Title: Ray of Light
Author:  E. L. Todd
Publisher/Year:  CreateSpace Publishing 1/1/17
Length:  172 Pages
Series:  Ray #1

Overview

My brother is an idiot. He won the lottery and invested all of his money in a run-down bowling alley. Since he’s barely making it, he moved in with me.
Great.
Having him around the house isn’t the worst thing in the world, but he does make a mess like nobody’s business. My friends Zeke, Jessie, and Kayden keep me sane but there’s only so much they can do.
And it’s definitely not the worst thing in the world when his old friend, Ryker, moves to town.
The second I lay eyes on him, I’m hot under the collar. He makes my body burn in longing and freeze in desperation at the exact same time. When he talks, I don’t listen to anything he says because I’m staring at that hard jaw and those kissable lips like I already own them.
But he’s a bed hopper. A playboy. A heartbreaker.
I’m all down for some hot, sweaty, yummy sex even if it doesn’t have a fairy tale ending. I’ve been down that road before. I know the drill. But with Ryker, it’s different.
Because I know I’ll fall in love with him.
For now, I’ll steer clear of him and keep my hands to myself. It can’t be that hard, right?
Or can it?

My Thoughts

I was looking for something new to read and i decided to click on the details tab of one of my books in my nook app to see what was recommended. That’s how i found this one, and i’m on the fence about how i feel.

We have a sweet story about a group of friends that find themselves at a point in their lives when they’re all grown up, there may be feelings for some that are either unrequited or unknown, and there’s great sexual tension amongst quite a few.

We start off with our leading lady Rae – she’s a scientist by day and a great friend and sister by night. We quickly learn that her older brother lives with her because he has no money – after investing his lottery winning into a bowling alley that needs more help than he can afford. We quickly learn though that there’s more to their story than just a nice sister letting her brother crash. We get their family history in the form of learning that their mother killed herself when Rae was 15, and her brother Rex who was 18 took guardianship over her and became brother and father.

Rae meets a hot guy one day while running with her dog and when she doesn’t take him up on his offer to just go home with him right then, she thinks that the connection is over. Little does she know that he’s going to be in her life in a far more complicated way.

Enter Ryker. Not only is he the hot stranger, he’s high school friends of Rex and their friend Zeke, and he’s also…….the son of the man who owns the company that Rae works for, and therefore her new boss. Well, before she learned that last bit, she crossed paths with Ryker a few more times to know that the attraction is real, and despite her brother’s pleading for her to stay away from Ryker, she scratches that itch and then things get interesting.

So there’s that one romance situation going on and it’s entertaining to watch how that plays out. Then there’s another prong to this triangle in the form of Zeke and his crush on Rae. He’s just about decided to admit it all to Rae when she tells him about her and Ryker and basically crushes his soul.

That’s not enough though. Rae has two friends who are part of their crew, Jessie and Kayden. Jessie is gorgeous and can get any guy she wants, yet she wants Ryker. Oops! Then there’s Kayden whom we learn is also fairly smoking hot, and also has a crush on Rex, but no one else realizes this.

So you can imagine the entertainment that a reader can get watching all this play out. What i’ll say is that this is a book that didn’t take much brain power for me, which was nice given that i’m exhausted from work these past two weeks, but it was also a bit immature for what my taste tends to be. The ‘kinky scenes’ weren’t really deep enough and felt more like college kids hooking up than grown ups. That doesn’t ruin the story, just a different layer of ‘heat and passion’ than i’m used to.

So we’re left off in a point in this story where there’s nothing dramatic really happening. Things are changing for everyone, and there are decisions that have to be made, but there’s nothing that feels like a cliff. You can read the next book or not is basically the sense, and while that’s good (since i mean – we all know i’ll read book 2), i feel like it’s not mandatory to do right this second. So….i guess i can say that i’d love to see if anyone else has read this and has an opinion. and if you haven’t read it, do so and let me know thoughts. Enjoy!