Mini-Review: Love is a Battlefield

Love is a Battlefield (DreamMakers #2)

by Vivian Arend

Blurb:

He’s ready to admit she’s all grown up…

After two tours of duty, former Army Ranger Jack Hunter is back in the US, working to keep DreamMakers a brilliant success. Now that his best friend’s little sister is home from college, it’s time to retire his hands-off policy and take action. He wants Pepper Wilson in his bed, but seducing the feisty redhead could be dangerous for more than one reason.

She’s ready to push all his buttons…

Pepper is tired of being bossed around by everyone in her life, especially arrogant, annoying, overbearing Jack Hunter. While she can’t deny the man is out-of-this-world gorgeous, his alpha routine is getting old. His steely determination proves a match for her own, though, and the attraction simmering between them ignites into fiery passion.

But can their wild sexual exploration turn into more without someone getting burned?

Themes: contemporary

Rating: 4.25 stars

Heat Rating: 

Review:

Returning to the strange and unexpected world of commando matchmakers, Love is a Battlefield is the story of two long time friends that finally come to terms with the fact that they are meant to be together.  Arend and Kennedy have been two of my favorite erotica authors for a long time now and having them go semi-mainstream was surprising, but I should have known their books together would never be without the heat I wanted and loved.  The first books in the story was interesting in many ways, but I really loved this story more than the other. Pepper and Jack were both hot as hell and interesting characters and the overall story was filled with drama, twists, and surprises right to the end.  If you haven't read book one you might be missing out on a lot of the subtext in this book, but you'll get filled in enough as long as you are careful to read between the lines.  I am dying to see who and what comes next and know that the new members of the teams added in this book will give us a lot more in this series for years to come. 

Pepper never imagined when she snuck home in the dead of night that she'd be faced with an angry and hungry Jack, who is no longer willing to deny their attraction. Jack has looked at Pepper as an annoying little sister for so long, that when he suddenly sees her simply as a beautiful woman he's not sure exactly how to handle himself.  When the passion between them is no longer hidden they have to accept the changes in their personal lives, while each of them comes to terms with how their new relationship affects all those around them.  When things start to go awry in their lives they never suspect that their enemy is right under their nose the entire time.   Will they discover the culprit before their relationship is brought to an abrupt end or will they have a chance at a future?

Overall this story was awesome.  Usually in this type of longtime-friends to lovers story there is a somewhat awkward adjustment period, but in this case as soon as they made the choice to be lovers they jumped right in with both feet and all the passion imaginable.  Pepper was a strange mix of confidence and vulnerability, definitely a woman coming in to her own and finding her place in the world.  Jack has some serious issues to come to terms with as he finds his heart sinking into Pepper's hand,s but seeing him dealing with the craziness with all the sweetness and strength of a true alpha man, I fell in love with him a little bit myself.  If you are a fan of commandos or military guys this series will be a new twist for you as these strong and dangerous guys have a new mission in life that will help other men be the men they need to be for their women.  I love this series so far and am looking forward to Dean, Colby and hopefully Gillian's stories in the near future.   Keep the magic coming you two. 

*eARC provided by publisher (via netgalley) for the purpose of an honest and unbiased review.  No compensation was provided.