Review: Rowdy (Marked Men #5)

Rowdy (Marked Men #5)
By Jay Crownover

Published By: William Morrow Paperbacks
Publication Date: October 21, 2014
Date Read: February 11, 2021
Genre: NA – Contemporary Romance
Source: Bought
Format: Audiobook
Pages: 332

From Goodreads:
The New York Times and USA Today bestselling Marked Men series continues with this sizzling, sexy story of love, heartbreak, fate, and second chances.

After the only girl he ever loved told him that he would never be enough, Rowdy St. James knocked the Texas dust off his boots and set out to live up to his nickname. A good ol’ boy looking for good times and good friends, Rowdy refuses to take anything too seriously, especially when it comes to the opposite sex. Burned by love once, he isn’t going to let himself trust a woman again. But that’s before his new co-worker arrives, a ghost from the past who’s suddenly making him question every lesson he ever learned.

Salem Cruz grew up in house with too many rules and too little fun—a world of unhappiness she couldn’t wait to forget. But one nice thing from childhood has stayed with her; the memory of the sweet, blue-eyed boy next door who’d been head over heels in love with her little sister.

Now, fate and an old friend have brought her and Rowdy together, and Salem is determined to show him that once upon a time he picked the wrong sister. A mission that is working perfectly—until the one person that ties them together appears, threatening to tear them apart for good.

“I don’t think it’s where you go that matters, I think it’s where you end up.”

Rowdy is a book that has sat on my kindle for so many years. I devoured the first four books in the Marked Men series many years ago, back when I used to read a lot of NA Contemporary. My reading tastes have changed massively since then. I don’t really read a lot of contemporary novels anymore, choosing high fantasy every time. However, one of my challenges in 2021 is to try and finish the series that I have started and not yet finished. The Marked Men series is one of those, so I downloaded the Audiobook so I could listen to it while I was working. I’m so glad that I did. I had forgotten how much I loved this series.

Before we go on to talk about the book, let me take a moment to really praise the two narrators of Rowdy. They were fantastic. I’m very touch and go with audiobooks. Some narrators I just can’t get away with. This was 100% not the case. I loved both of the narrators and they were really able to bring Rowdy and Salem to life. If you’re a fan of audiobooks, I highly recommend this one to you as the narrators really did do a fantastic job.

I was completely sucked into this contemporary novel right from the start. I remember really liking Rowdy when he was a side character in the previous books so it was great to see him take centre stage in this one. This book had one of my very favourite tropes in… second chance romance. I love a good second chance romance and hearing about Rowdy and Salem’s past definitely made this one fit that category. I absolutely loved seeing the angst of Rowdy coming to grips with his past and then giving Salem another chance. I absolutely loved it. I especially loved that it was the girl who needed forgiving and being given the chance. Usually it is the other way around so I really found that really refreshing.

I loved Rowdy. It was a fantastic instalment in the Marked Men series. It’s fast paced and filled to the brim with hot and swoon worthy romance. I am so, very glad that I finally picked this one up. It was amazing to see Rowdy and Salem’s romance but alongside that, I loved seeing all the other couples from the previous books as well. I really enjoyed every moment of this one and I can’t wait to read the final book in this series.

“There’s always a first girl, Rowdy, but there is also the girl that is going to come after her until you get to the last girl. The last girl is the one that really matters.”

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