Review: ★Game Changer★ by @m_cutler

The author of Undefeated and Risky Business has another sexy hero for you to meet…

Welcome to Destiny Falls, New York, home of Bomb Squad—an ice hockey team full of rugged military heroes. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity has the team captain packing his bags for greener pastures, but saying good-bye to the woman who’d captured his heart is easier said than done…

After being wounded in combat, Brandon Theroux lives every day like it’s his last. He never could have imagined that the sleek mechanics of his prosthetic leg would open so many doors, including minor celebrity status as a fitness model and a well-earned reputation as a rakish playboy. The only door it hasn’t opened is the one to Harper Johnson’s bedroom.

Harper has too much self-respect to join the ranks of Brandon’s “carpe diem” conquests, but when she needs someone to keep the peace in the tavern she owns, Brandon offers his help—as long as she agrees to a very tempting trade. It isn’t long before the two realize that a deal struck between friends who can’t keep their hands off each other has the potential to be a whole lot hotter than either of them is prepared to handle…

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This is going to ruin our friendship.”
The fire in his eyes threatened to incinerate them both where they stood. “Baby, we were never meant to be friends.”

Oh. Oh wow. This book. What a perfectly pleasant surprise this was. Admittedly, my inner cover whore first caught her eye on that cover, because c’mon, have you seen that cover. So of course I was thinking I’m getting another hot hockey player and manwhore and the woman that denies him so he wants her even more. What I got is so SO much more. The depth of these characters, their story, the romance, I think I loved everything about this book.

You should see the way you look right now,” he growled. “The fight in your eyes. The fire. I live to see you like this.”
“Such pretty words,” she sneered, shoving at his chest. “If only they weren’t empty.”
“You have no idea how hard I’ve tried to give you up.”
“Stop saying that as though it means something.”

Brandon Theroux lost his leg to an IAD explosion while deployed in the military, but he didn’t let that stop his life. A successful model and personal trainer by day, a lothario by night, he lives every day like it’s his last. As much as he loves his Bomb Squad team of fellow wounded vets, he knows he’s not meant for the small town of Destiny Falls and finally seizes his chance with the opportunity of a lifetime to move to Miami and appear on Meet the Groom and bring national recognition and inspiration for all wounded vets like himself. He just has some unfinished business first; in the form of the independent and feisty blonde that has been denying every single one of his advances for the last five years.

He didn’t know what the future held for her, or for him. All he knew was that neither of their lives would ever be the same again after this weekend.

Harper Johnson has no interest in being another notch on Brandon’s bedpost. She wants commitment and permanence and she knows that Brandon will never offer what she needs and she has too much pride to give into the lust between them knowing it won’t last past the night. She’s eight years older and he just may be too young to understand the beauty of what she wants. But then one disastrous hook up takes them from two people fighting their chemistry to two people who become each other’s rocks during their most difficult times and best friends.

Someday you’re going to find someone who’ll beg you to put that ball and chain on his leg. A guy who thinks the perfect way to spend the rest of his life is shackled to you inside your brick fortress.”

First of all, can I just say how much I loved the way that the author handled the first hookup between the characters. How often do you read about the hero loosing his erection because he’s so angry and the heroine faking an orgasm because she’s thinking too much. Bad sex? These two had it.

Melissa Cutler then takes a story that could have been ordinary and cliche and made into something so much more. She took a heroine and gave her a true struggle. She made her a survivor. She gave her a weakness to embrace. She made her a fighter, a woman who fights for every day of her life and enjoys it to the fullest. She then took a hero that could have been your typical manwhore, and gave him depth. She took a friendship and infused it with just the right amount of undeniable chemistry that the characters both try to ignore but can’t. She developed an incredible friendship between Brandon and Harper. She gave these characters so much depth and made me fall in love with their story and this book.

He was in love. He, Brandon, the biggest commitment-phone of all time, a self-proclaimed bachelor for all eternity. He didn’t want to settle down. He didn’t want to be shackled to one place and one woman. Except that now, he could think of no better fate than to spend the rest of his life bound to Harper.

Was this filled with gratuitous sex scenes? Nope. But the few that it did have were absolutely scorching and just added to the story. It’s not quick paced or filled with twists and turns. It’s a slow burn that’s paced just right to truly make you fall in love with the characters and the town of Destiny Falls. There was nothing even a little ordinary about either one of these characters and I absolutely loved all the secondary characters.

This was my first book by this author and I can definitely tell you that it won’t be my last. This book is easily read as a standalone (I started with this book and had no problems keeping up with the story), but I’ll definitely be going back and reading the rest of the series now. I hope that Melissa gives us Kayla’s book next because that set up was just too delicious to miss.

If you’re looking for a friends-to-lovers romance that’s different from the norm, a romance to fall in love with, and characters that you won’t soon forget, this is the book you need to be reading. I’m so glad that I did.