Beauty and the Baller, an all-new small-town sports romance from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills is LIVE!
Beauty and the Baller
by Ilsa Madden-Mills
Released – 29 March 2022
Available now!
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Blurb
An NFL quarterback turned small-town coach gets sacked by a Texas beauty queen in this swoony, passionate romance from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills.
Gorgeous, talented, and brilliant, NFL quarterback Ronan Smith has the world in his hands. But after losing his career and his fiancée in a car accident, he falls into a pit of grief and bad choices. When a mysterious girl shows up to his party, he feels drawn to her and makes her his…for one night.
Former beauty queen Nova Morgan is on a mission. Scantily clad as a princess from a galaxy far, far away, she sneaks into a high-profile party to capture the attention of her favorite quarterback. But her hopes crash after an awful one-night stand.
Fast-forward two years. Broke and desperate, Nova returns home to Blue Belle, Texas, where, by a cosmic twist of fate, her broody neighbor is none other than Ronan, the shiny new football coach everyone adores. But he has no idea who she is.
The booster club keeps shoving women at Ronan to keep him in town. His solution? He proposes fake dating to Nova. But things heat up for real under these Friday-night lights when he realizes she’s the one who slipped away.
Has this jaded beauty found her forever baller, or will his past keep them apart?
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Review
4.5 stars!
Nova is the beauty queen who had the worst luck when it comes to relationships with athletes and doesn’t want anything to do with them. Ronan Smith is the baller who was a star football player with a wonderful fiancé. In a blink of an eye he lost not only the game but the love of his life.
Ronan is at rock bottom when he meets Nova. She’s a fantasy come to life and she gives him a night to escape his pain. In the morning, she is gone but she sparked something inside of him. He sees everything differently and decides to take control of his life.
Two years later, Nova ends up in her home town taking care of her teenage sister after her mother passes away. When the neighbor throws a loud party, she is all for giving him a piece of her mind, what she doesn’t expect is her one-night stand staring back at her.
Beauty and the Baller contains so many different tropes and I think they are all well done and tie together perfectly. A one-night stand turns enemies-to-lovers turns into fake dating that becomes real, giving these two a second chance romance, and I loved it all!
I adore Nova and Ronan. When they meet, they are both at two different places in their lives. It takes fate to bring them together and we get an explosion of humor, heat, and heart!
These two just work. I love their dynamic and the back and forth/push and pull was fantastic. Even when they fight their attraction you can tell they are drawn to each other. They had a spark the night they met and they still have amazing chemistry years later. The sexual tension is off the charts and they can’t control themselves which leads them to some smoking hot encounters. And though they aren’t looking for a relationship, they end up in a complicated one.
There are so many hilarious moments in this story and I loved how much this book made me laugh. It wasn’t as angsty as I was expecting but it still has a whole lot of heart and emotion. There is so much growth for both Nova and Ronan as they explore what they truly want and what matters most, and I loved how their emotions play out. And the supporting characters!! From Nova’s sister and Ronan’s best friend, to their work buddies, they all are entertaining and add so much to the story.
Overall, Beauty and the Baller is a delightful, charming, hilarious, and swoony love story, and I couldn’t get enough of it!
*ARC generously provided by the author and Netgalley*
Strangers in Love
Beauty and the Baller (#1) (Ronan & Nova)
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Princess and the Player (#2) (Tuck & Francesca)
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About the Author
Wall Street Journal, New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Ilsa Madden-Mills is best known for her angsty new adult romances and romantic comedies.
Eight of her eleven novels have placed in the Amazon Top 10 Best-seller List: Dirty English #1; Fake Fiancée and I Dare You #2; I Bet You, Filthy English, and Very Bad Things #6; Boyfriend Bargain #8; The Last Guy, her collaboration with Tia Louise, #4.
A former high school English teacher, she adores all things Pride and Prejudice, and of course, Mr. Darcy is her ultimate hero.
She’s addicted to frothy coffee beverages, cheesy magnets, and any book featuring unicorns and sword-wielding females. Feel free to stalk her online.
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