{"id":61176,"date":"2021-09-07T11:00:19","date_gmt":"2021-09-07T15:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=61176"},"modified":"2021-09-07T11:44:22","modified_gmt":"2021-09-07T15:44:22","slug":"new-release-arc-review-hard-to-love-play-hard-5-by-k-bromberg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=61176","title":{"rendered":"New Release & ARC Review: Hard to Love (Play Hard, #5) by K. Bromberg"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hard to Love<\/strong>
\n(Play Hard, #5)<\/h4>\n

by K. Bromberg<\/strong><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

Releasing – 7 September 2021<\/strong><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

Available\u00a0Now!<\/strong>
\nAmazon<\/a> \u00a0| \u00a0iBooks<\/a> \u00a0| \u00a0B&N<\/a> \u00a0| \u00a0Kobo<\/a> \u00a0| \u00a0Google Play<\/a>\u00a0 | \u00a0Paperback<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n

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\"\"<\/h4>\n

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\n

\r\n <\/div><\/div><\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n

Blurb<\/strong><\/h4>\n

New York Times bestselling author, K. Bromberg, is back with a heartfelt, enemies to<\/span> lovers romance and a hero who redeems himself to<\/span> steal your heart . . . <\/em><\/p>\n

He was the one-night stand that didn’t exactly go as planned. Now he’s standing before me as if he’s never seen me naked, telling my manager he’ll take the job. Reluctantly.<\/p>\n

Finn Sanderson.<\/p>\n

Sports agent extraordinaire. Handsome as hell. The man who just signed on to<\/span> control my every move.<\/p>\n

Sure, I’m to<\/span> blame for my recent bad press, but when your whole life has been so regimented, isn’t it normal to<\/span> want to<\/span> live it up a little?<\/p>\n

But when the partying stops and the grief I’m running from has nowhere else to<\/span> hide, reality sets in. Turns out, Finn’s the only person I have left to<\/span> help pick up the pieces. The only person to<\/span> call.<\/p>\n

Staying with him is a temporary thing. But when our fighting turns into laughter and our friendship turns into something more, will I fight for a man who swears he’s hard<\/span> to<\/span> love? Or is it wiser to<\/span> walk away? To<\/span> follow the plan?<\/p>\n

* * *
\nOffering to<\/span> help with a client is a way to<\/span> repay a long overdue IOU to<\/span> my mentor. Little did I know she was the woman who left my hotel room at four in the morning.<\/p>\n

Stevie Lancaster.<\/p>\n

Top-seeded US tennis player. Good girl gone bad. The woman currently about to<\/span> throw her career away. And now my problem.<\/p>\n

The compensation to<\/span> “babysit” her is great, but she isn’t worth my trouble.<\/p>\n

But when her world falls apart and she has no one else to<\/span> turn to<\/span>, I try to<\/span> be a good guy by gathering her up and hiding her from the media’s eye.<\/p>\n

Now she’s in my house, in my space, and even though I’m enjoying the side benefits of this unexpected arrangement, surely she’s better to<\/span> leave when the time comes and follow her destiny. Because I’m not the man she needs. Not the man she could love. Right?<\/p>\n

Find\u00a0Hard to Love\u00a0<\/em>on GOODREADS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\n

Review<\/strong><\/h4>\n

4.5 stars!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hard to Love<\/i> is the last book in the Play Hard<\/i> <\/a>series and it is fantastic. It\u2019s a new take on the enemies-to-lovers romance between a sports star and her new manager, and I loved it.<\/p>\n

Stevie is known as the best female tennis player in the world but her life comes crashing down in a blink of an eye. She\u2019s a heartbroken, hot mess after her dad dies and kind of goes\u00a0off the rails. She lets her life fall apart while losing her place in the tennis world. Her manager and the person her father trusted most takes action and brings in Finn, a manager known for getting players back on track. Unfortunately, Stevie and Finn have met before and not in a good way. Finn was her one-night stand gone wrong and now he’s in charge of her life when she wishes he would just disappear.<\/p>\n

This story is so much fun but still brought on the feels. Stevie\u2019s life is tennis and her father. When he dies, she is lost. I felt her pain and I loved that her friends were there for her. They were a hoot together and it helped take her mind off of her loss. However, she can\u2019t ignore that she\u2019s a star tennis player and every day she is letting her rank slip. That\u2019s when Finn comes into the picture.
\nFinn is a successful manager who knows he can get Stevie back in the game. He is ready to do what needs to be done but Stevie wants nothing to do with him especially after their first encounter.<\/p>\n

The banter between these two is fantastic. They bicker and challenge each other, and slowly they start to open up. Finn is there for Stevie and gives her a place to regroup when she needs it most and they start to shift from enemies to friends.<\/p>\n

They are undeniably attracted to each other and it makes the sexual tension sky rocket as they try to keep their hand off of each other. However, after the taste from before, they finally give in and it is HOT! Finn doesn\u2019t do relationships and Stevie just needs release, so getting each other out of their systems sounds like a good idea at the time. It back fires though and they just want more.<\/p>\n

I loved that Finn\u2019s life gets totally flipped upside down by Stevie and all she brings to his life.\u00a0They enter into new territory and have a lot to work through if they want to make it work between them. They have a sweet relationship and believe in each other and I was rooting hard for them. There are some ups and downs and also a lot of growth and healing for both of them and I enjoyed their journey. They have an unexpected second chance and I loved it!<\/p>\n

I have to add that I was worried how I would like Finn since I didn\u2019t like him much in Hard to Lose<\/i><\/a> but man did I like him in this book! He takes full responsibilities for his past actions and though I am not okay with what he did to Chase, I just have a better understanding of him.<\/p>\n

Overall,\u00a0Hard to Love<\/em> is another great addition to the series. Finn and Stevie were perfect for each other and I loved how everything unfolded.<\/p>\n

*ARC generously provided\u00a0but the author and\u00a0Valentine PR*<\/i><\/p>\n

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Play Hard<\/strong><\/h4>\n

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

Hard to Handle (#1)\u00a0<\/strong>– (Dekker & Hunter)
\nBuy: Amazon<\/a> \u00a0| \u00a0Paperback<\/a> | \u00a0Audiobook<\/a><\/p>\n

Hard to Hold (#2)\u00a0<\/strong>– (Lennox & Rush)
\nBuy: Amazon<\/a> \u00a0| \u00a0Paperback<\/a> | \u00a0Audiobook<\/a><\/p>\n

Hard to Score (#3) <\/strong>– (Brexton & Drew)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy: Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 | \u00a0Paperback<\/a>\u00a0 | \u00a0Audiobook<\/a><\/p>\n

Hard to Lose (#4) <\/strong>– (Chase & Gunner)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy: Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 | \u00a0Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

Hard to Love (#5) <\/strong>– (Stevie & Finn)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy: Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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About the Author<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/em>New York Times Bestselling author K. Bromberg writes contemporary romance novels that contain a mixture of sweet, emotional, a whole lot of sexy, and a little bit of real. She likes to write strong heroines and damaged heroes who we love to hate but can’t help to love.<\/p>\n

A mom of three, she plots her novels in between school runs and soccer practices, more often than not with her laptop in tow and her mind scattered in too many different directions.<\/p>\n

Since publishing her first book on a whim in 2013, Kristy has sold over one and a half million copies of her books across eighteen different countries and has landed on the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestsellers lists over thirty times. Her Driven trilogy (Driven<\/a>, Fueled<\/a>,<\/em> and Crashed<\/a>)<\/em> is currently being adapted for film by the streaming platform, Passionflix, with the first movie (Driven) out now.<\/p>\n

With her imagination always in overdrive, she is currently scheming, plotting, and swooning over her latest hero. You can find out more about him or chat with Kristy on any of her social media accounts. The easiest way to stay up to date on new releases and upcoming novels is to sign up for her NEWSLETTER<\/a> or follow her on BOOKBUB<\/a>.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Text Kbromberg to 77948 to stay up to date on all things Driven movies and new releases<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>WEBSITE<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 FACEBOOK<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 | \u00a0FB GROUP<\/a> \u00a0| \u00a0GOODREADS<\/a>
\nINSTAGRAM<\/a> \u00a0| \u00a0TWITTER<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 | \u00a0PINTEREST<\/a>\u00a0 | \u00a0BOOK+MAIN<\/a>
\nFB – THE DRIVEN MOVIES<\/a><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

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

Hard to Love (Play Hard, #5) by K. Bromberg   Releasing – 7 September 2021   Available\u00a0Now! Amazon \u00a0| \u00a0iBooks \u00a0| \u00a0B&N \u00a0| \u00a0Kobo \u00a0| \u00a0Google Play\u00a0 | \u00a0Paperback     Blurb New York Times […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":60853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":4.5,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,58,29],"tags":[59,526,344,1256,48],"class_list":["post-61176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-romance","category-sports-star","category-steamy","tag-arc","tag-k-bromberg","tag-new-release","tag-play-hard","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\/2021\/08\/hard-to-love-cover-1.jpeg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-fUI","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61176","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/60853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}