Erin Hardee's Reviews > Enticing

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Spice: 🌶🌶.75

These Sinclair men are no joke when it comes to their women, and Leo is no different. I've been ready for this carefree, like to joke around, not serious about anything but hockey, man's book. I knew whoever got to him was going to be special, and Addie James didn't disappoint. These men in Bella's books keep getting hotter and hotter, and Leo is up there in the hotness department. It only took a single mom with secrets in her past to make him break all the rules to ensure she became his.

Tropes:
🏒 Hockey Romance
🩷 Romance Author
🏒 Marriage of Convenience
🩷 Single Mom
🏒 Possessive Hero
🩷 Secrets/Traumatic Past
🏒 Touch Her & Die
🩷 Billionaire & Aires

Adelaide James, a.k.a Addie James or to the romance world, A.J. James is a single mom of 2 little girls that is struggling. The stress of the world is on her shoulders, and she refuses to go after her ex for child support. Thank God for that part. That only leaves one thing to do if she wants money. Especially money that is hers. She needs to her married to access her billion dollar trust fund.

Leo Sinclair is a pretty famous hockey player and well known in his town, being born to the G.O.A.T. of football. Plus, he's got a pretty famous family regardless. He's teaching Hockey Tots to little kids and helps a smart and say little girl, Izzy. That's leads to helping her and her mother her home one day when her car won't start.

To say Addie was not warm to the idea of Leo in the beginning is an understatement. She doesn't feel comfortable around any male. Leo warms his way into her life a little at a time. Her children love Leo and the youngest, Lennox is a baby. Leo loves these little girls, too. Like his father had always said, when you met your person, you just know, and Leo knew Addie was his. He just needed to convince her of that.

When he learns of the marriage to get her money, Leo steps up. He offers to marry Addie, just so he can date her. They have to make this look real regardless. No problem for Leo, because it is real for him, and it's becoming more and more real for Addie the more time they are together.

The problem lies not only with getting the correct people to turn over her trust fund, but her daughters ex starts calling and threatening her. Leo will not let anything happen to Addie or his girls. Because those girls are Leo's. Things happen, and all hell breaks loose. Leo may or may not end up in jail to protect his girls.

Addie is shy and intimidated. She doesn't draw attention to herself and flies under the radar. No one even knows who her family is, and it comes to a shock to Leo's hockey team and family. At one point, when Addie is so scared, Leo tells her:

"Baby...I need you to get mad. I understand your scared, but I swear to God, Adelaide , I won't let him touch you or the girls. He's never going to hurt anyone again. Now, I need you to get angry because it's time to destroy his whole f**king family, and tomorrow, we're going to figure out a way to make that happen. His days of terrorizing you are over. "

Such strong words for this section of the book. Well put out words from Leo it not only can tell you what may be happening, but what kind of man Leo is for his girls. This carefree, funny boy turned into a man whose works revolve around the James girls.

The only reason I didn't give this 5 starts was because I thought the ending seemed rushed. It just seemed to skip to the drama, and then it was over. Her books used to be longer and had so much more depth to them. I really enjoyed this book and recommend reading it. Especially if you love Bella Matthews books. I just wished for a little more.

I know what it is like to come from a DA relationship with children. The terror and running and wondering if today is the day you'll be found. It's a life you never think you'll be happy in again, even after you get away. I don't know how it is in every state, but in mine, jail isn't a life sentence for abuse. No matter how hard and difficult it is for you to recover from. Most of the time is probation or a few months at most served. Most women take them back because they won't leave you alone, threaten you or harm you worse, and take away your contact with the outside world. You become too scared to leave, too scared to get on their bad side and too scared to contact the law because it's always the same punishment. It's never enough, and that's not even the backlash you get from family, friends, and the law/court system. The question's of why don't you just leave, it why do you let him do that. Or the famous Is never let my man do that to me. You never know what a domestic survivor goes through. What all they lose. Not only their dignity, self-worth, and love for themselves, but they also lose their friends and a lot of the time their families. I know I lost mine. If you can leave, then do it. Sometimes, it's not airways that easy, though. Sometimes, you have to wait until the time is right, and then you always look over your shoulder. Especially if you have an obsessed person who thinks you belong to them and only them. Sometimes, it's a life punishment, and these people lose their life. You are always worth so much more than we ever give itself credit for. I wish I would have left after that first time. Most women it takes 7x before they've had enough. It's a scary situation that I don't wish on my worst enemy. I was lucky I didn't die. I'm now in a wheelchair for life due to my situation. He tried to kill us both and our daughter. We all lived, though, but my life punishment is being in a wheelchair for life now. If you are in a situation like this, please get help and get away. You can't fix them, and it will only get worse. I'm so happy Bella put information in the back of this book for a domestic violence hotline. Thank you for that, Bella.

I received this as an ARC for my honest review. Thank you Bella Matthews for this copy of Enticing.