Date published: September 1st, 2015
Publisher: Berkley
Synopsis: The author of Risky Game returns with a football team owner who’s a real player, and the woman who’s ready to call him out on everything . . .
Dot-com millionaire Jay McManus is discovering that owning a pro football team like the Baltimore Blaze isn’t easy. An anonymous blogger is out to destroy his reputation, and now his team is being sued by its own cheerleaders. If Jay’s not careful, he could lose big—and not just financially.
Bridgett Janik’s brother may play for the Baltimore Blaze, but she’s not thrilled to be defending Jay McManus, the man who broke her heart. It’s bad enough she has to mingle with Jay during games, but working beside her former lover may be too much for her body—and her heart—to resist.
Jay’s determined not to let Bridgett slip away from him a second time. But, as the two follow the mysterious blogger’s trail, secrets—both past and present—are revealed, and Jay and Bridgett must decide if their relationship can be something more than just sleeping with the enemy.
What I Thought:
Jay and Bridgett are coming face to face over a decade after they'd last seen each other. Back then they were in love and the future looked promising, now they have nothing but animosity towards each other. Of course nothing is as it seems as they slowly learn. The flame that burned brightly between them hasn't gone out making their interactions a bit more complicated than they'd like.
I liked Jay and Bridgett. It's obvious there's history between them that's caused them to change. Jay notices Bridgett is no longer the lively girl her remembers. It's like the spark in her has gone out. Bridgett isn't the only one whose gotten cynical. Jay's attitude has changed completely too. The open man with lots of love to give is gone, leaving this current avatar in its place. I loved being in both Jay and Bridgette's heads. It really allowed me to grasp who they were and how they'd evolved. I was even excited when they allowed their instincts and bodies to override what their heads were telling them. I hoped their hearts would surely follow and lead them back to each other, but it wasn't easy.
Tracy Solheim did a great job at making the plot, including the reason behind the breakdown of Bridgett and Jay's relationship make sense. She also makes their journey back to each other emotionally difficult, but necessary. Better yet, she makes you feel their pain and that added even greater depth to the story. I can't believe how emotionally intense this book was. My feelings were fully engaged and so were my senses. It wasn't just Jay and Bridgett trying to deal with both the past and its lasting after effects, but also their current situations which had them embroiled once again. There were a number of subplots involving the team and family members that were integrated flawlessly.
It was wonderful seeing characters from previous books that I loved. They were integrated into the story in such a way you don't need to read their books before you read this one. Each aspect just added to the impact of the story. I also love how the past was incorporated into the story which cleared up a lot of things. All in all everything combined to leave me a quivering pile of mush by the end and devouring every page. I loved and thoroughly enjoyed every page of this story and sincerely hope there are more in this series to come.
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About the Author
My creative writing career started in the fourth grade when I published my first book. It was a bestseller–mainly because my dad bought all ten copies I’d made on the school’s prehistoric Xerox machine. From there, I moved to newspaper reporting with a monthly column in a local newspaper. A bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee landed me in Washington, DC, where I wrote reports for Congress while pursuing a Master’s degree in Legislative Affairs from The George Washington University. Aside from a brief stint in television production for NBC Sports at the Seoul Olympics, most of my early writing consisted of crafting lengthy government reports. Not exactly the most scintillating backlist, I know! My creative writing projects had to wait until I could squeeze them in between my paying gig and my family’s busy schedule. I finally realized the dream of becoming a published author in May, 2013 with the release of my debut novel, GAME ON, through Berkley Publishing. I went on to release four books in the Out of Bounds series during my first year as an author. In addition to the books about the fictitious Baltimore Blaze football team, I also write the Second Chances series for Berkley and digital novellas set in the small coastal town of Magnolia Bay for Tule Publishing. Currently, I live in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, with my husband, two kids, a wild Labrador Retriever puppy and a mare named after my debut novel. When I’m not writing, I enjoy photography, cooking, and reading–shocker, right? Be sure to friend me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter. Or, leave me your email address to receive my newsletter on my website, http://tracysolheim.com/. I look forward to hearing from you and thanks for stopping by.
*Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated for them in any manner.*
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