Playing with Fire (New Hope, #8) (Mended Hearts, #1)

by Lexi Ryan

[Cocktails and Books]

This review was originally posted on Cocktails and Books

I'm going to be honest. I wasn't sure what to expect from Max and Nix's story, but it sure wasn't to find Nix was a much different woman than I thought or that I would like Max much better now that he wasn't with Hannah.

PLAYING WITH FIRE is the first book in the Mended Hearts series, but it's connected to several other series (listed below). You can read this as a stand alone, but if you want to truly understand the dynamics between Nix, Max and the rest of their friends in New Hope you need to read the other books first.

I wasn't really sure if there was ever going to come a point where I liked Max. So much had happened in the other stories that I wasn't sure if I could really trust him. But seeing him a few years removed from Hannah's story, I found I did like him. I was glad to see him happily raising his daughter and trying to be the best man possible for her. And I loved how he was that guy that wanted to ride in on his white horse, especially with Nix.

Nix was always a hard character to read and we finally discover why. Considering everything she had been through, it was amazing she was still able to get out of bed in the morning. The fact that should could endeared me to her more. Made me understand why she kept people at arms length, even if it killed her to do so. But it also made me hope that Max, Liz, and the rest of the New Hope crew would finally get the good doctor to open up and finally give herself to all of them.

I really enjoyed the storyline regarding Nix's background. It was creepy and fed into every notion I had about the life she used to live, while keeping me on the edge of my seat until the very end.

Another great book by Lexi Ryan. She never fails to deliver a book that packs a bunch, not only with some pretty hot sexy times but also with the emotions her characters also spill onto you. If you haven't been introduced to the residents of New Hope, you must definitely need to.


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