ARC Review: Playing With the Drummer (Head Over Heels #3) by Robin Covington

Title: Playing With the Drummer (Head Over Heels #3)
Author: Robin Covington
Source: Entangled Indulgence
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: Novel
Release Date: December 29, 2014
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Rating - 5
Sexual - 3

Entertainment journalist Lita Matthews is on the verge of making it big. As in her-
own-TV-show big. She just needs amazing inside scoop on the year's hottest celebrity wedding. Instead, her big break is becoming a big nightmare—all thanks to rock star Rocky Cardano. Who apparently hasn't gotten over what happened between them four years ago... Rocky is pretty damn familiar with just how far Lita will go for a “scoop.” Hell, their unbelievably hot hook-up in Mexico years ago was the story of a lifetime. Rocky's learned his lessons. He'll do whatever it takes to keep her from the story—even if he has to seduce her to the point of distraction! But Lita has always had a way of getting under his skin. Only this time, he won't be able to just walk away...

<Sigh> I love rock star romances.  There's something about a musician that I just love.  So far, we've gotten to see everyone in the bad fall in love and the book really revolves around a wedding being planned for one of the members.  Rocky is the band's drummer and he is so very anti-spotlight that it's a bit unnerving at times.  So the fact that he has a thing for a journalist is quite funny.

Lita is on the scene to try and give the wedding a positive spin since the rest of the media is making it seem like the worst thing to happen in a long time.  When she runs into Rocky again - sparks fly in a million different ways.  But there are some major trust issues between them - for very good reasons.

You really want them to end up together, but at times it seems like it may never happen!  I love a book that keeps you wondering how it's all going to come together.  There were quite a few little surprises for the rest of the band as well and the ending was just full of goodness and love all around.

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 More Posts for Robin Covington

Jasmyn's Review of Sweet Southern Betrayal

Books in the Head Over Heels Series

Jasmyn's Review of Resisting the Musician by Ally Blake

Jasmyn's Review of Reforming the Rock Star by Christine Bell

Review: Sweet Southern Betrayal by Robin Covington

Title: Sweet Southern Betrayal (The Boys Are Back in Town #3)

Author: Robin Covington
Source: Entangled - Indulgence
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: Novella
Release Date: January 13, 2014
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Rating - 4
Sexual - 3

Privileged and ambitious attorney Teague Elliott is on the fast-track to getting everything he
wants. All he has to do is stay on the straight and narrow and a high-profile political career is his for the taking. Until he wakes up naked with a Vegas showgirl...

Risa Clay has worked hard to put her showgirl past behind her and start fresh. But she owes ten grand to the wrong people, and to pay off her debt, she agrees to betray a stranger. . .but she ends up with a husband and guilty conscience.

Savvy and determined, she double-crosses the mob, goes on the run, and turns up on Teague’s doorstep armed with a dangerous secret, a marriage license, and the power to ruin his well-planed future. She thought using Teague again would be easy, but the passion that exploded between them in Vegas didn’t stay in Sin City and betrayal is the last thing on her mind.

Now Teague has to choose between the future he’s planned for all his life, or the one with Risa that he can’t turn away from.

 Sweet Southern Betrayal has just a bit of suspense mixed in - it's hard not to when you have a Vegas dancer making deals with a mobster who is trying to get some dirt on a DC lawyer - sounds a bit like something you'd see on a TV crime drama.  I'm glad that Robin Covington didn't overdo this aspect of the story, but just let it hang in the background and linger while Teague and Risa figure out thier life - together or not.  These two characters really shone through for me.  Risa was who she was and she didn't care if you approved or not.  Her small business venture led to quite a few humorous scenes as well, it's great when a book can make you grin or chuckle.

Having not read the previous books in the series I can say this does well as a stand alone, but it does make me want to go back and read the others to see what I may have missed.  The few side characters that really stood out were a bit stereotyped, but I think that helped make them who they were as well.  After all, how many ways are there to write about a creepy Vegas mob boss.  With a really sweet ending straight out of my one of my favorite classics, this one was really close to getting a fifth star.