Genres: Action / Adventure, Contemporary, Erotic, New Adult, Romance
~Synopsis~
Badass: A Stepbrother SEAL RomanceI f**ked a SEAL—the human kind, the kind who shoots terrorists, sports rock hard abs and tattooed biceps, and scores an easy lay with every girl he ever wants.
I should’ve known better. I should be studying harbor seals’ breeding habits, not conducting my own research into mating rituals of the Navy variety.
He’s a jackass. An arrogant, womanizing, patronizing, Harley-riding jerk.
A one-night stand. One night of the most incredible sex I’ve ever had. Shane is trained to kill with his bare hands in 300 different ways—and he knows 300 ways to f**k me, too.
Now my father is engaged to his mother. And we’re heading to Mexico for the wedding. The prick is blackmailing me. He’s threatening to ruin their big day if I don’t surrender to his demands.
Quit is not in his vocabulary. I hate him, but I know he’ll never give up until he gets everything he wants.
Screw that! I won’t give up—I’ll never submit to America’s cockiest badass.
Read for FREE on KindleUnlimited. 99c for a limited time.
~Book Review~
4.5 Stars
Shane is the badass. He’s a no-commitment navy SEAL
guy. Cassie isn’t interested in anything serious either. She’s a grad student
studying Marine Biology. When a sea lion
(yes I said sea lion) brings them together this book is off to a hot, dirty (read
super steamy) start.
Shane rocks the cocky, alpha
bad boy hero role.
“I could hold my breath for five minutes—a useful skill for stalking pirates. Also came in handy when eating pussy.”
Cassie, meanwhile, is sweet,
shows a vulnerable side, but is also feisty. That makes a fun female lead.
“If people fell in love, they fell in love. There was nothing Mr. Super SEAL could do about that. Suck it up, Sand-Boy.”
Though they think their
worlds are only going to collide for one sexy night, it turns out they are
about to get more…familiar. As in family familiar. Related! But before things become too incestuous, the
pair attempts to get it all out of their system before their parents wed in
Mexico.
This book has one of my
favorite things. Hangman time: First word start with an R_ _ _. Second word
starts with a T_ _ _. Road trip!
“’We take the bike. You can be my old lady for a few days. Yeah. I love that idea.’”
The sexy times go on the road
for an adventure that will either fill their erotic scrapbooks or bring them
closer together. Unfortunately, there was one attempted incident on the trip that crops up in
fiction far too often for my tastes. Sigh. I
won’t go into a long spiel to avoid spoilers and thankfully it is just a close call.
Movin’ right along…. Overall this was a fun, sexy story about two ‘no time for
relationships’ people finding their way. And despite their non-committal
mantra, I was relieved that this story was just about the two of them. As far as the dynamics of their relationship
goes, it’s not just the whole forbidden step-sibling thing that stands in their
way; Cassie and Shane must address the reasons behind their own commitment
issues and a few hang-ups on Shane’s end. Which, he was actually kind of funny in
regards to his distaste and discomfort with the rich. It made the tough guy a
little vulnerable too.
In regards to the whole
step-sibling ting, it was nice to see the parents addressed/developed as sometimes
they are a bit over-looked in some step-sibling tales. But that is not the case
here. Even though Cassie and Shane are adults, the authors do a nice job of
showing their feelings in regards to their parents getting remarried and the
personal responses that raises for them. They don’t come off selfish or
immature; simply adult children with real feelings in regards to their family
and past.
Told via Cassie and Shane’s
alternating first person point of view, it’s easy to understand both characters.
And as far as chemistry goes, their
sexual attraction oozes off the page. And by the last page, I still couldn’t
get enough of them.
Want more Cassie and
Shane? Keep reading for the blog’s
character interview….
~Character Interview~
“5 Questions with Shane and Cassie from Badass”
Welcome Cassie and Shane to the Book-Bosomed Book Blog!
(*Discreetly ogles Shane’s hard SEAL body.* Yep, hot just like Cassie
described.) *clears throat* Okay, so readers
can learn a few more interesting tidbit about you two fabulously intriguing and
adventurous people, here’s five sentences for each of you to complete about
yourself. Feel free to chime in to each other’s responses.
Q1. I can’t
live without…
Cassie: The naughty answer is that before Shane, I wouldn’t have
wanted to live without my BOB, but now I don’t need it! But seriously, I love
the ocean. I want to live where I can hear the sound of the waves while Shane
and I are making love. That was one of the things I loved about our road trip!
Shane: Cassie’s pussy. And my Gerber tactile tool. Has blades,
scissors, pliers. Perfect for torturing terrorists, or anyone who harasses my
woman.
Q2. I’ll do
anything to avoid….
Cassie: Earthquakes! I guess that’ll be hard now that I live in
California, but I hope I’m never again so close to the epicenter of a Big One.
Shane: Talking about my feelings. Even to Cassie. Not gonna
happen.
Q3. My best
quality is….
Cassie: My curiosity, I think. I love to learn about new people
and new things. Of course, that gets me into trouble sometimes, too.
Shane: My loyalty. My trust is hard earned, but once you get in
my tight circle, I’ll lay down my life for you.
Q4. My worst
habit is….
Cassie: Well, I guess I can be a bit snarky at times. Shane,
stop agreeing with me!
Shane: Cassie’s definitely a smartass. I’m stubborn.
Q5. You’d never
guess this about me but…
Cassie: Even though I’m a vegetarian, I secretly miss a good, rare,
juicy steak.
Shane: When I was younger I wanted to be an animator for Disney
movies.
Thanks Cassie and Shane! Now let's have a little Q&A with authors Alana Albertson and Linda Barlow.....
~Author Interview~
Q1. The story
flowed seamlessly. Your writing styles must blend well. How did you two come
together as a writing team? And how do you divide up the writing/editing, etc
work?
Linda: First of all, thank you so much! We worked hard to get
our writing to blend, going over and over each scene until we got it right. We
brainstormed the overall plot and the various scenes together, working out the
problems as much as we could in advance. Since we have both our main
characters’ points of view, we split it up so that Alana wrote Shane’s chapters
and I wrote Cassie’s.
Occasionally we switched, if one of us knew more about a
particular subject. We each went over the other’s chapters and offered
suggestions for changes or improvements. Then we looked at the book as a whole
and fixed everything that didn’t seem to work.
As for how we met, Alana and I have an internet romance!
We met online, and one of these days we hope to meet in person, but we live
3000 miles away from each other. We both like smart, fast-paced, sexy books
with solid plots and sympathetic characters, so that’s what we tried to write. We
both welcome criticism if it makes our writing better, so we could be honest
with each other about anything in the book that didn’t quite click. We edited
and re-wrote a lot of stuff until we both felt it was right.
Alana: All true! Linda answered my email to join a paranormal
Christmas anthology I was putting together. I was so star struck since she’d
won a RITA (romance equivalent of the Oscar). She’s such an amazing writer and
my own writing has grown so much since working with her. I’m honored to cowrite
a book with her. Writing Badass with her was like taking a master class.
Q2. Shane is
quite the drool-worthy hero, though demanding and cocky of course. What was
your inspiration for his character? Was he purely fictional or based on a real
SEAL?
Linda: I’ll let Alana answer that one.
Alana: Uh, I plead the fifth. No seriously, in my 20s I dated a
Navy SEAL who was an instructor at BUD/S. Shane is an amalgamation of many
SEALs I met, as well as my dream badass hero.
Q3. I was
struck by a lot of the details of their road trip and their professions. How
much research did you have to do for the story? Have either of your traveled
their Baja journey route?
Linda: I have traveled extensively in Mexico, and one of my
earlier novels is set there, but I haven’t taken that particular road trip. I
watched a whole lot of YouTube videos of folks on motorcycles who traveled
through the Baja peninsula to get a feel for what each day on the road would be
like. I also spent a lot of time researching wilderness survival and how to
find water in the desert.
As for Cassie’s profession, I’ve done graduate work in
biology myself so I know a lot about fish and marine biology. I also used to go
trout fishing in Montana, so I know Molly and Shane’s hometown and the Big Horn
River, where Molly is a fishing guide.
Alana: I live in San Diego and have driven to Tijuana,
Ensenada, Puerto Nuevo, and Cabo. As for the SEAL research, all of that came
from my personal experience dating a Team guy.
Q4. Do you each
have a favorite scene?
Linda: I love how Cassie and Shane first met. I also have a
couple of favorite scenes that are in the second half of the book, but I don’t
want to spoil anything. I’m a huge fan of all Alana’s Shane scenes, though. He
is SO hot!
Alana: Thanks Linda! I adore Cassie! She’s a strong, smart,
kickass chick. My favorite scene is when Cassie sees Shane schooling the BUD/S
candidates. BUD/S training is such a hot, sexually charged, masculine
environment. Picture 200 hot, wet, and sandy men on the beach. I felt it was a
great way for Cassie to get a taste of what Shane did for a living.
Q5. What new
projects are on the horizon for both of you? Will Badass be a stand-alone or
can readers expect more books? Perhaps some featuring Shane’s colleagues or
trainees where we might get future glimpses of Shane and Cass? (That might be a
not so subtle hint. lol)
Linda: We are hoping to do at least two more sexy romances
together, tentatively titled Hardass
and Kickass. But they are in the
planning stages. I also write contemporary romance (TheDangerous Hero, Uncover Me) and shifter romance (TheZrakon’s Bride, The
Zrakon’s Curse). I wrote a novella, My Mile-High Mistake, for the Summer Fire anthology which is about to launch on May 26, and I have
a novel coming out in July for the Bad
Boy Alphas series of paranormal romances.
Alana: I love writing with Linda and can’t wait for our next
two projects. As for Shane’s buddies, all of them have books out or planned.
Pat is the hero of Invincible. Grant is the hero of
the Seven Deadly SEALs Serial, the first one Conceit is out now, Chronic
will be out next month, with the final 5 to follow this summer. And Kyle’s book
Invaluable
will be out in June. I promise Shane will make cameos!
Thank you for having us!!! Book-Bosomed
-You're very welcome! Thanks so much for the interviews!!! Really enjoyed hearing how the story came together!
About Alana Albertson
About Linda Barlow
Linda has written in various genres, including historical and contemporary romance, romantic suspense, paranormal romance, New Adult romance, family sagas, and general mainstream fiction. Publishers have included Doubleday, Dell, Penguin, Warner Books, Hachette, New American Library/Signet, Berkley/Putnam, Silhouette and Harlequin.
Linda is a USA Today bestselling author. She's proud to have earned a few awards over the years, including the Rita from Romance Writers of America for Leaves of Fortune; New Historical Novelist of the year from Romantic Times for Fires of Destiny; and a Career Achievement award from RT.
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