Stroked by Meghan Quinn Review

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5 Smooches

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SYNOPSIS:

Reese King: Olympic medalist, underwear model, Greek god.

His body is chiseled from rock, sculpted by the weight room, and refined by water.

On a daily basis his skin is completely bare for everyone to see, tan and defined, only covered up by a minuscule piece of spandex. There is no denying his sex appeal.

I hate to admit it, but I’m head over heels infatuated with him.

There is one HUGE problem though. His achingly gorgeous abs, inked up arm, and cocky swagger belong to my boss, the high-profile, reality star bitch from hell and certified heinous human being, Bellini Chambers.

What I think is going to be an easy job assisting a glorified wench turns into a cluster f*ck of epic proportions.

REVIEW:

“There is always a pivotal turn in everyone’s life that tilts the axis of their world, sending them in a different direction.” ~ Paisley

Paisley Maccaro left the reservation she grew up on, much to her parents’ dismay, to chase her dream of working in the film industry. With a degree in film production under her belt, she had her dream within her grasp… until ‘The Incident’ that got her fired and blacklisted. Now all of her hard work is forgotten, and she’s starting over from scratch. Having sold her soul to the devil herself, Paisley takes the only job she can get as the personal assistant to reality TV star, Bellini Chambers, and her devastatingly handsome (but totally fake) boyfriend, Olympic swimmer, Reese King.

“Any other person would wilt under the pressure of the human race observing them as an outsider, but not me. I thrive off it. I want the attention; I crave the attention. I DESERVE the attention.”  ~ Bellini

Bellini Chambers is Satan reincarnated. An entitled, narcissistic diva, she is also one of Paisley’s bosses. Spoiled, vicious, disrespectful and just an all-around awful person who has deluded herself into believing that she is God’s gift to the world, Bellini is convinced that everyone wants to be her and that she is actually generous humanitarian. Regardless of the less than impressive means with which her family came into their wealth, she treats everyone around her as if they are beneath her. Only her father, and her dog, Pope Francis, who she believes is some sort of disciple of God and a religious icon of the ages, are shown any sort of kindness. She is the epitome of every single one of those awful millennial-age stereotypes, but her ridiculous, over-the-top antics draw in the viewers, if only to gawk at her obnoxious behavior.

“It’s never easy saying goodbye, but to say goodbye to your sport, the one thing that’s made you eat, sleep, and breathe ever since you can remember, it’s like a piece of your soul dying.” ~ Reese

Devastatingly handsome, Reese King is American swimming royalty. A three-time Olympic silver medalist, he’s in the last lap of a successful swimming career. A career laden with records, championships and accomplishments but lacking that one crowning achievement: a gold medal. Going into his final Olympics, he knows that this is his last shot. Desperate to shed ‘The Silver Stroke’ nickname the media’s dubbed him with, he does not want to end his career being known as a choke artist. His publicist, with her eye on his post-swimming future, has talked him into doing this reality show—complete with this sham of a relationship with Bellini—to increase his visibility and marketability. He cannot stand Bellini, and he hates everything about this show. Well, until he meets his new assistant, Paisley.

“What’s life if it’s not a roller coaster?” I ask. “A pleasant merry-go-round with no drama.” ~ Reese

Reese and Paisley’s attraction is immediate and very mutual. They both know they can’t go there—too much is riding on it for both of them. But neither is able to stop from being swept away in the waves of feelings crashing over them, and they are both drowning in their attraction to each other. Unable to help themselves, they begin seeing each other in secret. It’s a disaster of epic proportions in the making, and they know it.

“Finding your soulmate is never easy, Paisley. The luckiest people have to work at it, because once you find that true match, you will be that much more grateful for the journey you took to find them.” ~ Reese

This book was positively hilarious!! It’s told in three points of view – Reese’s, Paisley’s and Bellini’s – and that was one of the things I loved most about it. Bellini was so outrageous, but the things that came out of her mouth, the thoughts that ran through her head were so crazy, she truly was that train-wreck that you just couldn’t look away from. No joke, I probably came up with a hundred or so hashtagable comments, or Bellinisms as Quinn refers to them. I was dying to to tweet them out, but not wanting to spoil the awesomeness, I restrained myself. It wasn’t easy.

“There are two types of girls in this world. Girls like me, who have men draped across their feet, wishing and hoping for one sniff from their very sought after lady-garden. And then there are girls like you. … Girls who flap their dilapidated garden gate open for any kind of attention…” ~ Bellini

I’ve read a few of Meghan Quinn’s books now, and I am seriously a fan. This woman’s sense of humor is pure romcom gold! This is the good stuff, folks. The beverage-shooting-from-your-nose, tears-streaming-down-your-face, foot-stomping, doubled-over-holding-your-sides kind of humor. But Quinn is more than just a comedic genius, she also gives great romance—and smoking hot sexiness—here. Reese was a totally swoon-worthy hero, and I adored him in his all-alpha-male glory. Paisley was as smart and sassy as they come and totally not bowled over by Reese’s fame. The two of them together were absolute romcom perfection. They smoldered, they smoked, and they sizzled in pursuit of this sweet romance. Well written, smartly hilarious and wildly sexy, this steamy romance nearly sent me to the pool to cool off a few times, not to mention that all that taco talk left me weirdly craving Mexican food…

Gah! I loved this book! I am praying to Pope Francis at every available altar that the very talented Ms. Quinn will give us Hollis and Bodi’s stories and that she’ll do it soon! Without any hesitation, Meghan Quinn and her swimmingly sensational Stroked get five whimpering, witty and wet smooches from me!

~ Danielle Palumbo

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1 comment

  1. Thank you!

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