Title: Numbers Game
Author: Liz Crowe & Desiree Holt
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Book Blurb:
Former pro football player and coach Duncan "Hatch" Hatcher fumbled his career and marriage. Now divorced and ready to tackle his future, he has an opportunity to redeem himself as coach of his college alma mater's football team. But how can he turn the team's losing streak around and keep the secret of his downfall buried when the school agrees to a documentary that will allow a lovely journalist to dig her way into his past...and into his heart?
Olivia Grant's ex-husband almost wrecked her journalism career while he definitely did a number on her self-esteem. The documentary on Duncan Hatcher is the perfect way to rebuild both. As a freshman in college, she'd had a crush on the senior football hero, but he hadn't known she existed. She never expects the sparks that fly between them as they work on the project nor the struggles they must face if they both want to win.
My Review:
There’s an unwritten rule in football coaching: numbers will only get you so far, the rest is up to timing. Duncan ‘Hatch’ Hatcher is a former pro football player trying to score a second career as the coach for his college alma mater. He needs to focus all of his energies on turning the school’s losing streak around but he’s finding it hard to concentrate when the lovely Olivia Grant is on campus. She’s a sports journalist who’s doing a documentary on him and the football team. He’s drawn to her in so many ways, but he can’t afford to drop the ball. Everything is riding on this and he refuses to let the past dictate his future. Can Hatch trust Olivia with his heart or is he just another story?
Numbers Game is a touchdown from start to finish. This football romance is not your ordinary second-chance romance. Both Hatch and Olivia are in desperate need of a redo in their retrospective careers and a second chance at finding lasting love. The descriptive narration, from the intricacies of the game of football to falling in love to overcoming scandal, is brilliantly done. As a die-hard football fan, I enjoyed seeing the game from Hatch’s and Olivia’s viewpoints. With Liz Crowe and Desiree Holt writing from different POV’s, I was impressed by how seamless the storylines flowed. If I didn’t know this was a collaborative effort, I’d swear it was written by a single author. The writing itself is sublime with vibrant characters, a perfectly paced plot, and a romance between two mature adults. While the attraction was immediate, the romance was slow-burning. The conflict was just enough to whet the reader’s appetite, to keep the pages turning. The ending was very satisfactory, and I must admit, I didn’t want it to end. I wanted to stay with Hatch and Olivia just a little bit longer. If you love football as much as you love romance, pick up Numbers Game. If you’re a contemporary romance reader, you’re going to fall in love with Numbers Game. If you’re a big fan of second-chance romance, you need to read Numbers Game. An instant classic in the romance genre, Numbers Game is a must-read. Highly recommend!
My Rating: 5+ stars
Buy it Now:
Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/NumbersGame
Author Biography:
Desiree Holt bio:
USA Today best-selling and award-winning author Desiree Holt writes everything from romantic suspense and contemporary on a variety of heat levels up to erotic, a genre in which she is the oldest living author. She has been referred to by USA Today as the Nora Roberts of erotic romance, and is a winner of the EPIC E-Book Award, the Holt Medallion and a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice nominee. She has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning and in The Village Voice, The Daily Beast, USA Today, The (London) Daily Mail, The New Delhi Times and numerous other national and international publications.
Liz Crowe bio:
Liz Crowe is a Kentucky native and graduate of the University of Louisville living in Central Illinois. She's spent her time as a three-continent expat trailing spouse, mom of three, real estate agent, brewery owner and bar manager, and is currently a social media consultant and humane society development director, in addition to being an award-winning author. With stories set in the not-so-common worlds of breweries, on the soccer pitch, inside fictional television stations and successful real estate offices, and even in exotic locales like Istanbul, Turkey, her books are compelling and told with a fresh voice. The Liz Crowe backlist has something for any reader seeking complex storylines with humor and complete casts of characters that will delight, at times frustrate, and always linger in the imagination long after the book is finished.
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Reviewed by: Mrs. N