I am a complete sucker for sports romances. Honestly,
it's probably becoming a bit of a problem. I adore
watching sports, so I suppose this all flows naturally. I
find the fragile egos of professional athletes to be
particularly pleasing romance fodder, I don't know why. I
put up with more angst and ridiculousness from novels
about athletes than any other character group.
PLAYING HARD is one of those books that probably would
have bugged me if the dude was a rancher or a
billionaire, but worked for me because he's a baseball
player. Sidelined with an injury that was not his fault,
Oliver spends most the story feeling quite sorry for
himself. The only thing he allows to shine joy into his
existence is our heroine, Amelia. Complication is that
Amelia is the emotional sibling of a kid on Oliver's
team, a kid who happens to both hate Oliver and be the
cause of that injury.
If we're going to talk external versus internal conflict,
for Amelia in this book they are one in the same. She has
internalized familial expectations so heavily that she
has no real idea what would possibly make her happy
outside of their approval. Her journey in this story is
both towards Oliver and away from them, or at least
moving towards re-defining their role in her life.
On Oliver's part, he has a lot of growing to do as well.
He's got the Alpha problem of thinking he is the king of
all things while really having little idea about how
things work, but his age (relatively ancient in baseball
terms) has led to a softening. He know the difference
between power coming from youth and power coming from
wisdom. His journey is both towards Amelia and towards a
new role within his career and I really enjoyed reading
his internal struggle around that.
PLAYING HARD is a easy win for anyone who likes sports
romances, but would probably also be good for anyone who
likes opposites attract narratives as well.
HIS GAME NEVER FAILS...
Baseball star Oliver Shields has always lived for the game-and
now the New York
Saints have finally made
the play offs. The season isn't over yet, but meeting gorgeous
Amelia Graham seems
like a bonus grand
slam-until one night of partying threatens to take Oliver out
of the game for
good...
UNTIL SHE puts his heart in play...
All work and no play has always been Amelia's motto, earning
her a coveted job on
Wall Street and the
freedom she's always longed for. Oliver is a real player-in
more ways than one-and
a distraction she
doesn't need, especially when she's trying to win a chance at
her dream assignment
at work . When
flirtation turns to attraction so fierce neither one of them
can say good-bye,
will Oliver and Amelia
step up to the plate-and give love a chance?
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