INTERCEPTED…Marlee Harper is the perfect girlfriend. She’s definitely had enough practice by dating her NFL-star boyfriend for the last ten years. But when she discovers he has been tackling other women on the sly, she vows to never date an athlete again. There’s just one problem: Gavin Pope, the new hotshot quarterback and a fling from the past, has Marlee in his sights.
FUMBLED…Single-mother Poppy Patterson moved across the country when she was sixteen and pregnant to find a new normal. After years of hard work, she’s built a life she loves. It may include a job at a nightclub, weekend soccer games, and more stretch marks than she anticipated, but it’s all hers, and nobody can take that away. Well, except for one person.
BLITZED…According to Brynn Larson, Maxwell Lewis is more trouble than he’s worth. She doesn’t care if he’s a football god with a rock-hard body that brings most women to their knees. After an encounter that ends poorly, she’s not interested in giving him a second chance. The last thing Brynn expects is for him to turn up at her bar months later, hat in hand. It doesn’t matter if he brings more customers to her business–she’s still not going on a date with him.
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GENRE:
New Adult, Sports, Romance
PAGES:
Book 1 – Intercepted – 308
Book 2 – Fumbled – 331
Book 3 – Blitzed – 325
PART OF A SERIES?:
The Playbook Series
RELEASE DATE:
2012 to 2019 (Book 4 Coming Later this Year!)
PUBLISHER:
Berkeley
SOURCE:
Owned Ebooks
YOU CAN FIND THE BOOK AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR THE FOLLOWING LINKS:
**At time of publication, the first book in the series, Intercepted, is only 2.99 on most ebook retailers – definitely, definitely take advantage of that deal – that’s how I got into this series!**
GOODREADS SUMMARY:
Marlee Harper is the perfect girlfriend. She’s definitely had enough practice by dating her NFL-star boyfriend for the last ten years. But when she discovers he has been tackling other women on the sly, she vows to never date an athlete again. There’s just one problem: Gavin Pope, the new hotshot quarterback and a fling from the past, has Marlee in his sights.
Gavin fights to show Marlee he’s nothing like her ex. Unfortunately, not everyone is ready to let her escape her past. The team’s wives, who never led the welcome wagon, are not happy with Marlee’s return. They have only one thing on their minds: taking her down. But when the gossip makes Marlee public enemy number one, she worries about more than just her reputation.
Single-mother Poppy Patterson moved across the country when she was sixteen and pregnant to find a new normal. After years of hard work, she’s built a life she loves. It may include a job at a nightclub, weekend soccer games, and more stretch marks than she anticipated, but it’s all hers, and nobody can take that away. Well, except for one person.
TK Moore, the starting wide receiver for the Denver Mustangs, dreamt his entire life about being in the NFL. His world is football, parties, and women. Maybe at one point he thought his future would play out with his high school sweetheart by his side, but Poppy is long gone and he’s moved on.
When Poppy and TK cross paths in the most unlikely of places, emotions they’ve suppressed for years come rushing back. But with all the secrets they never told each other lying between them, they’ll need more than a dating playbook to help them navigate their relationship.
According to Brynn Larson, Maxwell Lewis is more trouble than he’s worth. She doesn’t care if he’s a football god with a rock-hard body that brings most women to their knees. After an encounter that ends poorly, she’s not interested in giving him a second chance. The last thing Brynn expects is for him to turn up at her bar months later, hat in hand. It doesn’t matter if he brings more customers to her business–she’s still not going on a date with him.
Maxwell knows he made a mistake. He’d been waiting to make his move on Brynn since the day he laid eyes on her and he was finally ready to go for it until he screwed up. He wishes he could tell her the truth about what happened that night, but he just can’t. He can’t tell anyone, so he’ll make amends and hope she’ll forgive him.
My REVIEW
Normally I don’t write a review for multiple books at a time but here’s the thing – I read all three books of this series in a total of about…three days? Maybe four? The only reason I didn’t read the fourth book is because it is sadly and tragically NOT available until October, which truly is just a travesty. A friend of mine posted about a bunch of romance novels on sale and I asked her which one I should buy and after scolding me for making her choose, she said to try Intercepted.
I am so so so glad that I did.
I absolutely loved this book series. It has great romance, fantastic female characters and it has just enough football to make this football fan super happy but its not so overwhelming that someone who has NO idea about football won’t be totally confused or just not entertained.
Intercepted was a great opening to this series and that super boils down to the amazing character that Marlee is. I absolutely connected with her right away. I was with my ex boyfriend for seven years and instead of the football girlfriend, I was the band girlfriend. I put a lot of myself aside for that, SO much of myself, and so I really found Marlee’s story compelling and painfully familiar. It was probably the most relatable one that I had in the three books that I read. Starting over is hard but Marlee is such a strong, intelligent character that she’s so easy to root for. Gavin is sexy as all hell and I have so much respect for him as a character because of the amount of respect that he shows Marlee. Admittedly, he does do something at the end of the book that frustrated the living hell out of me but the story was written so well and I really appreciated HOW this couple came together. It felt real and raw and it felt more than just a happily ever after and I really liked that. I LOOOOVE reading romance novels but its nice to see a little realism and I felt like this book was really grounded in that. Marlee was definitely the character I related to the most.
The second book, Fumbled, was probably my favorite but I promise, that is not to say anything bad about the other two books – I just enjoyed this one so, so much. To be fair, I always appreciate a good single mom story and this one is just SO good. Poppy is a wonderful single mother, she does literally everything in her life for her kid, Ace, and watching as Ace and TK bond was just…*sigh* *chef kiss*. I was pregnant in high school as well so I understand that scary, difficult, totally brand new experience and I definitely bonded with Poppy over that. I also liked her and TK’s story because it wasn’t a brand new love story – it was two people growing back together and I think that can often times be kind of hard to write but Alexa totally rocks it. I am also hoping to write a story so so similar to this soon, the third book of the Benched trilogy, so I ate it up. The idea of a reconnection story scares the crap out of me but knowing that Alexa absolutely hit it out of the park…erm, threw a touchdown…totally makes me feel better about it. Plus, some of the BEST characters are introduced in this novel and some of the new Lady Mustangs are just…the best. I wish they were my friends.
I was counting DOWN to Brynn’s story and I’m so glad she got one in the third book, Blitzed. Brynn is an important character in the first two books so I’m so glad she got her own book – she is a personality all in her own and she deserved that book FOR SURE. I think that she really held her own in the previous books made for a seriously great main character. I liked her dedication to her bar – I love how ambitious she is and how driven she is and how that place is her baby and she really treats it that way. Man, I wish that HERS was a real place; in the entirety of the three books, I’ve wanted that bar to be real. I super appreciated her closeness with her dad – I love daughter/dad relationships because I relate to them more than mom/daughter relationships. I also really liked the story between Maxwell and Brynn because there was no connection between them before, not like with Marlee and Gavin and Poppy and TK. It was a true blossoming romance and I loved every part of it and it was such a sweet book.
I canNOT wait until book four – I love this series. Alexa writes such strong female characters that still have a lot to learn, she writes respectful, sexy football players that are great male leads and she writes about football thats so great for fans but also works so well for those who might not be fans. I would have read book four last week as well but…sigh, it won’t be in my hands until this fall and I anxiously await its arrival and any book that Alexa releases in the future!
Rating
Intercepted – 4 out of 5 Stars
Fumbled – 5 out of 5 Stars
Blitzed – 4 out of 5 stars
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