Hot Shot by Staci Hart [Review]

Hot Shot (Roseville Ramblers #2) by Staci Hart
Format: ebook
Source: provided for review
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Date read: April 22, 2025

Roseville Ramblers
1. Wild Card
2. Hot Shot - Paperback | Kindle

Staci Hart
| Website | Amazon |

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Never thought I’d agree to a marriage of convenience to my hot, firefighter ex boyfriend.
Especially after he casually informs me we’ve been married for ten years.

Ten years ago, Wilder and I were so in love that we got married in Vegas for one night only before leaving for college on different sides of the world. He was supposed to mail the annulment papers.

Problem is, he didn’t.
Worse? He didn’t tell me.
Not even when I came back to town to marry another man.

But now he needs my help, and I can’t say no. All I have to do is have to pretend in front of the whole town like we’re married. Hold hands. Kiss. Not throw myself at him when he looks at me like I’m the only woman in the world.

My body might remember him, but the rest of me isn’t ready. Because I’m just learning how to find myself, and if I get wrapped up in Wilder’s world, I’ll lose more than my heart—I’ll lose everything.

Again.

Thoughts on Hot Shot: These Roseville ball players, amirite?!?!? Seriously, they're smokin' hot even before you throw in the sexy firefighter thing Wilder has going. Cass has moments where she laments Wilder's competence and OH YEAH. The guy gets things done. I'm not talking just in sexy ways. He just...sees that something needs to be done and takes care of it. Quite frankly, it destroys the defenses Cass is trying to keep up around him.

Which, HA. Yeah, she tried to hold strong against him, but ten years hadn't killed her feelings for Wilder. They might have been buried for a while, but those feelings definitely weren't dead. That said, after the fiasco that happened on her almost-wedding day, Cass was feeling a little bruised around the edges. Having Wilder tell her they had actually been married for the last ten years on the heels of that was rough for Cass to take in. But she did. And when fate dropped a grieving kiddo in their lap, Cass stepped up to help Wilder out.

On Wilder's end...well, holding off on telling Cass about their marriage was probably not the best choice. Would he have voiced his objection at her wedding if the other things hadn't happened? I feel like he was waiting until the eleventh hour on that one and somehow fate heard him and sent the epic intervention that derailed the wedding. Let's just say that he probably could have handled things better on that end and move along.

Now he has a real wife who is determined to protect her heart (and her loins!) and they have to pretend to be in love when they're fighting really being in love (well, Cass is fighting it, Wilder's sort of accepted that Cass is the one and only for him) PLUS they have a kiddo who needs them in a lot of ways. Throw in a new job (for Cass), the danger inherent in fighting fires for a living (for Wilder), some school yard bullying that was TOUGH to read about, and Cass trying to find herself again after spending the last ten years pushing her inner badass into a little corner (while Wilder has to work on being true to himself as a fixer of all things while respecting the boundaries Cass has put up as she works on finding her independence again). WHEW. Yeah, there's a lot going on here and it is GLORIOUS!