Man Card by Sarina Bowen & Tanya Eby

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Title: Man Card
Author: Sarina Bowen, Tanya Eby
Series: Man Hands #2
Published by: Indie
Release Date: January 15th 2018
Format: eARC
Pages: 452
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Romantic Comedy
Source: the author
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2018 #LetsReadIndie Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 AtoZ Reading Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 New Release Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ IndieBound
My rating:

Blurb:

Nothing ventured, nothing banged...

AshI still don't know how it happened. One minute I was arguing with my arrogant competitor--our usual trash-talk over who deserves the larger commission. But somehow I went from throwing down to kneeling down... It can never happen again. I don't even like Braht. He's too slick. He's a manipulating mansplaining party boy in preppy clothes.So why can't I get him out of my head?

BrahtThere are two things I know without question. One: Ash and I are destined for each other. Two: never trust a man with a unibrow.Ash is my missing my piece. She's the sweet cream to my gourmet espresso. And nothing gets me going faster than her contempt for me. They don't call her the Ashkicker for nothing. Eventually I'll win her over...if my past doesn't ruin everything first.

My Review:

I received a free copy through the author in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

4 stars — Well that was just some good old fashioned fun goodness!!  A perfect complement to Man Hands, while you don’t need to read the first book to enjoy this one, I highly recommend that you check out both.  Though I’m sure anyone who skipped Brynn and Tom’s story will immediately want to go back and rectify that after devouring this one.  I didn’t experience quite as much sympathetic embarrassment with Man Card, which was a relief, but it was still zany and filled with awesomely quirky characters.  And it had a bit of a side mystery/suspense element as well!

Can I just say that I never expected to fall in love with Braht??  I mean, I didn’t expect to dislike him in Man Hands or anything, but I honestly didn’t expect to be completely drawn to him and sucked in by his many facets and just plain hilariousness and adorableness.  I think I love him because he shirks society’s views on what a man should be and does so with confidence and panache.  And while my hubby is not anything like Braht, he also shirks society’s views on what a man should be in his own right (with confidence and panache), so it was a no brainer that I would be attracted to Braht.  It was so refreshing to have a hero that is confident, and successful, and in touch with their emotional side, and makes no apologies for the things he loves…basically the antithesis of toxic masculinity.  And seriously sexy too!  He made me laugh a lot, but he also made me hot with his antics in the bedroom.  I loved that he was all in with Ash, even as he wasn’t getting a huge return on his investment in her…but he’d fallen for her, and he was going to keep pursuing and using any situation to his advantage.  And he really was sweet, you could feel how much he cared for her and wanted to protect her.

Ash was a bit harder for me to get a handle on…because of what she was dealing with wrt DWEEB, she wasn’t who I was expecting wrt who I met in Man Hands.  But I think a lot of times our internal selves can be a bit different from what we project to others.  I loved her determination, her passion for winning, her love of organizing, her reward stickers…these all sound like little things, but they are just great examples of who she is.  I loved seeing her interact with her parents, and be there for her girls…even if she doesn’t feel super maternal or anything.  Heck, her awkward interactions with children spoke to my own awkward self.  😛  I really appreciated that she wasn’t super mean to Braht either…I admit I was a bit worried about that, but I enjoyed the conflict she had in her own head wrt to him.

Both of their past stories hit me in the feels, though perhaps Braht’s more than Ash’s.  I felt for young Braht and what fell on his shoulders, whereas I couldn’t quite get into the mindset of young Ash and why she made certain choices.

I loved watching them together…fighting and arguing and making up and the nicknames and the teasing…it was all just good stuff.  And I loved watching them with their friends/family too.  These books have strong secondary casts, and the group scenes were just as much fun as the scenes with just the two of them.  I have high hopes for a Sadie story, but is it too greedy of me to want a Bramly story as well??  Just putting that out there…

So yeah.  Fun from start to finish with a good dose of heart.