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Thank you to Bloom Books and NetGalley for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
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Stinger starts off with Grace arriving in Las Vegas for a law student’s conference and she physically runs into Carson Stinger, a porn performer, who happens to be there for an adult entertainment conference. The two end up stuck in the elevator together, where Grace pours out her meticulous life plans and Carson lays out his lack of ambition. They end up bonding over the few hours that they’re trapped in the elevator, and when Grace reveals that she wants to sleep with another man before she meets her husband so that she can be “experienced,” Carson volunteers his time for the weekend. They spend the entire weekend together, both completely disregarding the conferences they were there for, but obviously, a law student on the east coast and a porn star on the west coast can’t really make a relationship work. As time passes, Carson takes inspiration from Grace to join the Navy and become a Seal, and she becomes a prosecutor and moves to Las Vegas. Will their paths cross again, five years later?
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This was my first Mia Sheridan book and I acknowledge that it was written 10 years ago and is being republished, so maybe her opinions and writing have changed, but this was a hot freaking mess. The blatant and internalized misogyny, the insta-love, the shame on sex workers, the police, military, and government presence being “sexy,” and everything else in this book being so BEYOND stupid and unrealistic made it almost a comedy instead of a romance if I’m being honest. This maybe would be good to a 16 or 17 year old with big city dreams, but as an adult this was practically insulting. I normally adore the books that Bloom chooses to republish and was shocked at how truly bad this was. The bonus star was for the sex scenes in the first half of the book (their weekend in Vegas), but literally everything else was trash.

I just want to start by saying that Mia Sheridan is my favorite author of all time, and she can do no wrong in my eyes! This book further proves that 😌

Grace & Carson meet due to unforeseen circumstances, and they do not get along right away. However, there is an attraction and chemistry between them that they cannot ignore 🔥 Things quickly spiral from there, and they become frenemies with benefits for a very brief amount of time. Life then gets in the way, and they don't see each other again for a long time. But even though this creates a right-person/wrong-time situation, they eventually meet again, and we get to see their second chance story unfold 🫶

I absolutely loved the longing and tension between Grace & Carson 🤌 Both in their first encounter and when they meet again, I felt their connection and enjoyed seeing it evolve after the years they spent apart. You can see how much they changed from when they first met and how they make each other better people 🥹 Additionally, Carson being so gone for Grace and willing to do anything for her was everything to me 😭

Overall, this book had the perfect balance of steaminess, swoon-worthy moments, and classic Mia Sheridan emotion-inducing vibes 🤩 I enjoyed seeing the first and second chances at love for Grace & Carson, and I think that they are truly meant for each other 💙 I hope I never run out of Mia Sheridan's books to read because she delivers every single time in all the ways possible.

Thank you so much to NetGalley & Sourcebooks/Bloom for an ARC of this book 💌

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this arc.

I love Mia Sheridan, she has easily become one of my favorite authors. I’ve been slowly making it through her catalog of books. As much as it pains me to say, this one wasn’t my favorite. I didn’t enjoy the characters. I didn’t enjoy the plot. I love a good second chance romance but just didn’t enjoy this one.

I have loved Mia's books since I inhaled Archers Voice years ago. This book had everything that makes her books great. I'm not a huge second chance romance reader but this one was fantastic. So much pining, so much character growth, so much redemption.

Sexy, heartbreaking, and riveting! New author for me and was happily surprised with how much I liked this genre! Would recommend!

MIAAAAASMSKKDKFF

girly can’t keep doing this to me. this was a PHENOMENAL story and a truly great reading experience. her characters are so nuanced and their banter, development, and characterization were truly stellar

i love mia sheridan with my whole entire heart and will never fail to recommend every thing she writes

Not my most favorite from Sheridan but still witty banter and spicy scenes to keep me intrigued. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I liked the story a lot. Four stars!

I just finished it and this book was not what I expected ! It’s a really good surprise.
Grace and Carson fell in love during a weekend in Vegas. They’re sweet, and funny until the reality catch them. And there, the story takes a turn that I didn't expect (I will not spoile).
There is no law for falling in love and the two of them prove it completely. Even when they were not together they kept thinking to each other, love each other.
A sweet story with a true background to remind us there is still good to do in our world.

I didn’t love the first half of this book but the second half mostly redeemed it. The weekend Grace and Carson spent together didn’t have enough build up and seemed relatively implausible that anything like that would happen in real life. The story line came off as cheesy at first in my opinion. When the story line came back to Vegas, you got to experience the characters really getting to know each other, which for me made up for the plot in part one.

Thank you NetGalley and Bloom Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The twists really surprised me. The first half was like a happy go lucky mood but then all hell broke loose. I’ve found myself counting down the days to their reunion. I was glad that both of them found and followed their own interest and passion. For anyone looking for romance and suspense I'd highly recommend this book!

Please check trigger warnings before reading.

Thank you to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have really liked Mia Sheridan and her books since I read Archers Voice. While this book carried some of the same themes, it was definitely a different story. While I enjoyed the story, I felt like there was something missing. Maybe it fell in all of the time jumps. Overall though, I enjoyed and would recommend this book.

I love this author but this book was just ok for me. It was an easy read but nothing special that stood out from others.

This was technically a reread for me, but it’s been years and I was surprised at how much I actually forgot about this plot as I was reading.
And years later, it still holds up for me.
Although this is a book filled with tropes I generally claim to hate, Stinger is proof that a good author can make none of that matter.
Stinger is full of heart, finding yourself, realizing what you want out of life, and ultimately who you want to share all of those things with.
Carson and Grace’s journeys are quite different, but very parallel, and when their paths cross for the second time, my heart was in my throat because it’s just so clear that these two belong together.
What I love about Mia’s second chances romances are that you actually get to see & experience the first part where they fall in love and what initially tears them apart. It makes their reunion a hundred times better.
The characters/what makes them tick are well developed, their chemistry jumps off the page, and in classic Mia fashion, there’s a dose of suspense to bring it all together.

Note to publisher: please make your e-arcs in protected mobi or epub format, the pdf was a hot mess with formatting, and since many of us read netgalley books on our kindles, it would be nice to have it laid out in a way that’s actually compatible to our e-readers.

4.5 stars. What started out as a weekend in Vegas where Carson and Grace got to know each other led to inspiring life changes for both of them. Such a hot and heartwarming story. I loved both Carson and Grace. They seemed like opposites, but understood each other so well. They both matured into admirable adults who stand up for what they believe in. Carson really surprised me in the best way. He went from being this fun and flirty guy with sexy moves to someone who demanded more from himself after knowing Grace. He was already swoon worthy in the beginning, but he takes charge of his life choices and is definitely heroic. As for Grace, her ambition and intelligence with her personality only add more to her appeal. Mia Sheridan always creates the best male and female lead characters who rise up from the ashes of life and create their own hard earned destiny with a journey that highlights that inner strength. Highly recommend.

I just loved it, it's a beautiful book years ago I read it for the first time and reading it again is falling in love with the characters again.

They are wonderful characters that make you fall in love with them, it is a beautiful story full of passion, love and self-improvement.

I love him, it's simply a beautiful story, Mine, as always, does not disappoint, it's incredible, I love Carson and his way of finding a way to do something that he loved and made him happy, his desire to get ahead and become something to be proud of of himself.

This was a great read. I am looking forward to reading more from this author. I definitely recommend this book, and this author.

Absolutely love this story!

Grace and Carson meet at a hotel, both there for conventions, very different conventions. They have a whirlwind weekend. Then have to go their separate ways. But things bring them back together. I love the chemistry between these two.

Nothing makes me happier in a romance novel than growth and maturity between characters - both separately and together. Grace’s growth is exemplified through her initial judgments and prejudices of others, and Carson’s growth is exemplified through his maturity and service to others. Now, you wouldn’t exactly expect this from an adult film star, but that’s what made this so refreshing. Carson no doubt owns his sexuality and appeal, but Grace shows him through her love that there’s more to life than being a playboy. Meanwhile Carson shows Grace that deviating from the plan and expectations is what life is about. They balance each other perfectly and I could feel their love pouring from the pages. This is an easy 5-star and will no doubt be a re-read!

This was a really easy romantic read for me. It did, however, cover a lot of storylines previously explored to death in other books so hence the low rating!