Review: Back in the Game (Stardust, Texas #1) by Lori Wilde

New York Times bestselling author Lori Wilde welcomes you to Stardust, Texas . . . where dreams come true and love is always right around the corner...

Wanted: ghostwriter. Must be female, a baseball fan, and have a great pair of legs.

Ex-pitcher Rowdy Blanton never saw a woman he couldn't conquer or a team he couldn't beat. And now that he's off the field he's ready to tell all about when he played the field. So he chooses Breeanne Carlyle to do the job—she's got the requirements, but more important, there's something about her that makes him want to be a better man.

Convinced there's more to Rowdy than a good fastball, a wicked smile, and a tight pair of pants, Breeanne can't help but be tempted. After all, it's boring always being the good girl, and Rowdy dares her to be just a little bad. The stakes are high, but win or lose, this time Breeanne's breaking all the rules playing the game of love.

Mass Market Paperback, 384 pages

Expected publication: February 24th 2015 by Avon

Terri's Thoughts

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher Avon via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.  The expected publication date is February 24th 2015.

I have to say the book started out strong for me.  How could I not identify with a character who cherishes books and cannot stand to see dog eared books or broken spines on a book?  I could seriously see myself and appreciate this trait in Breeanne.

Although this story follows the typical formula of the romance/contemporary genre it had a slight variance that I found compelling.  The part about the mysterious woman and the hope chest that grants wishes was a nice touch.  It had me intrigued at the beginning and looks like it may be the launching point of future installments.

The chemistry between Rowdy and Breeanne was smoking from the start.  I liked the fact that the reader is kept waiting for them to succumb to their feelings.  Many times in these types of books the characters jump in to bed before there is any real emotional chemistry however this is not the case.

My only real pet peeve about this story was the overuse of the phrase nut bunny.  Really?  Can you make a character any more dorky than by having them use this phrase over and over?  Luckily the phrase pretty much got thrown away at the halfway point so I could start picturing Breeanne as the twenty-five year old she was instead of a ten year old.

Overall a solid read for the romance genre.

About the Author

Lori Wilde can’t remember a time when she didn’t want to write. She even went to nursing school so she could have a schedule flexible enough to allow her to write on the side. She nursed for 20 years, working in a variety of settings from the newborn nursery to the recovery room, to dialysis. But she never lost her desire to write.

She sold her first book in 1994 to Silhouette Romance but later discovered she had a flair for comedy and branched out to Harlequin Duets and now, to Blaze.

Lori is an adventuresome soul who loves to travel. She’s taken flying lessons, completed two marathons, rode in a hot-air balloon, performed with a professional jazz band, traveled Europe as a teenager, hiked volcanoes in Hawaii, trod on glaciers in Alaska, shot white-water rapids, water-skied, snow-skied, raced all-terrain vehicles, bodysurfed in the Gulf of Mexico, and photographed grizzly bears in Yellowstone.

She lives in her native Texas, with her own real-life hero, Bill, her red heeler/Australian shepherd dog, Cinnamon, and four ducks, Quacker, Big Guy, Affleck, and Sheepidy.


Website:  http://www.loriwilde.com/