Reed - Book Review

By Sawyer Bennett

Synopsis

The offseason is heating up for one Carolina Cold Fury heartbreaker who’s eager to make nice with the girl next door.

No one plays like Reed Olson, whether it’s hockey season or not. After back-to-back NHL championships, he’s craving a little R&R. Reed leans to a specific type—blond, busty, and interested—and fortunately he has a little black book full of options. So why is it he can’t stop dreaming about the new girl who just moved in next door? A certified brainiac, she seems to want nothing to do with the hard-bodied athlete.

Josie Ives desperately needs something her celebrity neighbor obviously doesn’t: solitude. Reed is everything she imagined—a little too good-looking, with a body that puts Greek gods to shame. But she didn’t expect he would also be funny and charming. Josie knows she’s the opposite of his type, and that’s fine with her. Still, the chemistry between them is undeniable. Their newfound friendship certainly has its benefits, but she’s starting to wonder if opposites really do attract.

Review

REED is the Cold Fury story I’ve been waiting for since reading MAX, book 6 in the series.

“We’re friends, Josie. The benefits are very good. So good I don’t need benefits from anyone else. Your benefits are the only ones I’m interested in.”

Reed comes across as a bit of a jerk in the beginning. He has a revolving door of blonde models warming his bed, and other than making sure they get off, he doesn’t care about them at all. He doesn’t even want them talking to him. He wants to get off and then get gone. But then he met Josie and slowly became a man I could very easily fall in love with. Considering he’s never had a meaningful relationship before, he did an amazing job of wooing Josie. He was sweet and romantic, and because he had no experience in dating before Josie, it made all his attempts even more special. My favorite scene was when he was upset about burning dinner, because all he wanted to do was make her a nice meal. It was very swoon worthy.

“Why do you want to slow it down?”
“Because I like you, Josie, and you’re not a notch in my bedpost.”

I can’t say much about Josie other than I thought she was smart, level-headed and the exact opposite of the women Reed usually surrounds himself with. She does battle with some insecurities about being with Reed, because she’s been hurt before and she knows she’s not his normal type, but she doesn’t shove her insecurities in your face every five minutes, which I greatly appreciated.

“I don’t know if I can be everything to you, Josie. But I want to be everything that I can possibly be. I want to be exactly what you need.”

I know there are quite a lot of readers out there who are avoiding this book because they’ve heard that Josie has sex with Reed after hearing him have sex with other women. I’ll admit, I was a little worried about that too when I heard about it, but it ended up not bothering me at all. It’s not like Josie hopped straight into Reed’s bed after hearing him; it’s weeks into their growing friendship before they become physical. Besides, they’re both grown ups and are fully aware that the other has had sex with other people before. If you’re on the fence about whether or not to read it, I’d say give it a go, because I don’t think it’s as bad as people are making it out to be.

REED is told in dual POVs and while it’s part of a series, it can be read as a stand-alone. Though they didn’t affect my overall enjoyment of the story, I did have two minor issues: the conflict is a bit weak and the story ends abruptly. I turned the page—after the previous chapter ended on a sex scene—only to discover that I was at the end of the book. That being said, I really enjoyed watching Reed and Josie get to know each other and become friends, before finally becoming more.