Genre ~ romance
Featuring ~ sports romance ~ soccer, doctor, sexism, fake relationship, office romance, slow burn, some steamage, second chance
POV ~ dual 1st person
Series ~ San Francisco Strikers ~ book 2
Release date ~ November 15, 2022
Page count ~ 294
My rating ~ 4ā
My review:
Just found out this is book 2 in the San Francisco Strikers series. Usually that would make me upset, but I don’t recall seeing either name mentioned from book 1, so seems to totally be a stand~alone.
Jordan & Tim
They first met as teenagers when Tim was a foreign exchange student with Jordan’s family. They only spent a platonic month together and one embarrassing night had him hightailing it back across the pond.
Now, 15 years later, Jordan is the new medical director for the soccer team Tim plays for. Long story short Jordan has diarrhea of the mouth and now has a fake fiance. Can they put their true feelings for each other aside and make everyone believe in their love?
This was a slow burn that eventually leads to a bit of steamage, not too much, but their chemistry is undeniable. I really liked them together and am pleased with how it all wrapped up. There were some nice mother/daughter and father/son moments that while wasn’t the focus of the story as a whole, but it helped to bring everything together. I’d be delighted to read more from Stacy in the future.
Side note ~ apparently Tim has some ‘forearm porn’ going on ~ not really sure what that is, but I’ll be asking my hub to start working on his so I can be in the know.
Side note 2 ~ there are a bunch of similar names for different characters that I thought was odd ~ Jordan/Jordy, Danny/Danny (one is a nickname), Cheltenham/Chet (one is a last name)
*Thanks to Stacy Travis and Social Butterfly PR for the ARC. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review*
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Book blurb:
To the world, heās a sexy soccer superstar.
To me, heās the arrogant jerk who broke my teenage heartāand my new fake fiancĆ©.
The last time I saw Tim Cheltenham, he was an eighteen-year-old soccer hottie with an irresistible English accent, a painfully gorgeous face, and an enormous . . . ego.
Fifteen years later, with a medical degree under my belt and a new dream job with The Strikers soccer teamāhis teamāIām not about to let Timās bad attitude and grumpy scowl ruin it for me.
But when my chauvinistic boss implies that he doesnāt trust single women to stay on the job long-term, I panic and tell him Iām engaged. And to my surprise, itās Tim who comes to my rescue, offering to play my fake fiancĆ© if Iāll do him a favorācover up the truth about his injury.
The lie could derail both our careers, and Iāve got no desire to spend more time than necessary in Timās surly presence. And falling for him again? Ha! Thatās never going to happen.
So with my job on the line, I say yes. Now, the more time I spend with Tim, the more I sense a softer side beneath those chiseled muscles and broody exterior. But the more I understand him, the harder it is to pretend that we’re just for show.
And when a rival player threatens to expose our secret, Iām terrified Iāll lose everything.
They say you have to fake it to make it. But what happens when love is the goal?
About Stacy Travis
Itās a rough world out there, and we all sometimes need a good, romantic beach read, even if we canāt make it to the beach. Iāve spent many lazy days walking the streets of Paris and other gorgeous European cities, and if Iām doing it right, Iām bringing you a dash of romance and a vacay fantasy.
I canāt sit still, so when Iām not hiking, biking or running, Iām 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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