Tough Enough
Series: Tall, Dark, and Dangerous #2
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: M. Leighton
Release Date: November 3, 2015
You seriously don’t want to miss MMA-champion-turned-Hollywood-superstar Rogan. Hotness!
From the author of the New York Times bestselling Bad Boys novels comes the second book in a dark, sexy contemporary trilogy.
He’s a fighter who never loses, but is he tough enough to win her heart?
There was a time when I had everything–a wonderful family, a bright future. Love. But all that was taken away in a single night, torn from me like flesh from bone. Since then, I’ve hidden away in my second-choice job as a makeup artist. But I prefer it that way, actually. I’m comfortable in the shadows, where no one can see my scars.
Kiefer Rogan literally took my breath away the moment I met him. MMA champion-turned-actor, notorious playboy, charming to a fault—he’s everything I vowed to avoid.
But he just wouldn’t stop until I opened up and let him in. Maybe I should’ve tried harder to resist him. Maybe I shouldn’t have fallen in love with him. Because I, of all people, know that everyone has secrets. Scars. And that they’re usually ugly and painful and destructive to the people we love most.
I just never guessed that they could be deadly, too.
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Get Strong Enough, the first book in the Tall, Dark, and Dangerous series
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Why me?”He doesn’t hesitate with his answer. “Something tells me you’re worth the effort.”
Well, this was certainly…different. If you’re expecting Tough Enough to be on the same intensity level as Strong Enough, don’t. This was a complete change of pace from the first book. It’s an emotional journey that’s both beautiful and touching. The suspense element is not the predominant factor here as it was in the predecessor. As a matter of fact, it was barely present up until the very end. Which actually brings me to my minor dilemma. I’ve been waffling with my rating on this book for days now. Do I rate it on it’s own, or do I rate it based on the series it’s in? But I’ll get to that in a bit.
In true M. Leighton fashion, Tough Enough grabs the reader’s attention with just the prologue.
Katie Rydale is a woman with secrets; deep, painful secrets that she’s still learning to live with. It’s been years since the even that changed her life irrevocably, and yet she’s still just a shell of the woman she used to be. A meek kitten that hides behind the shadow of who she used to be. She’s more comfortable behind the lime light as a makeup artist to the stars that bask in it.
Kiefer Rogan is the uber sexy MMA star turned actor and one fourth of the Delta 5 team that we were introduced to in the first book. Katie knows that men like him will only burn her. He’s just too everything; too sexy, too intense, too determined to get to know her.
If you’re looking for a swoony alpha hero, you’ll certainly get that with Keifer. His slow and determined seduction of Katie was one of my favorite parts about this book. I love a slow burn romance, especially one that’s layered in ripe sexual tension. As protective as Rogan is, he understands Katie’s limits and doesn’t push them. For all his intensity, it’s so refreshing to see a hero that’s respectful of a woman’s boundaries. He was just so incredibly sweet but without ever losing that edge that he has to him.
Katie is not exactly the kind of heroine I prefer to read about. She’s very demure and tends to withdraw into herself at the slightest altercation. I would have loved to see her come into her own a little sooner than she did.
If you’ve read the first book, which I highly recommend you do, then you know there was a particular suspense element that was left in a cliffhanger. Clearly there was a story arc that would continue throughout the series. I was expecting for this book to bring some of that intensity with it as well, but it never quite went there. The main focus was the relationship between Rogan and Katie while the suspense was more of an afterthought. I don’t have a problem with this, and up until the final 10% of the book, this was a solid 4.5 star read for me. This could easily be a case of built up expectations, but I found the ending to be rushed and well…anticlimactic. After all the buildup in book 1 for everything to be resolved the way it was, it just wasn’t as satisfying as I had hoped. I would have loved for that part to be really fleshed out and not just glossed over as it had been. But then again, I don’t know what the third book will bring, so it is tough to judge without having finished the series.
For all the minor issues I may have had, this book had my full attention from beginning to finish. So while I wished it had a bit more of an edge to it like the first one in the series, I still definitely enjoyed it.
New York Times and USA Today†bestselling author M. Leighton is a native of Ohio. She relocated to the warmer climates of the South, where she can be near the water all summer and miss the snow all winter. Possessed of an overactive imagination from early in her childhood, Michelle finally found an acceptable outlet for her fantastical visions: literary fiction.
Having written over a dozen novels, these days Michelle enjoys letting her mind wander to more romantic settings with sexy Southern guys, much like the one she married and the ones you’ll find in her latest books. When her thoughts aren’t roaming in that direction, she’ll be riding horses, swimming in ponds and experiencing life on a ranch, all without leaving the cozy comfort of her office.
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I have a little secret…*whispers* I have an unhealthy addiction to legal dramas…comedies….romances…whatever. You name it, if legal procedures and trials are involved, odds are I’ve watched it or read it. So when I saw a new Legal Affairs book from Sawyer Bennett, it was a no brainer to read. This is only my third book by this author, and admittedly the other two I’ve read by her left me a bit underwhelmed. But having heard so many amazing things about her Legal Affairs series, I decided to bite the bullet and give it a go. And boy am I glad that I did, because Friction was absolutely fantastic!.
And so awkward, shy trailer trash Leary becomes sexy powerhouse Leary; using all her feminine wiles to win her cases. But she’s not just sexy and sassy, there’s a brain on her and that just made her that much more fun to read about. Now she’s handling the biggest case of her life; not so much in the form of money, but meaning. It means everything to her to win, and she needs to crush her opponent. Too bad her opponent is the sexy Reeve Holloway, a defense attorney working for the client that hers is suing…and determined to give as good as he gets.
It’s been a long while since I’ve read a book that touched me on such a visceral level. I don’t cry in books. Maybe I have a cold black heart, maybe I don’t have a soul, I dunno, it just doesn’t happen mkay. But here? I was a mess. A wreck. Absolutely and utterly pathetic. Sniveling, ugly crying, uncontrollably emotional wreck. In case you’re still not with me, basically I spent the first half of this book in this particular state:
My husband came home from work and caught me reading it, and after taking in my ugly crying state freaked out thinking someone died. True story. Basically, the moral of this story is do NOT read this book in public unless you want people to think there’s something seriously wrong with you. This book will tug at every heart string you have and rip it to smithereens. I’m not even kidding. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I though it was just a fluke at first, so I went back to re-read a few key parts and nope! I was a wreck all over again.
That gif basically sums up my feelings for High and the rest of Chaos for the first half of this book. High is a royal asshole to Millie when he sees her again. She broke his heart all those years ago and he’s not about to let her forget it. She walked out on him and Chaos, and now that she seems to want the chance to explain, he’ll use the opportunity to switch the roles from twenty years ago.
I was afraid that I wouldn’t like Millie when I originally read the first chapter of this book as a preview in 
Nothing like floating on a life raft with your buddies after escaping a sinking ship and puking off the side to reflect on one’s life. But that’s exactly what Logan McCabe finds himself doing. When the discussion leads to the one thing they’d go back in time to change, there’s only one thing floating in Logan’s mind. The sizzling one night stand he shared with a woman eleven years ago that rocked his world. So what’s a man to do? Look her up, track her down, and proposition her for more, of course.
Logan is an ex-con with an aversion to cops, and the Abby eleven years later just happens to be a detective. A match made in heaven they are not. I absolutely loved these two together. Abby may be a touch prissy, but she sure gives as good as she gets. Logan is everything I’ve come to love in a Brazen hero, totally alpha and a dirty talking god. Add in a secret pregnancy trope, and watch the sparks fly! My only quibble is what I felt was a little too much cheese with the ending. 
Heart-pounding action, nail-biting suspense and sizzling hot BDSM romance, it just doesn’t get any better than that. Shayla Black delivers yet another winner in her 10th book of her Wicked Lovers series. Sinfully sexy and filled with enough action to keep you at the edge of your seat, Wicked For You definitely delivered on the promise of it’s title.
Mystery Mullins is the daughter to one of the most renowned hollywood directors, who’s reputation as a womanizer is just as infamous. She’s used to media attention, but the only attention she truly craves is from a man that turned her down after saving her life six years ago.
I love that the author takes you back in time to show the reader exactly what happened between these two all those years ago. It only serves to strengthen the connection to both the characters as well as the connection between them. I love me a sexy Dom that can kick some ass and then spank it. What? I’m being honest here. Axel is a hero that you’ll definitely fall for. Mystery was a great heroine in her own right. She may be inexperienced in the brand of kink that Axel likes, but she’s no blushing virgin. If you’re not a fan of hardcore BDSM, rest easy, there’s no whips or chains in this one. Axel is kinky, but it’s light on the BDSM. A little spanking here, a little bondage there. Mix, repeat, end with orgasms.
How do you review a book where even the slightest detail can be a major spoiler? I’ve been struggling with writing this for days now because of this. I write something, then change my mind and delete it. Quite the conundrum I have myself here. If I can give you one piece of advice with this book? Go in absolutely blind. Don’t read reviews. Any reviews. Even mine (though I will keep it absolutely spoiler free). But this is just one of those books where what makes it good is the not knowing. You guess a detail here and there but you just never know exactly where it will go.
Lauren Layne is my go-to author whenever I’m in the mood for a light-hearted, sexy and witty romance, and this book is exactly why. There’s one thing that’s guaranteed when I read one of her books; I’ll read it with a happy smile on my face the entire time. While I haven’t yet had the pleasure of reading her Sex, Love & Stiletto series, of which this is the spin-off, I had absolutely no problems keeping up with all the wonderful secondary characters or the story itself.
All the secondary characters add to the story while the main focus remains on Penelope and Cole and their budding romance. We still get a taste for past characters, as well as Lincoln who I was clearly intrigued by (because I do so love me the broken manwhorish ones) but it never takes away from the story, only adds to it. It read like the perfect romantic comedy.
Know what I love? When a book manages to catch me by complete surprise, pleasantly so, and end up being so much more than I had thought it would be. Suite 269 was that book for me. Witty, laugh out loud hilarious, and sexy as all hell, I read it in practically one sitting with a goofy smile on my face for the entire time (And some ice for my ovaries on standby) It’s not often that I’ll tell you that my favorite thing about a book was the heroine. And by that, I mean it almost never freaking happens. Unless the heroine manages to channel my inner sarcastic pervert. I mean the woman’s favorite cartoon was Pinky and The Brain for the love of god! We need to be besties here! And if you don’t know what that cartoon is, shame on you, and don’t speak to me again until you watch it, mkay?!
What if you met a man that promised to make all your deepest, darkest fantasies come true? No questions, no judgement. That’s precisely the chance that Lexa Novak gets. But this book is so much more than just that. So let’s set the scene, shall we?
Enter stage right, Jameson Holt. The son of the man that owns the magazine she works as a lowly fact checker for, and her boss. Did I happen to mention that he makes her ovaries scream in delight with his mere present alone?
Because the man is pure sex on a stick. But that’s all the detail you’ll be getting from because what’s the fun in that? The best part of the reading experience here is to find out how all these puzzle pieces click together.
I’ve read and loved this author’s PNR titles, (Mad World) but this was my first contemporary romance from her and it sure as hell will not be my last. Clearly I’ve been missing out and I need to go check out the woman’s entire backlist. If you’re looking for a fun, witty, and uber sexy read, you really can’t go wrong with this one.
Spiral of Need is the spin off series from Suzanne Wright’s Phoenix Pack series. And while it’s book 1 in this new series, I’d highly recommend starting with Phoenix Pack first because there’s a lot of interconnecting characters and readers coming into this without having read the other series first may find themselves lost. Although there is plenty of background given on the story, reading Phoenix Pack first will simply give a much needed background on certain situations in the story and the characters that take place here.
Rebecca Yarros and her Flight & Glory series has been on my radar for a while. In my usual way of doing things backasswards, when I got the chance to read Beyond What Is Given, I jumped on it, even before I read the previous books. With that said, I never found myself lost and had no problems getting into the story. BUT, I do wish I read the previous two books simply because I completely adored those characters in this book and found myself curious about their story. So I plan on going back and reading the previous books immediately.
Grayson’s secret begins to come to light little by little, and you soon realized that the baggage that this man carries may be too much for even self-assured Sam. But you also can’t help but fall for him completely. The push and pull dynamic between them grabbed me from the beginning. Grayson clearly wants Sam, but he knows he can’t have her. His secret prevent him from giving himself fully even when Sam is quickly falling for him.
As much as I love angst in my books, and the angst here was thick. At the same time, I prefer the angst to come from the couple and not added from outside influences. What am I talking about? Grayson’s family. Sweet mother of all that’s holy but the last time I hated a hero’s sister this much I was reading an Abbi Glines book. I absolutely HATED Parker. And the further the book progressed, the more strongly I began to hate her. And that only got so much worse when the whole truth was revealed. In addition to her sticking her nose into Grayson’s business there was also his father. All of it combined with the already heavy subject of Grayson’s secret and Sam’s past and it was almost too much. Don’t get me wrong, the author did make it work, but for me it was just a little too much.
