Enjoyed this one - it's actually the first one I've read from the Hard Play or Rock Kiss series (I've read some of the author's paranormal stories but not her contemp romances) so now I know I have some other good ones to look forward to!

I really enjoyed that this book had both male and female athletes in Daniel and Catie who are longtime frenemies - always on each other's cases but when push comes to shove, willing to back the other one up. That comes to pass when they agree to be in a fake relationship in order to keep Daniel's reputation intact after someone roofies his drink at a bar , a malicious act that could cost Daniel his sponsorship and career. Catie steps up to defend her sometime friend, and from there their time spent together becomes more comfortable than either is willing to admit to. Going from frenemies to lovers (under the eyes of their families who are more than happy to believe that the two have finally found their way into a relationship) is easier than they would have thought possible, but comes with the fraught realization that ending it could cause heartbreak. The author handles Catie's double amputee status with matter-of-factness, showing Catie's strength of character and resilience. While this is a sports romance at heart, it's also a great example of a new adult romance with two people in their twenties learning all the best elements of how to turn friendship and companionship into love.

Nalini Sing can write stories that keep you hooked like this enemy to lovers. It's highly entertaining, compelling and i rooted for the characters.
Excellent storytelling and plot development.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This was my first novel by this author, and it took me a few chapters to get used to her writing and the third person style.

Danny and Catie are the main characters here, and I know this book is part of a series (that i haven't read previously), but the amount of information dropped about the other couples (all three of Danny's older brothers), is so overwhelming, that i don't feel the need to read them anymore... Until 50% of the story, i already knew the plot of all previous books, how they started, ended and even the plot twist to a couple of them.

So THAT was the main reason for my missing stars...
Too much facts and storylines about his/her family, that didn't added anything to their own story. It was just a lot of spoilers for who hadn't read it, or unnecessary reminders for those who had read it.

After a while the story starts to focus more around their struggles and their fears as a couple and as high performance athletes.

I really loved them individually as characters, and how they started to see each other as more than just that childhood nemesis and how their friendship was something always present and primordial.
Both were really good for each other and I loved their profound connection.

What attracted me to this book in the first place, was the disability of Catie, and how the author would show her day to day life, as not only a double legged amputee, but also as a Paralympian athlete.
I was not disappointed at all at the representation, even if Catie's life was easier cause she had a great financial support, her family wasn't a caring one and therein lies her insecurities.

It was a great reading with lots of kiwi characters and a good minority representation.

I don't know if I'll read the previous books... Maybe one day, after I forget everything that was spoiled about them.

Kiss Hard by Nalini Singh is book 4 in the Hard Play series.
I love a good Enemies to Lovers story and I absolutely adore Nalini's writing, making Kiss Hard a match made in heaven for me.
Danny and Catie made the best enemies and the best lovers. They are wonderful characters individually and together, they had an epic journey.
Fun, sweet, challenging, emotional, all the way to a HEA. Highly recommend.

I've read some of the others in this series, so it was fun to see cameos from previous couples.

This entry in the series was good fun. Strong female characters are always good to see and I loved that Catie's an amputee and that's no big deal. I'm not usually a fan of childhood friends become lovers because I'm not always convinced by what tips the balance but it worked in this case with the incident with Danny and the fake dating.
Obviously it doesn't stay fake!

Lots of fun, a warm easy read romance I thoroughly enjoyed.

3.5-4 stars
I really enjoyed this. I thought Daniel and Catie had a great relationship. Despite being frenemies, they really had a good understand of each other's personalities and needs. You could see that they fit so well together. Their upbringing shaped them in very different ways, and it was interesting to see how that played a part in the plot.

I've enjoyed reading this series, so I also liked the cameos of the rest of the family. In particular, Gabe and Charlotte. I loved seeing them as parents :') I'll have to reread their book again lol

This book is great as a stand-alone, I hadn’t read any of this series but will look for more from this author!

On the one hand we have Danny, with a strong career, wonderful family and the world at his feet.
Then we have Catie, she has her challenges and a life that’s less than easy!
When the two are thrown together, their prickly relationship soon has sparks!
I loved this book, the fast paced storyline with strong characters and emotions makes for a great read.
The respect, developing relationship and bond between Catie and Danny is definitely a special journey!

Thanks so much to the publisher, Netgalley and the very talented author for the opportunity to read and review this fantastic book.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Kiss Hard was my first Nalini Singh book and it did not disappoint. I love a frenemies to lovers and fake dating trope, and Catie and Danny's story ticked off all the right boxes. This book was smooth, easy read and there weren't too many big conflicts which was great for the reading mood I was in when I started this story.

Thank you NetGalley and TKA Distribution for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

I hadn’t read any of the preceding books in the series but this didn’t diminish my enjoyment of this book or storyline. Despite this being the 4th book in the series, it can easily be read as a stand-alone story.

This was an enjoyable book. A friends, if not frenemies, to lovers story, where the boy you grow up with is the one you end up with. The characters are both strong and relatable. It’s not often you also have a heroine like this one. Very enjoyable story that can be finished in one sitting.

Thank you to the Author, Publisher & NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this story.

I gave 5 out of 5 stars because why the hell not? The story was a great sports romance and nemesis to lovers troupe. There was nothing to turn my nose up at, it was light banter and sunshine for me all the way. I look forward to catching up on all the Hard Play series and the Rock series.

I absolutely loved this. This might be my favourite contemporary novel by this author. You can read this as a standalone despite it being book 4 of the Hard Play series. This more than delivered everything I possibly wanted.

Fake Relationship is a top tier trope and Nalini Singh’s Kiss Hard, the fourth book in the Hard Play series, gave me frenemies to lovers, banter and has so much heart.

Paralympic Catie River and Rugby player Daniel Esera have grown up with each other (her sister is married to his brother) and their pranks and sparring are notorious in the New Zealand sports world.
He calls her Princess, and she calls him Hotshot, but when his career is jeopardized after a night out, a fake relationship is the only way to save it. Catie is very guarded after being abandoned emotionally by her parents, and Danny’s reputation as a love ‘em and leave ‘em type makes her think they’ll burn out fast. But once Danny realizes his fake feelings are real, whew! He starts showing Catie through small acts (baking, texting, holding her hand when she’s walking on uneven ground with her prosthetics) how much he cares and it’s so sweet to see them go from frenemies to friends to lovers. Swoon!

This book can be read as a standalone but the other characters frequently appear since they’re all part of the same family group.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

3.5 but rounding up…..this book is frenemies to lovers with fake dating and being snowed in. I loved Danny as a cinnamon roll hero and Catie and her trust issues were so relatable. This was a sweet low angst romance which I appreciate and I enjoyed the full cast of family members.

The Hard Play series has been all about the sons of the Bishop/Esera clan of New Zealand Rugby “Royalty” finding their HEAs, beginning with big brother Gabriel “T-Rex” Bishop in the precursor story, Rock Hard. T-Rex and his story were universal, squeeing, over-the-moon favorites over at The Book Pushers, so I’m always happy to see just how happy his and his “Mouse’s” HEA has turned out to be.

Gabriel Bishop is Danny Esera’s half brother – not that any of the Bishop/Esera brothers ever waste a breath on that half. The first “official” book in the Hard Play series, Cherish Hard, was all wrapped – like a vine – around the romance between Sailor Bishop, the second son in the family, and Isa Rain, the (half) sister of Catie River, Danny’s frenemy in the blended family from the day they met.

So long-time readers of this series have met these people before, back in that earlier book, and an earlier time in both their lives, as Sailor and Isa are more than a bit older than their (half) siblings. Again a half that only matters for the amount of time between their parents’ marriages and not anything to do with the amount of love in either family. (You don’t have to read the earlier books in the series to get right into the action in this one, but they are all delicious so why wouldn’t you?)

Which leads to a big part of this story, in that there was and is plenty of unconditional love in the Bishop/Esera clan, while Isa and Catie mostly had just each other. Not that their parents aren’t all still among the living, but that their presence in their daughters’ lives is a bit, shall we say, lacking.

Jacqueline Rain has always been more interested in being a corporate shark than a mother, while Isa’s father was every bit as invested in his own corporate sharkhood and not so present for his daughter. While Catie’s dad was an unreliable gambler who let his luck and the wind blow him wherever the next good time happened to be. Clive Rain loves his child, but he’s only rarely there for her. He stood steadfast for one, long, big, huge time when her legs were crushed along with her dreams of being an Olympic sprinter. But the rest of the time, Clive has been the one running.

Now Danny and Catie are all grown up, they are both sports stars in their own respective rights – Danny on the New Zealand National Rugby Team and Catie as a medal-winning Paralympic sprinter. They are also the best of enemies, snarking at each other at family gatherings and in social media. If there’s a poster couple for frenemies, Danny and Catie are it. They snark not to wound but to one-up each other in ways that are intelligent and funny rather than truly hurtful.

So, when Catie sees clean-cut, clean-living Danny stumbling and slurring his words at a big party, she knows something is wrong. Danny doesn’t drink to excess, and he doesn’t do drugs – because there’s too much riding on his good image and his success. In the best frenemy tradition, she gets Danny out of the party before he either passes out or does something stupid and unforgiveable.

Only for the news that they are holed up in her apartment in the suddenly snowbound city to potentially be as damaging to both their images as pictures of Danny under the influence might have been.

Which leads to damage control for the damage control. A fake relationship will explain their sudden cozy snowbound interlude. A fake relationship that lasts a reasonable amount of time will make the whole thing acceptable to both sets of fans and keep the media away from the real story.

And in the best tradition of fake relationship romances, when the fake turns real, neither of them are sure that the other is able to trust their very mutual change of heart.

Escape Rating A-: At first it seems like this one hits the “Trope Trifecta” – it’s a snowbound, fake relationship, enemies to lovers romance. But under those easy-to-spot covers is something with a whole lot more delicious nuance.

The one part of the trope trifecta that is unequivocally true is the snowbound part. Catie and Danny do end up spending a couple of nights stuck in her apartment during a freak snowstorm. But those other two tropes, not so much – in a very good way.

This isn’t really an enemies to lovers romance because Danny and Catie aren’t truly enemies. Not that their mutual snarkfest isn’t real, rather that it doesn’t represent real enmity. They are constantly trying to one-up each other, and they are very salty to each other both online and in person, but it’s all very much in jest in a way that only works with someone you trust not to hurt you. Which they do.

Their relationship isn’t exactly fake, either. Or rather, they already have a relationship – a relationship of true friends who snark and play-fight to keep the world at bay. They already love each other, if not romantically. There’s nothing shameful or wrong in loving your friend, and that’s what they are to each other underneath all that snark.

So this is a story about both of them reaching for more with a person who is already inside their circle of trust – but who they are afraid to trust too much because of the emotional baggage they are carrying from other relationships in their lives when that trust was broken.

Especially Catie, who loves her father but was forced at a young age to recognize that he was not in the least trustworthy – and that he’d always walk away without a second’s notice.

To make a long story short, Kiss Hard is every bit as worthy a successor to the rest of the Hard Play series as Daniel Esera is to the tradition of his family’s rugby dynasty. The joy in the story is watching Catie and Danny turn their salty friendship into a beautiful romance.

There's so much to love about Kiss Hard: the way Nalini Singh plays with gender dynamics, how Catie is this badass Paralympian and how she and other characters navigate her disability, the representation, and the insight into so many rarely-written sports worlds.

However. The backstory gets in the way too much in this book. In another book, that might mean too little backstory, or something nonsensical, but Singh here provides so much context for each character that it's overwhelming. I looked up the previous books in this series multiple times to see if I was missing anything, I wasn't -- there was just so much backstory that didn't seem to serve a purpose, only slow the story down and get in the way of the chemistry between Catie and Danny. After hearing so many times about how they were like siblings, and about their blended family, I actually found myself resisting their coupling.

There's a fun contemporary romance in here, though, with great, thoughtful, representation, but I think it needed some excavating from all the complicated logistics.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance review copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I adore Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series but I her contemporary novels a bit hit or miss for me. Rock Addiction was okay but I loved Rebel Hard. For me Kiss Hard lacked a bit of oomph. I wanted more banter, more jibes, more tension. The fake dating trope is so common these days so for a fake dating novel to stand out, it has to be done really well. Unfortunately, for me Kiss Hard was not that. Perhaps, because I hold Nalini Singh to a higher standard (Last Guard was absolutely brilliant), Kiss Hard just fell a bit flat. Still, even though it was not my favourite Singh novel, it was a good read.

Very thankful that I was able to receive this arc from Netgalley. This was my first time reading a book from Singh but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Although there wasn’t your typical 3rd act misunderstanding, there was definitely a bit of angst in this book. I appreciated it but I also felt the ending was a tad bit anti-climatic. I found the chemistry between Danny and Catie to be believable though and I enjoyed being able to see them go from childhood “enemies” to lovers. Their banter was organic, it was real. I definitely will be reading more of Singh’s books because I enjoyed her writing style and I found it extremely refreshing.

It’s a can’t-put-down romance that had me smiling until the end.

Kiss Hard takes up the story of the youngest Esera brother. Danny leads a charmed life. He has a wonderful and supportive family, and his career is only getting better. He even has a shot at the England national rugby team. But his sponsors require him to keep his reputation squeaky clean and it’s put to the test when someone slips him a drugged drink one evening. Luckily, his nemesis, Catie, is on hand to divert disaster. And when social media has them in a romantic relationship, they decide to go with it, especially since it could be beneficial to both of their careers.

I love Catie. She’s had so much to overcome between her physical disability, her flaky father, her “dragon” mother, and her unconventional childhood. She is level-headed and mature, except for her interactions with Danny. But the snippy banter between them is a lot of fun. She also knows her body’s limits and how to take care of herself.

Both Catie and Danny are very driven and ambitious athletes and they fit well together. They understand the pressures that come with their careers. I love that Danny never treated Catie any different than he would anybody else.

Their relationship developed slowly out of a mutual loathing. Underneath their animosity, they still had a lot of respect for each other and that was a very good place to start from. What I liked most was that they kept trusting each other, no matter what happened. And don’t you just love that cover?

I’ve enjoyed the entire Hard Play series so far. I can definitely recommend it if you like your romance steamy, with steady, strong characters. It’s not necessary to read them in order.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this book. Was my first by this author but I'll definitely check out more books! This is one of my favorite tropes (enemies to lovers) if you're looking for a quick read I would recommend this book!

I kinda feel bad that I didn’t like this book as much as it looks like a lot of others did. I like sports romance and freaking adore enemies to lovers so I came into this with such high hopes. Especially since Catie was such a strong character. She is a double amputee that is also a Paralympic and is determined to do things herself. I really liked the fact that the heroine had a disability because it’s something not often seen in a romance novel.

Sadly, the book fell a little flat for me. It wasn’t much of an enemies to lovers book so much as it was an irritating to lovers book. Danny and Catie have known each other since they were young and while they don’t always get along (mainly throw a few barbs at each other), there wasn’t much of an enemies vibe. Maybe more of frenemies? Either way, it just wasn’t there. And it didn’t feel enough like a sports romance to satisfy me. It just wasn’t there in the foreground like one should be to be considered one (or at least for my opinion). The good news is you don’t have to have read the other books to understand this one, but it does bring a little more to the table.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.