Ball Peen Hammer by Lauren Rowe5++
This book is a riot and I think I was either smiling or laughing through most of it. I’ve never read a hero quite like Keane Morgan before. He struck me as being over the top at the beginning of the book and to be honest I wasn’t sure how far I was going to make it. However, once I got used to him, I couldn’t read this book fast enough and I just adored him.
Keane is a stripper by trade and according to him, he’s the best in the world. His stage name is Ball Peen Hammer. I think I’m a bit naïve as I’m not sure what exactly what that means in the world outside of actual hammers. Stripping isn’t his first choice of career and while it takes a while, we do see what his first choice was and it’s sad he didn’t get to succeed. He’s determined to be the best at his second choice though.
He’s also the world’s greatest lover – according to him – and every woman wants him. He claims he knows everything there is to know about women and he has no problems at all confirming this to everyone he meets. He’s just a hoot and I just love him to pieces.
There is one woman though who doesn’t seem to fall at his feet and that is of course our heroine Maddy. She is on a road trip to California to attend college and her older sister doesn’t want her traveling alone so she arranges for Keane to be her travel buddy for the trip. Keane had been planning on heading to L.A to do some auditions and visit his younger brother, an aspiring singer. Keane almost doesn’t make it though as he doesn’t listen to his voice mail or read his text messages. That whole screw up is so cute and so funny. They finally do get things sorted out and start their road trip. And every single bit of the journey is a delight. Keane is completely unfiltered and says whatever he thinks, most of all about sex and what a sex god he is. Maddy describes Keane as Daffy Duck trapped inside Prince Charming’s body. Throughout their trip they are both determined not to fall for each other but they do become fast friends. And of course, because they aren’t supposed to be anything other than pals, they do begin to fall for each other but neither really clues in on their changing feelings. Keane in particular is hilarious as he is in total denial about what’s happening. They are both bummed when the 3-day trip is over, they gotten so close.
In addition to the relationship between Keane and Maddy, there is an equally well done, touching, and hilarious relationship between Keane and his roommate Zander. Never have I read such a close bond between friends and I bow to the author for writing this relationship.
It’s a bit frustrating, as no matter how I write this review, I can’t seem to do the book justice. There’s a whole lot I haven’t written about. I think it would take at least three pages to share everything that makes this book a book that blows me away. It took until close to the end of the year, but this is my favourite book of 2020 and as I’ve read more books than ever, the fact Ball Peen Hammer is my number one book of the year just says how much I loved it. This is a new too me author and as this is the second in a series you can bet your bottom dollar I’m going to be reading the whole set of them and her other books as well. In a year full of darkness, this book shone such a bright light.
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