In book .5 in the Crossing the Line series, NYPD detective Troy Bennett is smitten as soon as he sees Ruby Elliot in a bar. She’s confident, reckless, and brassy, and he thinks he’s finally found a woman strong enough to handle him. He likes rough and dirty sex, so it’s hard for him to find and to keep a woman willing to submit to him.
After a lifetime of hustling pool and struggling to survive in the criminal underworld of gambling, street-smart Ruby is determined to go straight. Then she finds out her incredible new lover is hunting down her former boss, a dangerous criminal and the head of a crime family. In order to protect Troy, she puts her life and their relationship on the line.
Troy and Ruby are so much alike, even though their chosen careers are complete opposites. They’re both strong and stubborn, but she’s willing to surrender and give him what he needs in the bedroom while he pleases her out of her freakin’ mind. The sex was super hot and erotic!
I really enjoyed this story, and I’d love find out more about Troy’s cop friends, Brent and Daniel, and about Ruby’s criminal friend, Bowen.
The H/h’s romance is continued in another story, but this novella ends with a HFN and no cliffhanger.
4 Stars ( )

4.1 stars

I love this author and the men she creates. They have this charisma about them coupled with the best dirty talking that is the stuff that dreams are made of. It's like catnip for the vagina. This book frustrated me a tad bit though. I wanted it more fleshed out. The speed that everything happened lessened the story for me. Had there been more depth I would have been even more connected with these characters. I also would have loved an epilogue. It ended on a HFN.

Still a very good book. ( )

3.5 stars for the insta love portion, but otherwise another winner from Tessa Bailey. She, Amy Andrews, Jill Shalvis, and Charlotte Stein are my automatic buys. Solid, sexy, dirty mouthed NYPD officer with dom like tendencies falls for smart mouthed, pool hustling Brooklyn babe with daddy issues and ties to the mob. What's not to like? ( )

I had stopped reading this at the 70% mark, not sure why, but am going back through and finishing the ones I'd left hanging. It was fine. Not my favorite Tessa, but okay. ( )

The book was basically a repeat of the same story from the first book just in a different location. A “tough potty mouthed” cop saves the girl from “her wretched past he doesn’t approve of.” The author seems to think a man who exhibits jealous semi-stalkerish tendencies after knowing a girl one day is romantic and sexy. I don’t agree with that so I have huge issues with the book. The heroine is portrayed as strong and independent which seems to be a problem for the alpha-male cop. I almost didn’t finish this one. I have the rest of the ones in the series but it will be awhile before I step back into this world. The narrator was okay and I didn’t have any issues with their work ( )