Ripe For Reader: Blog Tour & Review

A hot hookup in a cold beer cooler changes everything!

TAPPED

The Brewing Passion Series #1

Liz Crowe

Releasing Feb 14th, 2017

Totally Bound

When wealthy brewery owner Austin Fitzgerald meets sexy saleswoman Evelyn Benedict, angry sparks fly. They seem destined to clash, until a hot hookup in a cold beer cooler changes everything.

For Austin, it's a life-altering moment that sets him on a path away from his birthright, while Evelyn must face her fears about committing to a man considered the playboy of the micro-brewing world.

The power of preconceived notions nearly tears them apart—until they meet up with brew master Ross, who opens their eyes to a deeper, even more erotic connection.

But three strong personalities don’t always make for the best emotional mix and when a simple misunderstanding causes chaos, it’s up to Ross to somehow repair the tattered shreds of their relationship.

Sensing the heat of Evelyn’s fury as he finalized another large order, he excused himself and made his way toward the restroom. The tuning-fork sensation had morphed into a dull ache centered in his gut, which steadily made its way down to his balls.

When he emerged—after splashing water on his face enough times to calm the hardening in his jeans—he almost plowed straight into her. He gripped her arms to keep her from falling and the impulses that had bounced around in his brain since the morning nearly brought him to his knees. He dropped his hands and looked away, swallowing back the urge to say something, anything, to convince her he wasn’t such a bad guy.

“Sorry.”

Her voice was flat. He took a step back, stopped only when his butt hit the wall. The space between them filled with near-visible silence, but he didn’t move.

“I don’t know how I’m doing it, but the longer we work together, the more sales I make, and the more you hate me. Clue me in here, Benedict. I thought sales were the goal of the day.” He crossed his arms, holding them close to his chest so she couldn’t gauge how shaky his hands had gotten.

She swallowed, and he watched the exquisite warm peach hue of her skin redden. Admiring the line of her neck, her jaw, the plump fullness of her lower lip as she bit it, a nervous tic he’d love to come to love, if she’d let him, Austin sensed himself falling deeper into a very scary hole. Her ongoing silence took on a life of its own.

“Well? I left my secret-sales-goal decoder ring at home. You obviously have a different agenda for today. I get it. ‘Prove to the rich boy he doesn’t have what it takes’ is fine, but we could have saved some time if you’d just told me first.”

She opened her lips, then pressed them together and shouldered past him. He watched, fascinated, as his hand reached out of its own accord and snagged her arm. She stopped, stared at it, then up at him. When he realized the blue of her eyes was brighter because of tears, he hesitated. Female tears always unnerved him, but his chest tightened in a thoroughly alarming way at the thought of having caused her unhappiness.

He let go. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

In a split second, her beautiful face was within inches of his. “Don’t flatter yourself. I’m just pissed off. You’ve had that effect on me since I first laid eyes on you, so yeah, I guess I set you up. But apparently, all your country-club, private-school time has been worth it. Bullshitting comes naturally to you. And that’s all this job is. A whole barrel of bullshit.”

She stomped away before he could speak or, even better, grab her and kiss her. The space she vacated quivered with anger. But her crisp perfume stayed in his nose and he had to clench his hands into fists to keep from shoving her up against the wall and kissing her until she saw it his way.

4 of 5 Stars

This is my first time reading anything Liz Crowe. I have heard wonderful things about her writing but just haven't had a chance to read one of her books yet. She has a craft with words and writes a good solid book full of angst, with a prickly protagonist, and a little menage. You will find yourself wanting to read more to see just how the story unfolds. I wish I had felt a little more connection to the characters while reading the book but it was an enjoyable read just the same.

Austin has his life where he wants it, running his own brewery, trying his best to separate himself from his family so he can be his own person. His pushy parents would love nothing more than him to stop playing around and come to the family business that will be his to run one day. In an attempt to better his company he sets himself for a ride along with a sales person. When he finds himself in the company of a beautiful woman who makes him rethink life as he knows it. He has his work cut out for him as she sees him as nothing more than an spoiled rich kid.

Evelyn has worked her ass off to get where she is today. Working to put her self through school, working her way up the ranks to top sales person. She is not by any means living the life but she is getting by comfortably. She is far from happy when she discovers she has to take Austin Fitzgerald along for a ride while she does her sales call for the day. As Austin starts to get under her skin a little, she is very convinced that he is just looking to add another notch to his belt. Certain that he could never really want her, she would never fit in his world.

Will Austin have what it takes to convince her that she is what he wants. That he isn't to damn fond of that world he was brought up in. Can they find the spark and keep it alive or will people and expectations get in the way of love?

I wonder what might be next in the Brewing Passion Series, I will keep my watch to see.

*** Advanced copy provided in exchange for an honest review. ***

Amazon best-selling author, mom of three, Realtor, beer blogger, brewery marketing expert, and soccer fan, Liz Crowe is a Kentucky native and graduate of the University of Louisville currently living in Ann Arbor. She has decades of experience in sales and fund raising, plus an eight-year stint as a three-continent, ex-pat trailing spouse.

Her early forays into the publishing world led to a groundbreaking fiction subgenre, “Romance: Worth the Risk,” which has gained thousands of fans and followers interested less in the “HEA” and more in the “WHA” (“What Happens After?”).

With stories set in the not-so-common worlds of breweries, on the soccer pitch, in successful real estate offices and at times in exotic locales like Istanbul, Turkey, her books are unique and told with a fresh voice. The Liz Crowe backlist has something for any reader seeking complex storylines with humor and complete casts of characters that will delight, frustrate and linger in the imagination long after the book is finished.

Don’t ever ask her for anything “like a Budweiser” or risk bodily injury.