Playing the Field by Stacy Travis is live!
This is such a sweet read! A brother’s-best-friend, teenage crush, forced proximity sports romance with chemistry, heart, and the most gorgeous love story.
Amazon
Blurb
A delicious Forced proximity, Brother’s Best Friend, Sports romance by bestselling author, Stacy Travis.
I didn’t expect my first week with the Devils soccer team to involve saving a career.
But when the team’s hot-headed center back—aka my brother’s best friend, Hunter Reyes—blows up in front of management, it’s my job as the head Data Analyst to keep him on the field.
That’s as close as I plan on getting to the gorgeous, bad-boy soccer god until he shows up at the house I’m temporarily sharing with my brother, needing a place to stay.
Hunter is the epitome of the grumpy, ridiculously muscular, and infuriatingly confident man fans love. I’m the girl who color-codes data sets and stress-bakes muffins. We are opposites in every way. We shouldn’t share the same Wi-Fi, let alone an address.
But late nights with spreadsheets turn into late nights sharing takeout.
Eye rolls turn into inside jokes. And every time his hand brushes mine, I swear the air between us crackles like lightning before a storm
But he’s my brother’s best friend. A player on the team I work for. And completely, absolutely not my type. Too bad my heart can’t compute our differences.
Review
4 stars
This is such a sweet read! A brother’s-best-friend, teenage crush, forced proximity sports romance with chemistry, heart, and the most gorgeous love story.
After a career misstep, Gracie has moved from San Francisco to LA and has accepted a job as the senior data analyst for the LA Devils soccer team to get herself back on track. She has moved in with her younger brother while she’s in town, and is determined to focus on her career and redeem herself.
Hunter is the best friend of Gracie’s brother, and is a soccer player for the Devils. He’s a gifted player but is volatile and unpredictable, and his reputation off the pitch is as a bit of a player, but he’s trying to do better. When his house is damaged by a fire, he temporarily moves in with his best friend, putting him up close and personal with Gracie, the object of all of his teenage fantasies.
Gracie and Hunter crushed wildly on each other as teenagers, but they hid it from each other well and nothing ever happened between them – he was the popular soccer star, and she was the nerdy STEM girl who was five years older. Now, they’re suddenly all up in each other’s space, and the attraction from all of those years ago still burns brightly. But Gracie doesn’t want to do anything to jeopardise her career, and Hunter knows she can do better than a troubled soccer player.
There’s so much standing in their way, but their chemistry is undeniable, and when put to the test, they can’t stay away from each other.
“This, you … I didn’t expect it. Didn’t even know how much I needed it. Gracie. I didn’t see you coming. Not at all.”
I nod.
“But now that I have you, all bets are off.”
I love the feeling of tingly anticipation waiting for a couple to act on their feelings, and I felt all of that with Hunter and Gracie. There’s plenty of intense staring, flirting, little touches, and wild overprotectiveness on Hunter’s part, and it all feels so natural! They talk, they’re open about it, they don’t play games, and their coming together is easy, sweet, sexy and gorgeously swoony.
“Back when we were younger and you used to come home from college. I was crushing hard and totally intimidated.”
I grin and reach for his hand. “I had a thing for you too.”
“Yeah?”
I nod.
“And now?”
“Better than I imagined.”
“So much better … You were worth the fucking wait.”
Those issues are still there, and there is some drama they need to deal with, but I enjoyed watching them work through it and the book ends in a great place with a happy ending that left me satisfied.
I really enjoyed this book. I’m looking forward to more from the series.
4 stars.
An Advanced Reader Copy was generously provided by the author for an honest review.
Los Angeles Devils
Playing the Field (#1) (Hunter & Gracie)
Review
Buy: Amazon
Playing to Win (#2) (Dario & Julia)
To be released 20 May
Pre-order: Amazon
About Stacy Travis
It’s a rough world out there, and we all sometimes need a good, romantic beach read, even if we can’t make it to the beach. I’ve spent many lazy days walking the streets of Paris and other gorgeous European cities, and if I’m doing it right, I’m bringing you a dash of romance and a vacay fantasy.
I can’t sit still, so when I’m not hiking, biking or running, I’m playing a very average game of tennis. Background music for writing undoubtedly features some U2, Lizzo, Billy Joel, Pink, Taylor Swift, and Led Zeppelin. Not necessarily in that order. And if I could only eat one food group, it would be cheese. Or wine. Or bread. Are those food groups? Whatever.
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Website: https://stacytravis.com