The Hardest Hit

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.