Review: Defending Hayden

Title: Defending Hayden
Author: LP Dover
Published:  June 28, 2016, Loveswept
Genre: Contemporary, Sports

The Carolina Cougars keep fighting for love as the Second Chances series from bestselling author L. P. Dover continues! In Defending Hayden, a damaged football star teams up with the only woman who can take the pain away.
 
No one’s tougher than Carolina Cougars linebacker Derek McLaughlin. But when a fatal car accident claims the life of his girlfriend, Derek finds himself caught in a destructive spiral of drugs, alcohol, and meaningless sex. But not even a string of one-night stands can ease the hurt. Football is all he has left. Then fate leads him back to the scene of the crash, and into the arms of a kind, gorgeous woman who sees past his façade to the man he once was . . . and can be again.

When a chance roadside encounter brings Derek into her life, veterinarian Hayden Hunter isn’t fooled by his bad attitude: All bark and no bite, he’s hiding a wounded heart beneath that gruff demeanor. And Hayden wants to be the one to kiss it all better. Soon they both find that a dose of passion is potent medicine. But when a hidden enemy lashes out at Hayden, Derek steps up to do what he does best: put his body on the line in the name of love.

4 hearts

On of the best things about this author is that she continues to share the love by having characters from previous books and previous series pop up in her other books. It's almost a challenge now for the reader, to try and guess who may know whom in the current mix of characters. It's like an ongoing epilogue and I LOVE it! 

Defending Hayden takes us back to the Carolina Cougars to tell the story of Derek. He is fighting both his body and his mind while trying to recover from the car accident that took his girlfriend away. The very last thing he thinks he needs or wants is to fall in love. What he doesn't plan on is helping veterinarian Hayden along the side of the road and falling for her. Both their pasts want to work against them being together, but Derek decides Hayden in worth defending. 

Loved to see some of the guys from the team again. Hayden attends some of the games so we get to see some football action as well. Great read once again from this author! 

*ARC received via Netgalley for an honest review.

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author, L.P. Dover, is a southern belle residing in North Carolina along with her husband and two beautiful girls. Before she even began her literary journey she worked in Periodontics enjoying the wonderment of dental surgeries.

Not only does she love to write, but she loves to play tennis, go on mountain hikes, white water rafting, and you can’t forget the passion for singing. Her two number one fans expect a concert each and every night before bedtime and those songs usually consist of Christmas carols.

Aside from being a wife and mother, L.P. Dover has written over nine novels including her Forever Fae series, the Second Chances series, and her standalone novel, Love, Lies, and Deception. Her favorite genre to read is romantic suspense and she also loves writing it. However, if she had to choose a setting to live in it would have to be with her faeries in the Land of the Fae.

L.P. Dover is represented by Marisa Corvisiero of Corvisiero Literary Agency.