Trouble on Tap is my kind of book. TOT is the third in the Sweet Salvation Brewery series, I started with this book and you can too, it’s a standalone. This is the story of Mateo and Olivia, both characters are flawed, intense and sexy as hell (especially when they get together). When the book begins Mateo and Olivia are just F buddies. Olivia is a Victoria Secret model who any guy would want but Mateo is an overly confident Marine who doesn’t think commitment is for him. When Olivia tries to up her F buddy status with Mateo, he hits the kill switch on the whole deal. Mateo deploys and his whole life changes. Similarly, three years later Olivia finds herself in a totally different position than where she was the last time she hooked up with Mateo. Both Olivia and Mateo wind up back in their small hometown where they initially met. Mateo needs to get over his wounds if he’s going to move forward and Olivia needs people to see her as more than T&A, a difficult feat on both ends. The journey forward is entertaining, sometimes funny and even a little heartbreaking.
I liked Mateo but Olivia made this book for me. I love a strong heroine who doesn’t cower when people are cruel but stands up for herself and “embraces the crazy.” Olivia was wild and definitely did some questionable sh!t but I loved how she owned it. Even when Mateo shuns her, Olivia stays true to what she wants and keeps duking it out against the odds. I just couldn’t help but to cheer for the wild child. Mateo was alright with me too. He was brooding and tortured which is pretty much all I need to rev my engine. I appreciated that the source of Mateo’s angst wasn’t something contrived and ridiculous to gin up conflict. He had some real serious ish go down in his life that appropriately knocked him right off his high horse and onto his posterior.
The chemistry between Mateo and Olivia is nuclear. Even while Mateo tries to deny that Olivia wants him or that there is any hope for them as a couple, sparks are flying left and right. The sex scenes are smoking HAWT and truly worthy of 5 stars. I’m a sucker for enemy-romance, I just like the extra tension between the characters and there was plenty of it here. This book worked for me in terms of plot, pace, internal and external conflict. It all flowed together in the author’s seamless writing to create a genuinely enjoyable experience.
**ARC provided by RockStarLit PR**
Great review, Lorraine!
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