His Risk to Take (A Line of Duty Book 2)

Hot, dirty talking alpha? Yes please :) I love that Ruby doesn't just give in and pushes right back at Troy. Looking past all the sex (which is great), this is a good story and I look forward to the rest of this series.

A lot of readers frown on five start reviews, but this little book deserves each and every one of them. This novella is packed with an awesome story of two damaged characters who deal with guilt and trust issues and an immediate sexual attraction that absolutely sets the pages ablaze. It isn't often that you get a well rounded "story" with all the questions answered in a novella, but Ms. Bailey gives it all to the reader in His Risk to Take. I can hardly wait to read Daniel's and Brent's stories! Great job, Tessa!

This story was short. That didn't really bother me. What I didn't like was the storyline. I was just not into it at all. I was bored and found myself skipping some narration. Troy and Ruby were really hot together! I didn't really like Ruby's attitude, she seemed stupid to me, and the whole yoga mat thing didn't even make sense in the story. Troy was awesome and the reason I gave this book any stars at all. His character was more than I expected so at least I enjoyed that.

I loved Tessa Bailey's other book, Protecting What's His, enough so that I was excited to get this story. Now, not so much. In fact, im disappointed because it seems like thenauthor wrote this just to meet a deadline. The timeline is too rushed - I just don't believe the relationship could develop that quickly and be that strong in such a short amount of time. The male "alpha" character is only alpha in the bedroom. The rest of the time, he is an anguished mess due to recently losing his partner, then finding the love of his life pretty soon after that. Very angsty feelings from him. I find the pendulum swing of character traits to be too extreme to be believable. About 70% of the way through, I find myself uninspired to keep reading - I just don't care enough about what happens.

Love this book....I enjoyed reading this book so much that once I started to read I had to keep reading until
I finished....Troy NYPD detective is a HOT Alpha Male who loves to talk dirty during sex...Ruby, pool hustler, who is strong with attitude and doesn't like to be told what to do.....Troy and Ruby together are perfect and the chemistry between them is hot.....This is a great story and fun read....I can't wait to read more books from Tessa Bailey...

Borrowing a line from Forrest Gump, "Brazen is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get". Every time I open a Brazen/Entangled book I know two things: #1 it's gonna be hot and #2 it's gonna be HOTT!! His Risk To Take may have been the hottest I have read from the Brazen line so far.

It's about a detective, Troy Bennett who has just transferred from Chicago to a new precinct in New York after the death of his partner Grant. Troy has blamed himself for months following Grant's death and he promises himself he won't put anyone else in danger. That changes the night he goes for a drink at a local bar with his buddies and sees Ruby for the first time. At first he thinks she is just a young naive woman who stumbled into the wrong bar but she soon shows him she is anything but when she hustles a guy at a game of pool. Troy watches her the entire time she's playing and when the hustled guy gets upset he steps in to protect her.

Ruby doesn't need any one's protection. She grew up watching her father hustle and was taught the ways of the game at an early age. Following in his footsteps when she got older she relied on only herself. When she meets Troy she doesn't immediately recognize him as a cop and chides herself for the blunder. She's unable to resist his sex appeal and ends up back at his place for a night of hot UN sex. She doesn't want to want Troy but his Alpha male behaviour presents a challenge she can't resist. Neither of them expect a relationship to form , or to develop feelings outside of sexual attraction but when they do an unexpected complication arises in the form of a dangerous man Ruby is familiar with that Troy is sent to investigate. When Troy realizes his job has inadvertently put Ruby in danger he chooses her safety over their budding romance and vows to stay away from her. Neither of them can stay away for long and when Ruby tries to help out in the investigation she ends up in a dangerous situation that Troy might not be able to save her from.

I have to be honest, I think this may be my favorite book in the Brazen line. I loved everything about it, the hero, the heroine, the hot sex and the dramatic elements. It was so well done and I fell head over heels for this book couple. I am usually not one of those book readers who reads and pictures it as a movie, but this one made me see it as a movie the more I read into the story.

Starting with Troy. *Fans Self* I am not a big Alpha Male fan because I don't like for a man to tell me what to do. Women's Lib and all that jazz. But if Troy demanded I bend over and lick my own a** I would totally do it! I can't even explain the hotness his character brought because I am still a melted puddle of lust. He was sexy, confident and demanding without apology. Everything he said to Ruby made me a tingly mess of WHOREmones! It's not just the fact that he's damaged from his partner's death but his personality is the clincher. He knows he is demanding in bed and wants to find someone who can handle his rough lovin'. But besides his hot body and sexual appetite he was chivalrous. He was willing to put his feelings aside to step away from Ruby and protect her! That's what made him such a great character for me.

Ruby was a great female character I could see myself in the most out of all the book heroines I have read through. Like Ruby I don't let a man tell me what to do and I live by my own rules, damn what anyone else thinks. I loved that Ruby hustled stupid guys out of their money. She was a total bad a** Beyotch! She showed up with her big boobs and hot body and they were struck stupid, until it was time to pay! HA! I loved that! At first you think Ruby is just a wayward crook, living on the outside of the law but once Troy opens her up we find out she actually has a dream she is trying to fulfill. She has a hidden vulnerability behind her tough exterior when it comes to the people she cares about that I loved seeing. She was stubborn sometimes and I could absolutely relate. We both are headstrong women who can take care of ourselves. But it was nice to see her finally let Troy take care of her.

Moving on to the heat! Seriously people this shizz was HOT! Ruby being a sexy raven haired beauty with green eyes and Troy being a tall, sexy cop with blue eyes is enough to get your motor going but when they get going you almost need a fist sized tampon to catch the moisture, or at the very least squat over an oil change pan while reading. All the steamy scenes were done so well and one particular scene involved a pool stick in the right place! HELLO! Most erotic contemporary romance books with several love scenes are hot at first then you're like "Yeah that's nice" and you get used to it. NOT WITH THIS ONE! Every steamy scene is highly erotic and felt like the first time reading a naughty scene. The hotness doesn't disappoint AT ALL!

What I loved the most was how they helped each other get through something difficult each were dealing with. Troy was dealing with the loss of his partner and Ruby helped him open up and take a chance and Troy helped Ruby see that she could keep her Independence and still be in a relationship. They were fun and flirty once they got out of their own ways. There were several endearing moments between them and the supporting characters that balanced out the heat nicely. The overall story was intense and exciting which just added to the romance aspect. This being book 2 in a series I am definitely going to go buy the first one and catch up because I always end up reading the second book first! I highly, HIGHLY recommend this one if you need an exciting story filled with hot sex and an even hotter alpha male! The author did a fantastic job of delivering great characters with heart and personality that make you feel like they could be people you may know in real life. Needless to say His Risk To Take is no risk at all because I know you will fall for this book as easily as I did!

I positively LOVED Troy. He was exactly what you like in a dirty talking hot alpha male. He was strong, protective, determined, possessive, dominate and did I mention a dirty talker? Whew boy he was hot and made this book great.

Troy is a NYPD homicide cop, but he recently left Chicago PD after his partner died in a raid. He's still coping with the loss of his friend and blames himself. He's also still keeping his distance from his current squad and isn't really adapting too well to his new life. He's having drinks with some fellow cops at a local pub when in walks Ruby, a pool hustler. Her hustling ways hurts the ego of the guy she hustles and he tries to lash out at her. Troy runs to her rescue and somehow she ends up at his place that night in the guise of him 'protecting' her from the guy who may be waiting for her when she leaves. Things get really hot between them and pretty quickly.

Of course, Ruby grew up with a dad on the wrong side of the law and so she doesn't exactly trust people easily. She's also incredibly stubborn and ends up making a stupid mistake that hurts people in the end. Then she pushes Troy away, but he refuses to give up. I gotta hand it to Troy, his attempts to win her back were admirable and persistence paid off.

I really didn't care for Ruby's character all that much and had it not been for Toby, I would have rated the book lower. Her incredible stubbornness and hard heart was a bit too annoying. She didn't use common sense and made rash decisions. That happens, but at least own up to it and don't make excuses.

Even though Ruby wasn't the best heroine, I still loved the book and think it was better than "Protecting What's His." It's a short, sexy read with some action and drama thrown in to make it interesting.

Troy is a Homicide Detective who has just transferred from Chicago to the NYPD for a fresh start after his partner was killed during a raid that went wrong. He first meets professional pool hustler Ruby at a bar and although she is the last person he should get involved with there is something about her that he finds irresistible. Ruby grew up around the criminal underground but is working hard to put her past behind her and build a future for herself. Past experience has told her that the only person she can rely on is herself so it isn't easy for her to put her trust in Troy, especially when her past catches up with them thanks to a case that he is currently working on. Can Troy keep Ruby safe without risking both his case and his career?

I enjoyed the first book in Tessa Bailey's Line of Duty series (Protecting What's His) so I've been looking forward to getting my hands on the sequel His Risk to Take. This author is certainly proving that she has a knack for writing sexy, alpha heroes who are incredibly dominant, possessive and love talking dirty both in and out of the bedroom. If you thought that Derek was a dirty talker in the first book you've not seen anything yet and you're absolutely going to LOVE Troy in this one! As much as I liked Derek I did feel there were times when he crossed the line and took his behaviour a little too far so I was pleased to see that wasn't the case with Troy. I have to say I fell for Troy big time, he had just the right amount of arrogance and I loved the way he took what he wanted and didn't make any apologies for who he was. As alpha has he was I was pleased that even when he wanted to protect Ruby he accepted her wishes and let her deal with things in her own way.

I liked Ruby for her sassy attitude and her independence, I also had to admire the way she was trying to make something of herself and walk away from the life she had been brought up in. She is a caring woman who has never had many friends or people that she can rely on which makes her very protective to the few that she has let into her inner circle. There was one point where she did something so stupid I almost wanted to strangle her but I could see why she made the choices she did even if I didn't agree with them. This is a fairly short story (around 160 pages) so the relationship between Ruby and Troy does develop fairly quickly but that didn't reduce my enjoyment and I loved reading about their passionate affair.

I did have one issue with the time line though, certain events didn't quite add up (I can't say more without giving spoilers) and that pulled me out of the story a little but apart from that His Risk to Take was a fun and sexy read. If you love dirty talk then this is a series you won't want to miss and I'm looking forward to reading more from Tessa Bailey in the future!

Now this is interesting because I have a bunch of Tessa Bailey's books on my TBR shelf and this is the first one I have actually read...which I find hard to believe but according to my GR read shelf it's totally true. I enjoyed the story and both MC's but there was just something about Ruby and Troy that just didn't grab me. I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy the book because I did, I enjoyed the authors writing style, it's just that I didn't get drawn into the book the way I had hoped to. That being said, I definitely plan on reading more books by Tessa Bailey.

Ruby Elliot knows her way around the streets. She’s known for her pool hustling skills but New York homicide cop Troy Bennett wants to get to know her in the biblical sense. Troy’s a recent transfer from Chicago. He thinks the relocation will help him overcome the tragedy he left behind. However, he doesn’t anticipate his attraction to Ruby bringing forth all of his fears. Can Ruby and Troy make their steamy relationship work or will he let go of love because of his fear?

His Risk to Take is a sexy suspenseful treat. While this is not my favorite Line of Duty novel, I did enjoy it greatly. Ms. Bailey’s pen is definitely gifted. She knows how to give her readers hot alpha cops dripping with sex appeal. One thing I love about His Risk to Take is Ruby. Ruby is tough as nails and smart as a whip. Her scenes with Troy are hot and emotional. She is also unique. Tessa Bailey knows how to make her characters stand out from the crowd and she knows how to bathe them in sex pheromones. You won’t be disappointed with a Tessa Bailey novel.

This book was reviewed by Miranda for Joyfully Reviewed (JR), and was provided by the publisher/author at no cost to JR for the purpose of being reviewed