In Between The Pages: Delayed Call By: Toni Aleo

So want to know when I got this beauty in my hands???

Yeah like around 10AM yesterday...

Want to know when I started reading it??

Yeah at like 1AM last night...

Want to know when I finished it???

Yup!!!! At like 10AM this morning...

Want to know how??

I GOT NO SLEEP AT ALL 😵😵😵😵😵

(No not because I was up reading. I was up reading because I couldn't sleep.)

That's what??? 9 hours or so???

I finished a book in 9 hours.... I have not done that in a really really long time. Like Christina Lauren Wicked Sexy Liar long time haha.

So I mean if ya'll need someone to tell you just how amazing these books, and the whole Assassins series in general... I volunteer as tribute!!✋✋✋

Also I need to give a huge huge thank you to Toni Aleo and the folks over at Ardent Prose for sending out this stellar ARC. I can't thank you enough 😘😘😘

Also... Just so ya'll Know. Toni Aleo is by far one of the coolest authors I've gotten to meet. I've actually gotten to meet her twice now. The first time was back at 2014 Bookbash. And I had absolutely no clue who she was hehe. I remember meeting her though, and having her sign my little notebook I used for authors I didn't have their books.

And then I got to meet her again this past October at Shameless 2016.

Which was pretty fun, considering I actually knew her books by that point, and could gush all about her hot hockey boys. That and swipe all the cool trading card swag she had for her Assassin and Bellevue boys haha

(Including at Tate Odder one!!! *Swoon. I love that fictional man so much)

But it's just been so fun going back to that first book event I went to, and seeing how much I've changed and really gotten to know so many of those authors books that I had no clue about back then.

Vaughn Johansson is the Nashville Assassins' star player. He's brash, cocky, and talented. And he isn't afraid to let anyone know it. He lives his life on his own terms, never forming romantic attachments, and only allowing his very closest to see his true, caring self.

Brie Soledad has the weight of the world on her shoulders. As the staff reporter for the Assassins, she balances her high-profile job and its heavy travel schedule with being the sole provider for her adult brother with Down syndrome. Sure, she'd like to find love. But who has time for that when there are bills to pay?

Brie has been the match to Vaughn's gasoline since the day she first held out her microphone to him. They strike sparks off each other, keeping their friends, the team, and the Assassins fans in stitches. Brie’s refusal to fawn over Vaughn sets his teeth on edge and his blood boiling. Especially in that body part...

Brie's been let down by love before, but she knows she deserves nothing less than real, forever love. Vaughn's past has left deep, hidden scars, and there are some secrets he cannot bear to reveal. As much as Brie wants him, Vaughn may be too big a risk for her wary heart to take. But he is at his best under pressure. When the delayed call is in effect and he has no choice but to score, Vaughn always delivers.

I find myself never knowing where to start these at these days. (Although right now at this point I'm coming off being awake almost 48 hours after a sleepless night spent passing the time reading an entire book, so I may be be at that lack of sleep loopy point honestly)

But I guess a good starting point would be that I really enjoyed this book. In true Toni Aleo form... She gave us a new Assassins book that had all the drama, comedy, romance, emotional-ness (Gonna go with yeah, that's a real word hehe) and hot hockey players we've come to expect in these awesome books.

As I said, I haven't gotten any sleep in the last 48 hours, and so at almost 1:30 in the morning I was in bed passing the sleepless time reading this delightful book. Tears down my face from laughing so ridiculously hard at the characters fun banter and easy razzing. And to give you an idea of how this all went down for me. My head board doesn't attach to my bed frame because apparently the manufacturer couldn't figure out the specs of a normal bed frame height and such.... Anywhosies... so if I move in my bed at all, get out or in, laugh uncontrollably so the bed shakes... My headboard will get pushed into the wall with a loud wack! So here it is getting rather late into the night, and I'm laughing like a spastic hyena, with my headboard smacking off the wall and my cat practically jumping off the bed every time it happens. All the while my mom's room is on the other side of said wall (And how on earth the giggling and or banging never woke her up is absolutely beyond me.) But I'm trying so hard not to make noise. And yeah... I failed miserably haha.

But that's seriously the bests part of Toni's books. Her ability to have me in absolute stitches from laughing at one moment, to getting all emotional and heart achy for the characters the next. And then all sappy romantic soon after and between the other two.

Her books just have so much depth and dimension. They never are just about the hockey. Or just about the sex. Every character has some sort of personal battle they are working to over come. Giving us these amazing characters we want to root for and cheer on. And yes even want to reach in to the pages and strangle from time to time.

Toni gives us such real relatable characters. And the experiences they have are ones that anyone could be going through at any given time.

Take Brie and Vaughn.

(Don't worry I'm not going to give anything away)

But these two both have such similar back stories, and while they each were hurt in different ways as they progressed... It was their pasts and even how that past changed their futures that made you feel for them. And understand why each of them was so closed off in their own way.

But it was also just them.

Brie is such a fun relatable character. (Shush it all of you. I'm on a good female character liking kick right now. And none of ya'll can ruin it for me.) She has so much fire in her. And I love how she is a take no crap kinda woman. And will dish it back just as hard as its thrown at her.

She's no weak little female, none of the Assassins girls are honestly. They all kick butt and take names, and I adore them all so much.

But Brie while being this little hellcat also has this tender vulnerable side that she does a good job of hiding. But when it comes out your heart just kinda breaks and goes all gooey for her.

She really has gone through so much,and seeing how she came out on the other side of it and still is so fearless and fierce... I gotta appreciate that.

I related to her so much at times. And I loved that I could.

And how Brie handles Vaughn just cracks me up. Those two are such a live wire together. And man do the sparks fly. The banter between them was so quick and funny. (Hints why I was dying laughing in the middle of the night)

But most all the banter centered around Vaughn was like that. He's one of those cocky irritating as heck people that you know if you ever met in real life you'd want to smack upside the head. But he's also incredibly sweet and adorable in a super dorky way. Like with his dog Tricksie. Or his best friends. You don't see the sexy as sin star hockey player, but this doofy guy who likes to joke about his bromance with his bestie, and his strange relationship with his dog. And by far the biggest thing his kind compassionate heart.

But it's honestly not just those two that make this story so good. Its Rod Brie's brother, who is by far the sweetest character in the entire world. And just wants to be his own person despite the hand life dealt him. And his reaction with Brie was absolutely awe-inspiring and heart breaking at times. With Rod having Downs Syndrome and the medical problems that surrounded it... It made me think of my nephew who was born with Hydrocephalus. And while it's a whole different condition, it caused some mental delays that could mean my nephew would never be able to live on his own, and that just... It hit close to home I guess.

And someone else I absolutely loved was Jansen! Like this guy. OH-EM-GEE!!! First off him and Vaughn are like the funniest freaking bromance I have ever read. EVER! As previously stated... a couple times haha.

But this man. Is literally the male fictional version of myself. Like there were parts of dialog where he would say something and I would bust out laughing because dear lord... I have either said or done the exact same things. Like if he's going to get his own book... I wanted it a week ago hehe.

He's so dang funny,and so so smart. Like everyone listen to #JensenTheWise because my man knows what he's talking about ya'll (And he's a goalie too!!! 😍😍😍)

Tate Odder will always hold the number one Assassin spot for me. But I have a feeling Jensen is going to hold a at least a top five spot by the time it's all said and done.

And if you're a fan of the series, we get a bunch of our favorites back for this installment like Shea, Ellie, Benji, etc...

There were so many twists and turns as this book went, and as always, Toni was able to pull me in from the first page and hold my attention until the last. And I found myself once again relating to so many aspects of one these books.

Empty Net is still by far my favorite. I have a really special place in my heart of that book, because it helped me through a really difficult time in my life, and I had never found a character quite like Audrey, that I saw exactly myself in. And found a part of myself I was missing by reading her's and Tate's story. But I honestly adored this book, and felt a lot of that same pull that I did back when I read EN.

I hope if anything I was at least able to convince you to go start the Assassins series with this one. Because it is by far one of the best book series out there. It ha some of everything, and you will fall absolutely head over heels for them.

And I hope I could also convince you to grab up a copy of DELAYED CALL too. Because it is such a good book, and I'm telling you... You want a good laugh session, this book will be for you. But also be prepared because the emotional-ness is all over the place on this one too haha

But it is worth every giggle, tear, and heart string pull.