Review - Better When He's Brave by Jay Crownover

Title: Better When He’s Brave

Series: Welcome to the Point #3

Author: Jay Crownover

Release Date: August 11, 2015

In New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jay Crownover’s third novel in her sexy, thrilling Welcome to the Point series, a woman’s search for repentance leads her to the one man from her past she can’t forget as they join forces to save their city—and the explosive love neither can live without.

Titus King has always seen his world in black and white. There is a firm right and wrong in his mind, which is why as a teenager he left behind the only family he’d ever known to make a better life for himself. Now a police detective in one of the worst cities in the country, he can’t deny his life has turned into a million different shades of gray.

The new criminal element in The Point has brought vengeance and destruction right to Titus’s front door, and walking the straight and narrow seems far less important now. The difference between right and wrong is nothing compared to keeping those he loves alive. To add to his already strained moral compass, the beautiful and mysterious Reeve Black has made her way back to town. This girl might be as dangerous to Titus as the guy trying to destroy the Point but he can’t walk away because he needs her—in more ways than one.

Reeve knows all about the threat trying to destroy The Point. She knows how ruthless, how vicious, and how cruel this new danger can be… and instead of running away, she wants to help. Reeve knows that she has a lot to repent for and saving the city, plus the hot cop that she hasn’t been able to forget might just be the only way she can finally find some inner peace.

With an entire city poised on the brink of war, Titus and Reeve stand in the crossfire—and it will take two brave souls to fight for the ultimate love.

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AMAZON US /UK

The third installment in Jay Crownover's exceptional Welcome to the Point series was the one I was waiting for. Titus King, the lone good guy in the series about bad people, doing bad things, in a bad town, has fascinated me from the start. His story was exactly what I hoped it would be. Thrilling, hard-fought, unputdownable.

Detective King has a streak of honor in him that keeps him fighting for The Point, even knowing it's a losing battle. With a new threat in the horizon, and a war for control of the city just around the corner, the last thing he needs is the beautiful, deadly Reeve Black to reappear in his life.

Reeve is determined to help the cop that she's been infatuated with from the moment she met him. She has the information Titus needs to hunt down and cut off the threat, and she's willing to work with him to make amends for past mistakes.

But he's a good man trying to protect his city and the ones he loves, and she's a bad girl that isn't sure she can find the right path to redemption. How can they exist together when they appear to be on opposite sides of right and wrong?

Wow, Ms. Crownover is one hell of a storyteller. I was utterly mesmerized by this fantastic book from the start--the explosive prologue that set the tone for the rest of this balls-to-the-wall, edge-of-your-seat suspense.

Better When He's Brave is a redemption tale that blurs the lines, in much the same way Titus himself starts to blur them in the pursuit of justice and safety for his people. I loved the hell out of the strong, beastly, sexy cop and I couldn't have stopped reading his tale if you'd paid me. You'd have been wasting your money if you tried.

There is much contradiction in this book and in these characters, and Ms. Crownover balances it perfectly. There are many potentially unlikeable characters that appear in this series and yet, almost all make you want to wish and cheer and hope for them. I found myself wanting to forgive the unforgivable and trying to find the right in all the wrong.

Even when they made poor choices, lied, manipulated, endangered, I still wanted them to get their chance at the ultimate love. I wanted Titus and Reeve to find their more not just between the sheets, where they absolutely burned up, but in the big, bad world.

That want, that hope, also applies to the characters to come. I'm anticipating the fourth book already, intrigued by the seemingly irredeemable Nassir and how Ms. Crownover plans to make him into an anti-hero we can all get behind. I can only hope it's as action-packed and heart-racing as this thrilling installment. I'm waiting... 

~ Review by Beth 

Jay Crownover is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Marked Men and Welcome to the Point series. Like her characters, she is a big fan of tattoos. She loves music and wishes she could be a rock star, but since she has no aptitude for singing or instrument playing, she'll settle for writing stories with interesting characters that make the reader feel something.

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Blog Tour - Better When He's Bold by Jay Crownover

    

Title: Better When He's Bold

Series: Welcome to the Point #2

Author: Jay Crownover

Release Date: February 3, 2015

From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jay Crownover, comes the second book in a combustible new series, Welcome to the Point, that is sexier, darker, and better than ever.

There’s a difference between a bad boy and a boy who is bad. . . . Welcome to the Point.

In a dark and broken kingdom, a ruler has be fearless to control the streets and the ruthless people who run them. Race Hartman is just bold enough, just smart enough, and just lost enough to wear the crown. Places like The Point will always have bad things and bad people, but the man in control of all that badness can minimize the devastation. Race has a plan, but can he prevent total annihilation without destroying himself?

Brysen Carter has always seen the real Race—a guy too pretty, too smooth, and way too dangerous. Basking in his golden glow is very tempting, but Brysen knows she’ll eventually get burned. She has enough problems without the risky danger and mayhem that comes with a guy like Race. Too bad Brysen faces a threat close to home that might be more dangerous than anything The Point has ever produced.. And the only person interested in keeping her safe is the one man she can’t allow herself to have.

Sometimes being bold is the only way to stay alive. But can she let Race save her life . . . if it means losing herself to him?

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AMAZON US / UK

When is a bad boy not a bad boy? That's the question I kept asking myself while reading Better When He's Bold, because Race is a contradiction. A good bad guy, or a bad good guy? Both, perhaps.

Race Hartman sits upon a rotting kingdom. The Point will always be The Point but Race plans to limit the fallout, stop the rot from spreading.

Brysen Carter admires the golden king from afar - keeping her best friend's brother at arms length, like she does everyone else, is the only way to survive.

But when Bry is threatened, Race is the one that stands to protect her. It's a bold move for a man with a target on his own back. But it may just pay-off. Because saving her could mean saving himself.

Oh, Race. I wasn't exactly his biggest fan in Better When He's Bad, the excellent predecessor to this book. Whatever his motivation, he made some hefty mistakes, and I loved Bax enough to be pissed on his behalf. But Jay Crownover may have changed my mind about the pretty (bad) boy.
 

Race is smart. Wily, even. I liked his conflict; his attempts at finding the right balance between who he was at his heart and who he had to be to survive. I loved his unwavering affection for those he cared about and was willing to protect. His flaws didn't detract from the man he knew he wanted to be, they just made him more relatable and real.

I alternated between frustrated with Brysen and awed by her pluck. She's strong, a deserving queen and a good character - one who is easy to get attached to, one you want to root for and one that occasionally surprises with her good and bad decision making. Again, her flaws make her human. And a story like this needs that.

I very much enjoyed this story, although it felt incomplete - something I assume/hope is rectified in the third book - because although it was a typical bad boy/good girl/damsel in distress story, it was well-written, chock full of interesting characters, including Bax and his Dovie, and fast paced.

It was a mystery, one that intrigued, never bored. It was well set up and thought out, and definitely makes me want to take another trip to The Point. This time, with Titus - another contradiction, no doubt, and one I'll be happy to try and puzzle out.

Better When He's Bold is the second book in the Welcome to the Point series and can be read standalone - although reading book one would definitely be smart.

~ Review by Beth

I nodded stiffly and bent over to get my laptop out from under the seat where I stashed it. When I turned back around, I felt heat rush into my face because bent over like that, I had clearly given Race the opportunity to check my ass out at its best. The green in his eyes had turned to something much darker, and I gulped nervously.

“What’s wrong with the computer?”

I held it protectively against my chest while his eyes rolled over me. It was unnerving to be the sole focus of a guy like Race. I felt like he was trying to get a look inside me, like he was systematically trying to figure out all the bits and pieces that made me tick.

“I don’t know. I turned it on and the screen was just blue. I know it’s bad, but everything I need for school is in there, so I have to do something.”

He lifted a sandy brow and reached for the laptop. “You don’t back anything up on an external drive or on an outside database, like Google Drive?”

I groaned and shoved my palms into my eye sockets. “Really, Race? If I was smart enough to do that, do you think I would be praying that you can fix it? Nothing is ever that easy in my life.”

He just watched me, his mouth turning down in a little frown. I much preferred that look on his exquisite face to the one he wore when he was flashing that sexy dimple at me. It was easier to resist.

“When do you need it back by?”

“I have a paper on there that is due tomorrow, but the teacher is pretty cool and will let me slide until Monday if I explain the situation. What I really need are my Math Theory notes. I have an evil TA who’s got it in for me because I turned him down when he asked me out. I’m barely passing the class, and without the notes, I’m beyond screwed.”

His eyes sank even further into midnight and his frown got even tighter. His broad chest rose and fell as he took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

His eyebrows dipped low over those dark eyes, and his voice was even rougher than normal when he asked me, “What is going on with you, Brysen? Why does every single thing you’ve said to me tonight make me want to hurt things and various people?”

I gulped a little and shivered as we just watched each other silently.

“Life isn’t always fun and games, Race. You have to know that better than most people.”

He shook his blond head and took a step back from me. I really, really wanted to reach out and snatch him back. He was so bad for my self-control.

“No, it’s not, but you’re a good girl and too pretty for words. Things shouldn’t be that hard for you.”

Well, they were, and I was just going to have to live with it.

“Do you think you can save it?”

He took another step back and grinned. I swear everything that made me female melted and turned liquid when that dimple indented his cheek.

“I’m pretty skilled at whatever I put my mind to, Brysen.”

The sexy undercurrent made me want to whimper.

“When do you think I can have it back?”

“Give me your number. I have a bunch of shit to take care of tomorrow, but after that’s all handled, I’ll look at it. Give me until the weekend.”

That was only three days. Aside from Math Theory, I should be able to make do until then. I rattled off my number and scowled when he didn’t pull out his phone to enter it in.

“You’re going to remember that?” I hated that I sounded like I was pouting about it.

“I won’t forget it, Bry. Everything about you is very memorable.”

Ugh … that kiss. It was going to haunt me forever. I shifted uneasily and pushed off the car.

Jay Crownover is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Marked Men and The Point series. Like her characters, she is a big fan of tattoos. She loves music and wishes she could be a rock star, but since she has no aptitude for singing or instrument playing, she'll settle for writing stories with interesting characters that make the reader feel something. She lives in Colorado with her three dogs.

       

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Blog Tour - Better When He's Bad by Jay Crownover

 

 

 

   

Title: Better When He's Bad

Series: Welcome to the Point #1

Author: Jay Crownover

Release Date: June 17, 2014
 

Welcome to the Point

There’s a difference between a bad boy and a boy who’s bad . . . meet Shane Baxter.

Sexy, dark, and dangerous, Bax isn’t just from the wrong side of the tracks, he is the wrong side of the tracks. A criminal, a thug, and a brawler, he’s the master of bad choices, until one such choice landed him in prison for five years. Now Bax is out and looking for answers, and he doesn’t care what he has to do or who he has to hurt to get them. But there’s a new player in the game, and she’s much too innocent, much too soft…and standing directly in his way.

Dovie Pryce knows all about living a hard life and the tough choices that come with it. She’s always tried to be good, tried to help others, and tried not to let the darkness pull her down. But the streets are fighting back, things have gone from bad to worse, and the only person who can help her is the scariest, sexiest, most complicated ex-con The Point has ever produced.

Bax terrifies her, but it doesn’t take Dovie long to realize that some boys are just better when they’re bad.

 

ADD TO GOODREADS

Sooooo....turns out I have a thing for bad boys. Not just the soft-hearted bad boys - you know the ones I mean - but the ones that are just. Plain. Bad. Before Bax, I really didn't love the asshole-to-everyone-but-you guy that appears in a lot of books but this guy... This guy was different. And I'm totally into that.

Shane Baxter has spent the last five years locked away and thinking about how and why that happened. Not much has changed in The Point since he's been away except for her... Dovie Pryce. She weasels her way into Bax's life and, despite her troubled childhood, he knows that she is too soft, too innocent for the life he leads. Dovie is equal parts terrified and turned on by the ex-con. She believes there's more to Bax than just his bad boy persona, but the more time she spends with him, trying to get answers about the most important person in both their lives, the more she realizes that perhaps Bax is better when he's bad.

Man, this was a goooood book. It was well constructed, the characters were likable - even lovable, despite their misdeeds - and it was just plain intriguing. The story moved at the perfect pace. I never doubted the motivations of Bax and Dovie, nor their decision to be with one another despite their differences, because it just made sense. All the signs were there, woven perfectly into the story, and never felt false or forced. Bax was a true bad boy. Unapologetic and unwilling to change (consciously) and yet, I still wanted him. He seemed redeemable even at his worst and that, to me, is the most important thing when it comes to character development. If there's no indication that there's depth to someone, how can you root for them? I can't wait for the next book - Race's book - to see if I love all bad boys, or if it's just this one...

Better When He's Bad is the first book in the Welcome to the Point series and can be read as a standalone. No cliffhanger.

~ Review by Beth

 

I let out the breath I was holding and took another step closer to her. The water was splashing on the sleeve of my shirt as I reached up to grab both of her cheeks in my palms. “Are you scared of me?”

It was the start of the questions I had asked her what felt like a lifetime ago. Her answer didn’t change, but this time when she answered, she was holding back a smile that made my heart hurt.

“Terrified, but I kind of like it now.”

“Do you trust me?” My voice broke. I had never really trusted anyone but Race and now there was her and my brother and just all kinds of new things making my life so much more complicated and undeniably fuller.

“With my life. I trust all the parts of you, Bax. You need to know that.”

 “You going to go to bed with me?” That made her outright laugh and she reached up to curl her hands around my wrists.

 “As often as I can and anyplace in between when the mood strikes.” The rest of the blood racing around my system went solidly south.

I dropped my forehead so it was resting on hers and the water from the showerhead was cascading down around us. I was making a mess, but I didn’t care because I had her, and she was my home. “Do you love me?”

The words sounded so foreign, but so right, when I was saying them to her. She brushed her full lips across mine and the last three months without her faded away.

“Do you want me to lie to you or tell you the truth?”

 I smiled against her mouth and kissed her back twice as hard as she had kissed me. “Lie to me.”

 She reached up and put her arms around my neck and took a step back, dragging me all the way into the shower stall with her. The water was lukewarm at best, and it made me shiver. So did the fact that she started to impatiently pull the tail of my shirt up over my head. A task made increasingly difficult considering I was now soaked head to toe and the material was clinging to me.

 “Of course not. You’re the last person in the world I could love.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jay Crownover is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Marked Men series. She will also be introducing the dark and sexy world of The Point in a new series this summer starting with Better When He’s Bad. Like her characters, she is a big fan of tattoos. She loves music and wishes she could be a rock star, but since she has no aptitude for singing or instrument playing, she'll settle for writing stories with interesting characters that make the reader feel something. She lives in Colorado with her three dogs.

       

Website ** Blog ** Facebook ** Twitter ** Goodreads

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Release Day Launch - Better When He's Bad by Jay Crownover

 

 

 

   

Title: Better When He's Bad

Series: Welcome to the Point #1

Author: Jay Crownover

Release Date: June 17, 2014
 

Welcome to the Point

There’s a difference between a bad boy and a boy who’s bad . . . meet Shane Baxter.

Sexy, dark, and dangerous, Bax isn’t just from the wrong side of the tracks, he is the wrong side of the tracks. A criminal, a thug, and a brawler, he’s the master of bad choices, until one such choice landed him in prison for five years. Now Bax is out and looking for answers, and he doesn’t care what he has to do or who he has to hurt to get them. But there’s a new player in the game, and she’s much too innocent, much too soft…and standing directly in his way.

Dovie Pryce knows all about living a hard life and the tough choices that come with it. She’s always tried to be good, tried to help others, and tried not to let the darkness pull her down. But the streets are fighting back, things have gone from bad to worse, and the only person who can help her is the scariest, sexiest, most complicated ex-con The Point has ever produced.

Bax terrifies her, but it doesn’t take Dovie long to realize that some boys are just better when they’re bad.

 

ADD TO GOODREADS

Sooooo....turns out I have a thing for bad boys. Not just the soft-hearted bad boys - you know the ones I mean - but the ones that are just. Plain. Bad. Before Bax, I really didn't love the asshole-to-everyone-but-you guy that appears in a lot of books but this guy... This guy was different. And I'm totally into that.

Shane Baxter has spent the last five years locked away and thinking about how and why that happened. Not much has changed in The Point since he's been away except for her... Dovie Pryce. She weasels her way into Bax's life and, despite her troubled childhood, he knows that she is too soft, too innocent for the life he leads. Dovie is equal parts terrified and turned on by the ex-con. She believes there's more to Bax than just his bad boy persona, but the more time she spends with him, trying to get answers about the most important person in both their lives, the more she realizes that perhaps Bax is better when he's bad.

Man, this was a goooood book. It was well constructed, the characters were likable - even lovable, despite their misdeeds - and it was just plain intriguing. The story moved at the perfect pace. I never doubted the motivations of Bax and Dovie, nor their decision to be with one another despite their differences, because it just made sense. All the signs were there, woven perfectly into the story, and never felt false or forced. Bax was a true bad boy. Unapologetic and unwilling to change (consciously) and yet, I still wanted him. He seemed redeemable even at his worst and that, to me, is the most important thing when it comes to character development. If there's no indication that there's depth to someone, how can you root for them? I can't wait for the next book - Race's book - to see if I love all bad boys, or if it's just this one...

Better When He's Bad is the first book in the Welcome to the Point series and can be read as a standalone. No cliffhanger.

~ Review by Beth

 

I let out the breath I was holding and took another step closer to her. The water was splashing on the sleeve of my shirt as I reached up to grab both of her cheeks in my palms. “Are you scared of me?”

It was the start of the questions I had asked her what felt like a lifetime ago. Her answer didn’t change, but this time when she answered, she was holding back a smile that made my heart hurt.

“Terrified, but I kind of like it now.”

“Do you trust me?” My voice broke. I had never really trusted anyone but Race and now there was her and my brother and just all kinds of new things making my life so much more complicated and undeniably fuller.

“With my life. I trust all the parts of you, Bax. You need to know that.”

 “You going to go to bed with me?” That made her outright laugh and she reached up to curl her hands around my wrists.

 “As often as I can and anyplace in between when the mood strikes.” The rest of the blood racing around my system went solidly south.

I dropped my forehead so it was resting on hers and the water from the showerhead was cascading down around us. I was making a mess, but I didn’t care because I had her, and she was my home. “Do you love me?”

The words sounded so foreign, but so right, when I was saying them to her. She brushed her full lips across mine and the last three months without her faded away.

“Do you want me to lie to you or tell you the truth?”

 I smiled against her mouth and kissed her back twice as hard as she had kissed me. “Lie to me.”

 She reached up and put her arms around my neck and took a step back, dragging me all the way into the shower stall with her. The water was lukewarm at best, and it made me shiver. So did the fact that she started to impatiently pull the tail of my shirt up over my head. A task made increasingly difficult considering I was now soaked head to toe and the material was clinging to me.

 “Of course not. You’re the last person in the world I could love.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jay Crownover is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Marked Men series. She will also be introducing the dark and sexy world of The Point in a new series this summer starting with Better When He’s Bad. Like her characters, she is a big fan of tattoos. She loves music and wishes she could be a rock star, but since she has no aptitude for singing or instrument playing, she'll settle for writing stories with interesting characters that make the reader feel something. She lives in Colorado with her three dogs.

       

Website ** Blog ** Facebook ** Twitter ** Goodreads

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