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| My own copy |
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| Original Cover |
The blurb:
One bachelor
auction.
Two
good friends.
When
Skye agrees to bid on her friend, Brooks, the last thing she expects to lose is
her heart.
Bidding
on Brooks is the first of four books about the Philadelphia-based,
wildly-handsome Winslow brothers who are all on the look-out for love.
(Except Preston. He's been down that road before and still has the scars to prove it. And maybe Cameron, because he's super-hot, but too hot-headed to be decent boyfriend material...)
Railroaded into a bachelor auction by his sister, Jessica, Brooks Winslow asks his friend, Skye Sorenson, to bid on him to avoid the possibility of any romantic entanglements. Fiercely competitive and protective of those he cares for, Brooks was profoundly affected by the loss of his father at an early age. A witness to his mother's terrible loneliness and his siblings' grief, the ex-Olympian has never allowed himself to fall in love.
Skye Sorenson, the plucky mechanic at Sorenson Marina, where Brooks moors his three sailboats, is a credible sailor in her own right...and has quietly lusted after Brooks for years. But her longstanding friendship with Brooks has always made romance seem impossible.
When Skye agrees to bid on Brooks, the two cast off for a weeklong ocean adventure on Brooks' sailboat, The Zephyr, where the last thing Skye expects to lose is her heart.
Return to the world created in the English Brothers books with this fresh foursome of scorching hot Winslow Brothers!
(Except Preston. He's been down that road before and still has the scars to prove it. And maybe Cameron, because he's super-hot, but too hot-headed to be decent boyfriend material...)
Railroaded into a bachelor auction by his sister, Jessica, Brooks Winslow asks his friend, Skye Sorenson, to bid on him to avoid the possibility of any romantic entanglements. Fiercely competitive and protective of those he cares for, Brooks was profoundly affected by the loss of his father at an early age. A witness to his mother's terrible loneliness and his siblings' grief, the ex-Olympian has never allowed himself to fall in love.
Skye Sorenson, the plucky mechanic at Sorenson Marina, where Brooks moors his three sailboats, is a credible sailor in her own right...and has quietly lusted after Brooks for years. But her longstanding friendship with Brooks has always made romance seem impossible.
When Skye agrees to bid on Brooks, the two cast off for a weeklong ocean adventure on Brooks' sailboat, The Zephyr, where the last thing Skye expects to lose is her heart.
Return to the world created in the English Brothers books with this fresh foursome of scorching hot Winslow Brothers!
My Opinion:
*Book
provided by the author in exchange for an honest review*
If you have been following
my blog for a while, you know that I am a big Katy Regnery fan. Bidding on Brooks is a start of a new
series and the best thing about it: It’s connected to the English Brothers
series.
The story follows the
oldest Winslow brother. He is a former sailing Olympian and he lives for that
sport. His father died of a heart attack when Brooks was only 17 years old, he
was the father to his younger siblings and now getting closer to 40 he is
scared the same thing will happen to him. This is also the reason he doesn’t
let girls close, because he doesn’t want commitment or a relationship. He still
has his ways of meeting girls…
Skye Sorenson is not the
typical girl. She is a mechanic, lives by the marina with her father and enjoys
sailing and being on the water, she also enjoys her sunsets (loved this fact).
She has been secretly in love with Brooks for 20 years, ever since she saw him
sailing away one day.
The two of them have been
ever since, but not more than friends. When Brooks’ sister Jessica is planning
an auction for her wedding, she offers Brooks and a sail with him as a price.
Brooks is really not in the mood for it and asks Skye to bid on him. She
eventually agrees and at the day of the auction she goes to buy a dress. She
meets lovely Clay, who helps her with everything and makes her look stunning.
She arrives just in time for the auction and Brooks is stunned by her
appearance. They share a really intense moment, but Skye has a boyfriend and
anyway…
Starting the journey, the
tension between them is on fire and their connection is getting more passionate
by the minute. When the situation between Skye and her boyfriend changes, they
can’t hold it back anymore. Their chemistry is electric and oh so passionate, I
really adored these scenes. Very sexy and full of longing and lust!!!
However, Brooks is not
ready to do the next step and Skye also has a secret. Everything is revealed
after a while, including disappointment, misunderstandings, drama and passion.
I loved Brooks
transformation in this story. From seeing her as a friend, to realising that
she is sexy and falling for her.
The change of perspective
between them, opened up the story and made it easy to find a relation to both
characters. This story is wonderful, emotional, passionate, authentic, sweet!!!
This is a MUST READ and I
can’t wait for Preston’s, Cameron and Christopher’s stories.
Oh and I really enjoyed
having Alex English, Jess and some other characters from The English Brother
series in this book.
Rating:
My possible cast:
Brooks: Dave Gandy
Skye: Kate Bosworth
Excerpt
from Chapter 1 Bidding on Brooks
(All
rights reserved. Used with permission from Katy Regnery)
“Please, Skye. Just listen.
You’re the perfect person for this. You’ve got to help me out.”
Skye Sorenson
rolled her eyes at Brooks Winslow, adjusting the brim of her baseball cap as
she swept past him and headed down the dock for her next job.
“I mean
it, Skye. I’m up a tree…and we’re friends. Can’t you give me a hand?”
Dreamy Delight needed a new float
switch and bilge pump, which would be difficult to manage with Brooks Winslow
standing on the dock, looking casually gorgeous as he yammered at her about
some charity event he wanted her to attend.
Gazing
at her hands, she noted they were still covered with engine grease from the oil
change she’d just handled on the outboard motor of a J-24 sailboat. Not wanting
to get black fingerprints on the white fiberglass of the motorboat she was
about to service, she took a bandana out of the back pocket of her overalls
then turned to face Brooks as she wiped her fingers.
“Are
you going to follow me around all afternoon if I don’t listen?”
“Umm…pretty
much.”
She
sighed with feigned annoyance. “Fine. You have my attention. Tell it to me
again.”
Brooks
looked relieved and gave her a small grin that—damn it—made Skye’s stomach flutter.
“Knew
you wouldn’t let me down.”
“Haven’t
said yes to anything yet,” she said, shoving the bandana back into her pocket
and crossing her arms over her chest.
“My
sister, Jessica, is back in Philly this summer to get married. To keep busy,
she’s organized some big benefit for the Institute of Contemporary Art. She and
her girlfriends thought it would be fun to volunteer their single brothers to
be auctioned off.”
“Auctioned
off?”
“Yeah…a
bachelor auction.”
“Some
sister,” said Skye, unable to keep the teasing from her voice.
“It’s
for charity,” he said defensively, running a hand through his waves of jet
black hair.
“Okay.
So you got roped into it.” She thought back to an old movie she’d seen once
where women were auctioned off as dates. At each of their feet had been a
pretty lunch basket, and the man that was the highest bidder won a homemade
lunch with the girl of his choice. “What do you have to do? Have lunch with
someone?”
“Oh,
no,” he said with irritation, pursing his lips. “Nothing that painless. Jess
wants to make money. Big money. She
had to think bigger than lunch.”
Skye
stared up at him. “Dinner?”
“Nope.”
“Two
dinners?”
“Nuh-uh.”
She
gestured to the sleek Sportscruiser moored at the end of the dock that she was
supposed to be working on. “I’m out of guesses, Brooks…and that pump isn’t
going to fix itself, so—”
“A
sail. She’s auctioning off a sail. With me.”
“Well,
I don’t know why you’re complaining. You love sailing. You love women. What’s
the problem?”
Skye
tilted her head to the side, looking at Brooks’ way-too-handsome face with a
cheeky grin.
Long
ago Skye had accepted the fact that Brooks would never see her as anything but
a great mechanic, a proficient sailor, and a long-time friend. She was—honestly
and truly—satisfied with that status quo between them. He was rich and
powerful, an ex-Olympian and world-renowned sailor from Philadelphia, while
Skye lived a much quieter life, working as a “handyman” at her dad’s marina in
Maryland. What they had in common was a deep love of boats and mutual respect
for one another’s nautical skills, and that was just enough to keep their
friendship intact.
The
first time Skye had ever seen Brooks Winslow was the day he came down to her
father’s marina to claim the fifteen foot Primrose wood-hulled sailboat gifted
to him from his parents for his fifteenth birthday. He swaggered into Sorenson
Marina, flashing his perfect smile at her, and her ten-year-old heart had grown
wings as she’d discreetly followed him down the dock. She was instantly
infatuated with Brooks, of course, but much more, Skye harbored a deep devotion
to his Primrose, the most beautiful little double-ended Daycruiser she’d ever
seen. Her stomach had been in knots as she walked behind him from a discreet
distance, hopeful that he would handle the little sailboat with the grace and
care she deserved. But Skye’s worries turned out to be unfounded. He’d treated
that pretty boat with respect and skill, and Skye had breathed deeply with
relief, whispering, “I’m gonna marry you someday,” as he sailed away.
Twenty
years later, Skye knew two things for certain:
One,
that Brooks was one of the most talented, natural, organic sailors she’d ever
met in her life. Heck, he’d made it all the way to the Olympics and come home
with a medal to prove what Skye had always known—that any boat was safe in his
hands. She respected him more than most of the sailors she knew.
And
two, the chances of her ever marrying him were next to none in the approximate
area of zero. He was gorgeous and rich and talented and fascinating…and
completely out of her league.
“Not a one-day sail,” Brooks continued in a
terse voice, jettisoning her memories as he prompted her back to their
conversation. “Not even two. Jessica signed me up for a cruise. From Baltimore
to Charleston.”
Skye
felt her eyes widen as she stared at him. “That’s a week. Minimum.”
“Yeah.”
“Crew?”
Brooks
grabbed the back of his neck with his hand, rubbing. “Nope. It’s supposed to
be… romantic.”
A
romantic cruise. For a week. Alone. With Brooks.
Lucky girl, she thought, ignoring
the ridiculous spike of jealousy that jabbed a little at her heart and made her
feel instantly guilty.
She
couldn’t help her attraction to him, but the fact that it was totally
unreturned made it manageable in a way that didn’t hurt. For heaven’s sake, it
wasn’t like she had feelings for
Brooks beyond friendship. She just liked looking at him. Her eighty-year-old
granny’s heart would flutter at the sight of Brooks’ thick, dark hair, flashing
sea-green eyes, square jaw, muscular body, and perennially-tan hands that
handled a boat with the same finesse that he probably handled his women.
Noticing Brooks’ good looks didn’t make Skye unique or special, and it didn’t
mean she wanted more from him than friendship either (she tried to convince
herself). It just made her human.
“Romantic,”
she murmured. Turning away, she looked out at the harbor where sailboats bobbed
up and down in afternoon sun.
“Yeah.”
“But
you won’t know who she is,” said Skye, “until she wins you.”
“Bingo,”
he said.
“And
then you’ll be trapped at sea for a week.”
“Precisely.”
“She
could be anyone.”
“Yep.”
“Does
your sister really hate you?”
Brooks
scoffed. “No. But she really loves modern art.”
“Okay.
Yeah. It’s a pretty sucky situation. But how can I help?”
He
grinned. “You can bid on me.”
About the Author:
Katy Regnery, award-winning and
Amazon bestselling author, started her writing career by enrolling in a short
story class in January 2012. One year later, she signed her first contract for
a winter romance entitled By Proxy.
Now a hybrid author who publishes
both independently and traditionally, Katy claims authorship of the six-book
Heart of Montana series, the six-book English Brothers series, and a Kindle
Worlds novella entitled “Four Weddings and a Fiasco: The Wedding Date.” Katy’s
short story, “The Long Way Home” appears in the first RWA anthology, Premiere, and she has published two standalone
novels, Playing for Love at Deep Haven
and the Amazon bestseller, The Vixen and
the Vet, which is book one in Katy’s a
m o d e r n f a i r y t a l e collection.
The Vixen and the Vet was nominated
for a RITA® in 2015.
Katy lives in the relative
wilds of northern Fairfield County, Connecticut, where her writing room looks
out at the woods, and her husband, two young children, and two dogs create just
enough cheerful chaos to remind her that the very best love stories begin at
home.
Upcoming (2015) Projects:
The Winslow Brothers (Books #1-4)
Never Let You go, a modern fairytale
Ginger’s Heart, a modern fairytale
Connect with Katy:
Katy LOVES
connecting with her readers and answers every e-mail, message, tweet and post
personally! Click below to connect with Katy!
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