Book Blurb:
Chelsea Parker, 26, knows football, thanks to growing up with a football coach for a father and two linebackers for brothers. But Chelsea’s true passion has always been math: crunching numbers to predict statistical outcomes for everything from football to stocks to romance. Chelsea dreams of merging her two passions to become the first female head of analytics for an NFL team. But for now, she’s got to convince the powers-that-be at her father’s new team, the Mastodons, the worst in the NFL, to give her that entry-level position in the front office.
Luca Maguire, 26, a pass rusher and adrenaline junkie with a famous last name, knows this upcoming training camp with his new team, the Mastodons, will likely be his last, if he can’t get out of his own way long enough to make the cut. The dire nature of his circumstances is the only reason Luca didn’t quit on the spot when Coach Parker assigned his daughter, Chelsea, a statistics-loving, spreadsheet-making math nerd, as Luca’s “personal coach” for the duration of camp. More like his babysitter, if you ask Luca.
Well, okay, Luca didn’t quit for that reason and another one: the thing that happened seven years ago between Luca and Chelsea as strangers, when Luca’s college football team stayed at the same hotel as Chelsea’s mathletes squad. Luca would never admit this to Chelsea, especially not with her being Coach’s daughter and the newly assigned bane of his existence, but the truth is Luca hasn’t stopped thinking about that cute little mathlete who ditched his ass seven years ago, right before their clothes came off, ever since.
Tropes:
*Netgalley ALC *Sports Romance (Football (American) *STEM FMC *Insta lust/love ish
*Spice *secret relationship *forbidden relationship *workplace romance *forced proximity
*missed communication/no communication *he falls first *daughter of the coach
Thoughts:
I grabbed this ALC from Netgalley it sounded like something that would be right up my alley I enjoy sports romance and this is a new to me author.
Luca (MMC) and Chelsea (FMC) have a chance encounter as teenagers where they spend a magical night and Chelsea the mathlete gets her first kiss with the hot football player, only problem is his family plays for the rival team from her own family... her dad is a coach and her older brothers are players destined for greatness they could never be together because their families wouldn't want them to be (due to this rivalry of course). She doesn't give Luca her last name or even the real school she attended it was only ever meant to be one night for her but it was one she's never forgotten... he never did either.
--> so Chelsea thinking this way as a teenager is probably age appropriate, but continuing to feel that way well into her 20's and giving Luca's older brother mean nicknames was just irritating and immature.
Many years later (I think like 10) Chelsea's father is coaching for a lower ranked Football team and she gets a job as his personal assistant with hopes of getting a job in analytics... a foot in the door is a foot in the door even if her father helped her get the job.
--> I immediately was kind of frustrated with Chelsea because her first day on the job she is supposed to be at a meeting taking notes and she's on her phone texting her bestie not even paying attention... like girl what are you doing put your phone away and take notes like you're being paid to do.
So back to this story Chelsea finds out that Luca is coming to the team and immediately starts panicking that her family will find out that they had a secret make out session 10 + years ago as teenagers (it's not that serious). She is trying to do her best she can at her job which turns into an assistant to the coaches and even gets assigned a team member to work with... guess who she is assigned to? ... yes you guessed right Luca leading to reasons for them to be put together when her original plan was to avoid him as much as possible and hope he forgot her.
Luca of course never forgot her and had even searched for her after their night together but was never able to find her but couldn't because she didn't tell him the truth about who she was or where she went to school when they met.
Luca while sweet is a bit of a wild card in that he show boats instead of playing it safe when his position on the team isn't secure he is on a trial basis for his spot while the team tries to get their "star" guy for that position to return to their team... Chelsea then makes a deal with a manager that he will consider her for a position that she wants that will be open shortly if she can get Luca on the team for the season.
Naturally Luca and Chelsea get closer together as they work together, they sneak around to be together so they don't get caught by management. Chelsea wants to help Luca succeed but something happens to derail his goals and instead of keeping her close and appreciating her he pushes her away becuase he knows she can do "better" than being with him... my man what are you doing! If she wants to leave you let her decide that don't push her away because your pride is hurt.
Will Luca and Chelsea ever be able to over come their differences to be together?
Things I liked about this book:
I listened to the audio and I enjoyed the Duet narration with Corvin King (who could read me anything and I would listen) and Andi Arndt both did a good job with the story they had.
I liked the FMC Chelsea knew what she wanted and was going for it even when everything was working against her like being a female in a male dominated world. She was smart and owned it!
The author does a great job putting the football part of the book into the story to go along with the romance building between the characters.
The MMC is a nice guy he just needs a little guidance to work towards the right goals and he is so sweet with Chelsea.
I liked how Chelsea knew what she was talking about on the field and was able to help coach the players.
Some Things that didn't work for me:
The initial conflict and the storyline feels more like it would be set for younger characters, the story itself was leaning more on the immature side and the FMC being so set on this rivalry from ages ago really was over the top irritating for me personally.
I didn't like Chelsea's over the top aggression throughout the book towards Luca's brother... he did nothing to her other than be good at his sport... and he is a nice guy too.
Chelsea and Luca's reunion was a bit over the top as well Luca was asking her questions about what happened... she was a teenager nervous about her family finding out that's what happened.
Luca and Chelsea are meant to be in their 20's but still both act pretty immature
Chelsea is still set on this rivalry that I feel she is making a bigger deal out of than it really is and this is her big reason for not being able to be together.
The ending is wrapped up really quickly after many weeks apart with a less than stellar apology.
Have you read this one? What did you think?
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