Ball Peen Hammer

From the USA Today and internationally bestselling author, Lauren Rowe, comes a sexy standalone romantic comedy: Ball Peen Hammer.

Keane Morgan wouldn’t return any of my calls or texts, and I was pissed as hell about it. I didn’t want to drive from Seattle to L.A. with the guy any more than he wanted to drive with me, but I had no frickin’ choice in the matter—at least, not if I wanted to use his brother Dax’s coveted parking spot at UCLA.

Okay, so it turned out Keane was objectively gorgeous, and, fine, pretty funny, too. But did he have to be so damned in love with himself? I mean, jeez, the cocky way he flashed those dimples was just so orchestrated. And, honestly, what kind of guy uses the phrase “baby doll” with a straight face? Oh, that’s right: the kind of guy who’s a male stripper.

Yup, the cocky jerk turned out to be Seattle’s answer to Magic Mike, a stripper known as “Ball Peen Hammer”—which meant Keane Morgan was emphatically not the kind of guy I’d ever fall for.

Not. At. All.

No freakin' way.

Well, until Keane convinced me to fall for him, that is.

Which I did.

Hard.

NOTE: Ball Peen Hammer is a standalone spicy, funny, forced proximity romantic comedy with feels that's interconnected with the books of The Morgan Brothers but can be listened to first and on its own with no prior listening required.

©2016 Lauren Rowe (P)2025 Lauren Rowe

Embarrassed to say that I actually fell in love with this d-bag.

Kudos to ms Rowe because she successfully turned an insufferable ass into perhaps one of my favorite guilty pleasures. I am still shaking my head but I am now searching out more Lauren Rowe to obsess about. Awesome job.

That was different...

Plenty of self absorption here... speaking in sarcastic terms of endearments , quick witted conversations, good storyline, cute love story...
BPH, has more names for people than the dictionary... wasn't sure I could get past the immaturity of him, but like our heroine, he grew on me....

I freaking LURVED this book and audio!

Any additional comments?

I previously reviewed the book and have included that review below. But let me quickly do an audio review.

The voices are perfect, they go very smoothly with the character personalities. The narration reflects the situations well. When the character gets choked up or excited or quiet, that's reflected in the narration nicely. This book is legit hilarious and sometimes a book will *read* funny but once it's heard, the funny doesn't deliver through the narration and it's not as great. That's not the case with this book at all! It had me laughing just as hard if not harder while listening as it did while I was reading. I seriously loved it!

Ok now for my review of the book itself....

Ahhhh! I just found my new favorite book of the year. Boom done, son! 🎤 (Mic drop)

Lauren Rowe is seriously one of my favorite authors ever. The way she writes and creates these characters make them seem like actual real life people, people you know and interact with. Uh how I wish that were true because I just love the Faraday and Morgan families and Keane is amazeballs!

This was such a perfect story. One that keeps you thoroughly entertained laughing out loud the entire time but still has so much heart and meat to the story. The way Maddy and Keane fall for each other is my favorite. They start this friendship that just so fluidly builds and falls into an all consuming love. They make each other laugh, hold each other and completely are themselves without any of the awkward hang ups new relationships sometimes have. It reminds me of why I loved Josh and Kay falling for each other so much. It's just FUN. It's not all ultra romantic swooning. It's two personalities that immediately click as friends first. One where you realize you can't live without this friend in your life and how happy and full they make your day. That's how Maddy and Keane are. While their "relationship" progressed in a short period of time, I didn't feel like it was insta-love. Nope. No way. You know why? Because those days were so full of conversation, interaction and depth that I myself had already fallen in love with them. They are completely adorbsicles and I just wanna squish 'em!

Lauren Rowe, PLEASE continue to create and bring us these quiet moments of magic. You truly are amazing.

Great!!

What a fanny, sassy, hot as flame book! I laughed so hard with it and got all hot and bother too🤤! Lauren Rowe love you forever!

Love love love this story!!!

I laughed, I cussed, I cried!!! Such a great story about these two loveable
characters and ALL the ancillary characters!!! Keane is the guy with the larger than life personality and so much charisma that you love and hate and think is a total douche! But at least he acknowledges his douchbaggery!!! Love his wifey, Zander! (Zander needs his own book too, Lauren!!!). And Maddie is such an awesome girl who just happens to be the girl of Keane's dreams!!! Neither of them realize it until later in the book and then it really kicks into high emotional gear as these two friends figure it out! And when they do: BOOM, son! 🎤. Go Lauren and John on the narration!! Go Lauren on penning a great book!!! (Would love to see picked up for a #ahem movie!!!)