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His friend\u2019s little sister has just asked him for a BIG favor. The trouble is, once won\u2019t be enough \u2026 for either of them.<\/strong><\/p>\n The answer has to be no, of course. No way Griff Ambrose is going to help Becca Drake solve her inexperience issues. Not only is she his friend\u2019s sister, but Griff doesn\u2019t do commitment\u2014not since the day he came home from war to find his house empty and his wife gone.<\/p>\n But he can\u2019t get Becca\u2019s request\u2014or pretty much anything else about her\u2014out of his head. What can it hurt, anyway? If it\u2019s awkward afterwards, they can just avoid each other. Right?<\/p>\n Becca Drake has turned her life around, and she\u2019s proud of how much butt she\u2019s kicking. The shy girl with the self-esteem problem has been shown the door, and New Becca\u2019s in the driver\u2019s seat. There\u2019s just one more demon she has to exorcise. Her lack of experience is messing up her romantic life. Guys who might be okay with giving her a test drive act like they\u2019re being auditioned for marriage when they find out exactly what she\u2019s never done.<\/p>\n Griff is the perfect candidate to do the deed: He\u2019s her friend, he\u2019s hot as heck, and neither of them wants anything serious.<\/p>\n Then Becca\u2019s job goes belly up and she takes a temporary position at the veterans\u2019 retreat where Griff works. Now she and Griff can\u2019t stay out of each other\u2019s way\u2014and their entanglement keeps getting messier\u2014and hotter. Worst of all, it\u2019s getting harder and harder for Becca and Griff to lie to themselves about what they really want\u2026<\/p>\n Goodreads\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Bookbub<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 4 stars!<\/b><\/p>\n I loved this book. A friends-to-friends-with-benefits-to-lovers romance that is fun, sweet and heartfelt with fantastic characters and a sexy and emotional love story, I was completely hooked!<\/p>\n This is book #4 in the Returning Home<\/i> series, but you can read this as a standalone. The characters from previous books all appear as the main group of friends, but you don\u2019t have to have read their stories to enjoy this one.<\/p>\n Becca is the younger sister of Alia from book #2, [book:Can’t Hold Back|43816310]. She had a difficult childhood, she struggled at school and she never really felt good enough. She has pushed past that though, and has created a good life for herself. There\u2019s just one problem \u2013 she\u2019s 24 years old and still a virgin, and that is becoming a barrier in her love life as her virginity either scares guys away or attracts weirdo fetishists. So she\u2019s on the hunt for somebody to help her pop her cherry without drama so that she can hopefully move forward and find a normal relationship.<\/p>\n Griff is a good friend of Becca\u2019s brother-in-law, Nate, and is a member of their close circle of friends. An Army veteran, he battles PTSD, and was left even further shattered when he came home from deployment to find his wife had left him for somebody else. He now wants nothing to do with relationships and enjoys short hook-ups with woman with no fear of relationships or feelings becoming involved.<\/p>\n Becca and Griff are already friends, but when an attraction flares between them, she realises that he could be the perfect man to help her with her situation \u2013 he\u2019s gorgeous, he\u2019s a sweetheart, and he wouldn\u2019t make things weird between them. And just being around him brings her body to life like nothing she\u2019s ever experienced. Griff is, understandably, stunned by Becca\u2019s offer but after some intense deliberation he realises that Becca deserves for her first time to be special and perfect, and that he\u2019s just the man for the job. And, of course, there\u2019s the fact that he can\u2019t get the little spitfire out of his head.<\/p>\n He wanted to find out what would happen when the chemistry between them had a chance to play itself out. OMG, Griff is so gorgeous! Yes, he\u2019s a bit of a player, but he\u2019s so freaking gorgeous when it comes to Becca. He\u2019s sweet and playful, he puts her at ease and he treats her like a goddess, and he handles the whole thing so beautifully!<\/p>\n \u201cI know you don\u2019t want to make a big deal of it. So I\u2019ll just say this. It\u2019s an honor, okay?\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n But their plan for \u2018one and done\u2019 is tossed out the window when Becca accepts a job at the veteran\u2019s retreat where Griff lives and works, and they very quickly realise that once is not going to be enough. And so begins a whole lot of hotness as they throw themselves into exploring everything that is brewing between them. And more than just sex, they open up and talk, they learn each other, and they easily and naturally fall into something<\/i> that neither of them have any desire to stop.<\/p>\n He couldn\u2019t help himself\u2014he kissed her. Her mouth was soft and hot and so, so hungry. As if up to this point, she\u2019d been holding something back, and now she was giving everything to him. He wasn\u2019t sure he could take it. He was going to catch fire and burn up.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n It\u2019s passionate and intense, and I fell right along with them as everything began to change.<\/p>\n \u201cYou killed my fear of complications. Killed it dead. I <\/i>want complications with you.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The character development is fantastic as Griff and Becca expose their hearts and their deepest vulnerabilities with each other, and support and encourage each other to truly start living their lives. I loved watching things shift and deepen between them, and I love the impact that they have on each other as they grow closer and closer.<\/p>\n But they have a lot they need to deal with, and the demons from the past are not easy to overcome. My heart ached for them through the ups and downs as they sorted through their issues and worked to figure out what they truly wanted, and I couldn\u2019t put my kindle down as it all played out.<\/p>\n It was actually painful to want that. To feel like this again. He was walking on a tightrope and he was going to fall, any minute<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n I loved this story. It\u2019s wonderfully character-driven, and Becca and Griff both shine as two people fighting hard to move forward with their lives. The sexy time is steaming and the love story is fun, emotional, and so, so beautiful.<\/p>\n 4 stars!<\/p>\n An Advanced Reader Copy of this book was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.<\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hold on Tight (#1) Can’t Hold Back (#2)<\/strong> To Have and to Hold (#3)<\/strong> Holding Out (#4)<\/strong> <\/p>\n \u00a9 Copyright 2019 Serena Bell As she approached the range, she saw him with the big bow in his arms, slinging arrow after arrow into the center of the target so they stuck out like bristling porcupine quills.<\/p>\n She hung back, watching. He wore a plastic chest guard and a leather arm guard, which made him look a little bit like some medieval hero. And she wasn\u2019t sure which was more mesmerizing: the clutch of muscle in his back and shoulders, the cords in his forearm, or his absolute laser focus.<\/p>\n She imagined what it would be like to have all that intensity and concentration turned toward her. That\u00a0precision<\/em>. That\u00a0devotion\u00a0<\/em>to his task.<\/p>\n Her body warmed and softened in appreciation. Which was unusual for her. She didn\u2019t get turned on\u00a0looking<\/em>. She didn\u2019t get turned on that easily, period. She usually needed a lot of warming up.<\/p>\n Except, apparently, when it came to Griff Ambrose.<\/p>\n He reached into the quiver hanging across his body and came up empty.<\/p>\n \u201cHey,\u201d she called.<\/p>\n He jumped. When he turned, the expression on his face was dark. Angry, she thought.<\/p>\n \u201cSorry\u2014I didn\u2019t mean to startle you.\u201d<\/p>\n He crossed his arms. \u201cI\u2019ll do it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019d heard the words but couldn\u2019t make sense of them.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you still want me to. If you haven\u2019t already enlisted CJ or some other\u00a0boy<\/em>. I\u2019ll\u2014take your V-card.\u201d<\/p>\n She felt a huge smile threaten to break out all over her face, but her gut told her to play it cool. She shrugged. \u201cCJ wants to take me out for dinner. He was actually quite the gentleman about asking me on a date.\u201d<\/p>\n His expression darkened further. \u201cNo. No dates with CJ. That\u2019s the deal. If I\u2019m going to do this\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n She raised her eyebrows at his grim tone. God, he was making it sound like a household chore. \u201cIt\u2019s not like you\u00a0have<\/em>\u00a0to. I told you, I\u2019ll find someone else\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGod. No. I\u2019ll do it. I said I\u2019d do it. I don\u2019t want you to pick some random guy. Then Nate would\u00a0really<\/em>\u00a0kill me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s sex with a virgin\u2014a friend, even\u2014not a\u00a0death<\/em>\u00a0march,<\/em>\u201d she snapped.<\/p>\n She was aware of an ache in the center of her chest. For a minute there, she\u2019d thought\u2014<\/p>\n But he was just doing her a favor, of course.<\/p>\n He shook his head. Closed his eyes. Then opened them again. \u201cYou\u2019re right. I\u2019m sorry, I didn\u2019t mean for it to sound like that. It\u2019s not a hardship,\u201d he said, then gave a short dark laugh. He took a step forward, touched his hand to her cheek, his thumb moving over her mouth without touching it. An unfamiliar stab of heat shot through her. She wanted to lean forward and take his thumb between her teeth.<\/p>\n That wasn\u2019t her, either.<\/p>\n He took a step back, dropping his hand. \u201cI know you don\u2019t want to make a big deal of it. So I\u2019ll just say this. It\u2019s an honor, okay?\u201d<\/p>\n For some stupid reason, that made her eyes fill up with tears. She blinked, and luckily none of them fell, though he blurred in her vision.<\/p>\n The moment stretched to awkwardness, and she looked away. When she turned back, he was examining the feathers on the end of an arrow.<\/p>\n \u201cYou still offering that archery lesson?<\/p>\n \u201cHell, yeah. Walk with me. We\u2019ll collect the arrows.\u201d<\/p>\n She fell in beside him.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you approach the targets, you always need to make sure no one\u2019s shooting. It\u2019s easy right now because we\u2019re the only ones here, but sometimes it gets a little more complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n He tapped the target at the base of one of the bristling arrows. \u201cYou want to grab the arrow close to the target face, down low on the shaft,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n She wasn\u2019t someone who heard double entendres everywhere. Or at least she\u00a0hadn\u2019t<\/em>\u00a0been, before playing Taboo the other night with Griff. Something about him wrapped everything up in sex. Add to that the fact that he\u2019d actually agreed to have sex with her\u2014<\/p>\n Yeah. She was thinking about shafts. And grabbing them down low. She could\u00a0feel<\/em>\u00a0her cheeks getting pink, and she cursed the fact that she blushed so damn easily.<\/p>\n Were words supposed to do that? Creep under your skin, down your spine, along your nerve endings? Were they supposed to light you up like a Christmas tree?<\/p>\n While she\u2019d been getting wet over skinny sticks with feathers on the end, Griff had pulled the arrows from the target, collected them in a fist, and turned back up-range.<\/p>\n She followed him back, suddenly wishing she\u2019d said something. Some brilliant sexy teaser about how she always liked to grab low on the shaft. Something provocative enough to make him drop the arrows, take her in his arms, and kiss her until she couldn\u2019t breathe.<\/p>\n She\u2019d never been kissed till she couldn\u2019t breathe, but she suspected Griff could have that effect on her.<\/p>\n \u201cStand here,\u201d he said, toeing a sandy spot on the ground. \u201cThis is the foot marker.\u201d<\/p>\n He gave her an arm guard and showed her how to strap it on. \u201cYou don\u2019t really need a chest guard. It\u2019s just to make sure the string doesn\u2019t catch on your clothes. If you were hunting or fighting it would be a bigger deal.\u201d<\/p>\n He stood behind her. \u201cIs this okay?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIs what\u2014?\u201d<\/p>\n He wrapped his arms around her so that the bow was in front of her and lifted her left hand to the grip. She was hyperaware of his body behind hers, solid and hot.<\/p>\n He showed her how to nock the bowstring into the cleft at the end of the arrow shaft.<\/p>\n Cleft<\/em>.<\/p>\n Not a word she\u2019d ever heard used. Or used herself. Or contemplated. Not a word she would have said was sexy. But with him standing just behind her, his breath against her ear, his hands guiding hers, it was a word that could lick itself right into every last\u00a0cleft<\/em>\u00a0on her body.<\/p>\n If she turned around right now\u2014<\/p>\n But she couldn\u2019t. The way they were standing, and the bow in her arms, froze her in place.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then you draw it back, tight\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n He wrapped his hand around hers, drawing her fist back, and the string with it. Now she made herself focus on the bow and arrow, because it was taut in her arms, and it didn\u2019t feel like something to mess around with. Its contained energy was fierce.<\/p>\n Like the man behind her.<\/p>\n \u201cSee this?\u201d he said, and he drew the arrow back a little further, until his fingers brushed her mouth.<\/p>\n It was difficult to breathe.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is called the kisser button. For obvious reasons. You use it to get alignment with your mouth at full draw. You line up on the gold\u2014that\u2019s what we call the center of the target. You sight it over the top of the grip. Right where the arrow head is aimed, see? And then you let it fly. Release it. Okay. I\u2019m going to let go. You keep the tension on.\u201d<\/p>\n He unfurled her fingers from around hers and stepped back, taking his body heat with him and leaving the full strength of the bowstring in her fist. Her arm muscles trembled\u2014maybe from the pull of the string, or maybe not.<\/p>\n \u201cLet go,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n She released it. The arrow flew and lodged itself with a hiss in the target. Not anywhere near the center, but still.<\/p>\n She stood there a moment. Her hands and arms still felt shaky. Hell, her whole body felt shaky.<\/p>\n \u201cNice,\u201d Griff said. When she turned to look at him, his gaze was steady on her face. His eyes seemed to bore into hers.<\/p>\n \u201cNow you just need practice.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Serena\u2019s books have earned many honors, including an RT Reviewers\u2019 Choice Award, Apple Books Best Book of the Month, and Amazon Best Book of the Year for Romance.<\/p>\n When not writing, Serena loves to spend time with her college-sweetheart husband and two hilarious kiddos\u2014all of whom are incredibly tolerant not just of Serena\u2019s imaginary friends but also of how often she changes her hobbies and how passionately she embraces the new ones. These days, it\u2019s stand-up paddle boarding, board-gaming, meditation, and long walks with good friends.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Website\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Newsletter\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Facebook Page<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Facebook Profile<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Twitter\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Instagram<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Pinterest<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Amazon\u00a0 |\u00a0 Apple\u00a0 |\u00a0 Kobo\u00a0 |\u00a0 Nook\u00a0 |\u00a0 Google Play Blurb His friend\u2019s little sister has just asked him for a BIG favor. The trouble is, once won\u2019t be enough \u2026 for either […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42189,"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":[52,25,51,9,29],"tags":[59,429,48,430],"class_list":["post-42980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drama","category-friends-to-lovers","category-military","category-romance","category-steamy","tag-arc","tag-returning-home","tag-review","tag-serena-bell"],"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\/2019\/04\/Holding-Out.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-bbe","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42980","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=42980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/h4>\n
\nReview<\/b><\/h4>\n
\nIt could be epic.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\nReturning Home<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
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\nExcerpt<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nAll Rights Reserved<\/p>\n
\nAbout the Author<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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USA Today<\/em>\u00a0bestselling author Serena Bell writes contemporary romance with heat, heart, and humor. A former journalist, Serena has always believed that everyone has an amazing story to tell if you listen carefully, and you can often find her scribbling in her tiny garret office, mainlining chocolate and bringing to life the tales in her head.<\/p>\n