4.5 STARS ✮ SAWYER BENNETT ✮ VAN

VAN

Cold Fury #9

Sawyer Bennett

✮ ✮ ✮ 4.5 STARS ✮ ✮ ✮

Score one for the Carolina Cold Fury hockey team as a stone-cold badass melts for a woman who makes his blood run hot.

As one of the league’s toughest enforcers, Van Turner is ruthless on the ice. He plays hard because it’s the only way to channel the rage boiling inside, and a reputation as an A-hole is better than everyone knowing the truth. Van has spent his entire life running from a secret that’s kept him from getting involved in relationships—or accepting lucrative deals with East Coast teams. Then the Carolina Cold Fury makes him an offer he can’t refuse . . . and Van meets a woman he can’t resist.

Simone Fournier is the stubborn one in her family—and that’s saying something, considering her brothers are two of the Cold Fury’s biggest stars. Simone gets what she wants, and what she wants is Van. Still, there’s a part of him Simone can’t reach, no matter how hard she tries. In private, he’s all fire and passion. In public, he freezes her out. Van may want to push her away, but Simone won’t let him go that easily. Because this time, she’s playing for keeps.

The Cold Fury series keeps getting better! I loved most of them, three of them were outstanding for me, those being Alex, Max and *drum roll*, now VAN! Yes. I would even argue that this new installment in the series is the best of yet.

I had crazy fun with the main characters of the book. We met Van and Simone in Lucas, which was Simone and Max Fournier's brother. It was obvious that there was something going on between the vivacious Simone and the taciturn Van.

Simone was a hoot. She is sexually very forward, has no issue saying what she wants and is relentless in pursuing it. She has a thick skin and doesn't take it personally when Van keeps saying no to her, no, it spurs her on. Simone isn't a doormat or easy, when she draws a line she won't cross it. As stubborn as she is in her pursuit of Van, she doesn't let him walk all over her. And then we get the side of her with the big heart, the depth that shows the love for her family, the compassion she feels for Van's past, her sorrow for having disappointed her family and her own confusion about her future.

Van?” I whisper. “Am I still shiny?”
He chuckles, pulls me in tighter, and squeezes the breath out of me.
“Yes, Simone. So fucking shiny you make everything else in the world seem a little dull by comparison.”

Van is one cranky dude. His walls are miles high and in the beginning Simone is nothing else but a pebble in his shoe. She annoys the hell out of him but the girl has a way of getting under his skin and soon he finds himself doing and thinking uncharacteristic things. Simone comes into his life with a wrecking ball and tears down his walls. Little by little he lets her in. Van isn't easy to love in the beginning but gradually with each comical exchange between those two and his obvious confusion about Simone you can't help but fall in love with him.

He gives a ragged moan that sounds fulfilled and defeated all at the same time.

There is a fine line when it comes to cranky alphaholes. It's hard to not overdo the crankiness and a-holery and make the hero redeemable, even lovable. Sawyer Bennett's Van is perfection. She really nailed him. Even when Simone has his love he is still himself. He isn't a soft and sweet pussycat, at least not for everyone else but Simone in the end.

And can I say that they were really hot in bed? I know that this author writes some of the hottest sexy times but damn. DAMN!
Simone's sass is a special kind, it's the self-assured one we usually see in cocky heroes. She was hilarious!

Van’s lips press tight and anger flashes in his eyes. He enunciates his words clearly, leaning slightly toward me. “I’m. Not. Interested. In. You. Simone.”
I wrinkle my nose and shake my head. “Nah . . . you see, that wasn’t really convincing. But I do love the way my name sounds coming out of your mouth. Try it again, though, if you want.” For a brief moment, I’m afraid Van might stroke out.

I loved Van's background story, it was unusual and captivating and a little bit heartbreaking. I also love that Sawyer Bennett never drags out the angst, the drama is never over the top and quickly resolved.

Well, you were my first everything, Simone. My first love. First devotion. My first heartbreak. My one and only relationship with a woman. You were my first confidant and companion. Simone . . . you were my first friend ever. My first . . . everything.”

Swoon!

Sawyer Bennett knocked Van out of the park and of all the Cold Fury books VAN has become my favorite in the series. Next up is REED and you bet your ass that I'll be reading it.