Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: Bells & Balls
SERIES: With A Kick #4
AUTHOR: Sue Brown
PUBLISHER: Sue Brown Books
LENGTH: 96 Pages
BLURB:
Rob Barker had plans for his weekend and they didn’t involve struggling through the pre-Christmas crowds with the five-year-old niece he barely knows. Left with no choice, he grudgingly takes Pearl to see the sights of London but, instead of following the list his sister-in-law gives him, Rob takes her to With A Kick, an ice-cream shop with a difference.
His plan is foiled when he discovers With A Kick is closed for a private children’s party, but the owners kindly let Pearl join in. Rob’s mood improves considerably as he watches Father Christmas hand out presents. Not only is Santa a hot red-head under the beard, he is also one of his rugby team-mates, Mick, a man Rob has always lusted after. After Mick confesses a mutual interest, he agrees to meet Rob at With A Kick’s evening party—where there are definitely no kids – or girls – allowed.
REVIEW:
From the moment the book begins, you get the impression that Rob is a bit of an ass. Not an ass as in “I’m such a dominant male I can’t possibly crack a smile” way (which I hate) but more as in – he calls his sister-in-law The Nemesis, his niece is referred to as “it” and he buys tins of biscuits to give as Christmas presents in January because that’s when it’s cheaper. Which meant I loved him immediately.
The story starts with Rob being railroaded by his brother and The Nemesis into taking “it” aka Peril aka his six-year-old niece Pearl into London for the afternoon while her two parents take advantage of the optimum time to make a baby. Neither Rob nor Peril is impressed with these arrangements but they bravely head off on the train armed with a Nemesis preapproved list of venues, eateries and toilets where Rob may take Peril.
However all it takes is one glance at the list of what he’s suppose to feed the kid to have Rob ditching the list and hauling ass to McDonalds to introduce his niece to a Happy Meal. From there he heads to With A Kick, an ice cream shop that has previously been recommended to him, and that is where he discovers Mick Burless, the big, red-haired, Welsh, Rugby playing object of many of Rob’s fantasies, dressed up as Santa. When Rob hears that Mick will also be playing Santa that night at an all male, adults only party, he purchases a ticket and returns in his best jeans, hoping that some of those fantasies he has might finally be fulfilled. But of course, it’s not as easy as that. Rob has no idea how to pursue a guy for anything other than sex and neither man is out to their family, which makes a relationship difficult.
Sue Brown did a commendable job of creating some interesting characters considering this story comes in at just under 100 pages. As I already mentioned, I loved Rob from the very start and Mick was easy to like too. But it wasn’t just our two main characters who I enjoyed meeting. I actually really liked the Nemesis, whose actual name is Millie, but from start to finish Rob refuses to call her anything else. She was pretty much a hardnosed bitch and I certainly didn’t agree with her parenting style but at the same time she had a snarky sense of humor that I couldn’t help but enjoy, even though I really didn’t want to like her.
This is book number four of the series but it can be read as a stand-alone. No really, it actually can. I’ve read book number one, which was written by Clare London, and I really liked it. I always intended to read the rest of the series, I just never got around to it until the release of this book. But with the way the series is written I can easily go back and pick up the other two.
As with the first book (I can only assume the rest of the books are similar) this story was a light and easy read. It was one of those zero angst short stories that’s interesting without getting you all emotional and leaves you feeling happy at the end.
RATING:
BUY LINKS:
Rafflecopter Prize : 3 e-copy sets of With a Kick books and 2 ecopies of Bells and Balls.
Sounds like an enjoyable read.
Can’t wait to see how ice cream and rugby converge!
I would like to read this because it sounds like a great read.
It sounds like a lot of fun with great characters. How could I not want to read that! Great review.
This book sounds like a fun read. Plus there’s a hot red head!
sounds like a great read
I enjoy both these authors writing and I am grateful for a chance to either win a copy of Bells & Balls or the With a Kick series, not only that I quite like rugby players as they are normally gentlemen and very fit 🙂