Changing the Game, Book One By Bella Matthews (Cooper and Carys)
Are we worth the risk, or will we both go down in flames?
Changing the Game, the moving and emotional first book in The Risks We Take Duet from bestselling author Bella Matthews is available now!
ABOUT THE BOOK
Not all love stories have happy endings. Some are destined to crash and burn.
Growing up, I was the youngest member of my family. Sheltered and protected by my older brother and his friends. Always on the outside looking in. College was supposed to be my chance for a fresh start. My opportunity to figure out who I am and what I want.
I thought I knew what I wanted until he charged back into my life and changed the game.
Cooper Sinclair was my brother’s best friend long before he became my stepbrother.
A navy SEAL who’s owned my heart since the day we met. Loving him was easy. But time was never on our side, and stolen moments only last so long.
Are we worth the risk, or will we both go down in flames?
Coop . . . what changed?” I can’t believe I’m asking, but I need to know. “Why now? What made you look at me now?” My words stay soft. Unsure.
Cooper presses his lips to the top of my head before answering, and I inhale his clean scent, memorizing it, so I can still smell it once he’s gone. “Do you really think I only just saw you, Carys?”
I tilt my head back and run my hand up his neck to the back of his head. If I ever want this to be more, I have to be honest. “I guess I do. This last week has been different. You’ve been different.”
With an almost imperceptible shake of his head, he agrees with me. “I guess I have, but so have you. When I met you, you were a freshman in high school. Your brother was my best friend, and I was about to turn eighteen. There was no way anything could have happened then, but I promise you, I saw you. I always saw you.” Coop crosses his legs at his ankles and gets comfortable.
“I saw how you would beam up at Murphy any time you two were in the same room. I paid attention to the way you’d talk about being a Broadway star one day and saw every single show you performed on Kroydon Prep’s stage once I moved to town. My favorite was Rent. You killed it, but I didn’t like when you had to die for a minute at the end.”
A cool breeze blows in through the doors, and goosebumps scatter over my bare skin.
Not as much a reaction to the cold as the realization that this man has always seen me.
“I watched you get quiet when there were too many people around. The way you prefer to be surrounded by people you know, people you feel safe with. I know the freckles across your nose and cheeks get darker in the summer and you hate the ocean at night. I’ve been watching you for a long time, baby. But our family situation is complicated. I haven’t figured out how we’re going to deal with all that yet. But seeing you last week . . . away from everyone else.” He trails the tips of his fingers along my throat, and I shiver as the heat building between us comes close to incinerating us both.
“You’re not that kid anymore, Carys. Neither of us is.”
I lay my face against his shoulder and hide my eyes. “I saw you too, you know?”
Laughter rumbles up his exquisite chest. “Yeah. You weren’t as good at hiding it as I was.”
“You asshole,” I laugh and try to yank away from him, but he tugs me back.
“Hey, now. Don’t be like that. I liked the way you looked at me.”
We lie in the quiet of the room, listening to the storm outside play its own tune as sleep slowly tugs at the two of us.
“Sing me something, Carys,” he whispers as the weather rages on.
Without overthinking it, I sing the old Lifehouse song we danced to years ago while I run my fingers over his chest. And by the time I sing the last words of the song, his breathing has evened out, and his strong, hard body has relaxed around me.
Everything but the grip he has on me.
That’s tighter now than it’s ever been.
On my body and on my heart.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bella Matthews is a Jersey girl at heart. She is married to her very own Alpha Male and raising three little ones. You can typically find her running from one sporting event to another.
When she is home, she is usually hiding in her home office with the only other female in her house, her rescue dog Tinker Bell by her side. She likes to write swoon-worthy heroes and sassy, smart heroines with a healthy dose of laughter thrown in.
This is supposed to be a stand alone duet. But honestly I highly suggest you read the first two books of the Kroyden Hills series so you can understand who all the characters and how they relate to each other. The other books are where I fell in love with Cooper. He is this really awesome guy and I loved watching him follow his dream of being a SEAL.
Carys is pretty much a brand-new character in this duet as we really did not see much of her in the previous books in the Kroyden Hills series, even though she was 15 then and just two years younger than those characters. I loved getting her side of the story on how the merging of the Sinclair and Murphy families felt for her and impacted her life.
In this book she is away for college and following her dreams and we get to meet her friends, Emerson, Jack and Theo.
As she moves away from home and ends up in college at San Diego State. It's also where her stepbrother, Cooper lives and is stationed between missions. We also get to meet his fellow SEALS and best friends and I loved them so much. Especially Linc and I hope the author writes a story for him and Emerson.
Carys has always been in love with Cooper since she met him many years before. But he has never really seen her or let himself see her as her brother is one of his best friends and also their very complicated family relationship. But in this book, she is all grown up and when he opens his eyes and heart, he falls pretty hard.
This story features a very secret relationship as she doesn't want her family to know for a majority of their relationship. I really understood where she is coming from as Cooper is in town and with her only sporadically in this book.
As Cooper follows his dreams, we see how hard it is to love a military man and especially a SEAL. But there were times I blamed Cooper for the distance between him and Carys and especially at times when she really needed him. Honestly during those times, I did not understand his choices.
This story is part one and I cannot wait for the second part of this duet. I fell in love with Carys, so much that I ended up crying with as she finds out about her medical diagnosis. I don't cry easy, so its testament to how much I loved Carys that this book broke my heart in so many different ways.
If you love the Kroyden Hills series make sure and read this duet. It was as awesome story, and the author outdid herself. I could not put this book down and then the cliff hanger, well let's say I am counting down the days until I can read the second book and find out what happens next.
I received a complimentary early release e-book prior to release and am voluntarily leaving a review.
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