TLBC's Book Blog: Combust, an all new sexy and emotional standalone by K. Bromberg is Available NOW! Read my review here!

From New York Times Bestselling author, K. Bromberg, comes the second standalone book in the Everyday Heroes series. Just how hot will firefighter Grady Malone turn up the heat? Songwriter Dylan McCoy has been burned. By her boyfriend she found in her bed . . . with someone else. By the contract she signed that obligates her to work with him until the songs for his new album are complete. By her agent when she asked Dylan to keep their breakup on the down-low. When she finds herself in Sunnyville, she refuses to let her new roommate burn her too. Still . . . a rebound has never looked so good. That’s her first thought when she sees firefighter Grady Malone. Sexy. Charismatic. Unapologetic. He’s a man who carries his own scars—the ones on his back, the survivor’s guilt on his soul, and the fear in his heart. When an unexpected visitor puts their roommate status to the test, will their undeniable attraction burn out, or will they both take a chance and play with fire?

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EXCERPT

Preoccupied with a text on my phone from my agent, I walk into the kitchen and suck in a breath when I come face to back with Grady. He’s standing with his hand on the refrigerator door, head leaned inside, and his back fully exposed to me. It’s broad and strong and scarred immeasurably. I stare. I can’t help it. The marks are a dizzying array of dark and light and ridged and smooth. And they’re undeniably burns. Goosebumps chase over my skin as I imagine the pain he must have endured when he got those. I think of his habit of wearing unbuttoned shirts but never going shirtless and the hint of scars just visible above his collar that I never could have imagined led to this roadmap to hell on his back. A part of me instinctively wants to reach out to touch them, bring some kind of comfort. It sounds ridiculous, even to me, but that doesn’t abate the urge. “Not pretty, huh? Get a good look while you can.” His voice is gruff as his spine stiffens and body stills, emotion woven through the words. “Thank God not all of you is pretty. I was beginning to feel majorly insecure having to live with perfection like you,” I say off the cuff, trying to make this situation less awkward. My attempt to settle the sudden tension sparking in the air around us. “Perfection?” he asks as he turns to face me with a smile that masks the emotion swirling in his eyes. “Yeah. You have scars. I have mermaid thighs.” “Mermaid thighs?” He laughs. “What in the world are you talking about?” “Thighs that touch from the top all the way to my knees.” I shrug as if it doesn’t bug me, as if I’m not highlighting one of the insults Tara threw at me. It’s a whole lot easier to make fun of myself so long as it puts him at ease. “Do you ever give yourself a break?” “Do you?” I ask the question, sparking a silent battle of wills as we stare at each other and wonder what to say next about the other’s insecurities. Coming up empty, I shift gears. “I think there is some type of rule about how many abs are fair for a guy to have when the rest of us are just struggling to find one of them.” His smile rings more genuine as he steps toward me, and I step back, my hips leaning against the counter now. “Is that so?” His voice lowers as his eyes flick to my lips and then back up. “I’m sure you have some under your shirt there.” Why does the simple action make it seem so hard to swallow? He takes another step. “What are you building outside?” “A playroom.” A nervous chuckle falls from my lips as I think of all of the versions of playrooms I’ve read about in my romance books. My cheeks stain red as I imagine Grady with a flogger in one hand standing beside a St. Andrew’s Cross. “A playroom?” “Yeah.” He takes a step closer so we’re breathing the same air, his voice husky enough to cause every part of my body to grow alert. “A playroom. You know . . . a pool table. Foosball. A real man cave.” I exhale a shaky sigh, suddenly more than aware that he’s so close, shirtless, sweaty, and smelling like sun and soap mixed together. But it’s his eyes that make my thoughts falter. There’s an intensity to them I don’t expect from the perpetually cheerful Grady Malone. “Ah, that kind of playroom . . .” But my words trail off as he steps even closer and braces his hands on the counter on either side of me. I can hear his intake of breath. The music floating in from outside. The pound of my pulse in my ears. “Hey, Dyl?” “Yes?” Our eyes hold, my lips fall lax. “I need you to open up.” “What?” I question as his hand brushes against my hip and his fingers pull on the drawer handle I’m standing in front of. “I need the bottle opener. You’re standing in front of the drawer it’s in.” His lips spread into a full-fledged grin as I scramble away from the counter and, of course, run smack dab into the hardness, all six foot plus of him. And then I rebound off him again in a flustered state that has him laughing and me stuttering. “Sorry. I wasn’t—I didn’t . . .” His arms hold on to my biceps to steady me, which prompts me to look up and meet his eyes. “We need to stop meeting like this,” he murmurs, the heat of his breath hitting my lips. “We do.” Brilliant, Dylan. Freaking brilliant response. “I’ve gotta . . . I’ve gotta get back to . . . to writing.”

My Review (ARC provided)

5 stars!

What can I say, K. Bromberg has yet to disappoint me. She brings it on with this H and h making me fall in love with both.

Both Dylan (h) and Grady (H) are overcoming some hardships. Dylan’s heart is broken and she needs to move on, all while pretending to still be with the person that broke her.

“The heart’s blind. It’s the head that causes all the trouble.”

Dylan seeks the help of her brother who sets her up with living accommodations while she’s grieving her failed relationship.

Grady is trying to overcome a deeply pained past and emotional problems, all while still wearing the scars to remind him every day of what happened.

Grady uses humor to hide his scars and Dylan uses music. They both help heal each other but will it be enough for them to move on?

“We all have scars. Some are visible. Some aren’t. In the end, they represent the fact that you’re stronger now than whatever tried to hurt you.”

This book was filled with wonderful quotes. It had me laughing and tearing up. I felt the love and chemistry between these two; I think even before they did. ;)

“Love is rarely pretty. It’s messy. It’s complicated. It’s often ugly, but that’s how you know when it’s right. Pretty doesn’t always last. It’s the things you have to work at that make the reward that much sweeter.”

It worked, they were perfect for each other, but they had to figure out how to be with each other without letting their self-esteem getting the best of them. Grady seemed like he’d be this cocky bad boy but underneath it all he was flawed and scared.

I loved how they had this amazing bond and friendship to help lift the other person up.

So like I said, K. Bromberg has done it again and given us a beautiful story that is sad but equally funny and it touches you just where you need it to.

I loved it!

About K. Bromberg

New York Times Bestselling author K. Bromberg writes contemporary novels that contain a mixture of sweet, emotional, a whole lot of sexy, and a little bit of real. She likes to write strong heroines, and damaged heroes who we love to hate and hate to love. A mom of three, she plots her novels in between school runs and soccer practices, more often than not with her laptop in tow. Since publishing her first book in 2013, Kristy has sold over one million copies of her books across sixteen different countries and has landed on the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestsellers lists over twenty-five times. Her Driven trilogy (Driven, Fueled, and Crashed) is currently being adapted for film by Passionflix with the first movie slated to release in the summer of 2018. She is currently working on her Everyday Heroes trilogy. This series consists of three complete standalone novels—Cuffed, Combust, and Cockpit (late spring 2018)—and is about three brothers who are emergency responders, the jobs that call to them, and the women who challenge them. She loves to hear from her readers so make sure you check her out on social media or sign up for her newsletter to stay up to date on all her latest releases and sales: http://bit.ly/254MWtI