Hard

An Erotic Romance

By Cheryl McIntyre

Synopsis

I have been staring at her for three months. Watching her. Memorizing her.

For ninety-two days, I’ve looked into those lifeless green eyes.

And for ninety-two days she has inspired me in ways I never knew possible. A muse, unbeknownst to her. Motivating me. Encouraging my darkest desires.

I’m a man who knows what he wants. And what I want is the beautiful and broken Holland Howard.

My name is Jensen Payne—photographer, autocrat, lecher, Scopophiliac. I am who I am and I will not—cannot—change.

*This is an Erotic Romance. Recommended for readers 18+ ONLY.

WARNING: This book contains possible emotional triggers.

HARD is a full-length stand-alone erotic romance novel (approximately 50,000 words).

Buy: Amazon / B & Nt / ITunes / Kobo / Smashwords

Excerpt

I have been watching her for three months.

For ninety-two days, I’ve looked into those lifeless green eyes. Let my gaze slide over her flawless, pale skin. Fantasized about her luscious lips.

For ninety-two days she has inspired me in ways I never knew possible. A muse, unbeknownst to her. Motivating me. Encouraging my darkest desires to life through my work. Just when I was so close to giving up, surrendering to my unchangeable fate, I spotted her, and haven’t been able to look away since.

I don’t think she has a clue that my eyes find her the moment I step into this establishment. She’s oblivious to the way I always sit at the same table—the one with the best view of the bar. Of her. Unaware I spend my evenings watching her.

Memorizing her. Inch by exquisite inch.

Her soft beauty and innocent naivety keeps me coming back. Over and over, since the day she first served me. My cock grows hard beneath the shelter of the table as she strides toward me, her breasts bouncing lightly with each step. My arousal has nothing to do with sexual gratification. Though she has a beautiful body, curvy in all the places a man’s hands like to grip, and hold, and conquer, I’m turned on by the way she makes me feel inside. By the strength and craving and ambition she has unknowingly restored in me.

A man’s wet fantasy. A woman’s aspiration. My divine intervention.

 

Michel’s Review

I was really excited when I received an ARC copy of Hard by Cheryl McIntyre.  If you have not read any books by Cheryl McIntyre, Hard may be the book that makes you a die hard Cheryl McIntyre fan.  Her writing is edgy, emotional, honest, and captivating.  I have not picked up one book by Cheryl and not been able to put it down.  When I finally got Hard downloaded on my kindle, I stayed up until the wee hours of the night because I could not walk away from this story until it was finished.

Hard is more than a dark erotic romance.  It is more than an insight to the kinkier side of life.  It is about dealing with the harsh realities of life and learning to cope any way possible.  It is a story of acceptance and finding peace.  It is a story of learning how to love after life has dealt you a very bad hand.  It is a story of healing.

The first few chapters of Hard are devastating.  Holland Howard has experienced the worst that life could deliver.  She is beyond broken.  She has lost everything she cared about in life.  She has lost herself.  Her only way to cope is to leave everything she knows behind.  She is no longer a functioning person.  She is like a robot, existing one moment to the next.  She ends up across the country, in a state where she knows absolutely no one.  She is managing to exist by working as a cocktail waitress in a non descript bar.  That is okay with her, she only has to interact with people to do her job.  She doesn’t have to personable, she doesn’t have to expose herself, and she can keep her pain to herself.

One man, Jensen Payne, takes notice of Holland in a very odd way.  He has been watching her day and day out.  He has become obsessed with her beauty.  He wants to own her beauty.  He wants to own her pain.

When Jensen propositions Holland it will lead them both on an erotic journey that is beyond the imagination.  It will also lead them to accept the people they are underneath the surface.  They will have to face the past, accept their lives, and find something that makes them want to look to the future.  They will find the peace they didn’t know they were searching for.

I am not going to say any more about this book other than it is beyond excellent.  This book evoked so many emotions.  One moment I was crying my eyes out and the next moment I was totally creeped out.  Then a few chapters later I was falling in love and praying these characters would find happiness.

Hard was meticulously written.  It had the perfect flow and right amount of pacing.  The aha moments were delivered with surprise and satisfaction.  The characters were complex and their back stories were heartbreaking.  The journey the characters traveled was hard but also freeing.

I cannot praise this book enough.  It is a dark book that has a bright light at the end of the journey.  There are no cliffhangers and definitely satisfying resolutions.

Hard by Cheryl McIntyre is a 5 Star book.

 

 

About Cheryl McIntyre

Cheryl McIntyre is the author of the bestselling Sometimes Never series, as well as the Dirty series, Infinitely, and Dark Calling.

She calls Ohio home, though she secretly dreams of living somewhere much warmer–preferably near a beach. She is a mother, author, and insomniac, as well as a reader, self-proclaimed movie critic, and incredibly bad singer. Her life revolves around four things: family, music, books, and really bad scary movies.

You can follow her author page on Facebook where she lives part time. On Goodreads—which is like crack for avid readers. On Twitter, though she has still not yet mastered the art of tweeting. On tsū. Or on her website.

Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Goodreads ~ Tsu ~Amazon Author Page

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