{"id":29134,"date":"2018-01-07T00:28:14","date_gmt":"2018-01-07T05:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=29134"},"modified":"2018-01-07T00:39:36","modified_gmt":"2018-01-07T05:39:36","slug":"review-maverick-north-ridge-2-by-karina-halle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=29134","title":{"rendered":"Review: Maverick (North Ridge, #2) by Karina Halle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n
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\r\n <\/div><\/div><\/b><\/h4>\n
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Review<\/b><\/h4>\n

4 stars!<\/b><\/p>\n

Maverick is the second book of the True North<\/i> series, the story of John \u2018Maverick\u2019 Nelson, the middle brother of three Canadian mountain-men of the series (though this can be read as a standalone). And whoa, what a ride. Hot, intense and super-steamy with a great blend of funny, light moments and heart-wrenching emotion. And did I say hot? Because OMG, the filthy mouth on this man would make even the most hard-core romance reader blush. But more about that later.<\/p>\n

\u201cLove is chaos.\u201d
\nI give her an odd look. But she\u2019s right. Love is chaos.
\nI think I might be falling in love \u2026 and I\u2019ve never felt more turbulent in all my life. <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Riley Clarke is new to town. After suffering a devastating loss while working on a search and rescue team in the Rockies, she has come to North Ridge for a fresh start. Mav is the leader of the local search and rescue, and though there is a severe case of lust at first sight when they meet, there is a strict no-fraternisation policy at their workplace so they know they need to keep their hands off each other. Not that does anything to stop their attraction, or their fun flirting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI probably should go home. My boss expects me at work tomorrow morning early, and I hear he can be a hardass.\u201d
\n\u201cI heard he has a hard ass. And it\u2019s spectacular.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is such a fun dynamic between these two. Riley and Mav are both no-nonsense people, they say it like it is, and they don\u2019t hold anything back. They openly admit to their attraction, they tease, flirt and banter knowing that there\u2019s nothing they can do about it, but unwilling to stop it at the same time. And the chemistry is electric!<\/p>\n

\u201cYou find me amusing,\u201d I point out. \u201cAnd confusing.\u201d
\n\u201cNo, not confusing. You\u2019re nothing if not straight forward. But yes, I find you amusing. I find you a lot of things that I probably shouldn\u2019t.\u201d
\n\u2026
\nIf Mav is already thinking of me in ways he probably shouldn\u2019t, and I keep pushing his buttons, we\u2019re both going to end up in big trouble.
\nBring it on.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And when they cave into it, oh holy damn! Mav\u2019s dirty talking is fan-worthy, which wrenches the sexual tension up even higher, and when the sexy time finally comes, it is everything I was expecting for these two after the epic build up.<\/p>\n

Faster, harder, deeper, Mav doesn\u2019t give in, doesn\u2019t give up. He fucks me like it\u2019s his job, like he\u2019s trying to save me.
\nThis man is a goddamn national treasure.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Their relationship is fun and easy, super hot and refreshingly functional. Of course there\u2019s the whole issue of them having to keep everything between them a secret, and though they have no intention of starting anything serious, they fall into it anyway, and it was beautiful to watch.<\/p>\n

His eyes meet mine, so stark in his gaze. \u201cYou have me,\u201d he says. \u201cAll of me.\u201d He pauses. \u201cDo I have all of you?\u201d
\nMy heart clenches in my chest. The truth feels foreign to me.
\n\u201cI want you to.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But Riley\u2019s past has left its mark on her, and the challenges of their jobs are extreme. And they can\u2019t keep their private lives a secret forever. Something has to give, is what they have found together strong enough to hold them through it?<\/p>\n

I want him to be my shelter through any storm.
\nA shelter for my heart.
\nBut I\u2019m in love with this man.
\nAnd who is going to save me from that?<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I loved this book. I love the characters, the chemistry, the fun, intensity and naturalness of their relationship, and the lack of stupid behaviour was fantastic. And all set against the exciting and dangerous world of search and rescue on a snow-covered mountain range, I loved the additional edge<\/i> that it brought to the story. I was intrigued by their work, and it made brought some suspense and drama to the book which I really appreciated. But it\u2019s there without overshadowing the romance, which completely sucked me in and had me alternately laughing, swooning and fanning myself as it all unfolded.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m here. I\u2019m living this, I\u2019m feeling this, I\u2019m loving this. <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I loved catching up with Shane and Rachel from Wild Card<\/em>, the first book of the series, and the rest of the family, and am really excited for Fox and Delilah\u2019s book coming up next.<\/p>\n

4 stars!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

North Ridge<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"\"\u00a0 \"\"\u00a0 \"\"<\/p>\n

Wild Card (#1)<\/strong> (Shane)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

Maverick (#2)<\/strong> (Maverick)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

Hot Shot (#3)<\/strong> (Fox)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

For more great reads, check out our Karina Halle Author Spotlight<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buy:\u00a0 Kindle Ebook\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback Review 4 stars! Maverick is the second book of the True North series, the story of John \u2018Maverick\u2019 Nelson, the middle brother of three Canadian mountain-men of the series (though […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":4,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"Product","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,29],"tags":[38,769,48],"class_list":["post-29134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-romance","category-steamy","tag-karina-halle","tag-north-ridge","tag-review"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Maverick.jpg?fit=150%2C225&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-7zU","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}