Buy: Amazon US | Amazon Universal
Blurb
She’s the girl next door. He’s the guy who’s loved her from afar.
They’re in for an unexpected tumble into love.
She’ll juggle your balls
For Stella Allesandro, chaos is good. She’s a rising star at a leading sports publicity firm. She’s known throughout the industry as the jock whisperer—the one who can tame the baddest of the bad boys in professional sports without losing her signature smile.
But Cal Hartshorn is an entirely different kind of chaos.
He’ll fix your broken heart
This ex-Army Ranger and now-famous cardiothoracic surgeon fails at nothing…except talking to a woman he’s adored from afar. Whether on the battlefield or operating room, he’s exacting, precise, and efficient, but all of that crumbles when Stella is in sight.
Cal always knows—and gets—what he wants, and now he wants all of her. His forever girl.
But Stella isn’t convinced she’s anyone’s forever.
Review
4 smitten alpha stars
I loved this book! A fun, sexy and flirty read with two fantastic characters and a chemistry-filled romance that is full of fast-paced quips and banter, and is seriously funny. If you love a smitten alpha hero, you will love Cal ”the man-brick” Hartshorn.
Fan’s of Kate’s will know heart surgeon Cal. As a colleague and close friend of both Nick (from The Spire) and Alex (from Preservation). At 42 years old he has risen to the top of his field, and he is dedicated and confident in his abilities. What he is not so confident with, however, are his skills with the ladies. Oh, he knows what to do once he gets his hands on one, but for eight months he has been lusting after a woman that he sees on his daily jog every morning, but he’s never had the nerve to approach her.
Stella Alessandra is 35 years old and is strong, sassy and married to her career in sports promotion and management. She is a creature of routine, and her usual morning walk takes an interesting turn when she is plowed down by a gorgeous “man-brick”, and is swept up into his arms and carried back to his car so that he can tend to her wounds. The chemistry between them zings from the very first moment and the flirtation begins.
“Okay, let’s start over.” I reached across the table, my hand outstretched. “I’m Stella Allesandro and I zone all the way out on my morning walks. I blame *NSYNC.”
Cal laughed, but he didn’t release my hand. “I’m Cal Hartshorn and I approach women by mowing them down to see if they like being underneath me.”
For all that he’s a big manly, alpha with wicked thoughts about his secret crush, Cal is adorably uncomfortable talking to Stella. He is insta-smitten and it’s super cute, and creates some laugh-out-loud, highly inappropriate (and therefore hilarious), almost cringey moments, but Stella counters him, and watching them together is a real treat.
“I’m not really a flowers-and-proper-dates girl,” I said, fully aware of his thigh muscles tightening under my hand. “I’m more of a burgers-and-football girl, to be honest. Baseball or hockey since we’re in the off-season. Basketball too. Burgers, sports, nothing proper. I’m not proper.”
Cal rested his forehead on my shoulder with a quiet groan. That sound, it was more intimate than a kiss. It belonged to private spaces where no one else could listen in. But we’d already forgotten about the rest of the world. We were alone here, me and Cal, and I wasn’t smitten. I wasn’t lovestruck. “Marry me, Stella. Marry me and bear my children.”
His hand skated up my arm and over my shoulder to cup my face, and just like that, I was kissing a man I’d met an hour ago.
Stella has no interest in relationships. She has very well-defined hook ups that are governed by rules and she doesn’t want to get involved with anybody, but from the very beginning Cal pushes her boundaries, and she’s powerless to stop him. They begin to spend time together, and it’s really intriguing to see how things develop between them. Definitely not what I was expecting, but it was so much fun seeing a guy so incredibly devoted and fighting for the girl he wants.
I was connected to Stella in ways I couldn’t see and barely understood but I knew it changed everything.
This woman was all kinds of headstrong, and I walked a line between admiring the shit out of it and wanting to club her over the head and drag her back to my prehistoric cave.
And Stella is just fabulous! She’s bold and confident, she knows what she wants and she doesn’t take any crap. And her narration is so freaking funny!
If all I wanted was for Cal to take me to Pound Town, we would’ve checked that box earlier this morning. Right there in the back of his SUV, nice and proper like the goddamn lady I was.
And together they are fantastic. Sometimes I find that characters who hold back in relationships are annoying, but Stella’s feelings are balanced really nicely with Cal’s intensity, and it creates a really fun dynamic between them as they tease and banter their way from sexual attraction to friends-with-sexual attraction, to passionate lovers, to… something. The flirting is filthy, and Cal’s dirty mouth is all kinds of hot which, with all of that intensity, translates into super steamy sexy time. But it’s not always easy, they want different things, and they have a lot to figure out, and I loved watching their journey as they do just that.
“I want more than tonight.”
“It was never tonight,” I replied, the words quick and rough. “You didn’t come here for tonight.”
You don’t need to have read any of Kate’s other books to enjoy this one, but Walsh lovers will love seeing Nick and Erin, Alex and Riley. I loved catching up with them, and all of the characters interacting is a real highlight.
Written with Kate’s trademark wit, humour and heart, this is a fun read with loveable characters, great dynamics and a sexy, passionate love story. Cal and Stella’s story is gorgeous and I loved it!
4 stars.
An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Vital Signs
A spin-off from the Walsh Family series
Before Girl (#1) (Cal & Stella)
Review
Buy: Amazon | Paperback
The Worst Guy (#2) (Sebastian & Sara)
Review
Buy: Amazon | Paperback
About the Author
Kate Canterbary doesn’t have it all figured out, but this is what she knows for sure: spicy-ass salsa and tequila solve most problems, living on the ocean–Pacific or Atlantic–is the closest place to perfection, and writing smart, smutty stories is a better than any amount of chocolate. She started out reporting for an indie arts and entertainment newspaper back when people still read newspapers, and she has been writing and surreptitiously interviewing people—be careful sitting down next to her on an airplane—ever since.
Kate lives on the water in New England with Mr. Canterbary and the Little Baby Canterbary, and when she isn’t writing sexy architects, she’s scheduling her days around the region’s best food trucks.
Newsletter | BookBub | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads