Gorgeous, talented, and brilliant, NFL quarterback Ronan Smith has the world in his hands. But after losing his career and his fiancée in a car accident, he falls into a pit of grief and bad choices. When a mysterious girl shows up to his party, he feels drawn to her and makes her his…for one night.
Former beauty queen Nova Morgan is on a mission. Scantily clad as a princess from a galaxy far, far away, she sneaks into a high-profile party to capture the attention of her favorite quarterback. But her hopes crash after an awful one-night stand.
Fast-forward two years. Broke and desperate, Nova returns home to Blue Belle, Texas, where, by a cosmic twist of fate, her broody neighbor is none other than Ronan, the shiny new football coach everyone adores. But he has no idea who she is.
The booster club keeps shoving women at Ronan to keep him in town. His solution? He proposes fake dating to Nova. But things heat up for real under these Friday-night lights when he realizes she’s the one who slipped away.
Has this jaded beauty found her forever baller, or will his past keep them apart?
Release Date: Mar 29, 2022
Heat Level: Scorching
Publisher: Amazon
Imprint: Montlake
Price: $3.99
Ronan is grieving and mourning the life he used to know when he meets Nova. Their one-night stand is hot and fun. He just doesn’t remember it. Not until Nova storms into the town he is coaching at and takes a position at the school. The more time he spends around her, the more he realizes that this was the woman he had been looking for.
Nova is back in town after her mother passes. She has to take care of her sister and basically get a job. She accepts a part time position at the school and offer to be an assistant to the Coach. The problem is that she fully remembers every inch of the coach and their one night stand two year prior. He is grumpy, pig headed and makes her furious at time but she still can’t shake the all the other things she feel around him as well.
It has been a long time where I sat down and read a book in one sitting. This year I haven’t really hit my stride with reading but I have to say that Beauty and the Baller had me from page one. It is so nice to get all your feels in. I have always enjoyed the author’s works but this story is up at the top. She is going on the go to author list for me.
Don’t you just love when you adore both the characters. You see the potential and growth with them immediately and the author just molds them into perfect little characters. Ronan is really what makes a good hero. He is very swoon worthy. He is quick and sharp which makes for great banter. He is caring. He has a very painful past but he doesn’t hold onto that for that long. He learns to move on and open his heart up to Nova.
Nova is a girl after my own heart. She cares so much about her family. Her life may not have turned out how she had originally hoped but she adjusts rather nicely. It doesn’t help that she is falling for Ronan. The quick barbs at one another just leads to more pent-up passion.
When it comes to passion…let’s just say the tension swells in this story. I felt hot every time Nova and Ronan came together. Let’s just say when they finally stop fighting the loving was very sexy!
What holds me back from the full five stars is that there is too much run-on conversations for me. Sometimes I wanted more from them than that. I needed action. There is slight angst but not enough if that makes sense.
Overall, if you enjoy small town romance, second chance romances with an amazing set of characters, Beauty and the Baller is the perfect read.
~ Samantha