I got into this series because of the baseball. While I like the CFL, I'm not a huge American football fan so I wasn't sure how much this story would speak to me. But wow, I loved the H/h. Kat's challenges felt so relateable and it was fantastic to get a window into the modelling world without dwelling on the drugs element of it. I love that she's a bookworm and that she cares so much about her younger siblings. I cheered when Grant convinced her to take care of herself for a while. He's wonderful with her siblings and it all felt so wonderfully organic.

Was also great to have a book that wasn't full of angst but rather two mature people who get blindsided and try to figure out how to fit each other into their regimented (by necessity because of their careers) lives. There's so much familial love in this book and that always makes me very happy. I got behind on this series because family stuff happened and I forgot about it but glad to be back in it now. Looking forward to the rest. ( )

Quarterback Draw
1 Star

Unfortunately, what began as an entertaining series with engaging characters, sexy romance and heartwarming stories has degenerated into an unimaginative mish-mash of insipid plots with characters one couldn't care less about.

Thus, it is with a not so heavy heart that I call it quits on the Play-by-Play series. ( )

This was such a disappointment to me. I have read every single book in the series, but this took a week to finish. It was boring, dragging, the characters were all too sweet saccharine and I didn't connect to either of them. There was no depth to their relationship and to it progressed, it was just 'hi, I'm Grant' to 'I love you, Kat'. I read the excerpt for the next installment and it gave a little hope that this was just a fluke. ( )

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Slow moving romance with uninteresting characters. I had a very hard time making my way through the story due to lack of interest.

Opening Sentence: If there was one thing Grant Cassidy hated more than anything, it was PR.

The Review:

Grant is a famous football player. Katrina is a supermodel. Neither is looking for a relationship. Then, they meet each other at a photo shoot that pairs them together. The sparks are instantaneous. While Grant is interested in pursuing the attraction, Katrina takes some convincing. Grant eventually wears her down, and once they give in to the attraction, their relationship takes off at warp speed. While Katrina is still reluctant for the relationship to go deeper, there’s no denying that what she has with Grant is special. Will she give in to the joy of love, or will her reluctance spell the end of their time together?

I think I have to come to terms with the idea that Jaci Burton’s books are just not for me, despite all the positive things I hear about her series. This is my third Burton book, and it was incredibly hard to get through, taking me almost three weeks to finish because I just was not interested in reading. In all honesty, the book was boring. There was no real conflict to Grant and Katrina’s relationship other than her reluctance for the relationship to get serious. The lack of conflict did not make for interesting reading.

The only reason this is getting two stars rather than one is there are some scenes with Grant’s family that actually caught my interest. Grant’s family members had more personality than Grant and Katrina combined, and they were a delight to read about. Their interactions felt true to life, which made the scenes very enjoyable. I found myself entertained for those few chapters. Once they were done though, my boredom returned.

As with all of Burton’s books, the sex scenes are certainly steamy. Without a connection to the characters though, they quickly became tedious to read. I have to admit to doing some skimming as I made my way further into the book because I just did not want to read yet another sex scene between characters I had no interest in.

All in all, this book was just not for me. I need a bit more conflict in my romance reads, and this book just did not deliver. Fans of Burton’s other entries in this series may find this installment entertaining, but I don’t plan on continuing this series.

Notable Scene:

They drove to the ballpark and made their way to the ticket window, where, thanks to his brother, tickets were waiting. He’d texted Tucker yesterday after he’d gotten the idea to take Katrina and the kids to the ball game.

That had been a fun conversation.

I need four tickets to tomorrow night’s game.

Tucker had texted him back with: Asshole. Next time give me more notice when you want four seats. You’ll be lucky if I can get you bleachers. We’re popular, ya know.

Grant had texted back with: But you can get me box seats anyway, right?

Tucker had ignored him for about an hour, then texted back with: Probably. And fuck you.

Grant grinned when he opened the envelope with his name on it and found four box seat tickets.

Because that’s what brothers did for each other. They gave each other shit, then they pulled through when necessary.

FTC Advisory: Penguin/Berkley provided me with a copy of Quarterback Draw. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )