We’ve been excited about this new release since we stalked Sally’s twitter and watched her update us in fits and starts about the writing of it. This woman gave us Joshua Templeman in fine suits and soft t-shirts and a Lucy-blue room. We NEEDED to see what other perfect specimen of fictional man she could conjure. First looks at our new hero were more than promising. But now that he’s here in your tiny, hot hands, we can finally say: Sally Thorne does not disappoint; 99 Percent Mine is a smart, sexy and sensitive follow up to The Hating Game that pairs a beautifully tough heroine with a brick house sweetheart of a hero.
Darcy Barrett is introduced to us as she stares down alpha male posturing from behind the counter in a ramshackle, rough shod biker bar. She takes no one’s shit, up to an including married bouncers who don’t know their place. She’s not girly, but she is feminine. She looks out for her naive female co-workers with maternal tenacity. She views her sexual partners as fun ways to pass the time, for a time. She packs up and heads out to places unknown without asking a soul if they’ll miss her. Her hair is cut too short to be called a pixie cut, and she has no time for men who think she’d be hot if only it was longer. She has traveled the world taking men’s measure and taking award-winning pictures, and she knows herself. She is steel. And yet, underneath, Darcy is hiding one of the gooiest, softest, sweetest cores you can imagine. That tough exterior, that need to be nowhere and no one’s, is a double-thick armor, sealed with tar to keep the barest hint of her insecurities from seeping out.
Tom Valeska, on the other hand, is a tank covered in teddy bears. Physically imposing (he’s oh so tall) and capable (he’s a contractor with all the right skills), Tom doesn’t don machismo as his armor. He has a tiny chihuahua as his guard dog, old soft t-shirts that Darcy gave him to cover that strong chest, and a decent, hard-working, bonafide earnestness that earns him Darcy’s belief that he’s the best person she’s ever known.
They just have one problem. Well two. Darcy’s twin brother, Jamie, cornered the market on Tom’s loyalty and time when they were kids, relegating Darcy to a forever backseat. And that ooey-gooey center that Darcy is always trying to hide? Tom sees it, has always seen it, and now that he’s back in her life to renovate her grandmother’s beach house, Darcy isn’t sure that she can keep the edges of her armor together around him.
99 Percent Mine is a slow burn romance where you never doubt the resilience of the couple’s love and need for each other. Tom is all Darcy’s from the moment we see him unfold his 6’6″ frame from her front porch, and Darcy only fights him out of her own insecurity and fear. Sally reminds us how wonderfully funny her heroines can be, and how adorably enamored her heroes are with their antics. This book is a warm breeze through a beach house. It’s a sweet, sugary reminder that love is someone knowing you -all of you – and wanting exactly that. Pick it up right now.
And if that review isn’t enough to get you one-clicking right away, Sally has given us all an early Valentine’s present … the perfect red bow ending with the epilogue to The Hating Game. Want to know if Joshua ever made it to Sky Diamond Strawberries? Or if Lucy got a corner office on the 10th floor? Or what Joshua’s new subordinates think of him? You don’t have to wonder any longer. Get it here.
