Pick Six by Maggie Rawdon is now available!
This is a steamy, fake dating, sports romance, you won’t want to miss!
Amazon | Special Edition Paperback
Blurb
What’s worse than playing a fake girlfriend to the all-pro defensive end for the Seattle Phantom?
When the same infamous playboy is my ex-husband’s best friend.
I’m normally great at keeping my distance from him—pretending like he doesn’t get under my
skin.
But after he punches a teammate over me, we’re stuck faking a relationship to save his career
and mine.
If we play the game well, we could both get out ahead.
I just have to remember everything about this is for show, including the reformed player act.
A few blurred lines and crossed boundaries won’t change things.
Because falling for your ex’s best friend is wrong, right?
Review
4 stars!
Chock-full of fun and fascinating tropes, this is a sexy and intense read that had me hooked!
Frenemies-to-lovers
Fake relationship
She’s his best-friend’s-ex
He loved her first
Football romance
Sexy and intense with lots of light moments and a nice amount of emotion, this is a great read!
This is the start of a new series from Maggie Rawdon, a spin-off from her Plays & Penalties series with character crossover that will be fun for fans, but it can easily stand alone. You can read about Harper and Alex’s first meeting in the prequel novella, Defensive End, available on the author’s website – it’s definitely worth it to understand some context around their relationship.
Harper and Alex met a few years before the start of this book (see above novella). He was an NFL star and epic manwhore, she was a quiet museum creator and friend of one of his teammate’s wives. They shared wild chemistry and an easy attraction and spent an intimate night kissing and talking about anything and everything. While he wanted to take things further, she was only interested in a relationship, and he didn’t feel able to give her that, so they decided to stay friends. A few months later and Harper met a man she ended up marrying. She didn’t know until well into the relationship that that man was Alex’s best friend and agent, but she was happy and in love, and her past with Alex wasn’t really an issue.
Now, Harper is newly divorced from her cheating ex, and Alex finds himself in big trouble when he gets into a fight protecting her from a teammate who behaves inappropriately towards her. In order to protect both of their careers from the potential fallout, they decide to pretend to be in a relationship, claiming that Alex was protecting his girlfriend. It’s the perfect solution for their tricky situation, until things start to get blurry.
I could get used to this. Being around her. Teasing her. Seeing her smile. I wonder if I might even be able to convince her it’s not so bad.
It’s a fun set-up, and it’s made all the more intense by the chemistry that Harper and Alex still share. Their relationship while Harper was married was kind of antagonistic – they kept their distance, and didn’t really have much to do with each other even though Alex they did see each other quite a bit. There is never any hint of inappropriate behaviour from either of them, which I really appreciated. But now that Harper is single, and they’re spending a lot of time together, it doesn’t take long before they find their way back to the easy and natural friendship they started on the night that they met. And, like before, the chemistry between them still sizzles, and watching them navigate their fake romance with all of the associated hand-holding, touching, and loaded looks, brings a fantastic sense of anticipation to the story.
She had me for a long time, but in shattered pieces – memories and desires that I’ve kept bottled up. This new reality where I get to taste and feel her, where she reciprocates the same desperation in the way she touches and kisses me…It’s already quickly becoming an addiction for me.
Harper is bravely creating a new life for herself, and finding her confidence after her toxic marriage, and Alex is finally getting his shot with the one who got away. Though their situation is complicated, their feelings for each other aren’t – neither is their sexual chemistry (because damn!!!). Things naturally grow and change between them, and I loved watching them finally give in to their feelings and start to fall for each other.
“I’m not pretending with you anymore. I want you, nothing fake anymore. I want you to be mine.”
But as easy and inevitable as their love story is, their situation is just begging for drama, and it comes. It’s an intense ride, and brings the feels, but they handle it well, with a satisfying ending, and I loved watching their story unfold.
“She was his wife.”
“Well she should have fucking been mine.”
They have a great bunch of friends helping them along the way – Alex’s teammates, and Harper’s friends bring a lot to the story, and I’m looking forward to getting to know them more as the series progresses.
I really enjoyed this book. It’s sexy and romantic, with an emotional, chemistry-filled and functional romance that felt really authentic, and I loved seeing these two get their happy ending.
4 stars!
An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Seattle Phantom Football
Defensive End (#0.5) (Alex & Harper)
Review
Free: Available on author’s website
Pick Six (#1) (Alex & Harper)
Review
Buy: Amazon
About the Author
Maggie loves books, travel and wandering through museums. She lives in the Midwest where you can find her writing on her laptop with her two pups at her side, in between binge watching epic historical and fantasy dramas and cheering for her favorite American (and European) football teams on the weekends. She loves writing dirty athletes and smart women and has a soft spot for writing characters who banter instead of flirt.
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