Release Blitz: Steele by Sawyer Bennett

Steele (Arizona Vengeance, Book #9) Sawyer Bennett Release Date: December 8, 2020

A second chance may be just what James Steele needs… I might be one of the older players on the Arizona Vengeance, but I like to think that also makes me one of the wisest. Or at least I used to. Turns out, I’ve been a bit selfish. I’ve been married to hockey and my team for years, which hasn’t left much time for my actual wife, Ella. Now I’m juggling a separation I never wanted, the pressure of being a single dad to our teenage daughter, and the career I sacrificed it all for. While my game on the ice might be on fire, the game in my personal life is clearly lacking, as evidenced by the fact I just saw my wife on a date with another man. If I have any hope of saving the family I love, I need to re-prioritize, and fast. So it’s time for me to get back to fundamentals, just like I did when I learned how to play hockey. I’ve never backed down from a challenge, and romancing my wife is a challenge I am very much looking forward to. Time to put on my game face, because I’m in it to win it.

4 stars

Review by Trinette Dungee

Jim Steele may be one of the seasoned members on the Arizona Vengeance, but when it comes to his relationship, he’s basically a novice. After almost fourteen years of marriage he’s facing life without his family and he’s not handling it well. Jim thought having his wife ask him to leave their home was a shock to his system but finding out that she’s actually starting to date?! Well that’s just a shock to his system that never expected, and it’s lit a fire under his ass to reevaluate everything he thought he knew about his marriage and make it right. 

Every series has those characters that you are introduced to throughout various stories and just intrigues you so much. In the Arizona Vengeance series, it was first Tacker and then Steele and Kane. Well, I’m finally getting Steele’s story and, as expected, I wasn’t disappointed. Steele’s story was different in a lot of ways but primarily because it’s rare we get a second chance romance like his. He’s already married, he just needs to put his family back together again. 

What I really loved about this storyline was, Jim and Ella were a couple we know or have known. So far, they are the most relatable characters of the series. While Ella has a career, it’s Jim who’s the primary breadwinner in the family. Ella essentially is one of those wives, who basically functions as a single parent, which I think is relatable to so many couple. Theirs was a story of the primary breadwinner being so focused on providing for their family that they lost sight of their actual family and have to find their way back to what is really important. 

In hindsight, I have to believe that many of the times my wife beckoned me to bed were so she could have my attention, not necessarily because she craved the intimacy. I’m the asshole who, after I gave it to her, figured it was enough.

What I really liked about Jim was, he owned his shit. It might have taken him a moment to understand what he did wrong but when he got it, he worked on fixing it. While this was told as dual POV, it’s primarily told from Jim’s POV. We get Ella but not as much as would like to have seen. I liked Ella but I felt like it took a while for me to connect with her. What I liked about Jim and Ella as a couple, they were still a team even though they weren’t together. They didn’t get catty, vindictive, petty, or hostile towards each other. 

The one thing that was a little off for me with Jim and Ella was their age. They married young when Ella became pregnant with their daughter Lucy who is now thirteen. That puts them under thirty-five, roughly thirty-two/thirty-three. Jim and Ella came across as a much more mature couple. I kept feeling like then were more of a couple in their late thirties. Other than that. I was not disappointed in Steele at all. Jim and Ella are definitely my favorite Vengeance couple. 

So, as the pattern goes, there is typically one or two other players that surface throughout a storyline that lets you know they have a story to tell. To add to my intrigue that was Tacker, Steele, and Kane this book throws Riggs Nadeau at us. I’m majorly interested in his story (I think, but I’m not one hundred percent sure but he might have popped up in Kane’s story), anyway this guy is seriously on my radar. However, it looks like the next Vengeance player we’ll get will be Jett Olsson.

 

Download Steele: Amazon | Nook | Apple | Google | Kobo Print | Audible (narrated by Brian Pallino and Jill Redfield)

About the Author:

New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author Sawyer Bennett uses real life experience to create relatable stories that appeal to a wide array of readers. From contemporary romance, fantasy romance, and both women’s and general fiction, Sawyer writes something for just about everyone.

A former trial lawyer from North Carolina, when she is not bringing fiction to life, Sawyer is a chauffeur, stylist, chef, maid, and personal assistant to her very adorable daughter, as well as full-time servant to her wonderfully naughty dogs.

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