3 stars. An entertaining, quick-read romance.

Lily and Tate, college sweethearts, meet after years apart. Their breakup left both of them bitter. Life has moved on since then, Tate has become a professional football player and Lily a bodyguard.

I usually like bodyguard romances in the traditional way (he's a bodyguard, she's a damsel in distress). Here, no one was a damsel in distress, but Lily was a badass bodyguard!

The ending felt unfinished - a good epilogue would have improved the situation considerably. There was a suspenseful subplot which I actually liked, but it was not very well resolved in the end

WHAT I LIKED: The tension between Lily and Tate.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: So much miscommunication, the initial plot of the book was based on miscommunication. Too much unanswered questions in the end.

WHAT TO EXPECT:

Pov: dual, 1st person
Heat & spice: open doors
Pacing: slowburnish instalust...

Communication: miscommunication
Third act: break up / external crisis
Ending: HFN

Main characters:
* Alpha Hero
* Bodyguard
* Enemies to lovers
* Opposites attract
* Physically very different

What?
* Dirty talk
* Fake dating
* Forced proximity
* Second chance
* Sports romance: football

Where?
* Workplace romance

Drama?
* Difficult past
* Family drama

Other vibes:
* The one that got away

Thank you Harpers Collin and Netgalley for the e-ARC of this book.

Overall, I enjoyed this fun and different take on a sports read! Lily and Tate appear to be the perfect college couple, cheerleader and football star and absolutely in love. However, Lilly overheard a conversation that puts all of this in doubt, ending their relationship. They are brought together 8 years later and forced to work closely and have their continued feelings for each other.

The story was fun, but far fetched 😁. Additionally, I felt like I didn't really get to know the characters, I wanted to understand more about them and dive deeper into their personalities.

I went into this with expectations of a spicy sports romance, and what I got was a bit more than that indeed!

After having her heart broken years earlier, Lily runs back into the man responsible. Unfortunately, she's his bodyguard. A bodyguard he does not want. With both blaming the other for their past and old feelings stirring, Lily must keep Tate safe from an unknown threat, as well as keeping her own heart safe.

This took me a little by surprise, and I couldn't quite judge the vibe of the book with it jumping slightly between genres and tone. However, it was enjoyable and is well worth a read!

The rating I have to give this book pains me. A lot. These characters are great. The chemistry is off the charts. The story is engaging.

But this book is filled with errors, so many loose ends, and a ridiculously improbable ending. What could be a 5-star read is self-sabotaged for a few reasons.

Reason 1: a Brit writing Americans fail
I did not know the author was British when I started this book, but it became obvious immediately. The male lead is an American and this book is set in America, but there are dozens, yes DOZENS, of errors in his speech and vocabulary that are distinctly British. I will never understand why British authors insist on writing American characters in American settings. In this book it is a disastrous attempt

Reason 2: major plot holes throughout
Oh, there were so, so, SO MANY plot holes in this book. Injuries miraculously heal within the same scene, a house break in (via a shattered window) that just never gets addressed, scenes that make no sense within the plot, etc.

Reason 3: the ending
// SPOILERS // the hero finds the heroine badly injured. She has a head injury and wrist injuries that are bleeding profusely. There is a massive bomb in a sports stadium 30 minutes prior to the Superbowl. The hero defuses the bomb (now a mere 15 minutes to Superbowl start time) and somehow the Superbowl goes on as planned, on time. The injured heroine watches the game, apparently covered in her own blood. She watches with the owner's ex-wife, who also was injured by the "bad guy". Like... WUT? That the author didn't choose to have a game postponement and resume this story 1 week later at the rescheduled Superbowl in INSANE.

I wish this book had a seasoned editor, American proof readers checking for inaccuracies, and a plausible ending. It could have been such a great read.

Romance with a dash of adventure.

Tate and Lilly have experienced heartbreak, but it was never resolved.Their remaining chemistry was instantaneous. They reconnected physically, but not sufficiently on a personal level. They typically think about the other in a sexual way when they reminisce about the past.

It was a decent read all around. The action that gave the romance a new dimension appealed to me.

What an intriguing twist on the sports romance genre! I loved seeing the female main character stepping into the protector role while the male lead finds himself in need of a little saving. The plot certainly held my attention, but I did find myself craving a bit more clarity on how the central conflict unfolded. While the tropes were enjoyable, I’m starting to tire of the classic miscommunication between characters—sometimes it feels like an easy way to add tension when a straightforward conversation could solve everything without derailing the story. On a positive note, the spice was delightful and felt perfectly natural within the context. Overall, this story offered a refreshing take on traditional dynamics, making it a worthwhile read!

Thank you to Netgalley, author and publisher for allowing me a chance to read this!

I think that this book has a lot of promise- the story was great and I liked the pacing until towards the end.
I felt like there was a need for atleast 3 more chapters 1 on Tate standing up to his dad, 1 on lily catching the bad guy and one on tate finding out more about lily and her life after college! The story was there but more needs to be done
Thank you NetGalley for letting me read and review.

As a second chance romance: wonderful, spicy, a little angsty, full of tension and love.

As a sports romance: nonsensical, confusing, and despite the author warning us at the start that she doesn’t quite understand the rules of the game, infuriatingly inaccurate. I’m not sure why you wouldn’t a) do the bloody research required to know your chosen sport backwards and forwards
Or 2) choose a different sport that you do know?

This book features a Texas football team the MMC is a player on said team (what position is anyone’s guess) and is set mostly in New York-somehow 🤨. I was so confused.

Some plot lines weren’t finished-what happened to BadPerson™️? Why did they do what they did? I need reasons not just they did this but we fixed it so let’s move on.

And the worst part about all this? I would have LOVED this book if it had made a lick more sense.

Spice was alright though 2.5 🫑 3.5 ⭐️

First of all, thank You Netgalley, for the ARC grante to me. A quick and compelling narrative, with sport romance(one of my favorite tropes to read!) and altough I couldn't connect much with the plot, it was such a good reading!

This one released this week; I love me a good football book. I finished this is two sittings and it was a fun read. Think Miss Congeniality, all the Sandra Bullock vibes. The main character becomes a body guard for one of the top football stars set to play in the Super Bowl. The book follows the two weeks leading up to the big game. The twist, they dated in college and the relationship ended badly to say the least. Now 8 years later they are back in each others orbit.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A quick and fun book, second chance romance with some mysterious angle. After Lily and Tate ended their relationship years ago in college on a misunderstanding, they are reunited as she is assigned to be his bodyguard when he receives threatening letters - and they have to fake an engagement to cover her role.

I’ve really enjoyed the bantering between them, them reconnecting and falling right into their old patterns - like they can’t be professional with each other for a minute. It was funny to see them fall hard and fast again, and also to have them slowly question the decisions they’ve made in the years apart and realise they lift each other up, and they’ve just buried their feelings deep for years.

Thank you to One More Chapter for reaching out to me and netgalley for access to this ARC ✨

I love sports romances and I’ve never read a football-based story so I wanted to give this one a go however I just didn’t connect with it. I felt that the characters lacked real chemistry - they had a lot of sexual chemistry, sure, but the deep romance aspect just wasn’t there for me. The story was also a little rushed and lacked some reasoning behind the major twist. I did enjoy the action during last part of the book.

Esay, steammy and quick romance read and a sweet story:

-Fake-dating
-The one that got away
-Football player/Bodyguard
-Flashbacks
-Spice

A thanks to Netgalley for the ARC

*the cover is givning Taylor Swift and Travis vibes ;)

I received this book as an Advance Reader copy, Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins NZ + One More Chapter!

This book had so much potential - with the MMC as a high-profile NFL player headed to the Superbowl and the FMC his newly appointed bodyguard, add in they were College sweethearts and you can expect fireworks.
However, the story is often confused and the author doesn't seem to know anything about football or the NFL - be it from calling the game a match(?) or frequently describing the MMC as a ball player. I also couldn't understand why the MMC is playing for a team from Houston yet the team is training in NYC but the Superbowl is in New Orleans, and they seemed to be playing games but not, and were in the Superbowl but still had games on. It made no sense.
This book has decent spice, though it does seem to be just dropped in with no real connection to the story. She's cooking, and he's chopping onions and arguing, then suddenly, she's sitting on the bench, and he's between her legs. Also, every time they have a spicy moment, the FMC becomes incredibly wishy-washy, whereas she is actually an ex-spy SAS-trained security person.
Make it make sense!

I really did want to like this and was enjoying the first 30% but the story then seemed to get very confused and whilst a good plot idea it was a bit confused.

The Big Game is a sports romance book centred around Tate and Lily. The two dated in college and it ended badly. 8 years later Tate is a famous football star and Lily is hired as his bodyguard. Cue the drama!

Tropes include enemies to lovers, second chance romance with a little bit of found family thrown in.

Tate is a confident self assured MMC with a dirty mouth and it was great to see a kick ass FMC in Lily who’s an ex MI6 agent. Some people have commented on the football references not being great, I personally didn’t notice and the author does address this in her authors note.

This is a spicy, light hearted romance. A lovely read that I managed to finish in a couple of hours. If you’re not a fan of spice then this book isn’t for you.

I really enjoyed The Big Game! It was a cute story and the spice was spicy. There were a few times throughout the book that the language differences showed, but I appreciated the authors note about that. The ending was pretty abrupt with no real closure to the major event that happened, and it felt unrealistic that things would have just carried on that day. That being said, I could not put this book down. It was entertaining the whole time and was a cute & quick read.

This book was adorable. I loved the characters and their love story. I am becoming more of a fan of sports romances and this did not disappoint!

a decent read. a predictable storyline however the characters were fun and the story was interesting so it kept you reading

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC.

I ended up DNFing this because it felt like a badly written fanfic. I'm actually kind of surprised this is traditionally published, to be honest.

I dont know anything about American football, as I'm not American, so I can't speak to that but everything else felt so...ridiculous.

Lily and Tate dated in college - she was a cheerleader and he was a football superstar on his way to the NFL. After overhearing a bad conversation, Lily flees back to England to be with her ill dad and doesn't actually tell Tate anything. As you might expect, a common theme of this book!

Eight years later, they meet again when Lily is hired to be Tate's bodyguard after threats against him. It's coming up to the Superbowl, and the team doesn't want anything happening to their star player. The sparks fly because Tate and Lily now hate each other.

Lily felt like a fanfics perfect main character. Her dad is ex-SAS and taught her everything she knows, and for some reason he's also a member of the aristocracy (lol because we can't just have a normal Brit). She felt too perfect, and I just didn't vibe with her.

The communication between Tate and Lily was...immature for two in their late 20s. You'd think they were still in college.

So yeah, I ended up DNFing because it all just felt very cringe. I know there's people who are going to lap this up, and I hope you enjoy it more than I did!

This was such a good book. I loved the story and the writing so much. The characters were great and the story flowed smoothly. Will definitely read more books by this author in the future.