look at the cover, the song starts to play. Again. And again. So dance on, Piper, dance on. And smile, because your boy loves your smile.
Anyway.
If you read TWO TRUTHS (which is not necessary), this book actually takes place during the break between Jase and Elena -- where Elena went back home. It was a) comical to read Vance's point of view through this (especially the truck conversation), and b) fun to see that PRG actually does do more than one case at a time -- and Ashley manages to line the stories up just right so it doesn't feel like the boys are overworked in the least bit.
Again, if you read TWO TRUTHS, you may have felt that the end of that book was where the beginning of this one would be -- after all, the boys do introduce Piper to Elena as a "new case" and Elena figures there's going to be more to it than that -- when in truth, Vance is so far gone with Piper at that moment, it's not funny.
Then again... Vance has been so far gone over that girl for a while -- something that Piper surprisingly never picked up on. She just assumed his need to stop by and fix something at her and Kim's apartment (his cousin) was more or less for something to do, not so he could check out his cousin's freckled roomie.
When Piper becomes the victim of a stalker, Vance comes to the rescue -- but he's a little bit pissed at her for waiting 6 months to get her new place up to security standards (at least, standards in his book). He knows damn well he's in her phone book and what name he's under -- which he announces to the room, making me love Wes so much more, again:
"You've got my number on your phone listed as (read to find out!) and it's been there since that first day you moved in with Kim. I'm gonna guess that you haven't deleted it."
Timidly, Piper ducks her head, refusing to meet my eyes as pink creeps up her neck, settling into her cheeks.
It's a gorgeous shade.
"Oh my God," she mumbled under breath. "I'm going to kill Kim."
Wes laughs, but it comes out as a wheezing choking sound, as though he's trying to swallow it. He turns his back to us, walking over to the French doors and bending down as though he is inspecting the lock further. He's not. I'm certain he's just trying to hide the shit-eating grin splitting his face.
He hooks Piper up with the works (security works, people), and when the alarms are tripped, he rushes to her rescue --
...yes, he has her monitors on his phone, and her key on his ring (but hey, all the PRG guys have it...).
Part of the reason why Vance hasn't acted on his desires sooner was, first, she was in a committed relationship, but when they broke things off, she was always nervous around Vance -- so he gave her her space. But he can't help but be drawn to her.
It's been almost six months since I've seen her last and I swear the woman is more beautiful now than she ever was. --Vance
I truly enjoyed Vance and Piper's book. I love that the cover is straight out of the book (I really like this cover, too....), and Ashley managed to make a great story with a good song. I didn't know much about Vance coming into PLAY IT AGAIN -- when I read TWO TRUTHS, Wes was the secondary character that popped out for me and I was a bit sad to find out that Wes's book wasn't going to be number two in the series. But my goodness, did I fall for this man. He's a good guy -- he's caring, he's protective, and he loves Piper something fierce. He cares about what Piper thinks and he understands what her insecurities are going to be and plans for them -- before they truly happen (like a dinner date that needs to be canceled).
Beyond the romance (which was spot-on), the suspense aspect of the story hit every point, too. The stalker mishap doesn't stop just because Piper gets a fancy new security system and a protective boyfriend.
I loved every moment of this book -- and my secondary, Wes, still made my heart smile again and again. As I said in my last PRG review: I have to say, Wes's reactions certainly managed most of my laughs. Still true. Still so very true.
And thank goodness, his book is next and it sounds phenomenal! I'm excited to meet this Sarah character... However -- I liked the few Jacob Cruz parts too. I think he should jump on board the book train...
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