The Player Next Door by K.A. Tucker

Scarlett Reed, 30, has moved back home to Polson Falls and purchased the little house  that she declared her dream house back when she was in high school. The house is old and it need a lot of work, but she has the summer free before starting her new teaching job as a 6th grade teacher at Polson Elementary. Everything seems to be looking up for Scarlett, but then she realizes that her next door neighbor is Shane Beckett. He may have been good looking in high school, but now he is hotter than hot and all man.

She hasn’t seen or heard anything of Shane Beckett since he walked the halls of Polson Falls High, the star quarterback with plans to play college football. After a brief time dating Shane, her heart was broken and she couldn’t wait to leave town and the embarrassment of being Dottie Reed’s daughter behind. Scarlett’s mom Dottie was known for two things: a drinking problem and a sleeping with other women’s husbands problem. Scarlett’s high school experience was made even more miserable after her mother got caught in the janitor’s closet with Penelope Rhode’s married father. From that day on, Penelope “the red devil” Rhodes hated Scarlett with a fierce passion. Right after Shane and Scarlett broke up so Shane could concentrate on football, he was alraedy canoodling with Penelope Rhodes. Scarlett’s broken heart was now just being stomped on. Shane Beckett was a true player with his rugged good looks and charm.

Scarlett knows she should keep her distance from Shane, or risk another broken heart. However, he isn’t the same Shane she remembers from 12 years ago. He offers to help her with many things in her dilapidated old house, and she finds herself falling hard for him again. And, as if he couldn’t get any hotter, he’s a freaking firefighter and single Dad. But then things get a little more complicated, and Scarlett will have to figure out which path to take forward, even if it risks yet another broken heart at the hands of Shane Beckett.

If you enjoy second chance and hate to love romance tropes, this book is right up your alley. At times I was swooning alongside Scarlett and at other times cracking up by the humor usually involving Dottie, Scar’s best friend Justine, or Shane’s friend Dean. I loved it – a great mix of sexy and sweet! K.A. Tucker knows how to write an angst-filled, sizzling romance, that is for sure! I would highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Valentine PR for the advanced review copy of this book.