Skip to main content

~**~ ARC Review: Rebel Hard (Hard Play #2) by Nalini Singh ~**~


***5 ‘You’re Mine’ Stars***

The whole cheeks hurting because I couldn’t stop doing the dopey grinning thing was real. Even now, after a team workout session that handed me my ass, I’m grinning like a loon as I think about how hard I swooned and laughed over Rebel Hard and how I failed miserably at #multitasking because I couldn’t put the book down. It was all kinds of fun, sweet and filled with a huge dose of family and heart that was like a drug for me and I was addicted from the very first page.

I adored Nayna and Raj. Nayna was something of an enigma. There was a sweet and alluring goodness to her that wasn’t an affectation, but something ingrained into her every cell. And yet in the midst of that was a sassy and fiery woman who wanted to live a life as blinding bright as a Bollywood movie.Raj was gruff, broody and blunt and had moments of ‘insert foot into mouth’ disease that had me sighing in frustration and yet there was an honesty to him, a vulnerable sincerity beneath all of it that had me wanting to hug him and never let him go.

I thoroughly enjoyed Raj and Nayna’s opposites attract romance. While they grew up with a strong love and respect of family and tradition, their views of what they want their futures to be don’t fall on the same continuum and it was a lot of fun to watch as they gave into the pull between them while struggling with their very opposite wants and if they could find a common ground. Their interactions had me laughing and swooning in equal measure and the fact that both were so honest and earnest in their wants and needs and respected them had me rooting for them to find that common ground and loved when they did.

After finishing Cherish Hard, I was one of those who really wanted to know what was going on with Nayna and Raj and was all kinds of excited when it was announced that their story would be told and I can honestly say, I wasn’t disappointed in any way. It was fun, sweet, smexy and swoon worthy and while there was drama, it wasn’t anything OTT angsty and Iloved learning about the Hindi culture and  traditions and just how deeply woven they are into everyday life. But as always, it was the family dynamic that really did it for me. I loved all the meddling characters in this one, but Aji and Aditi are my ultimate favs, especially Aji ~ I want to be her when I grow up.

Rebel Hard can be read as a standalone since it runs concurrent with Cherish Hard and though there are some situations that crossover, it is very much Raj and Nayna’s story. But I have no doubt that you’ll want to read Cherish Hard after to see all that happens with Isa and Sailor’s own journey to their HEA. Rock Hard (Rock Kiss #2) is loosely connected to this series since Gabriel is Sailor’s brother, but it takes place a few years after the end of Cherish Hard. As for the next in the series?? Well, there are now more options and I cannot wait to see who will be next up on the chopping block!

~ Copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley & voluntarily reviewed ~


New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh continues her Hard Play series with a sweet, sexy romance featuring big, fat, OTT weddings, a meddling grandma, and a too-serious hero who needs to be unbuttoned…

Nayna Sharma agreed to an arranged marriage in the hope it would heal the fractures in her beloved family… only to realize too late that a traditional marriage is her personal nightmare. Panicked, she throws caution to the winds, puts on the tiniest dress she can find, and ends up in the arms of a tall, rough-edged hunk of a man who has abs of steel—and who she manages to mortally insult between one kiss and the next.

Abandoned as a child, then adopted into a loving family, Raj Sen believes in tradition, in continuity. Some might call him stiff and old-fashioned, but he knows what he wants—and it’s a life defined by rules… yet he can’t stop thinking about the infuriating and sexy woman who kissed him in the moonlight then disappeared. When his parents spring an introduction on him, the last woman he expects is her. Beautiful. Maddening. A rule breaker in the making.

He’s all wrong for her. She’s all wrong for him. And love is about to make rebels of them both.

Release Date: September 18th, 2018
Goodreads | Amazon US * CA * DE * UK | B&N | Kobo | iBooks

Cherish Hard (Hard Play #1)
Release Date: November 14th, 2017
Goodreads | Amazon US *CA * UK | B&N | Kobo | iBooks

I've been writing as long as I can remember and all of my stories always held a thread of romance (even when I was writing about a prince who could shoot lasers out of his eyes). I love creating unique characters, love giving them happy endings and I even love the voices in my head. There's no other job I would rather be doing. In September 2002, when I got the call that Silhouette Desire wanted to buy my first book, Desert Warrior, it was a dream come true. I hope to continue living the dream until I keel over of old age on my keyboard.

Comments