Austin Heat: The One Who Undid Me by Amari Nylix
Amari Nylix writes “torrid stories of heart-wrenching, epic love that begin with the desires of the flesh and evolve into affairs of the heart.” I couldn’t have described the first novel in her Austin Heat series, Austin Heat: The One Who Undid Me, better myself.
NFL Player Meets Wealthy Escort
Jake Skyler is an NFL player, returning for the off-season to his home in Austin after a public breakup with another celebrity, ready to find himself a normal girl and settle down. Rakell works as an escort for wealthy people, but she’s tired of pretending to be someone she’s not and wants to find a down-to-earth guy who doesn’t remind her of her clients. So when Jake and Rakell meet, they pretend to be two regular people, with no idea about the secret lavish lifestyle the other lives. Can they keep the secret and have a “normal” relationship? Or will getting closer mean finally letting the truth out?
Jake “Pretty Boy” Skyler’s NFL coach and teammates warned him off girls and drinks, encouraging him to focus on the game and crush his bad reputation. So Jake has decided it’s time to stop playing the field, at least in his dating life. He’s ready to settle down with a girl who doesn’t use him for his career, wealth or status.
Meanwhile, Rakell McCarthy is fighting hard for autonomy as she figures out how to navigate dating outside of her work as an escort, where she acts as a fake date for events, provides company for weekends away, or fulfills more intimate needs. She grapples with her real identity as Rakell, the girl from Australia forever changed by a tragic fire that upended her life, and conflates it with Marietta, the confident, sultry, down-for-anything persona she takes on for her clients. Can she finally get out of this life and pursue her dreams of being an actress and a model?
Steamy Series Turns Up the Heat
Their romance begins with a classic meet-cute when Jake spots Rakell across the gym and makes a fool of himself while flirting. Rakell, without knowing Jake’s profession, makes her distaste for football players clear — she wants a well-read, well-traveled, renaissance man, not some wealthy meathead athlete. So Jake, too, decides to keep his career a secret.
After lots of snarky banter, interference from Jake’s teammates, and growing tension between the pair, Rakell and Jake go on a date. What begins as backseat make-outs and mini-golf dates soon transforms into much more adult activity. With a physical connection off the charts and sexual tension that grows by the page, this series has plenty of spice. Though these scenes are Amari Nylix’s specialty, there is plenty of heart to be found among the heat.
Themes of Identity, Love and Status
Rakell and Jake grapple with ideas of status, identity and love. Having spent so much of her time flirting and being romantic with clients, Rakell isn’t quite sure how to flirt as herself, without the comfort of her fake persona as a safety net. As Rakell finds herself falling more and more for the sweet, handsome boy from Texas, she becomes more herself but struggles to figure out what that truly means and what parts are just her putting up defenses.
Jake also experiences normalcy in his dating life for the first time, with a woman who isn’t throwing herself at him or leeching off his fame on social media. Will Rakell still want him once she knows he’s just another football player with money to spend? Or can she see the guy with small-town Southern charm and dreams beyond football?
Amari Nylix tackles two characters who are afraid of being vulnerable and becoming more than the persona their careers require them to be. When the truth comes to the surface, Jake and Rakell must decide what is more valuable — hiding who they really are, or giving into that Austin heat. Can Rakell and Jake keep things going while hiding their careers, wealth and lives? Readers will be eager to find out in the next two books, Austin Heat: The One That Got Away and The One That I Crave.
About Amari Nylix:
Amari Nylix is the author of the Austin Heat series. She tells sordid stories revolving around tempestuous love affairs. Inspired by the secret liaisons of old west villains, heroes and the temptress women who lure those powerful men into their webs. Years of traveling the globe, studying her human subjects as they let their emotions draw them into sticky situations, taking notes along the way, led Amari to write stories that taunt. She delights in sharing her torrid stories of heart-wrenching, epic love that begin with the desires of the flesh and evolve into affairs of the heart. She currently splits her time between Austin, Texas and wherever the hell else she wants. She has an affinity for old hotel bars where she can be seen enjoying a cocktail or two, while she imagines all the saucy liaisons that were sparked within those walls.
In the Austin Heat series, Amari works closely with bestselling author of both non-fiction and fiction, Tara Delaney. Tara has extensive professional experience in behavior and nervous system development, while also having studied the impact of how early trauma impacts our responses as adults. They have a productive, albeit contentious, working relationship. Tara insists that the only way to draw readers into characters is through their hearts and minds, while Amari insists that readers only slog through ‘that stuff’ to get to the spice.
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