Noah: 5th Street

5th Street #1

by Elizabeth Reyes

Veronica Cruz has been through hell and back. After disconnecting with the world two years ago to be at the side of her dying mother, she's left alone, unemployed, overweight, and feeling a decade older than her twenty-eight years. When her best friend coaxes her into joining the local gym to ditch her depression and rejuvenate her life, she meets Noah. Assigned to help Veronica lose weight, Noah is everything she expected a young trainer to be—perfectly chiseled, supportive and motivating. Add to that, he's incredibly sexy. He's everything she's ever looked for in a man. What she least expected was for him to fall for her, but he has. There's just one glaring Noah is eight years younger. Noah Quintanilla has his eye on a boxing title—someday. Down for a few months with an injury, his maintenance boy pay at 5th Street Gym won't cut it. He's finally given the opportunity to train. The catch? His trainee is an out-of-shape woman with a free week pass. Taking on the challenge, Noah stumbles into one of the closest friendships he's ever known, and before he knows it, he's in love. But Veronica's not having it—the age difference is too much. Their platonic relationship means having to watch her date other men—something that would make him crazy. Believing he's the man for her, Noah sets out to prove that age is but an illusion and that there's more to him than just a number.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, New Adult, Sports, Fighters, Adult

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Elizabeth Reyes is a USA Today Best Selling Author of The Moreno Brothers, 5th Street, Fate, Looking Glass, De Luca Boys series' and two stand alone novels Desert Heat, & Defining Love.

Join the fun and become a royal member of TeamReyes and enjoy the perks of early announcements,cover reveals teasers, including exclusive teasers shared only the group. Along with exclusive team,giveaways,discussions, trivia, Secret Santa and much much more!

Note to readers, I don't do dark, tragic or kill off main characters no matter what it might seem like. Just keep reading and trust me you'll ALWAYS get an HEA from me!

Moreno Brothers:

Forever Mine - New Adult / Mature YA

Sweet Sofie - New Adult/ Mature YA

Forever Yours - New Adult (Angel and Sarah's follow up (college story!)

When You Were Mine - (A prequel novella to Always Been Mine)- New Adult

Always Been Mine - Adult contemporary

Romero - New Adult- Adult contemporary

Making You Mine - New Adult
(with bonus Angel and Sarah short "Only 8 days") *Tearjerker

Tangled - (A Moreno Brothers holiday novella) Featuring Romero and Izzy

Tall, Dark & Obnoxious - Adult Romantic Comedy- short featuring Izzy's uptight sister and Romero's obnoxious uncle.


5th Street:

Noah - Adult Contemporary

Gio - New Adult

Hector - New Adult

Abel - Adult Contemporary *Tear Jerker

Felix - New Adult *Tear jerker

Blindside - Adult contemporary short featuring Noah and Roni

Fate series:

Fate - New Adult

Breaking Brandon - New Adult *Tear jerker

Suspicious Minds - Adult contemporary

Again - New Adult/Adult Contemporary *MAJOR tear jerker

Rage - Adult contemporary

His To Guard - Adult contemporary

Uninvited - Adult contemporary

Boyle Heights series

Lila - Adult Contemporary

Beast - Adult Contemporary

Nine - Adult Contemporary/RomCom

Orlando - Adult Contemporary

Looking Glass

Girl In The Mirror - Adult Contemporary/psychological thriller

We Were One - Adult Contemporary *MAJOR tear jerker but TRUST ME! ;)

De Luca Boys

Remi's Choice - Adult Contemporary - Love triangle MAJOR angst - cheating but hailed one of the BEST love triangles written.




For more up to date info visit her website at www.ElizabethReyes.com

Reviews

[SueBee★bring me an alpha!★]

FREE on Amazon US today (10/19/2015)

Stand-alone book 1.

BLURB:
Veronica Cruz has been through hell and back. After disconnecting with the world two years ago to be at the side of her dying mother, she’s left alone, unemployed, overweight, and feeling a decade older than her twenty-eight years. When her best friend coaxes her into joining the local gym to ditch her depression and rejuvenate her life, she meets Noah. Assigned to help Veronica lose weight, Noah is everything she expected a young trainer to be—perfectly chiseled, supportive and motivating. Add to that, he’s incredibly sexy. He’s everything she’s ever looked for in a man. What she least expected was for him to fall for her, but he has. There's just one glaring problem: Noah is eight years younger.

Noah Quintanilla has his eye on a boxing title—someday. Down for a few months with an injury, his maintenance-boy pay at 5th Street Gym won't cut it. He’s finally given the opportunity to train. The catch? His trainee is an out-of-shape woman with a free week pass. Taking on the challenge, Noah stumbles into one of the closest friendships he’s ever known, and before he knows it, he’s in love. But Veronica’s not having it—the age difference is too much. Their platonic relationship means having to watch her date other men—something that would make him crazy. Believing he's the man for her, Noah sets out to prove that age is but an illusion, and there's more to him than just a number.

http://www.amazon.com/Noah-5th-Street...


FREEBIES are often good for MORE than one day, I have gathered all my FREEBIES on a special shelf: Kindle-freebies (currently over 490 books)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

[Just My Bucking Book Blog · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't read unless you have read the book. There are spoilers ahead.






My emotions for this review are seriously summed up with this gif!!

I honestly thought this book was an utter load of bullshit. The blurb sounded interesting and when I read it, I assumed there would be lots of training session's and gym time between Roni and Noah but after four or so chapters Roni magically lost 40 lbs pounds and wasn't overweight any more or feeling down about herself.

What? No, seriously, what?

How was it possible or even healthy to lose forty pounds in a month? Getting past the annoyance of that, I was hit with a wave of anger when we didn't even get decent gyms workout with Roni and Noah. We didn't get to see her progress, build stamina, get used to been on a treadmill or other work out machines or anything like that.

No, what we got was "Last week I lost five pounds, it's the end of my second week and I'm about to weigh in. I know I worked out hard but I'm nervous!"

WHAT?!?

I HATE when all of a sudden a scene skips over the weeks during a novel, it's okay to do it once or twice, but it happened a lot during Noah and I didn't like it one bit. It went from be nervous around her sexy, young trainer to living with him!! It made it out as if Roni and Noah knew each other many months when in reality it was only about two or three. And apparently things progressed really fast during those two or three months.

I couldn't get head around any of that, I also didn't get Nellie, she was in the start of the story then randomly disappeared to go on vacation to work on things with her cheat of a husband. I literally feel like her and Rick where put in this story just to be a point to Roni that older men mess up and that it really has nothing to do with their age, a problem which she stressed so often about because Noah was eight years younger than her.

I'm a firm believer that age is just a number when it comes to dating someone a lot older than you - once you're 18 or over - but I honestly thought it was stupid to make the heroine have hang ups about an eight year age gap between herself and the hero because there was and eight year gap between her and her ex-boyfriend!! That really pissed me off, talk about being a fucking hypocrite!

Noah was what saved this story for me, he was sweet, sexy, a boxer and personal trainer, very persistent and extremely mature in certain situations. I can't say any of these things about the heroine, she acted more like an eighteen year old virgin rather than the 28 year old woman she was supposed to be. I mean she got pissed off about Rita - a girl Noah casually hooked up once in a while - and never talked to him about it because she was trying to convince herself they were just friends and she didn't care, she instead acted like a child and ran back to her ex - the douche who left her when her mother was dying, when she needed him most - for lunch and dinner dates and didn't tell Noah about any of them. She pissed me off to the point I wanted to punch a hole through the screen of my Kindle.

I seriously feel like I was robbed of the 1 Euro I paid for this crap. It was boring, annoying and the blurb was seriously misleading, I won't get back the two hours it took me to get through this stupid thing.

Just My Bucking Book Blog

[Rain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spoilery review below!

This is not really a review, it’s more of a warning.

Woman goes to gym to lose weight, meets cute trainer. He was more mature at 19 than she was at 28.

First, she has blonde hair. Then, she has black hair.

They spend Thanksgiving together as roommates, but emotions are high in they’re both flirting. The chemistry is off the charts. She has feelings for him and he for her…and then the next day he goes and has sex with ow (his yearly holiday hookup). Described in detail so that was fun. H did think of h while f*cking the ow, so I guess that’s positive?

Loads of “fat girl” shaming, she miraculously looses 40+ pounds in a month.

Lots of drama. They finally become a couple around 90% in. Can’t believe I managed to finish this one…

[Stacia (the 2010 club) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cheers for a romance novel cover that looks adorable.

I can't find any of these over-used stereotypes in sight :

1. Headless Man - Apparently, readers don't want a face to ruin their image. It's too bad I prefer a gorgeous face to a hot body. What's the point of a good body if you can't look someone in the eye?

2. Shirtless man w/winking nipples - Don't believe me? Take a spin through someone's romance book list. Let it be said that I'm a nipple aficionado (talk about a bitch to get the spelling right on that word!). Most book "nipples" look deformed.

3. Couple locked in passionate embrace, with at least one or both people looking as if they're about to pass gas. - Yep. I'm glad the bodice-ripping days are over but some publishers don't seem to be quite aware of this fact yet.

4. Woman in a scandalous pose, about to fall out of her dress (historical), or woman in high heels and short skirt, with the top half of her missing (contemporary) - Self-explanatory.

5. Flowers or a house on the cover. - Again, self-explanatory

So yes, I like this cover. It actually fits the story and characters perfectly.

What's even better? I actually liked the story. Contemporary romance and I have a love/hate relationship (usually more hate than love). White collar stories are my least favorites to read. I love gritty men who like to get their hands dirty. The lead is a boxer? Yes, I do believe I will like this.

What's goin' on?
Noah and Veronica (Roni) have an age difference of more than 8 years. Roni met Noah because he'd been assigned to her as a personal trainer, while she struggled to lose more than 40 pounds. A friendship forms, he moves in with her because of some damage to his own house, and sparks fly...

The conflict :
Even though Roni's hangups stalled the relationship for far too long, the outside conflicts were amusing. Past exes came back into the picture and questions of Noah's previous dealings were speedbumps on the road to smooth sailing.

What rocked my world :
The setting and characters. It's nice to read about young guys who act like young guys. Too many older woman/younger man scenarios have the guy acting like he's the same age as the woman, ready to "be the man full time." This book makes everything seem more realistic. A guy who's not even twenty might be hanging out drinking with his friends and playing video games. Huge points to the author for getting this right. Noah was youthful, yet still responsible, which made him a good match for Roni (who needed a jolt in her life).

Even though the sex didn't happen until almost the end of the book, it was satisfying (if a bit rushed).

My WTF?!? moment :
The epilogue. No. Just no. We didn't need to go there.

Am I going to read book 2?
You betcha.

[Abbi Glines]

The guys on 5th Street are just as fantastic as those Moreno Brothers. I adored Noah. I ended up losing two nights of sleep because I couldn't put Noah down. The romance between him and Roni is so incredible sweet. Well… and incredibly hot too. A must read for all romance readers. FYI: Reyes ability to create the best alpha males out there is alive and well with the 5th Street series. I can't wait to read Gio.

[rj · Rating 1 out of 5]

The hero and heroine are living together as roommates and have this wonderful bonding thanksgiving night but the next day he goes and has sex with OW.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The heroine in this book ruined it for me...review to come..

[• Lisa • · Rating 2 out of 5]

BLUURGH how do I rate this book?

First things first, this book was FREE, I'm amazed that authors who put together well written books do this, so Thank you author, its very kind of you.

So Where do I start? This book had a mish mash of feelings for me. There were bits I LOVED, bits I liked and some parts were just ... ok ish.

Veronica has just lost her mum to cancer, following this difficult time she found herself depressed and overweight. she is encouraged by her friend to join a local gym to get back into shape, and meets younger fitness trainer Noah. This story shows what happens when love intervenes and brings two unlikely's together.

So the things I loved/liked ~ NOAH, he was a great character and my enjoyment factor of this book mainly hinged on this boxing beauty. I also thought the author did a good job of putting the book together and produced a well written, sweet friends to lovers story.

So where did it go wrong? Well for me this book stayed in the friend zone for too long. I was ready to jump into the book and sort it out for myself, don't get me wrong I'm an advocate for drawn out tension, but this took the biscuit. My other niggle was with Veronica ~ bless her, she was a tad drab and dreary and may on occasion have irritated me. I admit I skipped and skimmed the last third of this book ~ shameful i know.

All in all a sweet, partly engaging read with a hunky, chunky male lead and a ending that romance books are made for, but sadly for me it fell a little flat.

2.5 -3 stars

[Georgina ☽ themalf0ydiaries · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a fun read. The story wasn't much but it pulled me out of my reading slump so I guess it was good enough. I LOVED Noah! He was such a cute/perf male character. I like Roni. I thought she was really annoying at times, like hell, just do him girl and get this over with. The only real problem I had, was that we didn't get a good description of how the characters actually looked. I don't even know what hair Noah has but I can tell you exactly how Gio looks, this was kinda annoying. And talking about Gio, I can't wait for his book!

[♥Rachel♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a lot of fun reading this sweet romance about finding love in unexpected places!

Veronica and Noah meet when she is forcibly taken to a free training session at the gym Noah works at. He's the trainer assigned to whip her back into shape after she's put on forty pounds. Veronica puts this weight on while caring for her sick mother during a lengthy illness. Her mother finally passed, and she's dealing with depression over that and basically having no life after putting everything on hold. She has one friend to her name, Nellie, who drags her to the gym after trying everything else to get her out of her funk. Veronica and Noah end up hitting it off, and there is a mutual attraction growing. Trouble is, he's twenty and she is twenty-eight. Well trouble to Veronica, anyhow. This is a problem that she has a hard time wrapping her head around. Not Noah though. He knows what he wants, and is willing to stick it out to convince Veronica they are meant for each other.

I have to say at first I was a little slow to warming up to these two. The age difference threw me a little and then their chemistry took a little time to heat up. But heat up it did! You could slice the tension between these two with a knife! They were so obviously hot for each other! I loved how Noah was so territorial about his "Roni" wanting to make it clear to anyone around that she was his and that he was crazy about her. Even though Roni was reluctant to fall for Noah, she's green with jealousy over any other girl getting near him too. I loved that they started with friendship and caring for each other first. But let's face it, the steamy parts, which may or may not have included: whip cream, hickeys, and string cheese, were high points for me! Another plus was that the author kept the drama and frustration to a minimum and things were resolved quickly. This is my first Elizabeth Reyes book and this won't be my last. I really want to check out her Moreno Brothers series and I guess there is another 5th street book coming that will tell Gio's story:Gio. Can't wait to hear about that dreamy boy and his green eyes!

The best thing about reading this story is that is marked the kick-off of Smut Monday! I had so much fun reading this along with my hilarious and smut like minded friends. Like Arlene said, this is what makes me love this site so much! Mondays will never be the same! Oh geez, here I go with the over usage of !s again!!!

[Gitte TotallyBookedBlog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Love Love this book!!! It gave me that excited tingly feeling as soon as I started it, I knew it was going to be FAB-U-LUSH....and it WAS YAY!!!! Had to pull an all-nighter cause I could NOT put it down. This is my first E. Reyes book and I can't believe I've been missing out!!

This book had everything that ignites my passion for reading, it was beautiful.

The intensity, the build-up and the passion was amazing. It made for a beautiful journey that had me on that emotional roller-coaster that you can't get off and don't want to either. It had me laughing, swooning (if that's a word lol), angry, frustrated, and I had tears...

Noah (BIG *SIGH*) works at the 5th Street Gym and wants to become a personal fitness trainer. Jack (who owns the gym) gives him his first chance with Veronica and Nellie who have coupons for a free week.

Veronica has let herself go since her mum's death. She has put on lots of weight because she doesn't leave her house. That is until her best mate Nellie drags her to a local gym. There they meet their gorgeous and young trainer Noah. Noah is not only a fab personal trainer who sorts out Roni, he becomes her best friend and house mate when his place falls apart...and so the story begins!!

Noah has had a tough life but came through and is a professional boxer in training. He is totally alpha male but has this vulnerability that just made him completely love-able and *sigh* YUMMY!!!

He is 20...Roni is 28...big dilemma for Roni...

(but more so for me, as I am 36 and TOTALLY crushing on Noah right now!!!)

Can't wait for the next book in this series (which hopefully has a bit of Noah in it too!)

[★¸. • * ° * ༺*Blanka*༺*°°*•.¸. ♥★ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Story starts of with Veronica, our 28 year old heroine has lost the excitement of living amongst the living..make sense? probably not. She is 28, gained 40 pounds has no friends except for Nellie, and doesn't leave her house.
Then her friend talks her into joining a gym, after practically begging her, she agrees.
Noah, is our 19 year old trainer.

1. IS EVERYONE IN THIS BOOK MEXICAN?
Because Veronica mentions her dad, the one she never met came to america to work and sent money to his wife and kids back in mexico. Then Noah obviously is too, and every one else.

2. The biggest turn off is that Noah and Gio are 19, Abel is like 17, Hector is 16. Now all these boys will have their own book.. UM No Thank you.

3. Veronica is 28 but acts as though she is 48. Noah is 19 and acts as though he is 19. He might be legal but she could have waited til her turned 21. It's just gross.
I'm 29 and I couldn't see myself with a 19 year old boy!

I don't care how much the boy has gone through.. you know the saying "With age comes wisdom?" How much wisdom can a 19 year old boy have, he is still a teen for crying out loud.
I didn't like this book. The picture on the cover reeled me in because I mean look at those muscles. Now that I know they belong to a teenager? NO EFFING THANK YOU!
Unfortunately, I will not be reading about Noah's bromance brothers either. If the book had been written with a bunch of guys in their 20's yeah, but this is highschool stuff!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

”Everything tastes better covered in whip cream.”

Noah by Elizabeth Reyes was pure sexy, yummy fun! I simply jumped in, let my guard down, and enjoyed the ride! Ha! Okay, just warning you now, everything sounds a bit dirty on Smut Mondays! :D

Veronica (Roni) gets dragged into the local boxing gym on a free week pass for a snap-out-of-your-depression-get-fit workout session by her best friend, Nellie. Veronica has been in a dark hole ever since her mother’s death and needs a push and a pull to get back up and out in the world. But o’my, o’my does she find so much more!

Let me introduce you to Noah. A young man dedicated to his body, boxing career, and a shot at becoming a trainer at his home away from home the 5th Street Gym. This boy had me at “suckable lips”, but he showed us so much more. With an open heart, tenderness, fierce loyalty, protectiveness, and tight shirts that showed off every beautiful, sweaty, tight muscle in his body (**shivers**)—Noah impacted and changed Roni’s life from the moment their eyes met. They changed each other’s hearts and lives.

Now to the drama! The big obstacle facing Noah and Roni was their age difference. I am right there in Noah’s camp about age just being a number, but Roni at 28 years old had major misgivings about Noah being just 20 years old. Age really should be judged more on experience, but I’m afraid life does not work the way I want at all. ;) That being said though, even I had to admit there were some awkward times that I felt the age gape did impact the story and their relationship. The party that turned into a high school free-for-all felt a little like Roni was babysitting to me. But once, Noah and Roni were together—just the two of them spending time over breakfast, checking in with each other, sharing the holidays, singing—they stole my heart right back again. I truly rooted for these two through their struggles with ex-boyfriends, holiday sluts, trepidation, loneliness and a starting to build and burn sexual tension.

And what a buildup! Noah and Roni’s chemistry was frustratingly hot and sexy fun! Goodness woman—just tackle the man! Haha…The chemistry, hickeys, goodnight kisses, and oh-those lips made the wait, anticipation, romance and ride so much fun!

Noah, Roni, and the whole 5th Street gang made me laugh, smile, and swoon and this is just the beginning. Noah is book one in a series, so I can’t wait for more!

Thank you all for making Smut Monday so much fun. Let the swooning, gossip, giggling, and blushing begin!

Love & kisses to the whole Smut Monday Club! You Ladies made my week!

[Samantha Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read! True escapism. I was in a bit of a reading funk and 'Noah' (mmm Noah) pulled me out of it with its smooth, addictive prose, likeable characters, electric chemistry and believeable romance. Definitely going to be picking up the next book in the 5th Street series when it releases. Definite must read for contemporary romance fans :-)

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story- It was sweet and fun and I just loved Noah. I liked Roni too, I just found my self wanting to yell at her at times to get past here reservations and just go with it! Overall an enjoyable read- can't wait to read Gio's story next!

[Arlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not sure what I had more fun with… reading Noah and just enjoying the story or jumping into this book with the Smut Monday Club. XD This really is what Goodreads is all about – at least to me. It’s about finding a group of girls that share the same interest in reading material and organizing book dates that not only make the reading experience enjoyable but hilarious as well. I really had a good time. :D

Now about the book. Wow! Elizabeth Reyes sure knows how to create an alpha guy that’s sm3xy, sensitive and well let’s be honest hot.hot.hot. Noah and Veronica were a perfect pair of protags, and I have to say I really enjoyed my first book by Reyes. I was skeptical about their age difference at first, but I think the author did a great job of building the chemistry between these two and adding a bit of anticipation to make it believable and worth the wait. All very well done.

Noah wasn’t on the spicetastic end of the smut scale, which was perfectly fine by me, but there were some moments between the two characters, especially towards the end of the book that had me wiping the steam from my glasses. Great kickoff to the 5th Street series that I’ll definitely continue with especially the next installment that will share Gio’s story. Loved it despite how long it took to get to the good stuff. ;)

Thanks to the SMC for making this reading date enjoyable and fun. Great start to my week. :D

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

After her mother's death, Veronica "Roni" Cruz has spent the last several months depressed and steadily gaining weight, which adds to the depression. Her best friend is tired of seeing her continue to hide at home and forces her to try a free week of training at 5th Street Gym.

Noah Quintanilla has been waiting for his chance to become a trainer at the gym, he is not sure if training a sad looking Roni is a the opportunity he is looking for but is willing to put all his effort into it. What begins as a trainer/client relationship soon blossoms to a strong friendship and Noah finds himself falling for Roni. Roni is gunshy about getting involved with Noah because of the vast age difference, but Noah has had a tough life and although their is an 8 year age difference he has seen more than most older men and has set goals in mind, winning Roni's heart and training for a boxing title.

I was unsure at first on this one, not realizing about the age difference but it really didn't matter. Noah did not seem like a twenty year old in this story, he seems wise beyond his years. Great story, loved the weight loss aspect.

[Mery St. Clair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Últimamente ando leyendo libros de hombres dominantes y sexys. Este libro no fue la excepción. Joven, fuerte, decidido, maduro, impulsivo... uy, Noah es una obscesión. Ya quiero leer el siguiente libro y saber más de 5th Street!!!

Joder, me encantan los machos alfa! Pero esta chica me hace querrer arrastrarla por el suelo

[CD {Boulder Blvd} · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was too much juvenile angst and immaturity in this novel; I was skipping pages due to excessive inner dialogue and cringing during points in this book. I like an older woman/younger man perspective and I have read a number of them that really worked for me. This one just didn't.

Besides the looks department, Noah did have some really good qualities that you want a hero to have such as loyalty to his friends and a strong work ethic. However, when you are trying to show that age doesn't matter, having the hero still run around with a crowd that included kids in high school makes it difficult. Having a 28 year old having the hots for and checking out someone in that group seems a little creepy. This age spread works, but only if the younger adult is not still hanging with minors.

Veronica was definitely not a worthy heroine and difficult to root for. She was immature, "wishy washy" (not a fan of that phrase, but it really works as part of her analysis) and to me she just seemed to be using Noah because she was lonely. She went from being 40 pounds overweight and looking like a frumpy 40 something to looking like someone who could pass for being in their early 20's in a month. Very unrealistic and made it even harder to see her as a real character. She was raised by a single mother and her grandparents and worked at a college and still said "wanna". There were just so many contradictions in her character that made it difficult to read about her, little lone like her. The primary plot was boring and was weighed down by too many secondary plots. For being a difficult character to root for it seemed like half the book was being inside her head where she repeated over and over again that she was too old for him, but he was so hot looking.

I wished I had read the one and two star reviews before giving this book a chance; I read them after the fact and thought those reviews were dead on. I can't recommend this book and wished that I had made a different choice.

Note: Ms. Reyes is an excellent writer but this series and the characters didn't work for me. I am not continuing the series and I deleted this one from my e-reader.

[Crystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am sitting here staring at my computer trying to figure out what to say and honestly the only thing I can think about is Noah! Every time I think about this book I get stuck on him. He was just the best parts of every alpha male I have read thrown into one. He really made this book for me. The story was good as well, but I did have a few hang ups throughout that I just couldn't ever let go. I did enjoy reading about 5th Street and I am really interested to hear Gio's story. I am a huge sucker for boxers/fighters so the scenery was definitely up my alley. That is all I can think of to say because yep my mind has been taken over by Noah!
Can I get an SQUEE for Noah?? SQUEEEE!!!


I had so much fun reading this with the Smut Monday Club!! Thanks for letting me tag along!

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyable!

Roni was sometimes really immature, and Noah was sometimes a little too perfect, but entirely enjoyable.

And the author has a very strange writing style. Kind of... summary-like. It's like certain parts were rushed, but they were for scenes I didn't really want to read about anyway (get to the good stuff!), so it didn't bug me.

Would recommend!

[Vintage · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure why I gave it 4 stars initially, but it may have been because Contemporary Romance was new to me.

True fiction as the heroine loses something like forty pounds in six weeks. That's a universe I want to live in.

Hero is insanely sweet even if he does some stupid things. Heroine is there/

[Regina · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. really enjoyed this book! I am not sure why my thrill for the book surprised me because my goodreads friends (who rarely go wrong in their recommendations) have been trying to get me to read this book for awhile. But my enjoyment of this book and how into the characters I was a nice unexpected treat. I didn’t want to put this book down; I need to finish it. Noah was a perfect escape for me.

This story is a sweet romance, a wonderful build to a beautiful ending and along the way it is peppered with great sexual tension. The set-up of the story is not storybook perfect. Nobody is rich, nobody is perfect – it was all just so real. In short, it was the perfect romance setting for me. There is no 50 Shades hero in this book; no Br. Big. Mr. Big, definitely has his place but for a sweet romance that will make you sigh from the sweetness and give you something to sink your teeth into — Noah is it. And, it is nice to have the characters be relatable rather than fantasy.

I loved the portrayal of Mexican-American culture in Noah – the culture was just part of the story line and it was done very authentically. I appreciate other authors attempting to represent Mexican-American culture. I really do appreciate it — but it is often not done well. This was done well.

So would you date a man who is 8 years younger than you? Would you fall in love with him? What if he saw you when you were 40lbs overweight and was your personal trainer? My answer to all of that would likely be no — and the heroine’s answer in this story is “no” as well. The author did a great job in showing a realistic objection by a normal 28 year old woman to dating a younger man. The characters in this novel were real and just so well written. They struggled with real life situations – job, fidelity, friends and lost family members. The Ms. Reyes did a great job at showing how a recent weight gain affects a woman’s self esteem.

Feeling as if she'd aged ten years and heavier than she'd ever been in her life, there was no way she was showing her face there again.

The “hero” of the story, Noah, is a boxer, almost 20 years old and an orphan. These aren’t spoilers — the readers know this at the start of the story. He grew up in the foster system and truly has nobody but his friends. The story behind how he lost his family is heartbreaking. And I appreciate how the author wove it into the story. The “heroine” is Veronica or “Roni”. The “heroine” is shy to go out in public due to her weight gain. She feels much older than her 28 years due to her weight gain and is not in touch with who she used to be. Roni is alone after the death of her mother and very depressed. Noah and Roni are two characters that need each other and understand each other despite their age disparity. They are very similar to each other in that they only have their friends, no family but they are separated by 8 years of life experience. I can see an author getting this storyline wrong — perhaps making Noah too responsible, or too willing to not do what young twenty year old guys do would have been easy to write and to make him more appealing to an older woman. But that is not how Ms. Reyes wrote him. He has a young man’s hopes and problems. He likes to hang out with his friends and plans out the bars he goes to by which bar will serve him. The author wrote their difference in age as a realistic gap and I loved how the characters struggled with this issue.

So …. I just loved this story. But …. I could have done without the epilogue though. I am an epilogue lover — but not this one. I think my issue may have been that the time period and subject matter in the epilogue was just such a huge jump in the story.

Will I read #2? Yes definitely. I just saw that this series is now available in audio on audible.com, so I plan on buying the book in this series Gio. I’ll let you all know how the audio was. I did hear that the next one in this series is not as good, but I will still read more in this series. I really enjoy how the author writes characters, so it is worth it to go on.

Check out this review and others like it at Badass Book Reviews.

[Alice Wulf · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was FUCKING ridiculous. I honestly hated it.

I felt sorry for Noah, having to put up with the basket-case heroine, I thought he deserved better. I mean Rita seemed to have her shit together more than Veronica.

Noah is 19 and Veronica is 28 and she's all OMG he's a kid I can't have feelings towards him this is crazy but let me offer him a bedroom in my house because THAT DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING.

So she's ~*Fighting Her Feelings*~ and Noah's trying to hide his because She's In A Tough Place Emotionally (just tell him it's not him, it's you, for fucks sake). And she's dealing with her asshole ex-boyfriend who dumped her when her mom got sick.

Then for some reason Veronica's all I Can't Fight These Feelings Anymore and Noah's all *fistpump* but she's so insecure and OMG I'M SO OLDER THAN HIM and she's spouting bullshit about "life experience" and then Derek tells her shit about Noah and instead of ASKING NOAH ABOUT IT, like any SMART PERSON WOULD, she believes him.

I wasn't sure I could finish the book at that point.

I mean the whole book is "I like him but I won't do anything about it because I'm pathetic" and then "Well, let me kiss him every night because THAT'S TOTALLY FAIR TO HIM" and then "but he's so young, and he could never really like me" and pause for me to *facepalm*

Just skip this fucking book, seriously. Jesus H. Christ.

[Kami · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here is the thing, while I did like this book, I was equally bored with it. IMO it lacked the dialogue needed between the characters to really bond with them. I liked them sure, but didnt really care about what happened with them. I wasnt sucked into the book, I was just reading along. Many scenes that could have been played out were skimmed over. For instance rather then having some deep discussions, the author just wrote that they had some. We dont know what was said, or what was so profoundly talked about that made them fall for eachother in more than a physical way. I was bored reading it. I love the dialogue, the back and forth of characters, and this book lacked that for me.

Time flew by in this book. Right when I thought things would get more intense, the author would say something like 'the next couple of weeks passed........'. I was like wtf? Really?

I dont know why these two characters fell in love. I didnt feel that connection between them. Maybe it is just me, I dunno.

Will I recommend this book? I can think of a few people I know that would like reading this.
Will I read it again? NO
Will I read the next in the series? I dunno

[Kellie Maddox-Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved Noah
Loved Roni
Loved their chemistry
Loved the story
Loved the character depth
Loved the secondary characters

Yep just Loved it.

[Sunseeker☀️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75. Stars

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay I am back to refine my original review since I was able to spend the weekend absorbing everything about the story. Here we go!

For starters, I just can't seem to get Noah & Roni out of my head. Their connection, relationship, & personal hardships really got to me. Being the same age as Roni really allowed me to understand all of her hesitations with the age-gap. I wouldn't dare imagine dating a 20 year old right now. At the same time, I would have seriously fallen head over heels in love with Noah, especially considering how much his past has matured him and shaped him into the loyal man that he is today. Ms. Reyes created two characters that were so perfectly matched it was just beautiful. And then throwing Roni's ex (Derek) into the story who was 8 years older then Roni, really made you think and put things into perspective. It was genius!!

I think one of the things that I really love about the fictional worlds Ms. Reyes creates is the strong supporting cast of characters. I had no idea where she was going with focusing so much on Nellie's (Roni's best friend) relationship with her husband Rick, but man it was clutch. She really dropped a bomb on me there that I wasn't expecting, although in hindsight all the clues were there. So because of that "bomb" I totally have a major soft-spot for Nellie and I can only imagine that Ms. Reyes has a greater purpose for her in another book. Maybe Gio's story, Maybe Abel's (if he even gets a story), who knows? But I know she has a plan and I am excited to see Nellie get some redemption.

Furthermore, the end was just utterly perfect & fantastic. I realize that it took Roni & Noah a long time to get their act together, but oh man was it beautiful when they finally did. One of my favorite lines at the end of the book was from Noah, "I'm a fu@#ing-orphan Roni! Or did you forget?" - it held so much hurt & anger in it that I almost cried from reading it. It also was a deep reminder to Roni of what she was accusing him of. At this point I was starting to lose hope in everything they had built and I thought their friendship & future was toast!! Needless to say, Ms. Reyes is wonderful at turning things around quickly and believably. Two words - Boxing Ring. Gah!!! I had my fingers crossed that she was going to set the ending up exactly as she did. I was so happy!!!

After having some time to really let the story sink, I have also realized how much Noah's younger age played a role in everything. He is much more understanding and forgivable towards the unwise choices Roni makes and I think an older man wouldn't have been so kind to Roni. Yet, he isn't brushing over those mistakes and letting Roni walk all over him. He is definitely hurt and acknowledges that to her verbally, but doesn't let his anger/jealous/and pride ruin the possibility for more between them. He definitely isn't perfect himself, but he is a great communicator & so unbelievably sweet!! I loved his mental dialogue when assessing Roni. It was so precious.

Needless to say, I love the book even more now after getting some time to really let her genius story-line sink in. It has romance, heart-ache, suspense and wonderful anticipation without it being overly verbose, emotional or complex. It was truly perfect.

I think Ms. Reyes is becoming an increasingly better story-teller with each additional piece of work and this bodes well for the rest of the 5th Street Series.

[Chan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Umm…Meh?


Writing: Is it possible to have a monotone writing style? Because it was monotonous. I didn’t hate the writing style, but it didn’t hold my attention either. 2 POV. 3rd person narration.

Characters: MC’s are Noah and Roni. They were okay. I know that Roni was supposed to appear older than Noah, but her character came across as if she was ancient. She was also a huge hypocrite. Nellie, Roni’s best friend became more appealing as the story went on.

Storyline: Roni is grieving and has let herself go as a result. Nellie decides to help Roni get her life back by taking her to the gym. At the gym she meets Noah, her much younger trainer. She finds out Noah is having problems and it tugs on Roni’s compassionate side. Roni’s assistance place them in close quarters and Noah begins his quest of making Roni realize that ‘age ain’t nothin but a number.’

This story was so freaking slow.


It had its good moments. Some of it was even funny, but my goodness…there were long blocks with nothing going on. This story did not need to be this long

Intimacy Scenes: Sooooo, sex between Noah and some other chick is narrated early on in the book. I don’t really like this, but whatever. Noah and Roni don’t have sex until the END OF THE BOOK. So, I have this bad image in my head of him and someone else that wasn’t replaced until the frickin end!

I really like the slow burn novels, but this was just slow….minus the burn.

Overall: It was okay.

[Tessamari ♥Many Waters...♥ ~ Sweet Spot Book Blog · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars :)

What is it about alpha males? Seriously, Ms. Reyes seems to know how to create a perfect one each and every time. Case in point, Noah. What to say, what to say. Hmmmm... Noah is a boxer. He's strong, sexy, sweet, & protective. All the things I love in a leading male. The only drawback for our heroine, Veronica, is that he's only nineteen years old to her twenty eight. However, with that said, he's been through a lot and he rarely came across as just a teenager. Unfortunately, it takes Veronica a while to realize that there's more to a man than his age. Several times, I just wanted to slap her silly to make her come to her senses faster. Good Lord! The build up was torturous, but man, when they finally got it together, pure bliss :) Loved the chemistry between the two. I can't wait until the next installment of this new series come out :)