Trying It All

I always enjoy my visits with The Naked Men! :) With the fourth book in this series, we get Riley Ness' story. He's super serious and rigid, but we get the story behind why he is the way he is, and we also get to see him lighten up a bit as love comes into his life. The characters are always great and we get to enjoy the guys and couples from the previous books. This one drifted away from the blog/podcast a lot though, so that was a little bit of a different aspect from this series. I wanted more time to enjoy them as a couple once they got together, but overall, a fun addition to the series! Riley Ness is the serious one of the bunch! He plans his life rigidly and always watches out for everyone else. He lets down his guard with his buddies, but he doesn't live dangerously. That's why Summer Sheridan and her fly by night attitude drives him up the wall! Summer's best friend Chloe is all but engaged to be married to Riley's best friend Griff, so they are thrown together a lot in social situations. The gang has gotten used to hearing them banter and complain about each other. When they decide they need to try getting along better for Chloe and Griff's sake, they realize they actually have a hot attraction for each other! Will hearing about each other's life stories and knowing the reasoning behind their different ways of life help them understand the other or will it just be one more thing they fight about?

On the surface, this looks like an opposites attract story but as Riley and Summer get to know each, and we get to know them, it is revealed that they are more alike than either of them realize. Riley is one of the ACSs, a group of men who survived a near fatal accident in the mountains of Italy ten years ago. Each one of the men in this group was impacted in a different way. Riley learned that he always needs to be prepared and thinks of all of the possible outcomes of every situation that he may be in. He's a super uptight Type A and tries to control everything around him. Summer survived a mass shooting on her college campus and, after nearly losing her life, has lived as if today may be the last day she has so she must live life to the fullest. Whenever Riley and Summer are together, they do nothing but fight and snipe at each other but there's a thin line between love and hate so once they cross the line, their chemistry is explosive. The differences between them seem to fade away the more they learn about each but, as with any person who has experienced the type of traumas they have, the baggage can get in the way. I loved Summer and Riley. They're both hilarious and care more about the people around them than anything else in the world. Even though they seemed like opposites in the beginning, I loved learning all of the ways they are similar and perfect for each other. This is only the second of this series that I have read so I *need* to go back and read the first two. I love so much about this group and I can't wait to see where the series goes next. *This is my voluntary review of an advanced reader copy*

Riley is one sexy complicated level headed man. Except for the fear he has carried around most of his life. Summer is a carefree fun loving woman. Except for the fear of what the future holds or doesn't hold. They are so wrong for each other they are each other's total opposite. They make for one amazingly fun loving hard headed couple. A must read.

This is the first time I have read anything by this author and it won’t be my last. This book can be read as a standalone. I haven’t read the other books in this series and I didn’t feel like I was missing any information as the author does a good job of filling in gaps without boring you with too much detail. Summer and Riley couldn’t be more different. Riley is all about planning down to the finest detail, where Summer is a fly by the seat of your pants and live in the moment kind of girl. They both have their reasons for their compulsion. Riley was in a terrible bus accident when he was in high school. He and three of his teammates were severely injured and stranded for three days on a desolate mountain road until they were rescued. Their bond is still strong to this day. While waiting to be rescued Riley vowed he would never be in this type of situation again. He would plan for every scenario possible. He is an engineer and even made his career about preventing and working traffic accidents for the NTSB. Summer was also involved in her own life changing trauma. She was the victim of a college campus shooter and actually died for over a minute until the medical team revived her. She vowed to live life to the fullest and to not have lasting relationships. She doesn’t plan too far in future because she feels that the future can be gone in an instant. She is a successful business woman with her boutique and she is gorgeous! Summer is best friends with Chloe, who is serious about one of the blood brothers, Griffin. So needless to say, Summer spends a lot of time with the group. She can’t help but push Riley’s buttons. He is so easy to rile with his uptight ways. During one of the many banter matches, Riley gets so frustrated that he kisses Summer to shut her up. What they both didn’t expect was that it was a great kiss. They both realize that nothing can come of this because they are like oil and water, but the sizzle from that kiss remains. They can’t be in the same room without making snarky comments, until the gang was heading to the beach house for the weekend and Riley asks Summer for a truce to help keep the anxiety down amongst the group. Or so he says, it’s really because he might want to kiss her again and see where it leads. I am going to leave it right there. You need to read this to find out what happens with Riley and Summer. This is a true enemy to lovers, opposites attack, have to get along for the sake of the friends type of novel. The banter is great and the chemistry is hot between these two. The friendships between the blood brothers is amazing. They are truly brothers to the core. Summer and her best friend Chloe have a great bond as well. The story is well written and I was drawn into the characters. If you love an enemy to lovers’ romance, then this is the book for you.

This is book #4 in the Naked Men series. This book can be read as a standalone novel. For reader understanding and enjoyment, I recommend reading this complex series in order. Riley and Summer are thrown together by the fact that their best friends are a couple. This changes the group's dynamic and even how they both look at things. Summer is hot and reckless. Riley is careful and cautious. It makes for a heck of a dance. Summer never wants to plan anything for the future. She has learned the hard way in the past that even with a good plan, things can arise. So, why is she so attracted to the ever buttoned up Riley? Why is a kiss with him so hot it rocks her world? This story is so very emotional as well as just plain sexy! These characters are already so head over heels for one another it makes for a great read. This series just keeps getting better with each book. ***This early copy was given in exchange for an honest review only.

Naked Men is such a great series. I had never read anything by Christi Barth until reading the first book in this series, Risking It All. After reading that I knew that I had to read the remaining books as they came out. Trying It All is the fourth book in the series and it centers around Riley and Summer. Each book in the series can be read as a standalone and Ms. Barth does a great job of giving you all of the information you need so that you don't feel lost if you haven't read the other books. I love reading series in order, though, so I'm really glad that I started at the beginning. Riley and Summer have both suffered severe, life changing, trauma and, naturally, this has affected how they each approach life. Riley became determined to be prepared for any possible bad situation while Summer decided to live life one day at a time and not plan for anything too far in the future. She is a free spirit and he is a bit of a stick-in-the-mud. Riley and Summer are frenemies – they have to tolerate each other because Summer is the BFF of one of the Naked Men and it's impossible for Riley to totally avoid her, but they don't like each other much. They love to pick at each other and hurl thinly veiled insults. One day Summer goes a bit too far by saying Riley doesn't have the balls to do anything risky. Next thing she knows he grabs her face and kisses her. They are both stunned by how the kiss affects them. Thus begins the transition of their relationship. This book has everything I want in a great story. There's plenty of humor, some sexy time, and enough emotion to bring me to tears more than once (both happy and sad). When the expected conflict comes, it was not what I expected at all. Ms. Barth did a great job of putting her characters through the wringer and then straightening everything out again. I wish I had been able to sit down and read this straight through because I didn't want to put it down. Unfortunately, I had to stop to get some sleep. I'm really looking forward to reading the next book which I hope will be about Josh, the last Naked Man standing. A review copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley but this did not influence my opinion or rating of the book. ***Reviewed for Xtreme-Delusions***

Another awesome book in the Naked Men series. This is the fourth book but each can be read standalone, however, I recommend you read the whole series to fully understand the bond between these men. This is Riley's story and it's absolutely perfect for him. Riley is the planner. Always prepared for any and everything. That's how he lives his life now. After surviving their horrific event in high school, Riley doesn't ever want to be unprepared again. Then Summer Sheridan comes along and threatens to blow is very controlled life right out of the water. Can he let loose enough to grab for a little happiness and will Summer let him? Definitely a book you want to read. I highly recommend it.