*I received a free copy of Hard to Hold from Loveswept via Netgalley. This has in no way influenced my voluntary review, which is honest and unbiased *
Hard to Hold by Katie Rose Series: Hard to Play #1
Published by Loveswept on 13 September 2016
Pages: 226
New Jersey Hurricanes striker Logan Hart lives for the grind of training, the adrenaline of competition, and all the perks of the road—until his ex hands him a baby and tells Logan to raise her on his own. He’s eager to pass this bundle of joy into more capable hands and get back to his hard-playing, hard-partying ways. But when a beautiful, blond drill sergeant of a nanny turns Logan’s life upside down, he sets a new goal: winning her heart.
Isabella Bennett takes pride in teaching the rich and famous how to become loving families. Her no-nonsense style is just what Logan and his crying, copper-haired cutie need. So why can’t she get the image of Logan’s tanned, muscular body out of her head? Isabella’s here to whip a new father into shape, not fall for a sexy ladies’ man. But their chemistry is too tantalizing to ignore, much like the temptation to trust someone with her deepest secrets—and embrace a loving family all her own.
Hard to Hold is a sweet contemporary romance in the spin-off to The Boys of Summer series, with solid characters and a good plot.
Contemporary romances that include sports heroes are among my favorites, and Hard to Hold is well done, with complex characters that I wanted to spend even more time with! The romance was swoony, and Logan was toe-curling! I can’t imagine what Logan went through – out with some friends for a few beers, a woman he’d spent one night with a year before dumped a three-month old baby in his lap and told him he was the father and it was his turn to take care of Cinnamon… At least, women have 9 months to get used to becoming a parent, no such luck for Logan.
Because Logan wasn’t home all that much – being a professional soccer-player kept him on the road more often than not – he knew he needed help in a big way to take care of the baby until he could find her mother again and persuade her to take the baby back… In came Isabella, nanny extraordinaire, and totally immune to hunky athletes. At least that’s what she kept telling herself. Hard to Hold dealt with some gender problems turned upside-down, and I enjoyed seeing Logan getting used to caring for Cinnamon, having to learn to get to know her, and how to deal with crying, diapers and the middle-of-the night feedings, even if Isabella did take care of most of that when she was working.
Between becoming a father at no notice and still working hard to be a good soccer-player Logan definitely had his work cut out for him in Hard to Hold. He still had time to fall really hard for Isabella, though, and while she was a bit reluctant, she also really wanted true love, a family and everything that comes with that. As Hard to Hold is a spin-off, there were some side characters I had already met, and I was very happy to spend a little time with them as well. Rose has managed to create another sports team I can’t wait to get to know better, and I look forward to the next instalment.
Written in third person point of view, past tense, we get parts both from Logan’s and Isabella’s perspective. There are also dialogues throughout, which makes getting to know the characters very easy.
To go from that to becoming a single parent of a little girl was a huge leap. She wondered if he would be able to make it.
All she was certain of were her own feelings for Logan, which were growing by the day. She knew she should pull back, protect her heart, but she couldn’t stop anything at this point.
★★★☆☆ Review Hard to Hold is a sweet contemporary romance with solid characters Share on XReading this book contributed to these challenges:
About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms
Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.
Twitter: ailynk
for a moment I thought logan was in the army. but soccer player is okay too. Did you hear about the plane crash that killed a team? so sad
Soccer players are definitely OK in my opinion, too, Ailyn 🙂
yes it’s always nice to have a good sport romance. too bad it wasn’t a bit more though
It was good, Melliane, and I look forward to reading more in this series 🙂
Ooh, I like the sound of this one, Lexxie. A little like Three Men and a Baby only there’s only one man. 😉 Plus, I need more sports romances in my reading diet. LOL What series is this a spinoff of? I don’t recognize the author’s name but figure I must have read reviews of her here. 🙂
Sorry I never got back to you today. I had to deal with an exhausted, sick, stressed ball of an 18 yo. She couldn’t get a flight til Sunday so it was a no-go. She’s doing a video audition instead. And she’s so ready to come home. :/ Hope you enjoyed the rest of your day! Maybe I’ll catch you over the weekend. *LOVE & BIG HUGS*
LOL, yes! With just one man, you’re right. You know the baseball series I loved, which spurred you and Denise to take me to see the Cubs in May? 😉 That’s the one this is a spinoff of.
I hope your sick, exhausted, stressed ball of 18 yo felt better after having your attention all to herself! And I’m just glad we got to chat at all, you know? Good thing she can do a video audition, I’m sure she’ll ace it, too!
{{{BIG HUGS}}} and love <3
I can’t get over the baby’s name: Cinnamon? Poor kid. LOL But it does sound like a fun read. Great review 🙂 ~Aleen
LOL that’s actually a common name here – but in French (Cannelle). I guess original names are all the rave, Aleen.
I haven’t read anything by this author, but this does sound interesting. Spinoff series can be so hit or miss! I’m glad you enjoyed it even if it wasn’t perfect 😀
Twitter: Mollykatie112
Glad you enjoyed this one. I have read a few sports romances, but not many. I do like the sound of an inept father learning how to take care of a baby. I just know he’s going fall in love with the baby! And thanks, I hope you have a nice Sunday!
LOL at her name. That would be so head shaking here. I do love a sports romance and the set up sounds pretty fun! I’ve not seen her books before I don’t think.
Twitter: Kissinbluekaren
I love spin-off books. It is nice to see what happens to other characters in a situation. This book sounds like good fun with sports and romance. Great review!
This one seems a bit different than your usual adult romance because we have the father role coming into things as well. Which I like, because we need more father representatives in books, and it adds a new perspective on things. And then we have the sports side too, which sounds pretty cool!
Yes, I loved that he was left alone with a baby, and that he just had to take care of all her needs. It was really great to have that gender difference, and to see a man having to change a lot of things in his life to make it work. At the same time, he was lucky enough to have the funds to hire the best live-in nanny, and not everyone can do that. It was a good story, and I look forward to reading more in this series!