Aloha to Tracy Solheim and SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY - Book Review

The author of Risky Game returns with a football team owner who’s a real player, and the woman who’s ready to call him out on everything...

Dot-com millionaire Jay McManus is discovering that owning a pro football team like the Baltimore Blaze isn’t easy. An anonymous blogger is out to destroy his reputation, and now his team is being sued by its own cheerleaders. If Jay’s not careful, he could lose big—and not just financially.

Bridgett Janik’s brother may play for the Baltimore Blaze, but she’s not thrilled to be defending Jay McManus, the man who broke her heart. It’s bad enough she has to mingle with Jay during games, but working beside her former lover may be too much for her body—and her heart—to resist.

Jay’s determined not to let Bridgett slip away from him a second time. But, as the two follow the mysterious blogger’s trail, secrets—both past and present—are revealed, and Jay and Bridgett must decide if their relationship can be something more than just sleeping with the enemy.

Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium

If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner. - Nelson Mandela

An honorable businessman.  A determined lawyer.  A troublesome blogger.  And football!  Tracy builds upon her successful franchise, the Out of Bounds series, with romance and drama on and off the field.  Jay and Bridget work together despite their painful estrangement only to realize the spark still exists between them.  They soon realize there is no "I" (or regrets) in team as they battle the blogger and realize their connection.

Thank you, Tracy, for this heartfelt second chance story mixed with football frenzy that we've been anticipating as summer winds down.  I especially appreciate how Tracy makes both characters vulnerable and therefore believable.  I also enjoyed the references to pop culture, including the trend hide behind online anonymity to create trouble in real life. The sizzling cover perfectly depicts the romance and passion in the story line.

Recommended read for fans of sports romance, strong female character, "good guy" hero, and second chances. 

I received an ARC from another blogger.

Local fans at the Pro Bowl

I am giving away a book choice from my convention stash to one randomly selected commenter.  To enter the giveaway,

1.  Do you have a favorite tailgate food - at the stadium or even at home?  Mine is loaded nachos!

2. Comments are open through Saturday, September 12, 10 pm in Baltimore.

3. I'll post the winner on Sunday, September 13.

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore

Aloha Spirit in Charm City

Learn more about Tracy and her books at tracysolheim.com.

Aloha to Julie Brannagh and COVERING KENDALL

Kendall Tracy, General Manager of the San Francisco Miners, is not one for rash decisions or one-night stands. But when she finds herself alone in a hotel room with a heart-stoppingly gorgeous man-who looks oddly familiar-Kendall throws her own rules out the window…and they blow right back into her face. 

Drew McCoy should look familiar, he’s a star player for her team’s archrival the Seattle Sharks. Which would basically make Drew and Kendall the Romeo and Juliet of professional football…well, without all the dying. Not that it’s an issue. They agree to pretend their encounter never happened. Nothing good can come from it anyway, right? Drew’s not so sure.

Kendall may be all wrong, but he can’t stop thinking about her and he finds that some risks are worth taking. Because the stakes are always highest when you’re playing for keeps.

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Julie Brannagh has been writing since she was old enough to hold a pencil. She lives in a small town near Seattle, where she once served as a city council member and owned a yarn shop. She shares her home with a wonderful husband, two uncivilized Maine Coons and a rambunctious chocolate Lab. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, or armchair-quarterbacking her favorite NFL team from the comfort of the family room couch. Julie is a Golden Heart finalist and the author of contemporary sports romances.

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Julie offers an excerpt from COVERING KENDALL:

Drew felt like he was walking barefoot through a minefield. The pull he felt when she was near was almost irresistible. She was lovely, funny, smart, interesting – all the things he’d wished for in a woman and more. He wanted to find out more about her. She was determined to advance in a cut-throat industry and excel at a high-powered job, which meant the last thing she’d want to do with her time was have enough babies to fill up his huge house and have dinner on the table when he walked through the door each evening. He realized his expectations were ridiculous. It wasn’t that he thought the woman of his dreams should spend her days polishing his Pee-Wee football trophies. He wasn’t too much of a he-man to throw in a load of laundry or do the vacuuming. It took two to make a house a home. And yet, he really wanted someone who wanted a family and a home like the one he grew up in: He pictured a bunch of blond-haired kids filling up the silence in his big house with laughter and fun, a big dog cuddled up with all of them in the evenings while they watched TV or read or played games together. He saw Easters and Thanksgivings and Christmas mornings in his mind’s eye. He’d like to spend his weekends at his children’s soccer or T-ball games and having him and his wife’s friends over for a little barbecuing or a beer on Saturday nights. He also realized he was probably looking in the wrong places for the wife of his dreams. Women who wanted to focus on their families didn’t hang out in a corporate boardroom or the front office of a pro football franchise. Maybe he should try going to church or something to meet a potential mate. He wasn’t especially religious, and he was fairly sure his long hair would get him tagged as a “troublemaker” or worse in a big hurry, though. The imaginary women he might meet in the future paled in comparison to the one he was talking with right now.

Monday Night Romance with Tracy Solheim

Tracy Solheim and I are embarking on a new adventure - we have a weekly column called MONDAY NIGHT ROMANCE on USA Today's HEA blog.  We dish each week about this and that for football fans and football widows alike!   Check out our first column at this link.

Perhaps you are curious how we teamed up for this adventure. Back in the spring, I noticed Tracy Solheim's book cover, RISKY GAME, in the Delta Gamma Alumni magazine.  I was a DG from the University of Tampa (UT) ... and Tracy was a DG from the University of Tennessee (UT).  The hero from RISKY GAME plays for the Baltimore Blaze football team. DG, UT, and Baltimore.  We were meant to colloberate!

Tracy and I met for coffee at the RWA National Conference in San Antonio ... and MONDAY NIGHT ROMANCE was born!

We have links ...

- Book trailer for Tracy's Out of Bound Series featuring the Baltimore Blaze at this link.

- My first interview with Tracy for FOOLISH GAMES,  Book 2, at this link.

- My review of RISKY GAME, Book 3, at this link.

- Tracy's guest post with Romancing The Jock at this link.

Tracy is also hosting a special giveaway here at SOS Aloha (international giveaways to come later in the season):

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Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore
Aloha Spirit in Charm City

Volunteering at SuperBowl XXVII
Tampa Stadium 1984