{Blog Tour, Review, Excerpt, & #Giveaway} Empty Net by Toni Aleo

Title: Empty Net
Series: The Assassins #3
Author: Toni Aleo
Genre: Contemporary Adult Romance
September 3, 2012

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Synopsis:

Definition of an Empty Net: When a team pulls the goalie for an extra attacker, desperately seeking a goal.

Audrey Parker was in a horrible place.
She hated her job, her sister was getting married and moving out, but worst of all, she was in love with a total jerk. No matter what she did, every guy she met hurt her. All she wanted was her happily ever after. Her Prince Charming. Her Lucas Brooks! She didn’t know how to change her life but she knew she needed too.
Feeling like she was about to hit rock bottom, Audrey wakes up next to Tate Odder.

Tate Odder had lost everything.

After being brought up from the Assassins’ farm team, the Florida Rays to the Nashville Assassins, Tate hopes he’ll forget everything he has lost. He doesn’t. Each day gets harder to live in a place he doesn’t know. Even being the first rookie goalie to shut out an opposing team three times during the Lord Stanly Cup Finals, he still felt empty. With the loss of his parents and sister still heavy on his heart, Tate isn’t sure how to live like everything is okay.

But when he wakes up beside Audrey Parker, things start to change. She turns his life upside down with her kooky sense of humor and her bright clothing. She is intelligent and beautiful, and for once, he doesn’t feel empty.

Will Audrey be the person to fill the holes in Tate’s heart, making him whole again?
Or will another player ruin everything, leaving him feeling forever like an empty net?

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Review:

Okay...Toni, you need to come over and take out my trash which is filled with tons of damp and snotty Kleenex's. I cried during the entire ending of the book.

All the good things:

Yes, I'm a fiend for sport romances, and Toni Aleo did not disappoint. Aubrey's and Tate's story isn't at all what I thought it might be in the beginning. Both are broken, just trying to survive in an unfair world. And...just when I thought all the cards were on the table, Ms. Aleo pulled another from her pocket. Truly a good thing she wasn't playing poke, because that's just plain ol' cheating in my book. But extremely well played, Toni. Well. Freaking, Played. 

Aubrey, they slightly younger sister of Fallon, is heart-broken and drunk. Two things you should never mix, especially when a tall, buff, Swedish dude is willing to take you home and pleasure you in ways you could only imagine. Aubrey never got his name, nor did she give him hers. She just went to her hotel room, had some pretty raunchy sex, and left. 

Levi's a douche in every way possible. He's manipulative. Cocky. And heartless. Always telling Aubrey that she's fat, ugly, and nothing without him. One minute he's telling her he loves her and the next he's saying "Hey, thanks for the lay." His verbal abuse irritated me and the fact that Aubrey felt that she loved him and owed him something made me want to slap her into the Zombie Apocalypse. I probably would have put down the book the second time she let Levi back into her life, if she hadn't finally told him off. 

Tate is a hot-shot goalie, playing for the Assassins. His best friend, Luca, is also Fallon's husband and Aubrey's brother-in-law. But most importantly, he's in love with Aubrey. Now, I haven't read the first two books in the Assassins series, but Luca has to be one of the sweetest men ever written about. He takes his family responsibilities import, including: his wife, his son, his sister-in-law, and his team. Tate appreciates Lucas' friendship, even when he calls him on his stupid shit. A definite bro-mance.

Fallon, loves her job at the family business, but she loves her husband, son, and sister more. There's literally not a thing she wouldn't do to protect any of them. I love seeing sisters so close and so caring. It makes my heart pitter-patter. And, I'm telling you, Fallon's not afraid to tell people how it is. She's loyal and she'll protect those she loves with a voraciousness I wish I possessed.

Sure this is an romance, peppered with bits of erotica, but the fourth quarter had a great deal of suspense, filled with so many OMG moments, I can't even begin to tell you. The unfathomable twists, slamming against the car door turns, and pot-hole littered path of these two lovers drew me in, and kept me rooting them on. I laughed, I cried, I sighed. 

Just one or two "not perferct" things:

Tate's and Aubrey's story rocked my world. With that being said, nothing in life is perfect. I felt like the beginning of the book dragged for me. I was a little put out with Aubrey's poor me attitude until she finally kicked Levi to the curb, and accepted that Tate loved her, no matter their differences.

My Reccomendation:

If you are a fan of romance erotica revolving around athletes, the Assassin's series is for you, so go download it, or better yet, enter the giveaway below. Empty Net throws hurdle after hurdle at all the characters, and each coped and came out stronger for it.

Excerpt:

“I have to tell you,” she said with a shy grin, “It’s usually not this easy.”

He looked down at her questionably, “Easy how?”

“This easy to pick me up. I usually make guys work for it.”

He grinned and her smiled grew more, “So you want me too?”

She eyed him, her face bright with excitement. He may have been a little too forward but he was a blunt person, and hardly ever hid his feelings from anyone.

She moved closer, her eyes bright with lust as she said, “I do and I don’t even know you’re name.”

“Do you want to know it?” he asked with a cocky grin.

“I have to tell you,” she said with a shy grin, “It’s usually not this easy.”

He looked down at her questionably, “Easy how?”

“This easy to pick me up. I usually make guys work for it.”

He grinned and her smiled grew more, “So you want me too?”

She eyed him, her face bright with excitement. He may have been a little too forward but he was a blunt person, and hardly ever hid his feelings from anyone.

She moved closer, her eyes bright with lust as she said, “I do and I don’t even know you’re name.”

“Do you want to know it?” he asked with a cocky grin.

She moved in close, her wide brown eyes locked with his, “All I want to know is when you can leave? I have a room not even a mile from here.” 

 

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Author Bio

I am a wife, mother, and hopeless romantic.

I have been told I have anger issues, but I think it’s cause of my intense love for hockey!

I am the biggest Shea Weber fan ever, and can be found during hockey season with my nose pressed against the Bridgestone Arena’s glass, watching my Nashville Predators play!

When my nose isn’t pressed against the glass, I enjoy going to my husband and son’s hockey games, my daughters dance competition, hanging with my best friends, taking pictures, and reading the latest romance novel.

I love things that sparkle, I love the color pink, and did I mention I love hockey?

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