Reckless

Renegades, Book 1

By: Skye Jordan, Joan Swan

Narrated by: Piper Goodeve

A couture wedding dress designer to the rich and famous, Lexi LaCroix's image means everything. Raised on the wrong side of the tracks, her years of polish and hard work are finally about to pay off. But crossing paths with a sexier-than-sin, bad-boy biker who makes her realize how much living she's sacrificed for her success, one touch is all it takes for Lexi to turn reckless.

Jax Chamberlin has been screwed over by gorgeous gold-diggers one too many times. Though he runs his own stunt company, all of America knows his Hollywood face even years after he's given up acting. Finding a woman who doesn't plan to use him as a stepping stone to success is virtually impossible, so when the charming and mysterious Lexi offers him a chance at a totally anonymous hook-up during an out of town trip, Jax accepts. Only Lexi is more sextacular than charming, and Jax wants more.

But Lexi's got a major hang-up over his renegade lifestyle. And if she finds out his connections could catapult her to the top of her career, he's afraid the fantasy woman he's falling for might just end up like all the rest.

Warning: This audiobook contains uber-hot sexual encounters. For safety's sake, listen along with pitcher of ice-water. Or…wine…

©2013 Skye Jordan (P)2013 Skye Jordan

Exciting and sexy

What did you love best about Reckless?

I loved the whole story from the very beginning. The plot was interesting and the characters complex but not complicated. I like the fact that the book is not concentrated only on the two main characters and their relationship. I admire their struggles and ways to reach their own goals. They are truly human beings like everybody else - with their strong and weak sides.
The idea of the casual hook up is not unusual it the romance books, but I have to admit that in this book it was a bit twisted and added a new shade to this kind of experiences. The original idea made it more unique and I was captivated till the very end. I am sorry that it's already finished. I hope that the Audible will soon share the other books from this series (I'm not sure if they are already written).

What other book might you compare Reckless to and why?

I have no idea. I've read / listened to many romance books, but I can't really remember anything like this one - what makes it so captivating and unique.

Which character – as performed by Piper Goodeve – was your favorite?

The main characters - of course, but also Wes and Rubi. Piper Goodeve did a great job performing all the characters with different voices and intonations. I was never confused and listening to her narration was smooth and pleasurable. Male voices were masculine and sexy, female ones were flirty but sublime. Excellent job!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

All the emotions were somewhere engaged during listening to this book. I was touched by the previous experiences of those two, I admired the friendships, laughed at some of the scenes and cried for the others. Really - great book.

Any additional comments?

If you are looking for some romantic, sweet and tender story - you've got it! If you're fond of more sexy and hot romance - YOU'VE FOUND IT! If you're interested in s story with interesting plot and characters - THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU. Truly - you're always the winner ;-)

Out of touch designer

The main character is a fashion designer who lives & works in Los Angeles, making high end wedding dresses for the pampered Hollywood elite and other rich & famous people of note. Yet...yet, get this, she doesn’t track who’s who in Hollywood and doesn’t even recognize her hook up even though he comes from Hollywood royalty and was putting out blockbusters no less than 3 years ago before he switched careers. Riiight....That weird flaw in the plot kept biting into the fantasy for me. A big part of her job would be keeping track of who’s doing what to whom in Hollywood. Also, she was worried about how some couture house would judge who she dates? Pfft. Bad boy Hollywood royalty would be an asset not a black mark. I mean really, does anybody really believe a couture design house would threaten a designer with an ethical code of conduct over who they date, especially if it’s someone who’s in their earnings demographic? Ridiculous.

Likeable characters & good flow if you don’t mind dismissing above mentioned flaws.

Loved it!

I liked the story but I wished there was more to read. I would definitely read another book by this author.

finally sweet and sexy thoroughly likable couple.

I've been searching forever for smart reasonable people with passion and believable chemistry a romance novel. this is it. looking forward to the next book.

great book

"I was provided this audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review via AudiobookBlast dot com."

loved the book. i will read more by this autor and narrator

When fame isn’t a good thing.

I enjoyed this story. While it is hot and very descriptive, it doesn’t distract from a good story. Will pick up the next in the series.

Good start to the series :)

3-3.5 stars

This was a good story. I liked both Lexi and Jax but both also gave me some frustrated moments. This is the first story I've read by this author and I already own book #2 and am curious enough that I'm planning to read that book and we'll see past that.

Lexi grew up dirt poor in Kentucky. Her mother was a drunk and didn't keep a job for long which left Lexi without much..sometimes even the essentials like food. Lexi grew up with charity clothing that looked like crap and from a very young age she learned to cut and sew, turning the ugly stuff in to items she liked to wear. She had dreams of becoming a designer and worked very, very hard to get there. She's finally built a respectable business making designer couture gowns but has to be careful because in her business reputation can be everything.

Jax grew up in and acting family and acted most of his life. His family has never accepted him because he didn't fall in to their mold of what they considered respectable. Jax eventually got tired of acting and decided to start his own stunt business and now he's much happier in what he's doing and has 5 buddies working with him.

When the story begins, Jax is trying to get past a relationship with a woman that used him to try to get ahead in the movie business and screwed his company out of a big deal doing the stunt work for the new Bond film. Jax is even more pissed that when her aims in screwing him over didn't pan out she decided to come back trying to get him back. Jax tells her off right before going to the airport for a trip to New York for work. Lexi is being dropped off at the airport by her BFF, Ruby, and happens to see Jax being dropped off as well. She thinks he's hot but is the sort of bad boy that could cause bad things for her reputation. While waiting for her flight, she sees Jax again and starts to text him (getting his phone number through some hacking application her friend put on her cell to try out) but doesn't let him know who she is. They chat for a while and they both feel a connection, even just over texting. Jax tries to get Lexi to reveal herself to him but she's unwilling. Regardless of her not talking to him face to face, she does continue their chat through the flight. They end up at the same hotel and Jax manages to convince her to see him once there. Lexi doesn't I usually do this sort of thing so she almost freaks out big time and only is able to see him in a darkened room. They have a hot encounter and make plans to meet for more that evening after they both take care of their respective business. They come back together that evening and have more hot times together but both have mixed feelings about the thought of continuing things past this one night. Jax wants to but still fears she's some sort of gold digger that actually knows who he is and wants something out of him. Lexi thinks he's just a bad boy that can damage her reputation and she's in the middle of negotiations for a possible partnership that could be big for her and will also keep her way busy with work so she thinks it's best to call things off after one night. Which they do.

Both Lexi and Jax end up back in LA but spend weeks apart with Lexi working her fingers to the bone and Jax working but also trying to date a nice woman a buddy introduced him to. Thankfully that isn't working out and gets ended pretty quickly. Jax misses Lexi and ends up reaching out to her. She's missed him as well and wants to see him and they set it up. As soon as they see each other the yo-yo factor began... To be honest, I got rather annoyed because it soon felt like neither Lexi or Jax could keep a feeling in their head for more than a few minutes at a time. Jax seemed to excel at jumping to conclusions about Lexi being someone looking to use him and I didn't understand his reasoning half the time. Lexi finally seemed to get past Jax's bad boy issue but then started to realize that he has some power in LA and her last boyfriend with power almost ruined her whole life. So Lexi is torn between wanting Jax and being afraid of him and what he could do to her. It doesn't help that she's getting pressure from the people that want to partner with her and she's not even sure the partnership is something that would be best for her anyways. Just when things seemed to be getting to rights between Jax and Lexi, the issues their relationship bring for Lexi causes Jax to suffer from a but of relationship dumbassedness and he does something that he thinks is helpful but actually just hurts them both. I did like how Lexi brought them back together so they could start their HEA together.

This was an enjoyable story. I did like both Jax and Lexi. They were both good characters but just had some issues that were a bit frustrating at times. Still, I'm glad they were able to work things out and come together. Overall, I liked the story and was curious enough about some of the secondary characters that I'm looking forward to seeing how things go for Wes and Ruby. :D

New favorite author and narator!

This is my first Skye Jordan book and I got completely sucked in! I feel like I don't look for much in a romance ('m okay with predictable and other qualities) as long as it's fun and doesn't annoy me. Mostly, I like a good story with a steamy hookup. If you make me wait too long, I get bored. This one did not disappoint. In fact, even though the characters have some moments where I feel like they get selfish/immature, the pace was really good. Just enough tension until you get that first steamy scene (one of my favorites of the books I have read) and some other good ones in between. The ending is predictable but again, not a priority of mine. Skye has quickly become a new favorite of mine and I'm gradually collecting the Renegades series.

I have already listed to the next installment which picks up with her friend Ruby which I also enjoyed. On to the third!

Hot, sexy, thoroughly entertaining!

Great book! As I said in my headline: hot, sexy and thoroughly entertaining! Piper Goodeve did a great job with the narration. I'm ready to listen to Renegades #2!

That was good!

I got this book on sale, but I would have paid full price. What a delightful escape!

The Renegades are a group of men who are stunt men for movies, led by Jax the owner of Renegades. They work high end stunts for the Hollywood movies, and of course they are all gorgeous bad a$$es!

Enter Lexie, she is overwhelmed by life, trying to make it on her own from her dirt poor roots to what she is today, a fashion designer for the rich and famous. She doesn't have time for relationships...she is thinking about taking a page out of her friends play book and trying for a one night stand when she meets Jax.

Jax has been screwed over in every which way you can think of by a woman. He has lost jobs, lost friends, and basically lost respect for himself on why he keeps being duped by these women. He has just sworn off women for a while when he receives a text from a mysterious woman who makes him smile. She's trying to stay anonymous, and he can't stop thinking of her.

Overall I found the writing to be H-O-T, fast paced, and with minimal drama. I really did like this book a lot, and am already listening to the second story of these wandering Renegade men ;-)

Narrator was really good too, the men sound yummy yummy!!!