Customer Reviews

Slow Heat (Berkley Sensation)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Samantha McNead, superstar publicist for the Heat, a professional baseball expansion team has been called upon to handle a very sticky PR nightmare. It involves Wade O'Riley, the best defensive catcher in Major League Baseball. Because of Wade's over abundant and very public playboy lifestyle, and being accused of fathering a child with a team groupie, Samantha has to do some major damage control. One of the corporations who endorses the Heat has a new conservative CEO with high family values who is more than upset with the scandal surrounding Wade, even though he is innocent of all wrong doing. Samantha's father is one of the owners of the Heat and wants her to be Wade's pretend girlfriend for a month until the scandal dies down. She's mortified by having to play this role, but because she takes her job seriously, she has no choice. Things would be a lot better if she hadn't made a major mistake where she and Wade spent a drunken night together stuck in an elevator having crazy monkey sex. But she'll make this sacrifice and make sure that Wade keeps his hands to himself from here on out.

Wade is over the moon at having Samantha as his mock girlfriend. He can't get over the incredible passionate night they shared and would love nothing more than to have many more nights with her. He'll try his best to seduce the very buttoned up and professional Samantha at his friend's upcoming wedding. But, Samantha is so stand-offish unless they are in public and surrounded by the paparazzi. If Wade has his way, he'll find another elevator and show her how explosive they can be together.

Samantha is close to her sexual breaking point because Wade is always right by her side, teasing, flirting and whispering sexual innuendos about their elevator ride to the point where she can't handle it. She does something very stupid at the wedding reception they attend together, where they act out another extended scene sex fest in a bathroom, of all things. Wade is ecstatic, while Samantha not so much. Because they must act like they are in love, she has no choice but to put up with Wade. His feelings for Samantha have changed and he wants to make their pretend relationship a reality.

Things become every stressful when Wade's alcoholic father shows up on his doorstep, as well as Samantha's ten-year-old nephew, Tag. With no other choice, both Samantha and Wade have a whole slew of new issues to deal with. Wade wants to work on things with Samantha, and even though she is all for spontaneous sex, he wants more than just a few weeks of mind blowing love making. He now wants forever with Samantha and has to figure out a way to show her.

It's been awhile since I've read such a combustible and sexy romance such as Slow Heat. This latest contemporary baseball romance is near perfect in its telling. If you love baseball, a hero who is an adorable take charge type of guy, and a heroine who tries her best to do the right thing, but can't help but fall for the charms of the playboy type hero who makes her all hot and bothered, you need to read Slow Heat.

What I adored most of all is the fact that even though Samantha constantly tries to keep Wade at arm's length, he keeps pushing in such a way that he isn't too aggressive or he-man forceful. Wade enjoys loving life, from playing baseball to having a bad fast food addiction. When he wants something as bad as he wants Samantha, he won't let her go. They are two very different sides of a coin because their outlook on life and personalities are the total opposite from one another. They should clash, but they don't. Wade is there to help Samantha loosen up and help her with Tag, a confused and lonely boy whose parents act like he doesn't exist. In turn, Samantha is there to show Wade the way he handles his drunk of a father. One of Wade's faults is that he's generous to a fault, but thinks as long as he hands out money, he's doing the correct thing. These two begin to lean on each other and from that they grow into better people.

The dialogue and secondary characters also make Slow Heat over all fun reading. The love scenes between Samantha and Wade are hot, sweet and so very addicting. You can't help but want even more between these two.

Jill Shalvis has written one very satisfying read with this second title in her baseball series. I would recommend you read the first book, Double Play where Samantha and Wade are introduced.

Katiebabs

Double Play (Berkley Sensation)

This is the the 2nd book about the Santa Barbara Heat baseball team following Double Play (Berkley Sensation). It is not necessary to have read the first book, but Wade & Sam were both introduced and Pace & Holly (couple from Double Play) are in this one.

Wade O'Reilly is a player--both on and off the field. He needs a better image for his sponsors, so in steps Samantha McNead, PR specialist for the Heat. They will play a couple for a month to tame his image down and get all the sponsors and media on board the "settled down Wade" train.

The problem is Sam & Wade have a history. Pretending isn't going to be easy for either one of them. And when life's complications get in the way, the relationship might be more real than either of them planned.

Jill Shalvis is probably my favorite author. She has a way of giving her characters depth and a realness about them. Their problems are real and not overblown. I'm never annoyed with the "how stupid can this character be?" thoughts...I loved both Sam & Wade. I laughed plenty and felt the chemistry between the two. The relationship developed at a nice pace and kept me interested. It was the usual witty, fun writing style I'm used to from Shalvis.

I had a hard time putting this book down when it was time for sleep. I finished it in just over a day (even with going to work and taking care of the house!). I'm looking forward to more from this series.

This is the second book in the Pacific Heat series, but can definitely be read as a standalone story. I loved the first book, and was very happy to discover this one is just as good.

Samantha works PR for the Heat baseball team - it's a family business, but she does not get on with her family. Wade is one of the team's stars, and they haven't been on speaking terms since an `incident' in an elevator some months earlier. But now Wade's in trouble in the media (through no fault of his own), and the two of them pretend to be dating to try and get the public to forget about the latest drama.

What Jill Shalvis does so well is create memorable and realistic characters. This is a character-driven story, and as always covers deep emotion at the same time as being laugh out loud funny. This book has some of Jill Shalvis' funniest writing (Wade trying to figure out how to stop fans writing on him was one of my favourites), and also two of her most likeable characters.

This is an excellent contemporary romance. It's about the way the characters find their way to each other rather than the action surrounding them, and it was such a great read. I haven't yet found a Jill Shalvis story I didn't love, and this one is up there with the Wilder Brothers books as one of the best

I should preface this with: I absolutely love all of the Jill Shalvis books I've read. This one is my favorite because of the play between the two characters. They both get a lot of face-time, it's very easy to get into the story. And it doesn't drag on the way some stories do, with excessive description.

I loved this book right up until the end. There is so much going on in this world that I enjoy my books with a nice pretty bow and a happy ending and I didn't get that with this book. Kind of left me hanging, like there should be a book about Gage or even a fast forward 15 years and one about Tag, but SOMETHING to tell me what happens after the fact so I know my favs are happy and healthy and loving life instead of just assumed.

I wasn't sure if I'd like this book, as I'm not a baseball fan (although I do know more about baseball than hockey), but it had gotten great reviews and I was looking for a good contemporary read when this arrived on my doorstep. This is apparently the 2nd book in a series. I did not read the first (I think it's Double Play?)

Samantha McNead (Sam) is a PR whiz who works for a Major League Baseball team, the Santa Barbara Heat. Sam was born into baseball - her father was one of the owners of the team and her uncle was part owner of their sister team. Apparently her brother was also a PR rep but there was a scandal and he was forced to leave.

Wade O'Riley is the team's catcher. He's got a bit of a reputation as a playboy, and there's been a scandal involving a woman with a false claim that she's pregnant with his child. The Heat's Powers That Be have decided Wade needs some good PR and Sam is enlisted to pose as his girlfriend for a month. What they don't know is Sam and Wade had one drunk night together that neither of them has forgotten.

This story was fun. Wade was a easy-going, hungry guy who really seemed to be down-to-earth despite his fame. He was a very likable hero. Sam was a bit more uptight, but you could tell she genuinely liked her job and cared about all the players. Her reasons for fighting a relationship with Wade were valid, but he sure was persistent! I enjoyed Sam and Wade's interaction together - lots of sexual tension going on,, but there were some tender spots too that brought out the "awww". I was frustrated with their misunderstandings about the nature of their relationship but I think that's what it's like in real life, so I got it. There were several laugh out loud moments.

There were a few surprises for the main characters down the line that shook things up a bit; I liked Sam's nephew Tag, but didn't really see the point of Wade's father's storyline. I still don't get why he had to come see Wade - I don't think I'm giving up any big plotlines when I say it was weird he insisted he needed to be with Wade but ended up leaving anyway.

Slow Heat was a fun, sexy read that kept me turning the pages; I really enjoyed it.

Wow! I really enjoyed this one by Jill Shalvis. Romantic, emotional, laughter & stem. Definitely held my interest, I couldn't put my kindle down. Recommend to others.

Pacific Heat publicist Samantha McNead is tasked with cleaning up the image of Major League Baseball's bad boy catcher Wade O'Riley after a paternity allegation from a stalker hurts the team's image and risks a valuable conservative corporate sponsor. To do so she and Wade are going to have to pretend to be in an exclusive relationship for a month, no matter how uncomfortable that thought makes her given their incendiary past and the memory of an erotic episode in an Atlanta elevator months ago.

A memory...and a man...that Sam just couldn't make herself forget.

He survived a childhood of abject poverty with an alcoholic father who was distressingly negligent. Hard work got him into college, more hard work and a gift for baseball saw him through and gave him a future, but left him forever marked by his past. Since the money started rolling in, Wade lives his life in as fun and easy a manner as possible. He gives to charities, financially supports causes, and sends buckets back to his father to pay for his health care. But light, fun, easy - those are more than words, they're his life's mantra, and the one thing Wade never gives to others is a true piece of himself. He keeps himself hidden behind a face of carefree insouciance. He's happy that way.

If there was one night months ago that might have broken through the walls he keeps so firmly in place and rocked him a bit deeper than he was comfortable admitting, well...it's not like Sam ever has to know. And who cares if he hasn't been with another woman since that hot Atlanta night? That's a personal choice. Really. Hell, if he was going to be stuck with a month of a pretend relationship with Sam, he was man enough to make the best of it, especially when just looking at the woman still sets all Wade's internal fires burning.

The problem is a month with Sam may just have Wade yearning to steal home. For life.

This second book in the Pacific Heat series is even more charming than the first, with all of Shalvis' skill in matching two complementary, likable characters with heat and passion. Wade was surprisingly complex, though such a stereotypical male in so many ways. He's scarred by his past, wounded deeply by his father's alcoholism, and yet as generous as he can be even as he protects his heart from the pain he knew as a child. His struggles with emotional maturity made for appealing reading and the culmination of his efforts were endearing. And he's mostly oblivious to it all. But charmingly so.

Sam was a smart, strong professional woman in a man's world. She more than holds her own, she commands respect and admiration in her job. Her personal life, though, has suffered. Being the only woman in a family of powerful men has given her backbone, but has forced her to sacrifice maybe a little too much of her heart. A fact she realizes when her ten year old nephew Tag is unceremoniously dumped on her and he's a total stranger to her. Shalvis did a really nice job developing Sam, rounding her out without compromising on her professional career.

The concept of the plot was a little silly, sure, and the thought that one of the owners of a MLB team would essentially prostitute his daughter for corporate sponsorship is more than a little gross. I also have a hard time believing that a month of fake relationship would achieve the intended objective, nor was I able to completely buy into the idea that it could be successfully pulled off in this day of public persona voyeurism. The lack of attention given to Sam's obviously flawed family situation bothered me, and the fact that Sam's detestable brother never got any sort of comeuppance was a tragedy. Call me vengeful, but that guy needed a serious kick in the athletic supporter.

The romance of Wade and Sam, though, and the subplots of Wade and his dad and Sam and Tag, were all very well done and fun to read, and full of genuine emotion that ran the gamut. I did think the end of Slow Heat was very abrupt, and I would have loved one more chapter or an epilogue or something, but overall it provided plenty of the sort of light, satisfying romance reading that I've come to absolutely count on when it comes to Shalvis. Her books are just flat-out fun to read. They're full of sexy heat, intense emotion, and well written story, and offer up the sort of characters that are most pleasant to spend time with. I fully expect I'll be spending my time with more of Shalvis' characters soon...and often.

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Reviewed for One Good Book Deserves Another.

Slow Heat is the second book in her baseball series, Double Play. In this book, we have the same cast of characters with this one focusing on Wade and Sam. A secondary character that almost stole the show is Tag, Sam's nephew. While I thought Tag's character was slightly idealized, his personality and dialogue touched my heart. Tag was really the catalyst to softening Sam's personality and he brought Wade's past into the limelight. The book kept my interest by all the diverse characters but the pacing was pretty much even throughout. It didn't drag per se, but with the exception of Tag's antics, nothing much stood out in my mind. Wade and Sam's relationship was ongoing with plenty of misconceptions due to their lack of communication. It was actually a pretty real interpretation of a lot of real life romances. The sex scenes were intense, showing us the feelings developing in the relationship. I did enjoy their habit of playing Truth or Dare. I thought it genius as a way to break through Sam's reserve. Overall, this story is a mixture of two people brought together by their sexual attraction and kept apart by their differences. I loved the sexual tension, the great dialogue, and the well developed characters. Any book by Jill Shalvis is guaranteed to be a hit! - Lisa Freeman

This was my first Jill Shalvis book and it was highly entertaining with a fun witty romance and dialogue between our two main characters. This is very different from the romances that I've read in that there's really no obstacles and reasons why they can't be together. Albeit, I think the premise was that they supposedly thought the other wasn't looking for anything serious, but it certainly didn't get in the way of them spending time together. This book is more like a journey that any couple goes through when coming together. Unsure of how serious the other feels, but in the end they both are looking for the same thing. I think any woman who is starting a relationship with a "player" both literally and figuratively, would have some doubts as to the emotional involvement as opposed to the physical.

Wade O'Riley is the hunky super star catcher for Major League Baseball's Houston Heat. Always getting stuck in antics, typically involving women, the team's owners have finally had it when a woman claims to be pregnant with Wade's love child. In order to tame his reputation, they want to project the image that he's in a steady relationship and setup for him to have a pretend girlfriend for the next month to repair his and the team's reputation.

Sam McNead is the Heat's publicist as well as the owner's daughter. Always the go to girl, they convince Sam to be Wade's pretend girlfriend for the next month to help with their team's image. Sam, against her better judgement agrees, but knows it's a bad idea because she's always been attracted to him and there was that five minutes of heaven in the elevator, where they got stuck together... drunk... As they spend time together, it clear to everyone that there's nothing pretend about their feelings for one another and as they experience crisis after crisis, they find that the other is always there for them.

as I mentioned before, aside from normal insecurities, there wasn't really a whole lot of angst or misunderstandings. It's a normal journey of life where unexpected events take place and two normal, healthy and good adults handle what life throws at them. The chemistry between Wade and Sam is great and their scenes together are sexy. This is a very fast, entertaining and funny romance.