Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward are excited to bring you the Cocky Hero Club: original works from various authors inspired by Keeland and Ward’s New York Times bestselling Cocky Bastard series.
Title: Pompous Player
A Cocky Hero Club Novel
Author: Brenda Rothert
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: November 14, 2021
I hate Harry Stone.
Before I’d even met the selfish former pro hockey player turned CEO, he was at the top of my shit list.
The entire city of Chicago thinks he’s God’s gift to humanity, but I know the truth.
He knocked up my best friend and then ditched her when she needed him most.
She got sick after that, and before she passed away, she chose me to raise her newborn daughter.
I just need Harry to sign away his rights to the little girl who means everything to me.
Unfortunately, it’s not quite that simple.
To stay in his daughter’s life, I end up moving in with the man I detest. Loathe. Despise.
Hating Harry Stone is the easiest thing I’ve ever done.
But slowly discovering a way to not hate him?
Now that, I didn’t see coming.
Pompous Player is a secret baby/enemies to lovers/sports romance inspired by Cocky Bastard.
PURCHASE LINKS:
US: https://amzn.to/3D0eMxW
UK: https://amzn.to/3o8cO8K
CA: https://amzn.to/3BVLsaJ
AU: https://amzn.to/3BU8pLu
Free in Kindle Unlimited Also available in audio: https://amzn.to/3CWgLTX
Review:
Pompous Player is a secret baby/enemies-to-lovers/close proximity romance between Winter, a down-on-her-luck hairdresser who is caring for the baby of her deceased best friend and Harry, the father of the baby. Winter’s about to be evicted and doesn’t know where she and baby Avery will go next, but she does know one thing–Harry Stone’s a pompous player and she hates him with every fiber of her being.
Harry’s already twice-retired; once from Rothert’s Chicago Blaze, and once from the military, and now he’s the successful owner of a business and has dedicated himself to making life better for other veterans. He’s not interested in relationships–yet–and kids weren’t on his radar for the near future, but once he finds out that Avery is his? He’s not going to let her go. Winter doesn’t like it, but she has no choice but to leave Avery with him.
To say Harry is unprepared to be a father is a wild understatement–seriously, his plan for going to the gym was to ask some of “the women” there to watch his baby while he worked out???–and a sleepless night plus and handful more examples of how much he doesn’t know about babies soon has him offering room and board to Winter in exchange for help caring for Avery.
We all saw this coming from a mile away, yes? And knew that by the end they’d fall in love? I mean, it *is* a romance novel… 😉
Harry and Winter’s journey to that HEA, of course, is the reason we’re reading this book. Luckily for us, the journey is both sweet and (eventually!) steamy. Winter is very hesitant to let Harry in–even moving in platonically with him feels like a betrayal to her friend–and does all she can to hold on to the hatred she’s had for him for months. But Harry’s enchanted by his little girl, and once he throws himself into parenthood he goes from just another hot guy to downright irresistible.
Seriously. Hold on to your ovaries.
The more time they spend together, the more Winter realizes that Harry really is nothing like the portrait her best friend had painted of him, and since Mallory’s dead before the book begins, we never find out what had been going on in her head at the time (Harry’s account of events does not match up at all with hers). Squaring up how she’s beginning to see Harry with how Mallory portrayed him is Winter’s biggest obstacle, and I have to say I loved how Ms Rothert resolved that issue. If only we all got such sweet–and clear–signs from the universe!
Pompous Player is a standalone novel in both the Cocky Hero Club and Chicago Blaze series universes.
Rating: 4 stars / A-
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
About the author:
Brenda Rothert is an Illinois native who was a print journalist for nine years. She made the jump from fact to fiction in 2013 and never looked back. From new adult to steamy contemporary romance, Brenda creates fresh characters in every story she tells. She’s a lover of Diet Coke, lazy weekends and happily ever afters.
AUTHOR LINKS:
Website: https://brendarothert.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7010859.Brenda_Rothert
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Brenda-Rothert/e/B00BW8E7TE
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/brenda-rothert
Newsletter: https://brendarothert.com/subscribe
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