“A sexy, fun romance from an author who always delivers.” —Kirkus Reviews
Beauty and the Baller, an all-new moving and smoking hot fake relationship standalone romance from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills is available now!
I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Beauty and the Baller by Ilsa Madden-MillsPublished by Montlake on March 29, 2022
Genres: Adult Contemporary Romance, Adult Sports Romance
Pages: 316
Source: the publisher
Format: E-galley
My Rating:
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Blurb:
An NFL quarterback turned small-town coach gets sacked by a Texas beauty queen in this swoony, passionate romance from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills.
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?
My Review
This book captured me from the first moment with the perfect meet-cute between our two main characters! I loved their connection, both that first night, as well as the bit of animosity between them when they met once again in the small town of Blue Belle, Texas. The spark between them was hard to ignore, and it all just built up until it exploded and they really could not keep their hands of each other once again. The fake relationship was just a little way to move it all along.
I loved all the little moments when they let the fake drop away and just gave into real feelings. Even if so many times it ended up coming back to bite Nova in the butt. Both characters had such an emotional background story that it made every little thing that came up make sense in how they reacted. While we only got a tiny moment with Ronan’s mom/family, I did love Nova’s sister. And Toby, and all the guys on the football team that were named. They had such fun personalities and really added to the story.
The high school setting was also fun, and had a lot of things that I connected with as a former high school teacher myself. The little games where Ronan and Nova would give up secrets or dare types of things were fun too. And the lice, oh my gosh, the lice! I keep mentioning a lot of the side characters as well, I loved Sonia and Skeeter. This book had it all, wonderful main characters, and a great supporting cast of characters to keep it fun and real.
My only complaint, why I put it at a 4.5 rating on my blog, is a personal issue, and it is just that I don’t like the e-cigarette parts. I feel like one of Skeeter’s lines about how Sonia is a vegetarian to be healthy, yet smokes those, well yeah. I’m just very anti-cigarette, so that part bothered me.
Fall in love today FREE in Kindle Unlimited!
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About the Author
Wall Street Journal, New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Ilsa Madden-Mills is best known for her angsty new adult romances and romantic comedies.
Eight of her eleven novels have placed in the Amazon Top 10 Best-seller List: Dirty English #1; Fake Fiancée and I Dare You #2; I Bet You, Filthy English, and Very Bad Things #6; Boyfriend Bargain #8; The Last Guy, her collaboration with Tia Louise, #4.
A former high school English teacher, she adores all things Pride and Prejudice, and of course, Mr. Darcy is her ultimate hero.
She’s addicted to frothy coffee beverages, cheesy magnets, and any book featuring unicorns and sword-wielding females. Feel free to stalk her online.
Connect with Ilsa
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2nY2pxT
Instagram: http://bit.ly/35xfNfo
Stay up to day with Ilsa by joining her mailing list: http://bit.ly/2ZWaTYh
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2EESfM9
Bookbub: http://bit.ly/2GaR6cn
Book+Main: http://bit.ly/2s4j9ci
Website: https://www.ilsamaddenmills.com
Join her Unicorn Girls Group on FB, the best way to keep up: http://bit.ly/37B6Nay
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I keep hearing so many great things about this one! I’m so glad you loved it…. I also really love books with fabulous side characters. It feels so much more enjoyable when it’s a story boosted by the other characters in it. Great review!
It was really good, hope you get a chance to read it soon!
It sounds very good, Lisa. I enjoy sports romances and love football as well.
Hope you get to read it soon!
The vaping in the closet was a bit odd for me, but this was funny and warm and emotional. Really enjoyed it as well.
Yeah, that’s the only part that bugged me, I loved it otherwise!