Slow & Steady
Series: Alphas Undone #2
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Kendall Ryan
Release Date: April 12, 2016
When Greyson Archer tosses a twenty on the stage of a strip club, the last thing he expects to see are the haunted green eyes staring back at him. Finley should be home raising her infant daughter and baking cookies, not tucking singles into her G-string and giving lap dances.
Greyson can’t deny that he’d like his own private show, but there’s not a chance in hell of that happening. The last time the former Navy SEAL saw her she was dressed in black, holding a folded flag and sobbing that it was all his fault… and he agreed with every single word. He couldn’t do anything to help her then, but he can now.
Finley deserves better than this dingy club, and when an obsessed customer crosses the line, Greyson leads the rescue and will do whatever it takes to make amends for their broken past.
He never expected to want to settle down, but with Finley, everything is different. For the first time ever, he can breathe. But Greyson will have to fight for what he wants in order to keep the woman with the green eyes he’s dreamed about so often.
Slow & Steady is book 2 in the Alphas Undone series, but can be read as a standalone novel, as it features a new couple.
It was nine o’clock on a Saturday night and I was totally out of my fucking element. A bottle of red wine tucked under one arm. A bouquet of wild flowers in the other. A condom tucked into my wallet, just in case. I was in foreign territory, and my entire body knew it – tense shoulders, my heart beating like a drum, and arousal barely contained beneath the surface.
Finley was standing at the doorway, watching me with a confused expression.
She looked gorgeous, makeup free, pink-painted toes, hair mussed and loose. Little cotton pajama shorts and a tank top that hugged her lush breasts.
“Maple’s not here.” She said the words, but she knew as well as I did I wasn’t here for Maple.
“I know that.” My voice was sure and confident.
“Then why are you … oh.” Finley shifted her weight, her eyes dropping from mine as she saw the wine and flowers. She could read it all, plain as day. I knew she could see my intentions, my uncertainty, and underneath it all, my desire. Maybe it was the desire to fix everything I’d broken, or maybe it was just my desire for her as a man desires a woman.
Normally when I felt that primal urge for sex, I headed to West’s bar. I’d pick out a woman for the night. Share a few drinks with her, a few laughs. Later, we’d head back to my place and fuck until dawn. And that was it. I’d be set for a few months.
This … with the courting and the nerves … it was nothing like my standard operating procedure.
I’d never felt so stripped bare and vulnerable. Never put myself out there so completely with a woman before. But then again, Finley was unlike any woman I’d ever met.
And she was still just standing there. “Can I come inside?” I asked, heart in my throat.
She didn’t say anything. But she opened the door wider.
With Nolan’s words ringing in my ears, I stepped over the threshold, sure that whatever happened tonight had the power to heal us both.
She wasn’t meant to be mine. They weren’t meant to be mine.
Now it’s been a hot minute since I last read a book by Kendall Ryan that I forgot just how well they can hit the spot.
Greyson Archer is a former Navy SEAL that still harbors unimaginable guilt over the death of his friend and teammate. When drinking his sorrows away at a run down strip joint, the last thing he expects is to recognize the face of the striking stripper that caught his attention the mere second she went on the stage. The fact that the woman that seems to make his blood heat is also the widow of his fallen brother in arms doesn’t do much for his guilt.
Seeing how low she’s come to support herself and her baby daughter, Greyson is determined to make things right. He wants to give them what he should have given them when her husband died; his support. He’ll just have to put his libido on hold…if only Finley will allow him to get close enough to help.
Finley is just fine on her own. She may be barely making ends meet, making her rent, and working as a stripper to support herself and her daughter, but she doesn’t need Greyson to come in with his bad boy vibes and oozing sexuality to tempt her self control. She still harbors plenty of rage his way, but the lust is certainly a heavy undercurrent in their relationship. Greyson is determined to help and when Finley’s life is in danger, he knows that he won’t take no for an answer.
Slow & Steady is exactly what the title implies; it’s a slow and steady build. However, with the length of the story, it didn’t allow a lot of things to be fleshed out and connect me to the story more. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed it. Quite a lot, in fact. 3.5 stars for me means I really liked it. But there were times when I wanted to throttle Finley for her stubbornness and stupidity in certain situations. The suspense part of the story was a bit…odd. I felt the story could have easily done without it and been just fine. But it did serve as a plot driver in finally getting Finley and Grey together.
This was a quick, cute and sexy read about second chances and forgiveness. It had a little suspense, a little steam, and quite a few swoony moments. It certainly hit the spot for the mood I was in and was the perfect read to spend a Saturday afternoon on.
Kendall Ryan is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance novels, including Hard to Love, Unravel Me, Resisting Her and When I Break.
She’s a sassy, yet polite Midwestern girl with a deep love of books, and a slight addiction to lipgloss. She lives in Minneapolis with her adorable husband and two baby sons, and enjoys hiking, being active, and reading.
Visit her at: www.kendallryanbooks.com for the latest book news, and fun extras
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Truth be told, I struggled with my rating for this book for days now. I’ve been marinating and marinating over what to rate it. Do I rate it as a part of the Tall, Dark, and Dangerous series which it didn’t seem to fit at all? Or do I rate it as a standalone I felt it should have been? After much deliberation, I’ve decided to go with something in the middle of the two. Because here’s the thing, while I did truly enjoy Brave Enough, I didn’t find it fit the series. Aside from Tag being a hero that was first introduced early in the series, there is really no other connection. The story felt different, the romance felt different, and the entire feel of it was just different.
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Jasper is a self made man who once came from nothing. After tragedy struck his family, he was determined to make his dreams come true. Twenty years after that horrible night, he’s exactly where he’s always wanted to be: about to finally launch the company that will bring the struggling city and his hometown of Detroit around. He’s designed and built his dream car and now along with his best friends and partners, he wants to build the company that will manufacture them. There’s just a few things standing in his way; the return of his best friend that he hasn’t seen since the night twenty years ago, murder and a whole slew of dark secrets.
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I was craving a romance that was different and preferably a little bit of a mind fuck and when I read the synopsis for Unhinge, I knew I found myself a winner. It was a book that I read in practically one sitting not only because it read quickly and the writing grabbed me, but because the mystery of what was going on was driving me almost as crazy as Victoria was. Unhinge was exactly the kind of different I wanted.
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Diane Alberts remains one of my go-to authors in category romance for constantly delivering on the swoony and panty-melting romance with deliciously stubborn heroes. Her Shillings Agency series has been a favorite of mine from the beginning. I’ve been itching to get my hands on Steven’s book since a little peek of him in 
