First reviewed at Red Hot Books http://redhotbooks.com/2013/09/getting-rowdy-by-lori-foster.htmlRowdy Yates has been chasing after Avery Mullins ever since he opened up his bar and named her head bartender. Avery is determined that she is not going to be another notch on her playboy boss’s bedpost but his charismatic ways and a year long dry spell are wreaking havoc on her will. Just as she’s about to give in, the past comes to haunt her.
Rowdy is a man who is used to getting whatever lady he wants. He uses sex as a way to keep emotionally closed off from his rough past but Avery needs more than just one night with him. When trouble starts brewing in Avery’s life, Rowdy’s need to protect her signals that she is more than the other floozies that move through his revolving door.
Rowdy is a man slut that you shake your head at while grinning. He’s a good guy to his family and fights for what is right even as he makes questionable decisions for himself. Slowly, he begins to open up to Avery about his abusive childhood and growing up on the streets. Sex was his way of reliving tension and escaping his life for a while. When a tough guy comes around wanting to rip him off, Rowdy sees that he’s hauling around a scrawny kid. Shades of the past color his vision and Rowdy gets physical. Fortunately, that action ends up saving the kid and allows Rowdy to start to make peace with his past.
Avery was no wimp of girl. She calls Rowdy on the carpet on every turn and doesn’t let him railroad her into anything she doesn’t want to do yet Avery is sensitive enough to handle Rowdy with a little finesse. The minor conflict involving her past is a little contrived but I mainly ignored it because it was such a little part of the book.
This is the third book in Lori Foster’s Undercover Love series and is fine to read as a stand alone. It’s a quick easy read with unexpected tenderness.
Rating: C+
*ARC provided Harlequin via NetGalley
