THROWN DOWN
Series: Made in Jersey #2
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Tessa Bailey
Release Date: April 4, 2016
He has one last chance to deserve the girl of his dreams…
Overachiever River Purcell was never supposed to be a struggling single mom, working double shifts just to make ends meet. Nor was she supposed to be abandoned by her high school sweetheart, breaking her heart into a thousand jagged pieces. Now Vaughn De Matteo is back in town, his sights set on her…and River is in danger of drowning a second time.
No one believed Hook’s resident bad boy was good enough for River. Not even Vaughn himself. But he’ll fight like hell to win back the woman he never stopped loving, to keep the daughter he never expected, and convince himself he’s worth their love in the process–even if he has to rely on their fierce and undeniable sexual chemistry.
But even as River’s body arches under his hungered touch, the demons of the past lurk in the shadows. Waiting for Vaughn to repeat his mistakes one last time…
He didn’t remember a time when River didn’t occupy his heart. His mind. All of him.
I’ve been waiting for River and Vaughn’s book since first meeting them in Crashed Out. I love a good second chance romance, and of course the complexity of River having a child that Vaughn didn’t know about when he left added to the intrigue. Now this sort of set up could either work really well or not, and in the case of this book, it worked and worked well. Vaughn and River are still very much hung up on each other even 5 years worth of separation later and Vaughn was devoted to her even when he was away. He left because he didn’t think he could give River the life she deserves being the boy from the wrong side of the tracks. But when he learns that River gave birth to his daughter, he drops everything to come back to the town that only holds painful memories to him to make things right with the only woman that will hold his heart.
But while the set up was great and I loved Vaughn’s bad boy side and dirty talking, all the dirty talking and sex began to overshadow the story for me. There’s a line between hot dirty talk and porny, and some of the lines here went from porny to making me feel like I was reading a dirty Victorian romance…
Male fluid? Bedclothes?
Then there were terms like …manhood stood
…damp femininity
…River gasped, feeling her loins quiver.
Then this doozy
He’s referring to her clit…as a rosebud…and inferring that he can feel it though his pants? What on earth does she have down there because I’m pretty sure that requires medical intervention!
Or this…
Can I have this pussy for myself again? Please, River? Give it back to your buck for safe keeping.”
And topped off with this
“This kitty likes when you’re on all fours, doesn’t it? You could never get that ass up in the air fast enough. Fuck, the way you used to look at me over your shoulder. Come get it, big daddy.”
and this one…
Vaughn fell over her like a fuck-hungry prison inmate
Le sigh.
This had such a strong promise, and again, if you can overlook the lines I referenced above, you’d really love it. I did really love the story. But unfortunately for me, the OTT dirty talk once again overshadowed things. I adored Tessa’s Line of Duty series. Her heroes were sexy dirty talkers, but it was perfectly balanced. It feels like it was just trying too hard to be dirty here, if that even makes sense.
On a different note, there’s a secondary character in this book that really caught my attention and I do believe there may be an MM in the making, and my pervy self is already salivating for that one. Will I read the next one? Absolutely. Can’t love them all. I still love Tessa and her writing, but sadly this one fell a bit flat. Hopefully the next one will make up for it.
THE REST OF THE SERIES
MADE IN JERSEY #1
AMAZON | MY REVIEW
MADE IN JERSEY #1.5
AMAZON | MY REVIEW
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