Release Blitz, Reviews, and Giveaway: In Too Deep: Lexi Ryan
Lexi Ryan
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Release Date September 15, 2017
I have four months to make my wife fall in love with me or let her go forever.
I loved Bailey Green long before she watched her loser ex take his last breaths. I held her while they lowered his coffin into the ground, stilled her shaking hands when the nightmares would tear her from sleep. I waited for her through her grief. But while she was always willing to let me in her bed, she refused to let me in the one place I longed to be—her heart.
Tired of playing second string to a dead man, I let her go. I moved to Florida to begin my NFL career and tried to pretend my perfect life didn’t leave me empty. I’d almost given up. Until one drunken night in Vegas, we stumbled down the aisle and said “I do.”
In exchange for the divorce she wants so badly, she’s agreed to remain my wife until the end of the year. She has no idea the favors I’ve called in or the lies I’ve told to get her here, but if I succeed, none of that matters.
My secrets always seemed justified, but Bailey has her own—secrets that explain why she always pushed me away, secrets that make me wonder if I should have let her. Now we’re in too deep and I might lose the only girl I’ve ever loved and the best friend I’ve ever had.
In Too Deep is a sexy and emotional novel intended for mature readers. It’s the fifth book in the world of the Blackhawk Boys, but can be enjoyed as a standalone.
We have watched the push and pull between Mason Dahl and Bailey Green for years. Mason has always just wanted all of her, while Bailey would only share her body with him, but never give him her heart. So he pulled away hoping playing hard to get would eventually make her give him more.
Years later celebrating in Vegas with their friends, they wake up married after a drunken night. But Bailey still pushes him away, but he eventually pulls her back. He's got other reasons besides his feelings and they agree to stay married on a trial basis. But both of them have had feelings so long and there is a lot of history there. And there are also secrets--big ones--that both of them have never shared. So as they spend more time together and get closer, the secrets and guilt are there reinforcing a wall and threatening to tear them apart for good.
I just adore Mason. He is from a wealthy family and is a successful NFL player in his own right, but he is non judgmental and down to Earth. He is loving, devoted, protective, generous, and loyal. He has a big heart and it has never wavered from wanting all of Bailey. Bailey is a survivor. She is strong, independent, proud, and had made mistakes. But due to her past, her financial state, and the things she has had to do to get buy, she feels unworthy. She has always been terrified of telling Mason the full truth and losing him from her life for good. But Mason also has his own secrets. And there are plenty of side issues affecting them as well.
This is a gradual unraveling of their twisted pasts and a breaking down of their relationship past and present. It is full of push and pull, angst, fears, insecurities, undisclosed information, and complications. They have hurt themselves and each other, and stand to do it again as secrets don't always stay buried. But can they live with the fall out?
I was totally rooting for Mason and Bailey. I enjoyed getting more with some of their crew: Mia, Arrow, Keegan, and Emma. I also liked spending time with his outgoing teammate, Hayden Owen, and I am hoping he might get his own book. The antagonists really made me dislike them and definitely added drama to the story.
There are some definite surprises and twists...some I figured out ahead of time and others that shocked me. As with all of the books in this series, the characters are damaged and their backstories are well developed. This one is a complex story with many layers and variables that had a part in keeping them from being together over the years. It is an engrossing, mysterious, sweet, sexy, angsty, emotional, and at times frustrating story of a love held back by secrets, miscommunication, and fear. It gives us more of their past we did not really know from the other books, and plenty of drama in the present. Mason and Bailey definitely have their work cut out for them if they want to try to get their own happily ever after like their friends. Winning her heart will be the most important play of Mason's life.
I just adore Mason. He is from a wealthy family and is a successful NFL player in his own right, but he is non judgmental and down to Earth. He is loving, devoted, protective, generous, and loyal. He has a big heart and it has never wavered from wanting all of Bailey. Bailey is a survivor. She is strong, independent, proud, and had made mistakes. But due to her past, her financial state, and the things she has had to do to get buy, she feels unworthy. She has always been terrified of telling Mason the full truth and losing him from her life for good. But Mason also has his own secrets. And there are plenty of side issues affecting them as well.
This is a gradual unraveling of their twisted pasts and a breaking down of their relationship past and present. It is full of push and pull, angst, fears, insecurities, undisclosed information, and complications. They have hurt themselves and each other, and stand to do it again as secrets don't always stay buried. But can they live with the fall out?
I was totally rooting for Mason and Bailey. I enjoyed getting more with some of their crew: Mia, Arrow, Keegan, and Emma. I also liked spending time with his outgoing teammate, Hayden Owen, and I am hoping he might get his own book. The antagonists really made me dislike them and definitely added drama to the story.
There are some definite surprises and twists...some I figured out ahead of time and others that shocked me. As with all of the books in this series, the characters are damaged and their backstories are well developed. This one is a complex story with many layers and variables that had a part in keeping them from being together over the years. It is an engrossing, mysterious, sweet, sexy, angsty, emotional, and at times frustrating story of a love held back by secrets, miscommunication, and fear. It gives us more of their past we did not really know from the other books, and plenty of drama in the present. Mason and Bailey definitely have their work cut out for them if they want to try to get their own happily ever after like their friends. Winning her heart will be the most important play of Mason's life.
I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.
This is the Blackhawk Boys novel I’ve been waiting for! Bailey and Mason have been teased throughout the whole series, as Bailey wants to sleep with Mason and he wants a relationship. The tension between them when he put a stop to their physical relationship until she would let him in ratcheted off the chart and increased my anticipation of their story even more.
Several years later, Mason is still holding out, though it hurts that he feels the way he does and she won’t let him in. But a drunken night in Vegas for their friends’ bachelor and bachelorette parties finds them married in the morning.
I have always loved Mason and that feeling only grew as I read this book. He is such a gentleman and so devoted to Bailey even as she fights him tooth and nail about digging deeper into their relationship. He doesn’t let the money he grew up with cloud his vision of people or their choices, and he has a great head on his shoulders despite the venom his family spews at so many parts of his life.
Bailey grew on me more than I realized she would. I always admired her no-nonsense way of getting things done that needed to be done. Her attitude about stripping to pay for college was realistic given her upbringing and gave her an inner strength that some of her friends had never had to even look for.
As this story progressed and Mason convinced Bailey to give at least a fake marriage a go for a bit, I couldn’t help but cheer that they would be able to work through the issues still standing in their way. Because Mason may have laid down a challenge when he told Bailey he would sleep with her again when they were married, but that wasn’t the only thing standing in the way of their relationship.
I loved the twists and turns this book led me down. A few I was able to figure out for myself, but there were plenty of others that caught me by surprise and had me guessing until the end to try to figure out. I have been struggling through some of my reads lately, enjoying them but having a hard time focusing and reading as quickly as I typically do. This book changed that -- I didn’t want to put it down. I was constantly thinking about how Bailey would react to Mason’s plans, how Mason would break through Bailey’s walls, and what secrets each were hiding.
I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.
© Lexi Ryan, 2017
“You know, once you were my friend,” I say. “And maybe that’s what I miss most about us. Maybe instead of judging me for my decisions, you could try being my friend again.”
He puts his glass down on the table, his eyes locking on mine before he slowly stalks toward me.
I lift my chin, refusing to back down, because dammit, I shouldn’t have to apologize for wanting Mason’s friendship. Is that so terrible?
But my defiant stance doesn’t faze him and he keeps coming, one step at a time, until he’s finally up against that bubble he prefers to keep between us. He takes another step and he’s inside it, but still not nearly as close as I want him. He takes another, and if I had the courage, I could reach out and touch him. Another step and he’s so close that he has to bend his head down to maintain eye contact. So close that if I lift onto my toes, I could brush my lips against his.
I almost do, if only because fighting with him makes me feel as if there’s something broken in me, and I want it to be over. I miss the soft stroke of his lips against mine. I miss the sound of his sweet murmurs as he unbuttoned my pants and slid my underwear off my hips. I miss the sex, but more than that, I miss the way he’d hold me after. He held me in a way no one else had ever bothered to. Not even Nic. Mason would pull me against him, my back to his chest, and he’d snuggle against me until I could feel the warmth of his breath against my bare shoulder.
I want all of that again, and what breaks my heart the most is if I’d known when I took that deal—if I could have seen into the future and gotten a glimpse of exactly what I was giving up—I still would have done it. I did what I had to do.
Mason’s eyes drop to my mouth. “I don’t want to be your friend, Bailey.”
“Yeah,” I whisper. “You’re making that really clear. All or nothing, am I right?”
His jaw hardens, and I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but he moves even closer. My back’s against the sliding glass door, and his body presses into mine. He shifts until his thigh is between my legs, and then he lifts a hand to my hair, sliding his thumb up my neck until he’s cupping my jaw. I want to melt because I’ve missed this so damn much. I’ve missed him so damn much.
“I’ve never wanted to be your friend,” he says, shaking his head. And it’s a blow to the heart I’m not sure I’m strong enough to endure. When I told him we could be lovers but nothing more, we were friends…best friends. Then he moved down here and shut me out.
“I’m sorry my friendship was such a burden.” Fuck, even my sarcasm sounds weak, but this whole conversation has me vulnerable.
“It wasn’t a burden. It was a daily reminder of what I couldn’t have. I thought that if I quit fucking you it wouldn’t hurt so much that you refused to be mine.” His thumb traces my bottom lip, and I tremble. “I thought if I could get the memory of your taste out of my head that maybe I’d be okay with being your buddy.” He sneers the word, his face twisting in disgust, but when the sneer falls away, it leaves raw need in its wake. “But I was wrong. I don’t want to be your friend, because that means you’re only giving me part of yourself, and I am the spoiled bastard you say I am. What was your word? Privileged?”
He dips his head down and turns his face to the side, sweeping the tip of his nose over the tip of mine. “I don’t want your friendship unless it comes with your body. And I don’t want your body unless it comes with your heart.” He dips a little farther and brushes his lips so softly against mine that I almost wonder if I’m imagining it. Maybe he isn’t touching me at all. Maybe the sensation is nothing more than air passing between our mouths.
He’s chipping at the walls I keep erected around my heart. And what happens when they’re gone? What happens when he sees me for who I really am?
“You say you want to be my friend,” he says, “but friends don’t lie to each other. They don’t hide their pasts.” His hand falls from my hair. I brace myself for his retreat, but he doesn’t back away. Instead, he finds the hem of my dress and slides up my thigh, then between my legs until he reaches my cotton panties. “Is this it, then? Is this all you want from me?”
His knuckles skim across my center, and I should stop him. Fuck. I should stop him. I know what he’s trying to do, what he’s trying to say, and how I’ll feel when this is over. But all I can think is how I feel right now. How it finally feels to have him this close—his heat, his touch.
All I can think is that if the rest of my life is going to be some sucky, lonely series of if-onlys and what-ifs, dragging from one day to the next, I just want this moment for as long as it can last. Maybe I’ll wrap it up and hold on to it. Keep it for later when I can untuck it and examine the heat of his breath against my neck or the gentle graze of his fingertips along the lace edge of my panties.
He nips at my ear with his teeth, and I moan. His breath has gone shallow, and I can feel the tension building in him—that push and pull of wanting and knowing you shouldn’t want. It’s easy for me to recognize, because I’ve lived in that limbo for almost four years.
THE BLACKHAWK BOYS, an edgy, sexy sports romance series from
New York Times bestseller Lexi Ryan.
Football. Secrets. Lies. Passion. These boys don’t play fair.
Which Blackhawk Boy will steal your heart?
Book 1 - SPINNING OUT - (Arrow's story)
Book 2 - RUSHING IN - (Christopher's story)
Book 3 - GOING UNDER - (Sebastian's story)
Book 4 - FALLING HARD - (Keegan's Story)
Book 5 - IN TOO DEEP - (Mason’s story)
Book 4 - FALLING HARD - (Keegan's Story)
Book 5 - IN TOO DEEP - (Mason’s story)
Spinning Out (The Blackhawk Boys #1)Add to Goodreads
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Our 4.5 star reviews
Once, the only thing that mattered to me was football—training, playing, and earning my place on the best team at every level. I had it all, and I threw it away with a semester of drugs, alcohol, and pissing off anyone who tried to stop me. Now I’m suspended from the team, on house arrest, and forced to spend a semester at home to get my shit together. The cherry on my fuckup sundae? Sleeping in the room next to mine is my best friend’s girl, Mia Mendez—the only woman I’ve ever loved and a reminder of everything I regret.
I’m not sure if having Mia so close will be heaven or hell. She’s off-limits—and not just because she’s working for my dad. Her heart belongs to someone else. But since the accident that killed her brother and changed everything, she walks around like a zombie, shutting out her friends and ignoring her dreams. We’re both broken, numb, and stuck in limbo.
Until I break my own rules and touch her.
Until she saves me from my nightmares by climbing into my bed.
Until the only thing I want more than having Mia for myself is to protect her from the truth.
I can’t rewrite the past, but I refuse to leave her heart in the hands of fate. For this girl, I’d climb into the sky and rearrange the stars.
I didn’t expect a walking fantasy determined to make me lose my cool.
I didn’t expect a woman with secrets so dark, so deep, I’d throw away everything if it would save her from the past.
Rushing in to do this favor is turning my life upside down—and not just because Grace needs her ass spanked. Keep her out of trouble? Grace is the trouble. And I want in.
Our 4 star reviews
The favor seemed simple: Keep my new stepsister out of trouble for one summer.
I’ve never met Grace Lee, but Mom tells me she’s a quiet and artsy college student with a troubled past. When I agreed to let her stay with me, I thought it was no big deal. I expected to share my apartment with a sullen girl who’d spend hours locked in her room.
The favor seemed simple: Keep my new stepsister out of trouble for one summer.
I’ve never met Grace Lee, but Mom tells me she’s a quiet and artsy college student with a troubled past. When I agreed to let her stay with me, I thought it was no big deal. I expected to share my apartment with a sullen girl who’d spend hours locked in her room.
I didn’t expect a walking fantasy determined to make me lose my cool.
I didn’t expect a woman with secrets so dark, so deep, I’d throw away everything if it would save her from the past.
Rushing in to do this favor is turning my life upside down—and not just because Grace needs her ass spanked. Keep her out of trouble? Grace is the trouble. And I want in.
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Our 4.5 star reviews
If I met Alexandra DeLuca for the first time today, I would only need one word to describe her:
MINE.
She's everything she was when we said goodbye. Beautiful, stubborn, sweet...and off-limits.
After two years leading separate lives, our worlds have collided. Now that she's back home working and taking classes beside me, she's bound to make me lose my mind.
She's all I've ever wanted, all I've ever dreamed of, and the one thing I can never have.
Not because she's my best friend's sister.
Not because all four DeLuca brothers would come at me with fists swinging if I hurt her.
Not even because she's way better than I will ever deserve.
I keep my distance because we didn't meet for the first time today. We met five years ago when I was a different person. When my demons ruled me. Even though I've changed--even though I've gotten my life together and become a better man--I can't change the past. And the secrets that haunt me would destroy her.
But I'm not the only one with secrets, and when the truth comes out, I don't know where to turn. What do you do when your world washes away beneath your feet and you feel like you're drowning? What do you do when the woman you promised yourself you'd never touch is the only thing that can keep you from going under?
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Our 4.5 star reviews
An NFL player with a secret past, and the one woman with the power to turn his world inside out...
Former actress Emma Rothschild is partying in Vegas in disguise. But I’m not fooled. Five years ago, I knew that body better than my own, and I haven’t forgotten a single detail.
When Emma’s unexpectedly left alone in Sin City, I agree to spend the weekend with her. As friends. Why not? If I can knock down the toughest guys in the NFL, I’m strong enough to keep my hands to myself, even if she is the sexiest woman I’ve ever met.
Emma is part of my past—years so shrouded in secrets that not even my best friends know the truth about who I am. I’m a single dad now and not interested in revisiting my old ways or trying to win back the only woman I ever let close enough to break my heart.
But this is Vegas, where all bets are off, and with Emma, nothing ever goes as planned…
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of emotional romance that sizzles, Lexi enjoys reading, sunshine, a good glass of wine, and rare trips to the beach. Lexi lives in Indiana with her husband, two children, and neurotic dog. You can find her at her website: http://www.lexiryan.com/
There is a giveaway for a $25 Amazon gift card and five (5) “Bailey” bracelets designed by Kimberly Dawn Designs and inspired by the heroine in In Too Deep -- beautiful but tough (6 winners total, US only)
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