emma rush has loved ryan blake forever and always. and in crazy for you, she finally decides that the time has come to take a leap. ever since she lost her entire family before she turned 20 she's been in a holding pattern. she wants to get a degree in landscape architecture and design, she wants to own her own landscaping company, she wants to be with ryan blake and she wants to jump off a cliff with him by the end of the summer.

ryan's best friend was emma's brother. and he promised to look out for her. and how can he break a promise to his dead friend? even if it's what emma wants, even if it's what he wants, the fact remains that a promise is a promise. but when emma calls his bluff and threatens to see other people, ryan can't stand back any longer. and once he stops holding back, there's nothing to stop the love and the passion and the sweet friendship that emma and ryan share from blooming into a full-blown relationship.

but emma is leaving at the end of the summer. she's got dreams to chase and ryan doesn't want to be the one to stop her. and he doesn't want to hold her back. and he promised her brother he'd stay away. so realistically speaking, once ryan gets over his hang-ups he and emma should be okay. he does pull the idiotic romance male lead thing and tries to make all of emma's decision for her in her best interests. which goes as well as you'd expect it to. but once he and emma manage to start communicating again, they find that the kind of relationship magic they share is a rare gift. one worth holding on to.

this is another solid entry in the risking it all series. we also get to see a little bit more of jess and mark who will feature in can't forget you the final book in the series. and what we've seen hints at a very emotional finale to the series. i can't wait!

Bolstered by her friends, Emma has decided that it's time to divert from her normal stream of dull boyfriends and shake things up a bit. Her target? Her (now dead) brother's best friend Ryan. She's had a thing for him for years and is ready to act on int.
Ryan has a thing for Emma as well but he promised her brother that they would never hook up. Plus, his biological half-brother is in town and Ryan is trying to be a good example so that his brother's family will allow him to keep in contact.
It's Ryan's rigid adherence to the dead brother's promise that made me enjoy this book less. It's repeated over and over and over with no growth on Ryan's part until the very end of the book. And Trent (Ryan's brother) is little more than a plot moppet (albeit eighteen-years-old).
I really liked the first book in the series but just couldn't get into this one in the same way. I'm holding out hope for the next book when a wounded warrior and the woman he loved are getting their second chance.

Three stars
This book comes out March 28

I'm a sucker for a cute contemporary romance the have a best friends brother/brother's best friend etc theme. Crazy for You met all my requirements for that trope. I loved that Emma wanted to step outside the box and try new things. I don't often do that myself so I really admire that. Ryan is my favorite kind of bad boy, he's the one that's not really bad. Him and Emma are definitely a perfect match. I'm also really glad that his need to "protect" Emma due to a promise he made her brother doesn't last very long.

Emma and Ryan were absolutely amazing together. Lots of swoons. The small town of Haven is definitely on my list of favorite fictional small towns. There wasn't a lot of "drama" in Crazy for You. For me, this was fine, I'm not always a fan of the couple going through stage after stage of drama.

Overall Crazy for You is the perfect spring contemporary with a side of feels. I also can't wait to dive into the next book in this series!
Review will post closer to release date.

I want to thank Rachel Lacey, Forever and Netgalley for giving me this book for my honest review.
Review by Stephanie
Emma Rush has had a thing for Ryan Blake forever. He is the bad boy that is covered in tattoos, rides a motorcycle and oozes hot sexiness…who wouldn’t want this sexy bad boy?!?! So we have the bad boy covered sooo Emma must be the good girl, yup but she is so over that title. She needs a bad boy to help her channel her inner bad girl…can anyone guess what bad boy she enlists for this task??
Ryan made a promise to Emma’s brother to keep an eye out for Emma while he is serving in the military. Sadly her brother doesn’t make it home so now Ryan is faced with the reality that he needs to step up and get his sh*t together. No matter how hard he tries he knows he will never be good enough for Emma.
So the bad boy wants to be good and the good girl wants to be bad…. Rachel Lacey crafts a fun filled book that would be an amazing beach read or grab now and cuddle up by the fire! Whatever you choose JUST CHOOSE IT!! I look forward for Jessica and Mark’s story!

3.5 stars

I had really enjoyed the previous book in this series, so I was pretty excited to get to this one.

I liked Emma and Ryan. They're both good people with a bit of a dark and dramatic background. It was fun to see them relax together and try new things. And of course their chemistry was fantastic.

I am a huge fan of the bff's sibling plot line and this one didn't disappoint. There seemed to be a lot more people than I remembered and I did have a bit of a hard time keep track of who was who.

Overall, the conflict was minimal and the epilogue was perfect. I can't wait to read the next book.

**Huge thanks to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for providing the arc free of charge**

5 - "No one but you." Stars!

The Risking It All series goes from strength to strength with the second full length novel; Crazy For You. Not only do we get one of my favorite tropes – Older brothers best friend, but we also get to go back to the town and residents of Haven, Georgia.

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Emma Rush has had a crush on Ryan Blake for a looooong time, being her brothers best friend growing up she saw and spent more than enough time with him to know that he was a guy with more going on than the bad-boy façade he let most people see.

Her little crush on Ryan Blake had just exploded into something a whole lot more… and she had no idea what would happen next…

But up until now, things had never stepped out of the friend-zone, with the loss of her brother, her decision to live on the wild side and to move away to study, the pair find themselves at an unexpected crossroads… Act on the attraction that has been simmering between them for a while, or stick to purely friendship.

"You drive me absolutely crazy, you know that?"

Ryan is reluctant initially, but it doesn’t take long for Emma to start pushing all the right buttons to bring the alpha protectiveness out in Ryan, and the sexy times take off at a rapid clip thereafter. She’s leaving, he doesn’t do commitment, so a friends-with-benefits arrangement is agreed upon.

"Just how bad do you want to be?"

I discovered Rachel’s writing through the prequel novella in this series and I haven’t looked back since, I love whole small town feel that she has got going on in that the characters are now established well enough you feel like you are catching up with old friends with each new story. The whole Off-the-Grid adventures aspect keeps things fresh, and all the secondary characters keep everything really well filled out when it comes to the plots.

"Sometimes dreams change… Sometimes once you start chasing them, you realize those dreams represented who you were ten years ago… not who you are today."

Nothing massively new about the story between Ryan and Emma, but it’s so well written you just fall in love with them as they are unwittingly falling in love with each other, it was one of those books you read and feel every emotion the H/h are experiencing, and go through with them.

"Nothing feels right when we’re not together."

Jess and Mark are up next, and I am more than a little excited for the release of Can’t Forget You in October. This is a couple that have a huge amount of history between them, but the author has been very careful in what she has revealed about it in that we still don’t 100% know what actually happened, so I am eager to get their full story.

ARC generously provided by TastyBookTours via Netgalley, and it was my pleasure to provide the above honest review in exchange.

Emma is tired of being the good girl, she wants to take a walk on the wild side for once. When a dare has her flirting with a childhood friend, she may get more than she bargained for.
Ryan has had a strict hands-off policy with his friend's little sister, especially after his friend died. When she kisses him though, a door he has tried to keep shut is flung wide open.
Emma and Ryan are about to find out that being bad has never felt so good.
 
Second in the Risking It All series, we find ourselves back in the small town of Haven. This time it is Emma and Ryan's turn for romance. Both characters are extremely likable. Emma is feeling lost in her life and wanting a change. She's always had a crush on her brother's friend Ryan but he only saw her as a kid. While it is brought up more than once, I thought a couple flashbacks to her and her brother could have added an emotional punch. We learn he died in Afghanistan and hear how Emma misses him, but I missed seeing their relationship. The same could be said about flashbacks showing Ryan and Emma's brother as friends. I'm glad it wasn't dwelled on too long about Ryan feeling guilty about dating his friend's sister, it would have felt like drawn out angst.
 
The small town flavor that showed up in the first continues here with a circle of friends showcased that you know are just waiting in the wings for their own stories. The motorcycle rides Ryan takes Emma on also gave a great sense of scenery and location that helped place me in the story. Ryan's half-brother drama helped to give his character different layers but the brother's character never journeyed too far from young adult angst. In fact, while this was a nice, pretty calm story, excitement and wow factor are missing. In an over flush small town contemporary romance market, none of these character stand out, we've all read them before. While this is definitely comparable to a Jill Shalvis series, I would say the heat factor is ramped up a bit.
 
Emma is looking to shake things up in her sex life and while they don't do anything considered left of center kinky, they do get it on, frequently. Ryan and Emma's chemistry and steam did a great job of providing some spark to the story. Unfortunately, the lack of excitement or differentness made this read more of the mundane variety for me. However, if you like small town stories, a nice main couple, and want more heat in your contemporaries without crossing over into erotica, you'll want to read this. The next in the series will feature a second chance romance where unresolved issues and a wounded warrior will be the stars.

Title: Crazy For You
Author: Rachel Lacey
Publisher: Forever
Series: Risking It All # 2
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Five
Review:

"Crazy For You" by Rachel Lacey

My Viewpoint....

This novel was the second in this series 'Risking It All' that featured Emma Rush and bad boy Ryan Blake ['had tattoos, a motorcycle, and enough round-round-the edges sexiness...'] that was simply one good read. I enjoyed it from the first page and yes it was quite a yummy one as this author can only give to her readers. We find that Emma and Ryan had always had that something for each other since childhood, especially Emma. We find Emma is wanting to shake things up in her boring life and who would she pick ...no other than Ryan...her longtime friend to help her do it. All I can say is wow, this will be one hot sexy read for their chemistry is off the chart.

Now they were grown and the only thing that seemed to hold Ryan back was his promise he had made to his friend Derek [Emma's brother and his best friend] who had died while serving in Afghanistan that he 'would protect her [Emma] from everything --including himself.' Now, how was he able to get over this hurdle without jeopardizing a long time friendship? What will happen as Emma is wanting something more in her life and that would involve Ryan? Will Ryan be willing to give her what she wants? Will there be a time limit on this decision and will it work for them? To find out about it all you will have to pick up this good contemporary romance and see how well this author bring it all out to the reader.

The characters were all well developed, portrayed and believable giving one a read that you will not want to put down until the end. To have friends like: Emma, Ryan, Ethan, Mark, Gabby, Carly Mandy, Trent and Jessica only will leave you saying wow what a bunch of friends I would like to have in my life. They were definitely their for each other!

So, how will this turn out with feelings and futures are at stake...will these two finally see the light at the end of the tunnel? Well, you will just have to pick up 'Crazy For You' to see if these two get their HEA! Now, get ready for the next series...'Can't Forget You' that features...Mark and Jessica's story.

This was a sweet read--a good follow-up to something dark and heavy. I enjoyed the story, but I never really connected much with the main characters, nor did I feel a really deep connection between them. I can't even really pinpoint why, but maybe because there was so much going on outside of their love story. I prefer stories where the main characters are struggling through something together vs. separately, and this felt more like they were living their own lives by day and romancing by night. Nonetheless, I would definitely try more by this author--I might connect completely with another set of characters.

A good girl wants a ride on the wild side. Her late brother's best friend has been her crush forever. Due to a bet gone wrong, he's chosen to be the guy who helps her bring out her wild side. Oh but there is a time limit put on their "non-relationship", which fails spectacularly as they both fall hard for each other.

Loved this one!!

This contemporary romance is the second book in the Risking It All series. While I did read and enjoy the first book, this one can stand on its own. Having read a lot of romances with the best friend's little sister theme, I was glad that Rachel Lacey didn't excessively dwell on that theme. Often in cases where the best friend has died, authors can make too much of the little sister being off limits. Fortunately in this case, Ryan doesn't dwell too much on this. Of course, he does think that he isn't good enough for Emma but since they go into their relationship thinking it has a time limit, it works. The idea of a time limit, however, does not work. This was a fun contemporary romance with very likeable characters.

Rachel Lacey, since her first book, has been one of my feel-good-go-to authors that I adore and love reading. Her new series, “Risking It All” had a rocking start with a short story “Rock With You” (Carly and Sam’s love story), and the actual series started off in the little town of Haven with “Run To You” and now the latest coming in March 2017, “Crazy For You” will have Emma Rush riding the wild side of Ryan Blake.

Her last name may be Rush, but she is one good girl that everyone wants to be friends with. But Ms. Rush wants to shake things up, and who better than to Ryan Blake to take her on the wild side of Haven. With the dreams of getting the degree that she never had a chance to do, and owning her own landscaping business, Emma wants to have a few wild days before she leaves Haven. Her attraction to Ryan Blake only sparks her friends to dare Emma into having a fling with him.

Ryan Blake always had Emma in his heart since he arrived in Haven, and Emma’s persistence to have an affair with no strings attached only spurs his attraction and want to be the person to explore the wild side with her. Teaching her rock climbing, spending time with her, being supportive of her getting a tattoo, only deepens his feelings for her and scares the hell out of him.

But then this is the wild ride of love, and these two people crazy for each other have to figure out their deeper fears to have their happy ending. What I like about Rachel Lacey’s writing is her ability to be so eloquent with feelings and situations. The appearance of Ryan’s brother is as surprising and perfect as is his closure with Emma’s brother and his promise to take care of her. The placing of supportive characters, the banter and chemistry among the friends and the resident so Haven is a perfect blend of romance and pleasure to read, “Crazy For You”.


Received an ARC from Forever (Grand Central Publishing), via NetGalley for an honest review.

Review featured at www.books-n-kisses.com

4.25 Hearts This story is adorable. We met both of these characters in the first book of the series, Run To You. Emma and Ryan have known each other since childhood. She was his best friends little sister. But until now Ryan never saw her as anything else…. Until now.

In the book it says Ryan is a sheep in wolf’s clothing and I think it is a perfect description. Ryan wants to give Emma the world, even if that includes their romance copying the pages of a romance novel. Emma just wants to live her life. She has always been the quiet little good girl but her life has changed and she just wants some adventure and Ryan in the perfect one to help her out.

I love this bunch of friends. I would want to be a part of this group and have these guys be big brothers and the girls be best friends. I enjoyed the addition of Ryan’s little brother Trent as well.

This is a great book. Perfect beach read or curl up on the couch and relax read. Can’t wait for Jessica and Mark’s story.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I fell in love with Rachel Lacey’s Risking it All series with the first book. The second book, Crazy for You, does not disappoint. Emma and Ryan are everything I thought they would be and more. Lacey, thankfully, doesn’t spend a lot of time on the “I promised your dead brother” reason for keeping them apart. Don’t get me wrong, there is still a lot of shared baggage for them to address. Their willingness to do it together makes the story that much stronger. At its core, this novel is about families and how sometimes the families we create for ourselves are far more important than the ones we are born into. It is also about the nature of dreams and how the dreams you have at 18 don’t need to be your dreams at 27. Together, Emma and Ryan find their own way, which makes their HEA that much sweeter.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this novel.

Rachel Lacey is one of my favorite authors. Her writing style draws the reader deep into the story from the very beginning. Her characters are well developed & realistic. She manages to make her supporting characters feel as important as the main characters. Emma's girlfriends daring her to date outside of her box propelled her to asking Ryan to be her "fling". Ryan's loyalty to Emma's deceased brother was honorable if a bit misguided. It was fun to watch her stepping forward & him backing up when its usually the other way around. This can easily be read as a stand alone but you know you'll end up getting the others & reading them too!! This was a fun, flirty enjoyable romance & I can't wait for the next one!!

Ryan is shocked to learn that straight-laced Emma wants to take a walk on the wild side with him. He would love to help Emma discover her naughty side, if only he didn't feel guilty about a promise that he made to her brother years ago. Ryan soon learns that Emma is determined to make it difficult for him to deny her the experience of motorcycle rides, outdoor adventures and naughty fun.

I really liked Crazy for You and the small town of Haven, North Carolina. I look forward to the next in this series!

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

Another fabulous read by Rachel Lacey. Emma is looking to be bad but wants only to be bad with town resident bad boy Ryan. Ryan trys his best not to act on it. Their chemistry is hot and sparks fly. It is heartfelt and heartwarming.

I loved this book, I am a fan of Ms. Lacey's work and was really looking forward to reading the second book in the Risking It All series, and it didn't disappoint. Right from the first page I felt as if I was back visiting friends and half fell in love with Ryan myself. Emma and Ryan had instant chemistry, the heat was coming of the pages. There are lots of authors who write hot sex scenes, and you can tell that they are just doing it for the 'shock' factor, and although the sex between the two character is hot and frequent, it's believable because of how well they are written, if these two characters existed I real life they'd be all over each other. But this book wasn't just hot sex scenes, there was depth to the characters, each had faced personal tragedies and found their lives going in different directions. Add in a long lost brother, a fantastic group of friends and an adorable grumpy cat, this is one book you don't want to miss. Can't wait to read Mark and Jessica's story next
****ARC provided for honest review*****