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A review by michellesantiago
Moonlighter by Sarina Bowen
4.0
Originally posted on Undeniably Book Nerdy book blog
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
I was very excited to get my hands on Moonlighter because I absolutely LOVE Sarina Bowen's Brooklyn Bruisers series (Rookie Move, Hard Hitter, and Pipe Dreams that she published with Berkley Romance) and her spin-off Brooklyn series (Brooklynaire, Bountiful, Overnight Sensation, and Superfan, which she self-pubbed). Moonlighter features Alex Engels, who we met in Brooklynaire (Nate Kattenberger's college friend and one-time hook up disaster), and Eric Bayer, who is part of the Brooklyn Bruisers hockey team and had been a secondary character in several of the Brooklyn Bruisers books.
BUT! But, don't let the long list of connected books intimidate you because despite the fact that Moonlighter is connected to Sarina Bowen's hockey series, it can absolutely be read as a standalone. Actually, Moonlighter is a good entry book to Sarina's hockey romances if you haven't picked up any of them yet as it is technically book #1 of a new spin-off series called The Company.
I really enjoyed Moonlighter A LOT! In fact, it's a stand-out from the last couple of Brooklyn books I've read because I thought we got a much meatier story, with not only a friends-to-lovers romance between Alex and Eric, but we also got a very interesting mystery/thriller-y secondary plot featuring Eric's family's global security company and Alex's tech company.
Eric got pulled into his brother and father's security company when they asked him to play Alex's boyfriend during her trip to Hawaii where she's attending a conference. Eric and Alex knew each other when they were children, but when they saw each other again at a party (a few months prior to the start of the novel) Alex didn't recognize Eric at all and gave him a rude brush off thinking he's just some rando trying to hit on her. Awkward! And now they have to play a couple as a front in order for the Bayers' security company to go undercover and figure out who is trying to sabotage Alex's company's product launch.
Not only does Alex have to deal with security issues in her business, but she's also pregnant with with her asshole ex's baby. Good thing she and Eric were able to get past the awkwardness of their last encounter and quickly become friends again--with benefits, at least during the duration of the trip. But, the threat against Alex becomes more serious as their friendship start growing into something more...
Moonlighter is an excellent start to the spin-off series! I loved the new characters we met and the cyber security/spy tech/cyberespionage aspect of it. I can't wait to delve in more into the Bayers' security company because not everything was tied up at the end of Moonlighter in terms of the hacking mystery. Eric and Alex themselves were great on their own--they were both going through their own issues with their jobs and personal life--and together as they had excellent chemistry and overall a great couple. I'm a sucker for protective heroes and Eric was just that without being an asshole about it, and the way he took care of her during her pregnancy and the scenes in the last chapter--swoon!
Sarina Bowen is always a winner for me and Moonlighter is no exception! Great start to a new series, fantastic characters, superb writing as always--I loved it! And as an added bonus as a long-time reader of the series, I really loved the cameos the previous characters in the series in the book. Highly recommended!
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
I was very excited to get my hands on Moonlighter because I absolutely LOVE Sarina Bowen's Brooklyn Bruisers series (Rookie Move, Hard Hitter, and Pipe Dreams that she published with Berkley Romance) and her spin-off Brooklyn series (Brooklynaire, Bountiful, Overnight Sensation, and Superfan, which she self-pubbed). Moonlighter features Alex Engels, who we met in Brooklynaire (Nate Kattenberger's college friend and one-time hook up disaster), and Eric Bayer, who is part of the Brooklyn Bruisers hockey team and had been a secondary character in several of the Brooklyn Bruisers books.
BUT! But, don't let the long list of connected books intimidate you because despite the fact that Moonlighter is connected to Sarina Bowen's hockey series, it can absolutely be read as a standalone. Actually, Moonlighter is a good entry book to Sarina's hockey romances if you haven't picked up any of them yet as it is technically book #1 of a new spin-off series called The Company.
I really enjoyed Moonlighter A LOT! In fact, it's a stand-out from the last couple of Brooklyn books I've read because I thought we got a much meatier story, with not only a friends-to-lovers romance between Alex and Eric, but we also got a very interesting mystery/thriller-y secondary plot featuring Eric's family's global security company and Alex's tech company.
Eric got pulled into his brother and father's security company when they asked him to play Alex's boyfriend during her trip to Hawaii where she's attending a conference. Eric and Alex knew each other when they were children, but when they saw each other again at a party (a few months prior to the start of the novel) Alex didn't recognize Eric at all and gave him a rude brush off thinking he's just some rando trying to hit on her. Awkward! And now they have to play a couple as a front in order for the Bayers' security company to go undercover and figure out who is trying to sabotage Alex's company's product launch.
Not only does Alex have to deal with security issues in her business, but she's also pregnant with with her asshole ex's baby. Good thing she and Eric were able to get past the awkwardness of their last encounter and quickly become friends again--with benefits, at least during the duration of the trip. But, the threat against Alex becomes more serious as their friendship start growing into something more...
Moonlighter is an excellent start to the spin-off series! I loved the new characters we met and the cyber security/spy tech/cyberespionage aspect of it. I can't wait to delve in more into the Bayers' security company because not everything was tied up at the end of Moonlighter in terms of the hacking mystery. Eric and Alex themselves were great on their own--they were both going through their own issues with their jobs and personal life--and together as they had excellent chemistry and overall a great couple. I'm a sucker for protective heroes and Eric was just that without being an asshole about it, and the way he took care of her during her pregnancy and the scenes in the last chapter--swoon!
Sarina Bowen is always a winner for me and Moonlighter is no exception! Great start to a new series, fantastic characters, superb writing as always--I loved it! And as an added bonus as a long-time reader of the series, I really loved the cameos the previous characters in the series in the book. Highly recommended!