Angel in Armani by Melanie Scott

 WILL A LOVE OF THE GAME

Sara Charles is striking out on her own. With her dad out of commission, Charles Air has only one helicopter left—and only Sara to fly charters. With the family business in jeopardy, Sara needs all the clients she can get and the newest one is New York Saints team surgeon, Lucas Angelo. When an unexpected flirtation escalates into a night of pure blind passion, Sara is in agony over what she believes was extremely poor judgment on her part. She wants nothing more than to avoid Lucas. And keep her business her business. But she needs him—in more ways than one.

LEAD TO A FIELD OF DREAMS?

But there is a catch: Lucas also needs Sara. Spring training is upon him, and his schedule is madness. So he asks Sara to be his personal pilot. It’s an offer she can’t refuse. She intends to keep him at arm’s length—especially when she discovers just what different lives they have. Little does Sara know that, for Lucas, the only thing more important than business is pleasure. He only plays to win. And he intends to hit it out of the park…

Ms. Scott brings us another enjoyable story involving the new owners of the New York Saints in Angel in Armani. This time up at bat is Lucas Angelo, Dr. Lucas Angelo that is. Not only is Lucas one of the new owners of the Saints, but he’s also an orthopedic surgeon. Despite his busy surgery schedule, he’s on point for overseeing the Saint’s spring training camp as the team has to recruit new talent to replace the players that left after the change in management or whose contracts weren’t renewed. As Lucas’s practice is in New York and the baseball camp is in Florida, this requires a lot of air travel and Lucas does NOT like to fly. Fortunately a previous scheduling issue with his normal helicopter pilot led him to Sara Charles and he’s utilized her services ever since then because she makes him feel safer in the air than any pilot ever has before. But when they get stranded while returning from the Hamptons, adrenaline and hormones take over and they spend one heck of a night … yowser! But a freak accident causes Sara to strand Lucas and serves to nip any romantic relationship in the bud … or does it?

Much like his friend Alex, Lucas is unexpectedly down-to-earth – unexpectedly because he comes from money and his career as a surgeon guarantees that he won’t be hurting for money either (not that it sounds like he really needs to work). Not once in the course of the book did Lucas come off as rich or entitled. The few scenes in which he seemed detached or cold were due to fear (when flying) or anger (with his mother) and were never directed toward Sara. In fact, the chemistry between him and Sara is so far from cold that they were lucky they weren’t setting things on fire around them. As for Sara, I loved her and the fact that she knew not a lick about baseball was a constant source of amusement. As a former Army helo pilot, she has an amazing strength of character and determination that encompasses most parts of her life. The exception being her relationship with Lucas; not because she doesn’t want him but because she’s afraid it won’t last and she’s not sure that’s a breakup she can handle. Fortunately for Sara (and the reader), Lucas has his own source of determination and he is set on making Sara his, willing to do what it takes to make it happen. Angel in Armani is a wonderful addition to the New York Saints series and Ms. Scott has definitely hit another home run with it. I’m looking forward to Mal’s story in Lawless in Leather and can only hope that the author will take advantage of the slew of players for future books to continue the series.

***Spoiler Warning***

This will be a short review. The story was well-executed and well-written. Which is why I gave it 3 stars. But I did not like it, which is why it did not receive more. A: It had too much baseball for me. Someone brings in too much sport and my eyes glaze over and my mind shuts down. B: I disagree on the ending. He was from a very rich family. She was from a very poor family. I just don’t think they had a chance. Did it end HFN? Technically, Yes.

If it had ended the way I think it should have ended, no, it would not have been HFN. The fact is, it is really hard for couples who have been raised from two divergent economic vantage points to do well unless both enter it with open eyes for all the troubles. But Sara is set on how it just can’t work out, even if she thinks Lucas is hot. And Lucas is set on not seeing the reasons why it mightn’t work out. To me, that spells disaster. And – and I can’t even point my finger at a single thing, more like the way each character thought – I don’t think they were in love so much as lust with each other. Does that deserve an engagement band? I kept thinking, make her sign a prenup, dude!

Anyway, if you like the Cinderella plot with a whole mess of baseball going on, this is for you. It definitely wasn’t for me. 

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