Tyler Cree has never been good at the whole look and don’t touch thing.

From the moment he was old enough to walk on his own two feet, he’s been looking for trouble.

Trouble comes in many forms…quite a few of those forms being the female persuasion.

Tyler knows what girls want—a bad boy. And he has the bad boy image down pat.

Ex-military—check.

Hot cop—double check.

A bike between his legs and a devil may care attitude—oh, yeah.

All the girls want him, yet none of them will have him—at least not all of him, anyway. A certain appendage they can have all they want. His heart, however, is not up for grabs. The useless organ inside his chest was broken and battered, mutilated by the one woman he thought would keep it safe.

Spoiler alert: she ripped it to shreds and set fire to the pieces.

To protect himself, Tyler keeps everyone at arm’s length, and never lets anyone get too close.

Then Reagan Rose Alvarez barrels into his life, and trespasses on not only his property, but straight into his abused heart. One glance is all it takes, and he’s suddenly thinking about things he hasn’t thought for quite some time—thoughts that a man like him should never have about a woman like her.

One moment of weakness is all it takes, and suddenly he has no other choice but to go on the offensive.

Keeping her is the only other option now.

Turns out, his heart isn’t as broken as he thought it was.

The only problem is, now the little she-devil holds it in the palm of her hands, and she has no clue just how much power she holds.

— Goodreads — Amazon —

Lani Lynn Vale is married to the love of her life that she met in high school. She fell in love with him because he was wearing baseball pants. Ten years later they have three perfectly crazy children and a cat named Demon who likes to wake her up at ungodly times in the night. They live in the greatest state in the world, Texas. She writes contemporary and romantic suspense, and has a love for all things romance. You can find Lani in front of her computer writing away in her fictional characters world…that is until her husband and kids demand sustenae in the form of food and drink.

— Goodreads — Amazon — Facebook — Bookbub — Reader’s Group

“Everybody wants sunshine, no one wants pain, but you can’t have a rainbow, without a little rain.” 

Since I first heard the above quote when I was in high school, I’ve tried to live by it. I’ve worked hard, some days more than others, to not let my rain get in the way of seeing a rainbow. Tyler Cree and Reagan Alvarez have let their rain cloud and hide their rainbows and sunshine, so they couldn’t see what was right in front of them… love.

Obviously. I basically only read romance LOL.

Anyways, out of all the Lani books I’ve read, this might have been my favorite. Alpha male, strong heroine not willing to let him run all over her, with action, love and pure devotion, with some growly possessiveness on top of it.

Tyler had his heart stomped all over by his ex best friend and ex girlfriend. Since then, he’s ruled his life by keeping everyone, including women, at a distance. Very few people have ever made him want to change that about himself. He’s perfectly fine where he is, thank you very much…

Until Rose Alvarez trespasses on the Chief of Police’s(ehem, Tyler’s) property for some moss she is trying to study. Rose has sheltered herself from the world, choosing to immerse herself in the dirt and mud instead of living life. Her ex boyfriend not only ruined her potential career, but also mentally and emotionally abused her, leaving behind a scarred, unconfident (is that even a word? or am I making things up again…) woman.

She’s not without self-confidence completely. She’s not afraid to stick up for what she believes in. She’s not afraid to push Tyler’s buttons when he needs to get his head out of his butt. She’s just more reserved, more standoffish. Her relationships tend to stay on the surface level, and she’s ok with that… until Tyler Cree pushes her buttons right back, forcing the fiesty woman to come to the fore front.

One of the things I love about romance novels, is that there’s usually (in the really good ones anyway) discovery and growth within the couple and the individual. I’ve often found myself reading about a fantasy world and situations, some more fantasy and sci-fi than others, or reading about murder and mayhem or regency era, and have taken away some life lesson from the novel. Maybe it’s a quote I want to ink into my skin (I DON’T HAVE ENOUGH ROOM FOR THAT) or it’s a person I’ve wanted to carry around in my back pocket when I needed a pick me up. Sometimes it’s making sure I look to these fake relationships to see what I want (and don’t want) in my real life relationship.

Sometimes I read a book and want to scream and throw a tantrum when the girl acts stupid, or kick a guy in the butt when he’s being a butt. But in this book, I wanted to do neither. There was just enough push and pull, with a whole ton of self-discovery, that made this book burrow deep within my heart, and it’s never coming out. The act of forgiveness, of talking your feelings through with someone and not jumping to conclusions, everything about the relationships in this book, both Reagan’s and Tyler’s and other friendships, made me want to evaluate mine again. It made me want to look back and make sure I was doing everything I could to let my friends know I cared.

This book is that good.