Furious Rush by S.C. Stephens

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“Riding a race bike is an art—a thing that you do because you feel something inside.” ~Valentino Rossi

Have you ever been to a NASCAR, Formula One, motocross, or other race where you’ve felt that power surge on the track…that buzz in the air? Have you ever raced a car or motorcycle on the track or road where you’ve felt that power gush behind the wheel? Have you been to or watched a race where your senses were heightened as they came to life?

Racing is the most sensory-driven sport where ALL of the senses come to life. You hear, see, smell, taste, and feel it ALL. You feel that flow of adrenaline course through your veins from that rush that racing elicits. You smell the fumes of the engines preparing to go into battle where you watch them whirl around the track so fast that your head is spinning in the best way. Furious Rush by S.C. Stephens is a racing romance that comes to life—one where you can’t help but FEEL EVERYTHING.

After falling head-over-heels in love with Kellan Kyle in S.C. Stephens’ famous Thoughtless series, I was excited to meet the racing romance called Furious Rush and Hayden Hayes, who I knew would capture my heart…and that he did. I dove into Furious Rush with a fervor, eager to feel this story and oh did I feel each word I read. I FELT EVERYTHING. Furious Rush consumed and claimed me from the very first page where I was ALL IN. Heart pumping with adrenaline. Body shaking with bated breathing in anticipation. Eyes tearing from the intense emotions that overcame me. I was in awe. I was in anguish. I was amused. I was on an adventure. I WAS ALIVE.

Beautiful and brave motorcycle racer, McKenzie ‘Kenzie’ Cox, lives and breathes racing; it’s in her blood. Her famous father was a racing legend. Now, her legendary father is her boss and racing team owner, and one hard act to follow. Riding a motorcycle around that track or on the road fast and furiously is Kenzie’s haven…her passion. Winning a race is her dream.

“I want to make my father proud, honor the legacy he started.”

I LOVED Kenzie with her strong will, determination, beauty and brains—a lethal combination and a force to be reckoned with on and off the track. Kenzie lives for racing and adheres to routine on the race track and in life. Life is not always predictable and sometimes a wrench or a hot distraction messes up the best laid plans like hot and humorous Hayden Hayes who races for the opposing team, Benneti, Cox Racing Team’s enemy from an owners’ feud stemming decades.

“He was smokin’, someone-hold-on-to-my-ovaries-before-they-explode hot.”

Hayden’s looks are as fire-hot as his racing with light green eyes, blond hair, and a tall and muscular body made for much more than racing. Cocky and captivating, Hayden is one tantalizing temptation Kenzie can’t afford to partake in, despite her panties jumping to participate.

“I could help you thaw out, Ice Queen.”

Part of me did not want to like the cocky and sometimes cruel Hayden but I did; I could not help it. I FELL IN MAD LOVE WITH HAYDEN HAYES along with his Aussie kissing skills. Hayden is broken and beautiful. Helpless to Hayden’s spell, I swooned at this gorgeous guy hiding pain beneath a mask of humor who quickly stole my heart.

“Why was he staring at me like I was the starting line, like I was the prize?”

Hayden is as desperate to win a race as is Kenzie, both armed in battle where the stakes are high. Kenzie has caught Hayden’s eye and more. The stunning and smart spitfire is one challenge he wants to conquer like the race.

“I hated to admit it, but chasing him gave me a rush.”

Like Kenzie, Hayden feels that furious rush too that burns on and off the track between them like fireworks waiting to go boom.

“Race me or chase me, Kenzie.”

Racing each other fuels the fire on and off the track. It’s a high for both and Hayden and Kenzie who are better battling side-by-side on the track than apart.

“Did you…did you feel it today…while we were racing? We’re magic together, Twenty-Two.”

Magic are what Kenzie and Hayden are on that track as they soar together, trying to catch the other while desire paves its own destination. From enemies to friends, Kenzie and Hayden hover into the forbidden territory of more.

“Just like when we were racing, I suddenly had tunnel vision, and he was all I could see.”

These beautiful words grabbed my soul, as I hoped this captivating couple would find more as they are perfect together on and off the track.

“Racing you gives me a high, but you make me feel alive.”

Oh Hayden. I’m SMITTEN with this hero. Hayden’s tongue is pure magic as are his wondrous words. I was smitten by this man of many layers who is pure perfection. A Romeo so right for his Juliet; if only their blooming love was not forbidden.

“As his tongue slid through my lips, flicking, then caressing, my mind self-destructed in an explosion of lust. F**k the future, I just want to feel alive right now. And no one made me feel more alive than Hayden.”

Kenzie and Hayden are each other’s air. Each other’s heart. Each other’s hope. Each other’s salvation. Kenzie and Hayden are enemies on the track, forbidden from contact, the fight for romance a losing battle. Stakes are high during the final race when secrets are exposed, the past brings smoke, and they veer off course, possibly sending them into a collision both on and off the track.

My heart was cut in half as it lay bleeding in the aftermath with hope hanging by a thread for happiness. The feels flowed as did my tears—fast and furiously— like laps around the track.

“I wanted to pretend nothing had changed, even though everything had.”

Explosive and enthralling, Furious Rush is a tale of guts and glory that bleeds angst, hitting your heart hard and stealing your soul in a romance where you can’t help but explode in emotions. I WAS FLOATING IN FEELS THE WHOLE STORY. This touching and turbulent tale tugged my heart every step of the way, stomping on it and then stitching it back together several times.

Furious Rush ruined me. Rescued me. Branded me. Breathed life into me. Became me. My heart pounded with every page, beating with a surge that soared straight to my soul, which this story stole.

RACE ME OR CHASE ME.

Oh did my heart race as it pounded with every page of this spellbinding story. I’m still chasing this roller coaster of a romance that I did not want to end. My heart is still hanging out at the race track, stuck in Furious Rush. That rush? I still feel it coursing through my veins, long after this story first captivated and caught me.

S.C. Stephens placed a new soul-searing story in my heart with Furious Rush, a new perfectly imperfect and breathtakingly beautiful book boyfriend in my head with Hayden Hayes, and a new hangover for me to nurse in an adventure that has forever claimed me. A flawless, fierce and furious rush. A rush I’ll keep chasing forever.

5 flawless, furious and fierce stars

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For Mackenzie Cox, racing motorcycles is in her blood. Born into a family legacy, she’s determined to show the world that she has inherited her father’s talent in this male-dominated sport. The last thing Kenzie needs is to be antagonised by her rival team’s newest rider, Hayden Hayes. Hayden, exceedingly arrogant and outrageously attractive, immediately gets under Kenzie’s skin and she can’t help but be distracted.

As Kenzie and Hayden push each other on the track, the electric energy between them off the track shifts into an intense – and strictly forbidden – attraction. The only rule between their two ultra-competitive teams is zero contact. Kenzie needs a win, and she also needs to stay away from Hayden. Unfortunately for her though, one thing has become all too clear: she can’t.

Fuelled by passion, driven by desire, Hayden and Mackenzie both want to win more than anything else. Except for, maybe, each other. But anger, jealousy and extreme competitiveness aren’t their only obstacles . . .

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Man oh man! Where on earth do I start? If you could see my now then you’d honestly see a crazy loon of a bookworm sitting with the biggest smile on her face, with a heart that is POUNDING, skin COVERED in goosebumps, tingling from SO MANY EMOTIONS and I’m HOT, like burning up from the pure epicness that is Neighbor Dearest. 

Captivating. Neighbor Dearest is captivating. From the prologue I was dragged into this story, and held hostage by words that held so much emotion I couldn’t escape, I didn’t want to escape. 

I feel I have to admit now, before I go any further that my nerves were shot going into this, I mean Elec WAS my top Penelope guy and I was nervous as to what may happen, but at 33% when those butterflies began flapping deep in my stomach I was no longer nervous. I was hyper, floating on an extreme buzz that built and built and built with each page read. I cannot even begin to tell you how many times my whole body EXPLODED with different feels while reading. Neighbor Dearest gave me an emotional high that I’ll never forget. 

Led from Chelsea’s POV, Neighbor Dearest is a read that I’m ADDICTED too. In four hours I have fallen head over heels in love with EVERYTHING about this book. From the pure intensity of the connection between Chelsea and Damien to the soul searing love that BURNED every fibre of me.

Not only did the story burn me, but so did Damien. This man is EVERYTHING. There is SO MUCH to him, from his deep, moody intensity, to his delicious dirty words to the swoony, romantic man that destroys the heart in the BEST POSSIBLE WAY, is just perfection. So much so that I sit here now asking “Elec who?!?” Yep that’s right you heard me. Prepare to wave goodbye to Elec because Damien Hennessey is going to BLOW YOUR MIND while ROCKING YOUR WORLD leaving you in a sticky gooey mess of pure sated bliss. 

If there is one thing I have to say about Neighbor Dearest it’s that it’s a sublime story. From start to finish there isn’t any time where I wanted to put this book down, where I wanted to stop and the further I got in the more overpowering the feeling got. I can’t honestly say I devoured this book because this book devoured ME! 

Penelope Ward is an artist, how she builds up her words is astounding. The words flow into breathtaking sentences that make up chapter after chapter of beautiful perfection. I feel as though I want to hang up EVERY SINGLE page from this book and marvel at them forever. Penelope OWNED it with this book. OWNED me with this book. 

From the very first sparks  to the rip roaring flame and burning heat that emits from this book and it’s characters, Neighbor Dearest is Penelope’s best book yet. It’s a firestarter that takes over everything. And in no way would I ever change a thing about this story.

A STANDALONE NOVEL that does NOT need to be read in conjunction with any other book. 

From New York Times bestselling author, Penelope Ward, comes a friends-to-lovers story with sexy new characters. 

After getting dumped, the last thing I needed was to move next door to someone who reminded me of my ex-boyfriend, Elec. Damien was a hotter version of my ex. The neighbor I’d dubbed “Angry Artist” also had two massive dogs that kept me up with their barking. He wanted nothing to do with me. Or so I thought until one night I heard laughter coming through an apparent hole in my bedroom wall. Damien had been listening to all of my phone sessions with my therapist. The sexy artist next door now knew all of my deepest secrets and insecurities. We got to talking. He set me straight with tips to get over my breakup. He became a good friend, but Damien made it clear that he couldn’t be anything more. Problem was, I was falling hard for him anyway. And as much as he pushed me away, I knew he felt the same…because his heartbeat didn’t lie. I thought my heart had been broken by Elec, but it was alive and beating harder than ever for Damien. I just hoped he wouldn’t shatter it for good. 

Author’s note – Neighbor Dearest is a full-length standalone novel. Due to strong language and sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18. 

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