Review

So here’s the deal. Pepper’s been in love with her best friend Lila’s older brother, Hunter. Hunter has been otherwise involved with someone else. Then he breaks up with his girlfriend, which makes him available to Pepper. Simple right?

Not quite. You see Pepper’s kind of a novice at getting guys. She is in fact a virgin. What she wants is some experience before she makes a play for Hunter. Enter her two roommates, Emerson and Georgia. Don’t worry, they’re here to help. They’re going to take her to Mulvaney’s, the local bar/hangout for the college set and townies. There’s supposed to be this gorgeous bartender *cough cough* who’s is said to nail anything in sight. She can hone her fledging flirting skills on him. Yep, sounds like a plan.

Did I forget to mention that the very first scene in the book has Pepper stranded on a dark road and this hot guy helps her out? Keep that in mind.

Now you’ll never guess who the gorgeous bartender turns out to be? Yep, you got it. None other than sexy-as-all-hell Reece.

I loved Reece. I mean LOVED him. He’s a totally swoon-worthy hero. He’s definitely the quiet and brooding type, which I totally have a thing for. He’s hot. And I love the fact that he’s older, so he’s more mature. The man has responsibilities and some baggage, but not the shoot-me-in-the-head kind of baggage.

When he meets Pepper at the bar, he remembers her from the night before when he helped her with her car. Nothing really happens, he’s just friendly. The next time she sees him, her friend Emerson writes Pepper’s number on a napkin and gives it to him, to help move things along, ya know. I love how the scene played out.

I heard Emerson’s voice beside me as though from far away. “This is her number.”

Her. Me. The girl with the face as red as a tomato.

His gaze moved from the napkin to me. Those silvery blue eyes fixed on me. He flicked the napkin in my direction. “You want me to have this?”

He waited, his expression blank. The ball was in my court. Without giving me the slightest indication of whether he even wanted my number, he was asking me what I wanted.

I stammered out the words. “Uh, n-yes. Well, sure. Whatever.”

“She wants you to have it,” Emerson insisted from beside me.

If possible my face grew hotter. He leaned forward, setting his elbow on the bar, his gaze fastened on me with searing intensity. “Are you giving me this?”

Apparently whatever wasn’t going to work for him.

Pepper is absolutely adorable. She’s a very refreshing awkward when it comes to getting the guy. Her problem is that she wants the wrong guy, which is something she has to come to terms with. Oh, yeah and so does Reece.

The story very nicely moves beyond the fact that she’s kind of using him to get another guy without him knowing. I love that. And let me tell you, if a girl needs a teacher, Reece is definitely the man you’d want when it comes to that. He’s sexy and can seriously turn a girl on but he’s a total doll.  The two really deserve each other.

I also love Emerson and Georgia. Great roommates and best friends. I can’t wait for their stories. Emerson is a really a hoot.

All in all, Foreplay was a fabulous start to Sophie Jordan’s The Ivy Chronicles series. I can’t wait to see what happens next to these three friends and I seriously want to catch up with Pepper and Reece and see how things are going for them. Ms. Jordan, I would appreciate a catch-up novella for them if you can squeeze it into your busy writing schedule. I loved them to pieces.