Field of Play

Ink and Kink #2

by Frances Stockton

When private investigator Grace Daniels agrees to help football star Dallas McKay find his birth parents, she’s determined to remain professional. At least until the gorgeous athlete lands in her lap while celebrating a touchdown and delivers a panty-drenching smile. However, haunted by memories of childhood bullying, Grace is certain Dallas would never want her.Dallas is instantly hooked when he meets Grace, and persuades her to spend a weekend with him. Finding her amazingly responsive and adventurous in and out of bed, he puts aside his commitment issues to convince her he’s playing for keeps.Together they push their sexual boundaries and fall in more than just lust. But when Grace’s investigation begins, and their exes conspire to tear them apart, their new relationship will be tested. They’ll have to overcome outside interference, and their personal demons, to find happily ever after.

Genres: Romance, Sports, BDSM, Erotica

358 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2011

About the author

My love for storytelling began when I created my first fictional characters in kindergarten, convincing my family and friends that Red Henry and Green Henry were identical twin brothers in my school. They were mischievous, rarely did their homework, and even had girlfriends! Years later, I started to write, completing my first manuscript in middle school. I confess the heroine was a cross between a contemporary Laura Ingalls Wilder and Nancy Drew, who’d been dating one of the Hardy Boys, but when I wrote “the end” I’d known I had more stories to tell. Of course, life intervened, but whether I was in high school, working as a Veterinary Technician, earning a degree in history and secondary education, or teaching, I was always writing and reading romances.

Finally, I met and married my hero and moved to New England. Shortly after, I joined RWA and the New England Chapter and have been writing faithfully ever since. Now I am proud to be an author with Ellora’s Cave Publishing. I invite you to come and meet the Panthera, explore my website, read the reviews, excerpts and more at www.francesstockton.com. Or email me at romance@francesstockton.com. I love to hear from readers!

Reviews

[Heather in FL · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK, so according to the Kindle edition, this book had 358 pages. I don't think I'd be too far off if I estimated that about 250 of them were sex scenes. I'm pretty sure the entire first half was their first weekend together, and besides a few moments of sweet, getting-to-know-you conversation, it was pretty much all sex. I really considered DNFing this, because I wasn't sure when the story would pick back up again, and I was mildly interested in Dallas finding out about his birth parents. I decided instead to just flip through the rest of the sex scenes.

I like nookie scenes as much as the next person, but sheesh, it was WAY too much. And then the whole "we should wait to go bare" ended up with them very quickly going bare. I'm not 100% positive (the sex scenes all run together), but I'm pretty sure they went bare within that first weekend that kinda stretched a little longer due to the snow. That's waiting? Why even make a big deal out of waiting if it's going to be mere moments, relatively speaking, before you do it? And then the "l" word was thrown around within a few days. Not lust, love. They both had it bad.

Lastly, while I understand that quim is an acceptable alternate word for vagina, IMO it belongs in historical fiction. Every time I saw it, it bugged me.

The only thing I liked about this was the underlying story about finding Dallas' birth parents, though even that kinda came to an anti-climactic end and was such a small portion of the book.

[SirenBookReviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I first opened the book to read about Grace and Dallas, I was very excited. I’d looked forward to reading the story following Quarterback Blitz. The beginning started off with a blast, I was led into the workings of a magnificent story and lost in the fabulous world of football and the sexiest players alive. And then a few chapters through to the guts the story barely moved. I read multiple sex scenes one after another. I don’t generally mind a ton of sex in a story, the hotter the better, and these pages scorched but there was so much at one time I felt it drew me out of reading the story. I had to go back and make sure I wasn’t reading a story from the Exotika line.

For a contemporary romance, I found I kept turning the page hoping they’d get back to business and find the answers the hero wanted. I was so excited to see Grace find her knight and for Dallas to find out he could commit it kept me reading. A little after the halfway life of the book it finally moved forward and I was able to rejoice in the reason why Grace had been hired in the first place. I loved all of the characters and definitely seeing Phelan again. Their story grabbed my attention once again and I enjoyed the twists and turns of bitter ex’s and the outcome of searching for the hero’s bio parents.

[Talltree]

Dnf.
Curvy h has self-image issues. Not for me.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Private Investigator Grace Daniels has been hired by football player Dallas McKay to find his natural parents."

Full review on Sensual Reads
http://sensualreads.com/?p=6208