Introduced in Toni Aleo’s Bellevue Bullies Series, it’s the Sinclair brothers’ big sister’s turn to find love in the next installment of the New York Times and USA Today best-selling series, the Assassins.
Lucy Sinclair was no stranger to pain.
She grew up with three younger brothers, met a bad boy, got pregnant by him, married him, and then suffered through a nasty divorce from him. Pain. That was pain. To top it off, she even had to go through the heartbreaking divorce of her parents. Through it all, she survived. All she cared about was making sure her daughter was happy and taken care of. Despite an ex-husband hell-bent on ruining her life, she fought to overcome. She’s gotten to the point that she’s okay with being just okay. She never cared about herself because she never had the time. It was Angie and only Angie she focused on, but that all changed when Benji Paxton offered to help her daughter on the ice.
Benji knew the moment he saw Lucy, he’d never be the same. Especially when she came with the bundle of crazy that was her daughter. His heart wasn’t ready for them. After years spent sobering up and finding who he was without the alcohol, he never forgot he was being punished for not appreciating the love he had when he was younger. Because of his past, he had gotten used to being alone, a recluse, but even he had to admit it was getting old. He was lonely. Hockey wasn’t enough anymore. He wanted a family; he wanted his true love, and Lucy and Angie were just that.
Benji and Lucy were just two lost souls.
Floating through life with no purpose.
But finding each other gave them direction, a chance at a future.
Amazon: http://goo.gl/vjKrqZ
iTunes: https://goo.gl/o4wPRW
Kobo: https://goo.gl/UwaFRe
Nook: http://goo.gl/px8LaU
Watch the trailer at: https://vimeo.com/159744666
COVER PHOTOGRAPHY || SARA EIREW
COVER DESIGN || REGINA WAMBA
EDITING || LISA A. HOLLETT
Review
Boy can Toni Aleo craft a story that totally consumes her readers, allowing us to see every facet of the plot unfold naturally, not rushing actions to speed up the timeframe and not making the characters act or feel a certain way until they’re ready.
With a story like Lucy and Benji’s, there’s a lot of baggage to sift through, and Lucy has to be able to get out of her own head in order to give him a chance. Nothing’s easy about the situation they find themselves in, but Benji knows that Lucy and Angie are worth it, and they may just be what each other needs in order to move forward, letting go of the guilt and pain of the past and grabbing hold of the happiness that’s now within their grasp.
I don’t know if I’ve read about a stronger heroine than Lucy Sinclair. Miss Do-It-All herself depends on no one else and refuses to ask for help even when she desperately needs it. Lucy hides her fear, sadness, and pain behind her “resting bitch face,” and let me tell you – that shield she wears is full of snark, sass, and meanness that even her brothers fear. But that’s what happens when the two men she loved, trusted, and depended on betrayed her in a multitude of ways, forcing her to construct a wall around her heart that only her daughter can penetrate because there’s too great a risk to trust anyone outside of her family.
Benji Paxton is the gentlest of giants, but he doesn’t let anyone see who he truly is. For the past 12 years, he’s lived a solitary life, battling his demons and focusing on his recovery. Guilt and loneliness consume him, and he believes that’s his penance for the heartache and pain he caused by his actions. Happiness is not something Benji believes he deserves, but when he meets Lucy and her daughter, Angie, he finds himself wanting to climb over Lucy’s walls and stand up for a woman and a child who could make him feel whole again.
Professionally, Lucy and Benji are excelling, but personally, they have been at a stalemate for quite some time – partly out of fear and rejection but mostly because the scars they carry dominate their lives, and their pasts won’t allow them to move forward. But Benji is all about rushing the goal on the ice, so he doesn’t see why he can’t attempt to do so in his personal life as well because Lucy and Angie just might be his ultimate goal.
I don’t know if I’ve ever hated an antagonist as much as I loathe “Rick the Dick,” Lucy’s ex-husband. He is nothing but a selfish bastard who gets off on tormenting the people he’s supposed to love and protect. He is the type of man who deserves to get the shit kicked out of him repeatedly and then that still won’t be enough to make up for the evil that consumes him.
Some readers might get annoyed with Lucy’s attitude and actions towards Benji, but no one can understand the depth of her pain and what Rick’s actions did to her unless they’ve been there themselves. Lucy has lived for her daughter since she was born, and she is an amazing mom, but she deserves her own happiness, but she’s going to have to fight herself more than anyone else because being torn down for so long doesn’t allow for much optimism and enough bad days make nothing seem possible.
Rushing the Goal is exactly what I wanted from Lucy and Benji’s story. Healing doesn’t happen overnight, and even when a good thing is standing right in front of someone, there’s no guarantee that it will work out, and with how much both characters have had to endure, it’s amazing that they’re even willing to put themselves out there again.
The Sinclairs are an amazing family; the support and love they show each other is unconditional and their closeness is essential for all of the highs and lows their lives have dealt with over the years.
Benji Paxton is definitely up there on my list of book boyfriends. I adore his geekiness and he’s unbelievably caring and considerate even when Lucy is giving him shit. Benji faced his demons and even though he felt undeserving for so many years, his actions with Lucy, Angie, and even Jordie prove the true man Benji is, and Lucy couldn’t ask for a better man to stand by her side and provide her daughter with the father figure she deserves.
A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.
5 Poison Apples
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