ARC Review: Rooke by Callie Hart

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Blurb

Watchmaker. Car thief. Heartbreaker extraordinaire.

Rooke Blackheath has spent enough time in juvie to know that he really doesn’t want to go to jail. The food sucks, the clothes itch, and there are absolutely no women in sight. Well…none he wants to fuck, anyway.

He should probably stop boosting cars, but the money is stellar and the high is out of this world. And why should he turn his back on something that sets his soul on fire anyway?

The answer to that question comes in an unexpected form—a petite five-foot-three firecracker named Sorcha, who refuses to give him the time of day no matter how thick he lays on the charm.

Rooke’s not easily deterred, though. Just like the watches he builds from scratch, Rooke knows all too well how women tick. Women are a game to him. A game he always wins.

Sorcha doesn’t stand a chance.

***

Sorcha Connor’s life has been permanently derailed since her son died five years ago. You wouldn’t know it to look at her, of course. She has a great job, a beautiful house, and caring friends. Every week, she hosts a book club featuring the sexiest, most romantic stories on the planet, and every week she falls for a new fictional knight in shining armor.

Fictional men are perfect. They don’t hurt you. They don’t break your heart. They don’t cheat on you after your child dies, and they rarely ever leave the toilet seat up.

When Rooke Blackheath shows up at Sorcha’s workplace, it’s clear he’s nothing like the men who grace the pages of her favorite books. Dangerous, arrogant, sharp-tongued and sarcastic, Rooke’s not the kind of guy she needs in her life. Not to mention the fact that he’s eleven years her junior.

As far as Sorcha is concerned, Rooke doesn’t just live in a different world. He lives in a different galaxy altogether. She’d like to keep it that way, but fate appears to have other plans.

When Cinderella lost her shoe, Prince Charming showed up at her door.

When Sorcha Connor loses her book, an entirely different kind of rogue comes a-knocking.

 

 



Review

“The love between us is fire and ice. It’s loss, and it’s redemption. It’s pain, and it’s comfort. It is everything.”

Raw, intense, sexy and romantic, this one was a rollercoaster!

4 stars!

I love Callie Hart’s writing. I know when I pick up one of her books I am going to be sucked into a story that will completely captivate me from start to finish, and this book was no different. I was crying within the first few pages, and my heart ached for the struggle and torment of these characters, but their love story is gorgeous (and seriously steamy), and with part of the story set within a seedy criminal underground, the touch of darkness creates a wonderful sense of intensity to it all. I loved it!

I was highlighting like crazy all the way through this book because there were so many moments that made me catch my breath. I had to stop and reread passages over and over again because they were just that good, so be warned that this review is going to be quote heavy.

Sasha Cross is living a sort of half-life. She has a great job that she loves and that she’s good at, and she has a close and supportive circle of friends, but personally she’s a mess. She lost her son in a tragic accident five years previously, and her husband left her shortly after, unable to cope with the emotional fallout. She exists rather than lives, and she has no desire or motivation to pull herself out of it.

Rooke Blackheath is a tatted-up bad boy. He spent time in juvie, and though he’s out now and working a legitimate job, he can’t give up the high of stealing cars – or the paycheck he earns for doing it. He lives his life with one foot on either side of the law, and he has no intention of stopping it. At only 22 years old he is young to some, but his experiences have left him wise beyond his years.

People always say they want to know the truth. They make big speeches about how important it is to them and they harp on about the consequence of deceit, but when they’re faced with the truth, they suddenly don’t want it anymore. The truth requires you to be brave. The truth requires you to face awkward situations. The truth requires you to stand your ground, to bear it, not run away and hide from it.

Sasha and Rooke meet unexpectedly, and their connection is immediate. She is taken aback by his raw sexuality, and he is instantly smitten. She balks at the 11 year age gap between them, he thinks nothing of it. He wants her and he’s determined to have her, and oh wow, she has no idea what she’s in for…

“You think the amount of days I’ve been alive on this planet has any real bearing on how well I can fuck you? You think the date on my driver’s license means I won’t be able to make you come? That I won’t be able to love you? That I won’t be able to make you happy? … You’re eleven years older than me. Accept it. Let it go. You’re fighting an unstoppable force, Sasha.”

Yes, Rooke is one sexy bastard! Confident and controlling in the best kinds of ways, he holds nothing back. He doesn’t hide his past or his feelings from Sasha, putting himself completely out there for her and demanding that she do the same. He doesn’t allow her to run and lets her know exactly what he wants from her. It’s alpha, it’s bossy, it’s controlling, and it’s So. Freaking. Hot!!!!!

“I’m going to fuck you and it’s going to change everything. Nothing will be the same again. The sun won’t brighten your days from here on out. I will. Gravity won’t keep your feet on the ground. I will. You won’t want to eat or sleep without me. Every second spent away from me will be a second wasted.”

As always, Callie Hart writes the HOTTEST love scenes! The sex is hot, intense and a little bit dirty. But more than just completely rocking her world, Rooke pushes Sasha to start living her life again, daring her to take a chance trust him, and promising his love, protectiveness and support to her. He’s a dark and scary character, but his huge heart is beautiful, and the moments where he pours his emotions out to her are just gorgeous.

“This thing between us…you’re afraid of it. The moment you stop fearing this and you accept it, you’ll be able to see just how fucking beautiful it is. And the moment you accept it will also be the moment you don’t have to carry this shit on your own anymore.”
… “It’s not that easy. It’s not something I can just hand off to someone else so they can carry half the load for me, Rooke. This is ingrained deep inside me now. It would be like trying to give away half of my soul.”
“I’ll take a part of your soul,” he says quietly.” Give me the wounded part. Give me the part that hurts you every time you breathe. Give me the part that feels so heavy you just don’t think you can carry it anymore. I’ll take care of it for you.”

But Rooke lives in a dangerous world. And when Sasha experiences yet again just how terrifying and violent life can be, their worlds will collide, shifting the story in a direction I wasn’t expecting and making this a heart-pounding, exciting, surprising read.

I really enjoyed this book. Again, Callie Hart blends sex, romance, emotion, danger and violence and creates a wonderfully intense read that had me madly flipping pages. Sasha and Rooke are wonderfully developed characters, and their love story unfolds really nicely despite the differences between them and hurdles that are put in their way. It’s dark, gritty and emotionally heavy but there are a lot of tender moments, and some lightness and humour that had me laughing out loud, and it all combines perfectly to give us a great read that I struggled to put down.

It ends in a great place, and I’m hoping that we get to see these characters again because I feel that there is more to their story, and there are wonderful side characters introduced that I need to know more about. My fingers are crossed!

I loved it – 4 stars.

Advanced Review Copy generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

 

Check out our Callie Hart Author Spotlight for more great reads from this author!

 

 

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