Chicago Stars, Book 10
From the publisher:
#1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Elizabeth Phillips returns with the next book in her Chicago Stars series where a successful sports agent and the sister of his biggest client engage in a take-no-prisoners battle of the sexes.
Take one hard-driving sports agent…
Throw in a failed chocolatier…
And her superstar football player brother…
Add a quirky pink and purple food truck…
Then, to really screw things up, mix in a very unfortunate murder.
Brett Rivers is the hottest sports agent in the business—fast and furious, swift and deadly. Failure? Not an option.
Rory Garrett is—let’s be honest—a disaster. She has a big heart, an empty bank account, a passion for making exquisite chocolate, and a huge inferiority complex from living in the shadow of Brett’s most important client, her football legend brother.
Brett and Rory should never have met, and they absolutely, positively should never have had to deal with the consequences of one stupid, drunken night…one disastrous lie…one career in jeopardy…one missing football player…and a very dead body.
It’s going to get messy…and dangerous…and heartbreaking…and sexy. To Rory, Brett represents skewed values and a devious mind. To Brett, Rory is forbidden fruit, off limits, do not disturb, and no entry—definitely no entry.
A woman who has succeeded at nothing and a man who’s succeeded at everything confront the challenge of their lives as they struggle with themselves and each other. When it comes to love—what price are any of us willing to pay to be simply the best?
“The queen of the football romance is not Taylor Swift. It’s Susan Elizabeth Phillips.”—Wall Street Journal
https://amzn.to/3OBHP2V
Susan Elizabeth Phillips started this series in 1994! She is credited with creating the first sports romance, or the first football romance, depending on who you ask. Either way, she’s been doing this for a long time, and doing it well.
If you are not familiar, the Chicago Stars are a fictitious football team, and this book centers around their star quarterback’s sister, Rory, and his agent, Brett – and it has a touch of suspense when that quarterback is arrested for the murder of his ex-girlfriend. But that’s a secondary plot line; this is a romcom at heart.
Rory is a wannabe chocolatier with some money troubles. She lost her mother when she was a young child and never really got along with her stepmother, especially after Clint was born. Then she lost her father, too. Clint was the golden child, and they are not close either. She won’t take money from either of them and is struggling to make a living. She bought a food truck with a partner, hoping to make enough selling store-bought candy to upgrade the truck with air conditioning, among other things. But the partner takes all the candy and disappears, leaving Rory with a $2000 fine from the city and nothing to sell.
Rory is somewhat friendly with her neighbor, who is a beautiful young woman determined to marry rich. When she starts dating Rory’s brother, her protective instincts kick in and she tries to warn him. But he’s in love, bought the ring, and Rory has visions of a brother marrying a gold digger without a prenup. Since he won’t listen, she tells the girlfriend that her brother is a gambler one step away from losing his job. When the girlfriend ends up dead on Clint’s patio, he is assumed to be the murderer.
Meanwhile, Rory is at a party where she has a one night stand with a super hot guy, except when he takes off early the next morning, he leaves $500 in cash on the dresser. Incensed, she finds him, but they quickly realize they have entered no man’s land. He thought she was a call girl, and she thought he was an athlete. But Brett is Clint’s agent, and Rory is his sister, and there is an unwritten but very strong rule about screwing around with the client’s family.
Rory is nothing like any woman Brett has ever been with. This is a guy who is on call basically 24/7 for his mega-successful clients, and is a workaholic, which is also why he’s so successful. But he can’t stop thinking about her, and when Clint is arrested, they start working together, trying to prove his innocence. The cops took the easy way out by arresting the homeowner/ex-boyfriend. Rory runs down one lead after another but gets nowhere fast. And Brett is always one step behind her, helping out when he can. Their chemistry is off the charts, but she knows he is a player and he can’t even understand his own fascination with Rory.
Everyone gets their happy ending, but it is so much fun getting there. SEP is in fine form with this story – there are lots of laughs, some steamy scenes, and the touch of suspense ratchets things up even more. This series does not need to be read in order, each book operates as a standalone. Highly recommend to readers who enjoy sports romances – SEP is the Queen for good reason.
2/2024 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
SIMPLY THE BEST by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Avon (February 13, 2024). ISBN: 978-0063248564. 384p.
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