Rock Solid

By Samantha Hunter

Synopsis

Opposites ignite…

Champion stock car driver Brody Palmer’s bad-boy reputation has forced him into early retirement. What no one knows is that his “retirement” is actually a publicity stunt. All Brody has to do is clean up his act and settle down. Unfortunately, every single woman with a pulse is now gunning to become the new Mrs. Palmer.

Hannah Morgan needs to shake things up, and Brody is the best way to do just that. So they strike a deal—a fake relationship…with all of the sexy strings included! Brody gets his improved image, and Hannah gets a whole lot more of Brody’s unpredictable wildness. Hot days, hotter nights—it’s the perfect plan! Provided, of course, they don’t do something to wreck it, like fall for each other…

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Tina’s Review

Brody’s latest good deed lands him in a media shitstorm and his sponsors are threatening to pull out. It’s been proposed that he take a one-year retirement, during which time he’s expected to clean up his act and builder a more respectable image. But he’s ordered to keep it to himself, he cannot tell even his friends or family that the retirement is staged. Hannah quit her accounting job when she was once again passed up for a promotion, citing that she was “too safe” and needed to be more of a risk-taker. On that advise, she opts to travel the country and blog about the journey to finding a new job that better suited her. The two met a while back and had a month-long affair. When Hannah sees Brody on TV one night, she decides he may be the story she needs to break into photojounalism. He doesn’t want to lie to Hannah, but he needs a cover “girl” to keep the other women away. Because this story read like a “book 2”, my OCD demanded that I research why it felt like I should already have read and known the mutual friends of Brody and Hannah. Reece and Abby were featured in I’LL BE YOURS FOR CHRISTMAS (Dec.1. 2010).
The characters are well-written, even if Brody comes off as being rather dick-ish at first. Luckily that is squashed rather quickly. The plot is a little used, but it’s written in a way where it’s not old and tired. There’s a smooth flow. The conflicts were plentiful and most were resolved with not too much predictability. The conclusion was satisfying, however I feel this book could have greatly benefited from an epilogue.

Author Bio

Samantha Hunter lives in Syracuse, NY, where after working as a university writing instructor for ten years she’s began writing full-time at home. Her first book was a Harlequin Blaze, Virtually Perfect (July 2004), which was the very first book she ever wrote and submitted (so don’t think it can’t happen!). Since, she’s written seven more Blaze books, with more on the horizon.

When she’s not writing, reading about writing, thinking about writing, or talking about writing, Sam enjoys spending time with family and friends, walking with her husband and their dogs (usually picking his brain on plots and character development, or talking about books they are reading at the time), learning to quilt, working in the unruly gardens that surround her house and reading. Her favorite authors are too numerous to list. Growing up back when no one cared if kids watched eight hours of TV a day, she’s still an addict and some favorite TV shows are Lost, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Bones, Desperate Housewives, and most fantasy/adventure/comedy that focuses on rich characterization and compelling storylines.

Sam looks at life as a continuous story being played out around us, and writers are people who just happen to be paying attention at the time. She enjoys grasping what she can of those observations and transplanting them in books, weaving them into new tales, and hopes to be writing romance in all its different facets for many years to come.

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