This was a decent story and I somewhat enjoyed both the hero and the heroine, Oz and Kate. However, nothing really stood out making it a great book.

I’m so happy to kick off the TLC Book Tour for Rebecca Crowley’s second installment in the Atlanta Skyline series, Defending Hearts. While I’m not a big fan of soccer since I grew up in the Midwest where it was a sport that just wasn’t played, what drew me to this novel was the reversal of roles from typical romance novels: in Defending Hearts, the heroine Kate Mitchell is in the protector role while professional soccer star Oz Terim is the one who needs security. This switch up drew me in from the start, and I was very glad that I picked up this book. Even though this is the second book in the series, Defending Hearts can definitely be read as a standalone novel. I had no problems jumping right in and enjoying every minute.

Kate Mitchell is an army veteran who’s done two tours of duty in the Middle East, and followed those up with a job as security detail for wealthy people in Saudi Arabia. After being let go from her job there, she returned home to Georgia and now sells private security to people in Atlanta. She has no permanent plans other than helping out her mother, sister, and niece, and they seem to be a handful when it comes to being sensible or responsible. But Kate’s called in to give a security quote to the Atlanta Skyline soccer team, and more specifically their star player Oz Terim after he’s the target of anti-Muslim hate crime, and the slow burn begins between Kate and Oz.

Oz Terim has a multi-year plan for once soccer is over. Kate doesn’t fit in with that plan, so he resists his desire for the sexy, in-charge, confident woman that’s been hired to set up security for him. But she’s invading his private space–his perfectly ordered, clean home–and his perfectly scheduled life, and everything that he knows he wants starts to turn upside down. Oz is a bit OCD when it comes to his house and his life, but can he make room for Kate? And can rootless Kate find a home in Oz and believe that he’d want to stay with her?

The main characters Oz and Kate are complex and contradictory, but they fit together quite nicely. Kate is brave, strong, and a bit fearless when it comes to protecting those she loves, but she isn’t without her doubts about certain things so her self-esteem does take a hit throughout the book and she’s not as confident as she could be. Oz isn’t your typical dumb jock: he’s Harvard educated and very hardworking in his profession, but he doesn’t seem to enjoy much outside of soccer. He struggles with balancing his religious roots with his American lifestyle, and he’s not sure how to deal with the reaction he’s receiving from some hate-filled people in the US.

I give Defending Hearts a five out of five. With overarching themes of hate crimes, differing religions, and cultural differences, this sports romance hits all the right notes in terms of balancing the amount of sports, romance, interpersonal conflict, and everyday events. Rebecca Crowley’s writing is descriptive enough for you to feel like you’re in Atlanta along with the characters, and I really enjoyed the slow build romance between Oz and Kate. Neither one of them knew if they were doing the right thing by being together, and I loved how they both had to feel it out for a while instead of one of them being instantly in love with the other. Oz’s close friends and Kate’s family were fleshed out nicely and were dimensional, adding nice depth to the book. Overall, Defending Hearts is a great romance that wasn’t too heavy on the sports, and had a realistic romance where the typical roles were reversed. I definitely recommend this to all romance lovers!

Here is a book that I have been looking forward to for a long time! Can't wait to read more by this author!

For an otherwise formulaic sports romance, the hate crimes and religious aspect made this one a little bit more interesting. I enjoyed reading this story, and the romance between Oz and Kate was great.

This was a quick read. It's a standard formula romance novel. I understand the Muslim theme in today's environment.

Defending Hearts is a wonderful romance with an outside of the norm premise. Kate works for a kind of second tier security business, trying to sell protection/security services to people on the phone. She's essentially a sales person, but knows her stuff. She's a veteran with all the training that comes with military service. She's done personal protection, and so she's a physically strong, mostly confident woman. When she meets Oz as a potential client, she's intrigued by the cool, stoic soccer player who doesn't really want the services of her company, and wouldn't be availing himself of them if his manager and his team weren't insisting on protection for him.

Oz is an interesting character. He's kind of a diva. He's cool to the point of cold. He's analytical and knows exactly what he wants his life to be. He's a bit anal and compulsive about neatness. And then along comes Kate, who invades his home with her security system, and invades his heart and his mind, the two places he really does not want her to be. That he's a loosely practicing Muslim is interesting, and the crux of the mystery. Someone has been targeting him online with anonymous threats because of his religion, and Kate is there to protect him from those threats.

When Kate and Oz start falling for each other, I thoroughly expected Oz to be the one pushing her away. Instead, it's Kate, who has some self esteem and insecurity issues that seem to be almost a contradiction to the strong, confident image she projects, that pushes Oz away.

Defending Hearts is that unicorn of romances - it's got a lot of depth, layered, engaging leads, a little bit of mystery and action, and steam all wrapped up in religious and socio-political themes. Normally I don't like politics in my romances, but it's so well done here, so seamlessly woven into the story that I can't help but appreciate it, even like it, alot. If you like your romances with substance, and an out of the box premise, 1 click Defending Hearts today.

As much as I love (and often devour) sports romances, that wasn't what initially drew me towards Defending Hearts. What snagged my attention was the religious elements. Our hero, Oz, is a Muslim soccer player that is the victim of anti-Muslim hate crimes. Our heroine, Kate Mitchell, is in charge of his security. I loved Kate from the first chapter. She's an incredibly strong character that can stand toe-to-toe with just about anyone. While her past and her family definitely play a roll in a lot of her actions, she's still determined to stand on her own. Oz, on the other hand, left me with a lot of mixed feelings. There were times when I wasn't his biggest fan. Overall, he is a fun character with many different sides of his personality. However, the moments where he unintentionally led Kate on bothered me. He's a little naive, so I don't think he knowingly hurt her. I did wish that someone would slap some sense into him a bit sooner.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Defending Hearts. I loved the soccer elements, which is a sport I don't read often in romances. I loved the playful moments in Oz and Kate's relationship, especially that pool game. Watching them try to get under each other's skin was fabulous. I also loved how their relationship took them by surprise. It wasn't an immediate attraction. Instead, it was a slow build from an innocent touch. They felt the sparks, but wasn't sure if the other person did as well. I also loved that the author brought in the hate crime element. I know that can make some readers a bit uneasy, but I felt it added a lot of depth to the romance. I loved that the characters stood strong through the hate and came out as better individuals. Overall, Defending Hearts was a fun book. Even in the scenes where I wanted to strangle Oz, I had fun reading this book and I'm looking forward to reading more of the author's work in the future.

4 1/2 STARS!

In a powerful voice, Rebecca Crowley takes on a hot topic with her latest book in the Atlanta Skyline series … and does it well! She delivers just the right amount of oomph to bring his plight to light in our minds and have us rising up behind him in support. The subject is of a relevant topic, the friendship rallying behind him is touching, the sports factor brings in fitting action to keep us wanting more, and the sweet love story developing from strife has us mesmerized. Overall, a great read!

Swedish soccer player Oz Terim was enjoying the good life as a star wingback for the Atlanta Skyline when sudden media attention brought him to center stage for another reason. He might have inherited his Islamic faith from his Turkish parents, but he’s never even been a devout follower, so when he’s suddenly targeted on a published list just for being a Muslim athlete, he’s blown away. Finding himself entrenched in hate is demoralizing and disconcerting.

Kate Mitchell is former military and newly back in her home area of Atlanta, Georgia and working for a private security company. When she’s contacted by Oz’s manager about the incident, she is hesitant to work with what she assumes is a cocky athlete, but when she meets Oz and hears his dilemma, she steps up and takes him on as a client. Attraction flares fairly quickly between them, but Oz isn’t quick to trust or jump into an intimate relationship with just anyone. Will she prove to be irresistible?

Defending Hearts is more than just a romance, it's fictional tale, but it has a very clear thread of truth that runs through it.

Defending Hearts is the story of Oz Terem, a Muslim soccer player for the all new Atlanta Skyline soccer team, that after being spotted praying before a game, a disgusting nut job who is riding the anti Islamic wave flowing through the country, to declare him an enemy, and decides to target him.

So insteps Kate Mitchell, ex-military and the new personal security for Oz. And while they are worlds apart from not only their background, but with their life plans, but nevertheless the attraction between them grows, but then so do the threats against Oz's life, and Kate has to remain focus to keep Oz safe.

As I said before, Defending Hearts is more than just a romance, it has depth and feeling, and I applaud the author for writing about something that is current and has a edge to it.

I enjoyed the character's, writing, and the smoothness of the book, though it defiantly feels like a New Adult romance, rather than a contempory romance, but it has such depth to it, that I found it a very enjoyable read.

I give Defending Hearts 4 stars!

Review by Amber for Love Romance Books Blog

After years working and being deployed in the Middle East, Kate has been trying to adjust to civilian life. She has a job selling private client security, but she hasn’t made many friends in the six months since she moved home. When Atlanta Skyline player Oz walks in with his coach needing protection, Kate thinks it will finally be her big break.

Oz is of Swedish and Turkish heritage, and has lived in Atlanta for the last three years. Soccer has been his life for as long as he can remember, and he has been fine with that. He thinks he is a pretty laid back kind of guy, so when he is the target of a hate crime he is stunned. He doesn’t want a bodyguard, especially one as attractive as Kate, but he realizes he may need one.

I would give this book 4 stars. I thought it was a unique take on the story, and I liked how the main characters each had their own baggage but they complemented each other. I have been a fan of this series since the first book, but I think you could read this as a stand-alone book just fine. I was asked by the author for an honest review.

I picked this one because I live in Atlanta. I always enjoy reading books about the place I live – or places I have lived. I still have a soft spot in my heart for books set in Alaska after three years there.

But this story isn’t really about the city, and the city doesn’t feature much in the story. Instead, this could any big city in the U.S. that is trying to get FIFA-level soccer established in the U.S. And there are lots of medium-to-large cities that could host a team.

The story in Defending Hearts is about more than soccer. Oz Terem could be a star player in any major league sport, and this story would still work. Because underlying the romance there’s a surprisingly in-depth story about irrational hatred and unthinking prejudice, and that’s the part that sticks with readers in the end.

Oz is not just the star player for the Atlanta Skyline. He’s also a practicing, admittedly somewhat loosely and extremely secular, Muslim who is seen visibly praying before each game. And some nutjob out there riding the current wave of Islamophobia has decided that Oz’ somewhat casual adherence to his faith means that he must be a terrorist or at least aiding and abetting terrorism.

When he’s really a soccer player who is otherwise doing a decent job of living his life and observing as much of his faith as he finds comfortable. While he may be of Turkish descent, he actually sees himself as Swedish, because that’s where he was born and raised.

But there’s someone targeting Oz with increasingly virulent threats on all of his social media accounts. The escalation has got his manager worried, enough so that the team decides to get security for Oz.

And that’s where our heroine, Kate Mitchell, comes in. Kate is ex-military, and is currently working for one of Atlanta’s frankly lesser lights in the personal security business. But she’s the agent available when a reluctant Oz and his manager come into the office, so she’s the agent they get.

Kate and Oz strike sparks off each other from the very beginning, even though neither is anything like the other’s type. Kate has a taste for big guys with bigger trucks, and Oz is working from his master plan – he’s not interested in anyone who isn’t wife material. Kate’s more of a Ms. Right Now type, and she’s trying her best not to keep settling for Mr. Right Now. Her track record with men mostly consists of disappointment.

Even though they may not fit each other’s ideas of what they thought they wanted – they are absolutely what each other needs. But as the threats to Oz escalate, and they turn towards each other, neither is certain whether the bond they are forging can survive either the resolution of the crisis or the vast differences between them.

And whether or not it should.

Escape Rating B: There’s something about Defending Hearts that gives it a bit of a “New Adult” feel, and it’s not just that Kate pops Oz’ cherry. While both protagonists are in their mid-to-late 20s, the decisions that they are making and their positions on their life plans (or lack thereof) give the story a New Adult vibe.

The romance also has elements of the “opposites attract” trope that really work. I would say that Kate is from the wrong side of the tracks, but I don’t think that Jasper, Georgia is big enough to even have tracks. It really does exist, and looks like it’s exactly the kind of small rural town that typifies Georgia in the popular mind outside of the big cities of Atlanta and Savannah.

Kate is also interesting because she’s not a typical romance heroine. Not just because of her military service, but because of the reasons behind it. She enlisted to get the hell out of tiny Jasper, got chewed up and spit out, and now that she’s back, she’s come to the realization that as much as she wanted to leave, and as much as her mom and her sister drive her crazy, they are her people and she loves them, and they love her, no matter what.

They need her, and not just because her contributions are what tides both of them over between men. And she needs them as well, even though she desperately wants to make sure she doesn’t fall into the same trap.

Oz on the other hand had a relatively privileged, upper middle class life in Sweden. Yes, he’s a rich diva because he’s a talented man at the top of a world-class sport, but even without soccer he comes from a far more educated and definitely privileged world. His parents are both professionals, and they were able to afford the coaching and training he needed to get him where he is at the time of the story. And unlike Kate, Oz didn’t merely graduate college, he graduated from Harvard, and that’s the rarified (at least from Kate’s perspective) atmosphere from which he draws his friends and his worldview.

Everyone indulges Oz, and he doesn’t even realize just how much they do. He needs Kate in his life because she doesn’t. She grounds him. And he gives her wings.

The crisis that throws them together, the anti-Muslim propaganda and hate-speech that escalates into stalking and violence, is integral to the story. It feels well-done and gives what might otherwise be a fluffy romance quite a bit of depth. And it’s instructive to see the male sports star, someone who is so obviously the good guy, as the victim of a hate crime. He has done nothing to bring any of this on himself. That the haters are so clearly the villains of this piece (and batshit crazy) may give at least a few readers some insights that might not have otherwise penetrated their bubble.

And that’s a good thing in any book, but especially in a good one.

Atlanta Skyline soccer star, Oz Terim, or the Wizard as his fans like to call him has been receiving threats. So, hiring a security detail is the right thing to do, even though it goes against everything he believes in. However, hiring Kate Mitchell is in his best interests, even if she isn't part of his plan for his life. Will Kate be able to keep Oz safe, or will the person responsible for the threats get to him and keep the pair from achieving their happy ever after?

Having absolutely loved the first book of this series, I couldn't wait to read more about the heroes of the Atlanta Skyline soccer team and the heroines they fall in love with, and I've got to say that this story was everything I could have hoped for and more due to the enthralling main characters that I was enchanted by and compelling dialogue that kept me entertained from start to finish, as these two do their best to deny their chemistry because she works for him and knows things should remain professional between them. The way this story started had me hooked and really liking both the main characters and had me determined to discover how desperately Oz needs security to stay safe, considering the harshness of the threats. Will he agree to the heroine's suggestions? Will he co-operate when the time comes for Kate to implement the security measures she's determined to put into place?

As for the dialogue, it was well-written, attention-grabbing because of the main characters back stories, and I loved their growing relationship that shows how opposite these two are and how good it is that opposites attract. Moreover, the heroine has been through a lot and I loved learning all about her time in the military and the reason why she's returned home. Certainly, she's resilient, independent, courageous and I liked how determined she was to make the best of everything that happens in her life whether its her strained relationship with her family or her growing relationship with Oz, even though there are moments where I think they'll never get together due to the heroine's fears. While the hero, he's confident and determined to achieve the plan he has for his life. However, the heroine forces him to toss his plan because she means everything to him, which is palpable by their teasing banter and his determination to win the heroine over. I also liked the close friendship the hero had with one of the secondary characters and that the man could offer advice when Oz desperately needed it. Will Oz accept the advice and do everything he can to make the heroine realize he's the man for her?

Overall, Ms. Crowley has penned an incredible read in this book where the chemistry between this couple was powerful, the romance was passionate and showed off this couple's chemistry really well, and the ending had me concerned for the main characters because of what they go through. Will what they go through bring them close together again after things went awry? Will the heroine face her fears to give the hero a chance? However, it was the epilogue that wrapped this story up perfectly, because of the hero's determination to do everything he can to make the heroine comfortable in his life, even though her being in his life is totally disrupting to his plan for his life. I would recommend Defending Hearts by Rebecca Crowley, if you enjoy the opposites attract trope or books by authors Kelly Jamieson, Sharla Lovelace, Lia Riley and Kelly Moran.

I read romance because it's fun. Even when its angsty or heartbreaking. This book was not fun. It was long, and I ended up skimming most of it. It felt completely empty and emotionless. I hesitated to request it, because I find many books about veterans seem to have this bleak feel (oddly enough a lot of Westerns seem to also), but I thought the sports component would balance it out. Unfortunately this book and these characters just didn't do it for me.

This is the second book in the Atlanta Skyline series. It held up fairly well as a stand alone book, so you could read this without reading the first one.

I thought this was a cute romance. I enjoyed the slow build to Kate and Oz's relationship. In fact, it takes over half the book before they really get hot and heavy. I loved their banter and particularly loved the pool table scene. That was really amusing. The tables are turned in this one and t was refreshing to see a man who wants to wait to have sex over a woman. You don't see that often.

I will admit to not being a soccer fan. I've never understood the appeal of the sport, so I did find myself glossing over the soccer parts of the book. It just is something that doesn't appeal to me. I enjoyed the rest though. Given the political climate in the country right now, I was afraid this would be really preachy. But it wasn't. I thought the author handled the theme of hate crimes in a very realistic and rational way.

This was a very enjoyable read. A unique story with some very interesting characters.

Soccer star Oz "Wizard" Terim has life firmly in hand. Getting paid to play the game he loves, living in Atlanta, and renovating his house. All according to plan. Then he becomes a victim of an anti-Muslim hate crime and his life is turned upside down. Kate Mitchell has spent the last 10 years in the military. Now a civilian again she finds herself working private security and stuck babysitting a pro athlete of all people. Never ever did she expect the attraction between them to flare to life. She has to remain focused though as the threats against Oz grow.

Good read and one I would definitely recommend.

After a disappointing read of the first book in this series, I was hesitant to give this one a chance but I'm glad I did. This book was so much better than the first one. There was genuine concern and reluctance on getting involved for both parties. They took their careers seriously and the impact any potential relationship would have for either of them.

There was true depth to both characters and the author took the time to develop their relationship rather than rushing into it.

Looking forward to the next book in this series

This book was delightful! A romantic plot against a background of cultural, social, religious and nationality differences: Christian versus Muslim, European versus American, high-educated versus basic-educated, rich versus poor… It’s about how two very different people from different worlds become attracted to each other, fight that attraction and finally succumb and deal with their differences.
Oz is a rather cool and compelling hero... and a mass of contradictions – and it works! A Swedish-Turkish-Muslim with a Harvard degree, an European soccer player in an USA team, an unsmiling organization freak (and some other quite captivating traits...).
The heroine, Kate, is a good counterpart, not the usual super successful and self-assured woman. I liked how she’s so strong and capable – security is her business, after all – and how she protects Oz (and vice-versa). The way she lets her mother and sister take advantage of her is annoying though.
I loved the cultural and linguistic diversity, although it all tends to be a bit simplified (there’s no real equivalence between Europeans and Americans, because Europe, the “faraway continent”, is a complex web of sovereign countries).
And again I loved to read a story about soccer, written by an American author. And I really missed seeing a little more of Rio Vidal, the Chilean hero in “Crossing Hearts” (Atlanta Skyline, book 1).

Overall a good interesting romance. good plot and characters.