Blog Tour~ THE HOT SHOT by @Kris10Callihan | Review + Excerpt @InkSlingerPR

the hot shot AN

TheHotShot Amazon-2First we were friends. Then we were roommates. Now I want more…

What can I say about Chess Copper? The woman is capable of bringing me to my knees. I know this about five minutes after getting naked for her.

No one is more surprised than me. The prickly photographer my team hired to shoot our annual charity calendar isn’t my usual type. She’s defense to my offense, a challenge at every turn. But when I’m with her, all the regrets and darkness goes away. She makes life fun.

I want to know Chess, be close to her. Which is a bad idea.

Chess is looking for a relationship. I’ve never given a woman more than one night. But when fate leaves Chess without a home, I step up and offer her mine. We’re roommates now. Friends without benefits. But it’s getting harder to keep our hands off each other. And the longer we live together the more I realize she’s becoming my everything.

Trick is… Now that I’ve made her believe I’m a bad bet, how do I convince her to give this player a true shot at forever?

 

 

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Excerpt

CHESS

Grumbling, I toss on some black lounge pants and my oversized Tulane t-shirt and head to the drugstore.

My head throbs by the time I get there, and my insides are writhing. I rest my hand against my lower stomach and grab a basket before calling James to complain.

“I swear,” I tell him as I grab a bottle of painkillers. “It’s like this entire day has been cursed.”

He snickers. “Curse. Get it? Curse?”

I roll my eyes, even though he can’t see me. “Laugh it up. Meanwhile, it feels as if someone is playing Battleship in my uterus.”

“Poor Chessie bear. At least we know why you were in such a foul mood.”

A flush washes over my cheeks. “Yeah.” Lie. Lie. Lie. A tub of salted caramel gelato makes its way into the basket.

“Tell me you’re getting some gelato,” James says.

I smile. “Just grabbed it.”

“Salted caramel?”

“You know it.”

I find the feminine products aisle and search for my brand. “I’m going to go home, take a long bath with my gelato, and forget this fucking day.” Forget Finn. “And then I’m going to go on Amazon and buying a freaking year’s supply of tampons so I don’t have to make these kinds of emergency runs anymore.”

A low, deep chuckle rumbles from behind me, and all the tiny hairs lift on my arms.

“But you’ll still need your gelato,” a familiar—fuck me, seriously?—voice points out.

My insides swoop even as my cheeks burn.

“Who is that?” James asks in my ear.

I slowly turn on one heel. “The plague,” I say, glaring up at Finn Mannus’s smiling face.

“From asshat to plague.” Finn scrunches up his brow. “I’m not sure if that’s a step down or a tie.”

“Who is that?” James nearly yells now.

I don’t take my eyes off Finn. “I’ll call you back.”

James’s squawks of protest cut off as I hit the end button.

“Are you stalking me, Mannus?”

Finn a rests his hands low on his lean hips. “Having a healthy amount of conceit myself, I have to admire yours, but no, buttercup. My buddy Woodson lives a few blocks away. It’s poker night. I’m stocking up on beer.”

It’s only then I notice a twelve pack tucked under his other arm.

“And tampons?” I ask, with a pointed look around the aisle we’re standing in.

“Not tonight,” he says easily. “Though we used to keep a pack of them back in college. Light flows were perfect for stopping up bloody noses.”

A snort escapes me. “Now there’s a visual.” Somehow, I’ve taken a step closer to him. He’s freshly showered, the golden brown strands of his hair still damp at his temples. And I wonder if he’s just come from the gym or practice. “So back in college you went and bought these tampons?”

“Nah,” he says with a cheeky smile. “I’d ask one of the girls hanging around to get me some.”

“Of course you did.” My nose wrinkles with annoyance.

“Give me a little credit, Chess. I’d buy them now if I had to.”

“Hmm…” I eye him, trying not to return his smile. If only because it’s more fun when he teases. “So why are you in this aisle now, if not for potential nosebleed needs?”

“That’s easy.” He steps closer, a warm wall of muscle and clean scent. “I heard your voice.”

For a second I just blink. “You recognized my voice?”

His gaze darts over my face as if he’s trying to get a read on why I’m gaping at him. “Not to be…ah…rude, but you’re loud when you talk on the phone.”

“Yeah, but… You recognized it.” We’d only just met. It occurs to me that I’d recognized his both times he’d snuck up on me. Then again, his voice is distinctive, flowing like hot honey when he’s relaxed or hammering down like iron to rock when he’s taking command of a situation.

A soft flush of pink tints the tips of his ears. If I wasn’t staring at him, I might have missed it. He shifts his weight. “Was I not supposed to?”

“No. Yes.” I shake my head and laugh. “I don’t know.”

He grins then. “You’re cute when you’re flustered.”

“I’m not flustered.” I am.

 

Review

 

★★★★★

The Hot Shot is the SHIT!

The opening of this book was beyond funny. It’s bathroom humor, literally! The football team has arrived at the photographer studio where they think they’re getting photographed by a guy. When they knock on the door and no one arrives right away to answer the door the guys assume the photographer is in the bathroom because of the delayed response. They’re beyond surprised when the door is opened by a female. Starting a book off with an awkward moment that leads to the reader laughing out loud is my type of book.

The scenario created by these fun-loving football players has them in an awkward position because they assumed wrong about the photographer. From the girls perspective, about this scenario, that is your worst nightmare to have a group of guys thinking you’re in the bathroom doing number 2. From the guys perspective, they just screwed up big time because they just told a stranger through a closed door to ”nip it off” thinking it was a guy and it turned out to be a gal. Definitely, not the best way to impress a female you’ll be working closely with over the next day or so.

Chess is a ferociously independent woman who is accomplished in her own right as a photographer and business owner. Her bluntness mixed with her sarcasm keeps Finn on his toes.

Finn comes off as the stereotypical quarterback but as you peel back his layers you’ll see he’s a good guy with a soft heart. He’s swoon-worthiness who will make your heart melt.

description

Chess and Finn are polar opposites in the attraction department. Chess goes more for the tatted guys and Finn goes more for the model types. But there’s was something beneath their first impressions that drew them to each other.

At the core of their relationship is a friendship. A friendship that is coated with friendly flirtiness. They both are dancing around in their attractiveness to each other because it feels safer to pretend they’re only friends than to explore their feelings.

I love that just like Gray’s mom did in “The Friend Zone” Finn’s mom offers her wisdom to her son:

”Just remember, Finnegan. Love with your heart, not your head. Think about things too much and it all turns to shit.”

As a lover of sports romance, this one is TOP NOTCH!! Don’t miss it!

RELEASE DATE: April 18, 2017
pre-order | order: http://amzn.to/2ormXiZ

SERIES:
The Hook Up (Game On, #1) by Kristen Callihan The Friend Zone (Game On, #2) by Kristen Callihan The Game Plan (Game On, #3) by Kristen Callihan The Hot Shot (Game On, #4) by Kristen Callihan
Can be read as standalones. Each following book is secondary characters from the first book.
From the author: The timeline for this story runs parallel to the one in The Game Plan. You don’t need to read The Game Plan to understand or enjoy The Hot Shot, but I want to point out that Dex and Fi’s story is playing out at the same time as Chess and Finn’s.

**Complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.**

Amy Signature

THS1

 

KCauthor

Kristen Callihan is an author because there is nothing else she’d rather be. She is a three-time RITA nominee and winner of two RT Reviewer’s Choice awards. Her novels have garnered starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and the Library Journal, as well as being awarded top picks by many reviewers. Her debut book FIRELIGHT received RT Magazine’s Seal of Excellence, was named a best book of the year by Library Journal , best book of Spring 2012 by Publisher’s Weekly, and was named the best romance book of 2012 by ALA RUSA. When she is not writing, she is reading.

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