Hard and Fast

by Lisa Renee Jones

Book Overview

No playing with the players For Amanda Wright - new reporter on the pro baseball block - this rule is harder to keep than she had thought. Especially with the team's star pitcher, gorgeous Brad... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 037379343X
• ISBN13: 9780373793433
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: Harlequin Blaze
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 4.2" x 6.6"

Customer Reviews

hard and fast

I loved it, I'm a huge baseball fan and this was great. Loved the lead and the problem with his pitching arm well made it real. a must read

Smoking Hot Read

Lisa Renee Jones sets the pulses pounding in her sexy story for the Blaze Line, Hard And Fast. Reporter Amanda Wright has a new job as a sports reporter for a Los Angeles paper. Her first assignment is to cover the ins and outs of the LA Rays baseball team. Amanda's first meeting with ace pitcher Brad Rogers makes her almost forget why she is in the locker room. Brad Rogers is trying to stay on the straight and narrow. His contract is coming up and he is trying not to let his shoulder injury show to management. He can't get the delectable reporter out of this mind. Brad pulls out all the stops to get Amanda into his bed. Amanda tries to fight her attraction to Brad but it's a losing battle. Will her heart survive when she finds out the secret Brad has been hiding? Lisa Renee Jones story Hard and Fast is what the Blaze line is all about. It hot, sexy and a great story to boot. The scenes between Amanda and Brad are all out smoking hot and they also are rife with deep emotions. I will be looking for more from this author.

Romance + Baseball = A Home Run!

I'm not going to write an entire overview since that's already been covered, but would like to say that Lisa Renee Jones has written characters who are intelligent, caring and sensitive, both with very definite ideas about what they want for themselves, now and into the future. Neither is looking for love, and isn't that always when it hits you the hardest? Fun baseball scenes and locker room talk are excellently incorporated into this book and it will especially make for fun summer reading while you watch the boys of summer on television! Add all of that together with an abundance of deliciously passionate romance and you have a beautifully crafted love story - a home run, so to speak!

5 Klovers! Courtesy of CK2S Kwips & Kritiques

Amanda's dream of becoming a sports reporter for a major newspaper has finally come true - a dream that is going to go up in smoke very quickly if she can't deliver the goods. Leaving her job covering high school baseball in Texas behind to move to Los Angeles and cover Major League Baseball is a no-brainer, but the heat is on when her editor pressures her to hit one out of the park with her first story or high-tail it back to Texas. Her first night covering her newspaper's home team, the Los Angeles Rays, proves eventful in more ways than one. She exchanges barbs with her competition, proves her mettle to the team, and discovers the team's star pitcher is hiding an injury to his pitching arm. It's the kind of story that could make her career, but lose her the respect and cooperation of the team. More than that, it is a situation that Amanda identifies with all too well. Determined not to break the team's trust, she hides the secret from her editor, who sets her on the path of an even riskier - one her predecessor/competitor is already hot on the trail of - steroid use by one of the Rays' team members. Brad knows better than to get involved with a reporter - the press hasn't exactly been good to him for the last year. But he can't help but be drawn to the beautiful new reporter for the Tribune, even when she scares the heck out of him by telling him she knows he is playing injured. She says she won't print the story, but he is still reluctant to trust her - especially with his contract up for negotiation this year. Still, the attraction between them proves irresistible, although each have more than enough reason not to act on it. And soon that attraction develops Hard and Fast into something more... I will admit it. I had never really thought I would be interested in reading a Harlequin novel. Years of hearing stereotypical ideas of these books had me believing them to be fluffy, sweet little romance novels that were not exactly my cup of tea. I didn't look down on them - just did not believe they were the kind of stories that suited my reading tastes. Boy, was I wrong! Thanks to Lisa Renee Jones, an author who I am already a big fan of, I read Hard and Fast, from the Harlequin Blaze line and will tell anyone without reservation that I loved it! I have thoroughly enjoyed every book I have previously read by this author, and this book was no different. Yes, the romance was sweet, but with none of the `virginal princess in the tower' feeling I had expected from Harlequin. No, this book had all the sexy heat I had found in Jones' other work, much to my delight! Brad and Amanda are very down to earth, realistic characters. Their fears, their motivations, and their situation were all very believable, as were the obstacles that kept them from easily settling into a romance together. Brad is the kind of sports hero women fantasize about - a star pitcher with soap star looks and a killer physique, complete with down-home Southern c

Five Blue Ribbons from Romance Junkies!

One energetic female sports writer plus a sexy major league pitcher equals a plot hot enough to singe your fingers. Add in a secret that could change lives and the result is HARD AND FAST by Lisa Renee Jones. Sportswriter Amanda Wright has moved from her hometown of Dallas to Los Angeles to take over the sports column for a popular newspaper. Growing up with a father who practiced sports medicine, Amanda has been around sports her entire life. The first official assignment of her column leads her to the Los Angeles Rays locker room and Brad Rogers, their star pitcher. Amanda is a bit star struck but knows she must be professional for the players to take her seriously. It is during this first meeting that Amanda guesses Brad's secret. After her first story is released, Brad calls to offer his congratulations and they make plans to meet after the next game so that Amanda can obtain an exclusive interview. She knows she should be careful and not get involved with the sexy pitcher, but her fluttering heart refuses to listen. Brad Rogers' contract is up for renewal. Since getting bad press for an argument not of his making, he has had to play nice. Meeting the new sports writer Amanda Wright after a winning game, Brad feels the immediate attraction. When Amanda questions him about what he has been hiding from the public and his coaches, Brad experiences real fear; one word from Amanda could end his career. Brad calls her after her first column and offers her an exclusive, hoping that she has yet to reveal what she knows. Amanda and Brad are cautious with each other, each maintaining their own agenda. While Amanda has been ordered to get to the bottom of a possible drug enhancement story, Brad is determined to keep the team's rookie pitcher away from her and the line of fire. Neither takes into consideration the only other outcome of being with each other--falling in love. When the last pitch of the game is thrown, will these lovers bat a thousand, or will forces beyond their control strike them out? When I saw that HARD AND FAST was a romance set around baseball, I knew without a doubt that I had to review this book. As a huge fan of baseball and former college baseball groupie, I settled in for what I hoped would be an eye opening and entertaining read. Brad Rogers could be any big name pitcher worrying about his career. He loved his mama, he loved baseball, and oh how he loved Amanda. Sexy and sinful combined with smarts and attitude made a winning character. If I liked Brad, I have to say that I loved Amanda. Bold, sassy, and so much sports knowledge in one small package was great to see as a female lead. She was often unsure and sometimes experienced self doubt in her abilities, but in the end she realized what was important. HARD AND FAST just solidifies my opinion of Lisa Renee Jones' writing ability. She creatively brings to life the wonderful characters of Brad and Amanda. Add in the sleazy persona of Amanda's spo