A good romance with a lot of family drama,mystery,intrigue,romance.
Like the characters
enjoyed the story.
Voluntarily reviewed.

This book took me by surprise. It was a slow build for me to get hooked…but once I did, I was all in. I was trying to piece things together before they were revealed. Loved the chemistry, humor, serious subjects and the family dynamics. I have not read the first two books in the series so I need to go back to the beginning.



Amazon review still pending

Another fantastic novel. This one follows Evan Devereaux.

It starts with Evan stopping a case of date rape and here we meet the vivacious southern belle Olivia West.

We follow Evan as he seeks to uncover whether the plane crash was an accident or not and get both wrapped up in Olivia and tries to unravel her for the webs of drama woven by his family and hers.

We also get to know Jackson a little better and see behind the scenes of his work and love life.

This book is a real page turner and I was hooked.

The Hardest Hit is the 3rd book in the Deveraux Legacy series and follows Evan and Olivia as Evan saves Olivia and becomes her knight in shining armor. I liked them together and thought they had great chemistry and I enjoyed seeing them fall for each other while in the middle of all that was going on around them. Filled with action, suspense, tension and humor the story also had great supporting characters providing balance and support. You really should read the previous books to fully understand the family dynamics. It was an enjoyable tale and I would recommend it.

Review

I tried writing a short summary about The Hardest Hit, like I do with all other reviews. I really tried. But I couldn’t for the life of me do it in such a way that it would remain spoiler free. So here goes my (hopefully) spoiler and summary-free review of Bethany Maines’ newest book The Hardest Hit, the third, but not final, novel of The Deveraux Legacy.

My first book by Bethany Maines was The Second Shot, and it was quite a different experience. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed it – it just wasn’t what I was used to. For those unfamiliar with this series, or the author’s style of writing – this entire series is told in third person and multiple POVs. And when I say multiple, I do mean multiple. The series followed 4 cousins, each getting their own book. However, all the other cousins get a chapter or two of their own as well, usually at the very end. This usually leads to open-endings or cliffhangers. So please keep in mind that – yes, you could certainly read them as a standalone (in my humble opinion), but I would highly recommend reading them in order.

Back to what I was originally babbling on about – this series is written in third person, there are multiple POVs, there’s lots of detective/investigative work, a good amount of romance, and a very healthy amount of family bonding.

The writing in this book (the entire series, really) is phenomenal. I loved it, to be truthful. I have a hard time reading in third person, but Bethany’s writing makes up for it all. And let me tell you something, the amount of spice gets higher and higher the further you go with the series. And that is not at all a joke. Book one is the beginner amount, just a sweet little chapter or two, a little clumsy love-affair between two kind of awkward-but-so-in-love characters. Book two turned it up a notch and gave us more tension (both sexual and otherwise) and multiple chapters. But this one, book three – The Hardest Hit really shook me to my core.

So here my little note to the author –
Dear Bethany Maines, I did not expect that from you. At all! I was both surprised and excited, and I ate those chapters up like a starved little puppy. Please don’t judge me, but those chapters are definitely highlighted. Both because I never knew you had this in you, and because Evan and Olivia really are something together.

I won’t talk too much about the plot, because I would like to keep it spoiler free as much as possible. The only thing I guess I could say (on both the plot and the characters) is that the drama/tension/conflict was quite different than anything I’ve read by the author or anyone else. The conflict is connected to all the other conflicts in the past two books (and most likely the one in book 4), but in this one, it’s a lot more personal, and this one actually broke my heart.
Everyone in this book had such an amazing character growth. You could read about it in their own books, but you could also see it in all the others. Evan’s especially was amazing to follow. He might’ve been the ‘messed up’ cousin in the other books, but in all of them, you could see him grow into the person he really is underneath all that trauma he endured in his youth. From book one, I was intrigued by Evan, and when I finally got to his book, I just about squealed like a school-girl getting asked on a date by her crush. And I will say, his book, his journey, was well worth the wait.

The relationship between the main characters was amazing, I absolutely loved it. They really complimented each other and worked so well as a couple. They have somewhat of a shared passion, they’re both crazy smart, both have had less than wonderful childhoods, and both are equally crazy about the other that, if I were to see them in real life, would make me jealous and probably nauseous from all the love-in-the-air.
Another really beautiful thing in this entire series that I absolutely adore, is the relationship – the bond – between all the cousins. Evan grew up as the villain of their group and Jackson came into the picture pretty late. But as you read and go through the series, the bond between all of them – especially the cousins with Evan – really makes my heart do crazy, stupid things. They all grow to trust each other (for Evan, this is such a mind-blowing fact, and something he’s eternally grateful for with Dominique), they grow to care for each other, to love each other, and eventually they start to stand up for each other as well. They never, as Nika said, whitewashed their past – they learned from it, they forgave the mistakes made, and they moved forward to a better future. When the cousins all stood up for Evan, I swear I felt my eyes welling up with tears. It was the most heartfelt scene I’ve ever read in Bethany Maines’ books, and probably something that’ll be hard to top.

Overall, The Hardest Hit by Bethany Maines was an amazing book, one that I would highly recommend. I started off this series a little unsure, but the more I read, the more I started to love the writing, the storylines, and the characters. The Deveraux Legacy series, for me, only got better with each book, and I’m excited for the fourth, The Fallen Man. I have no clue what it’ll be about, and I for sure don’t know if it’ll be Jackson’s book. I hope it will be, but for now, all I can do is wait.

I received an advance review copy, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. All thoughts and opinions are mine, which should be obvious from all the rambling. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review The Hardest Hit by Bethany Maines.

I’ve enjoyed this series since the beginning and this book just took the series to another level. I enjoyed all the twist and turns but the characters made the book. I totally fell in love with Evan and Olivia. I would definitely recommend this series.

I would like to thank NetGally for allowing me to have an ARC of The Hardest Hit by Bethany Maines. I couldn’t put this book down, it had me wrapped up in what would happen next! I highly recommend r reading it!

Another great book in this steamy series by Bethany Maines. Evan and Olivia each have issues in their past to work through, but I absolutely loved both characters. They had great chemistry, fun banter, and interesting family dynamics. Looking forward to the next book in the series.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I’m not sure where to start on this review as this book was a delight to read in all areas. Hot romance, charming characters, hot romance, witty dialog, hot romance, an interesting family story and…well you get the idea. Therapy has helped Evan Deveraux recover from his earlier issues and be more grounded in the Deveraux family. When he rescues Dr. Olivia West from a possible date rape, she believes that he is her knight in shining armor. Olivia has two PhD’s and is scary smart, but still a bit of a nerd and often too trusting. Somehow Evan, a millionaire businessman, and Olivia seem to be a perfect fit, at least until their families become involved in their romance. When their future together is threatened not only by the attacks against Evan but by family interference, will they be able to remain strong and believe in their love? The secondary characters, cousins from the previous books, are along for the ride adding their own brand of humor to each situation. Loved it! I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (by paytonpuppy)

First off the heroine Olivia is quirky perfection. I am in love with her. A heroine with great character! She captured my affection from page 1.

But ngl I thought this was gonna be a dud by 30% in. I was actually quite confused and surprised by how involved the Deveraux cousins' clan are in this story. There was not a lot of romance really and Evan and Olivia didn't have a lot of page time together. When Evan and Olivia were on page together they were mostly just getting physical. I was really starting to scratch my head about the book's genre.

However some point after a third of the way in this started turning itself around and the story built its momentum and started coming together for me. To be clear I was always Team Evan and Olivia, I just didn't get why the cousins took up the first 25% of the story. I didn't read the previous two books, nor do I really feel compelled to at this point, but maybe it would've helped me connect to their characters or understand the dynamics of this family. I am however very interested in Jackson's story next.

This ended up going in a great direction and it kept me speculating. I enjoyed the chemistry and lack of pretense getting these two together. It was quite entertaining, the plot really was in the greater story around the coupling. It's a story within a story and that was done brilliantly.