Joanna Blake | Saucy Southern Readers

Player

New Adult Contemporary Sports Romance

By Joanna Blake

Synopsis

JOCK, SPORT, MEATHEAD, PLAYER. I hate them all. Especially this one. He’s rude, he’s crude and he thinks he is God’s gift to women.

James Fitzpatrick might have started out on the wrong side of the tracks, but his skills on the football field have brought him fame and glory. Now he’s forgotten where he came from.

Hell, he’s even forgotten me, the snot nosed brat from next door. So much so that he hits on me when he comes in to eat at the barbecue place I work at to pay my way through school. But the jokes on him when I turn him down in front of all his meathead buddies. No one has ever turned down James. There’s a reason he’s got a rep as being talented on and off the forty yard line. And now he’s determined to make me pay with a pound of flesh.

Thing is, I’ve got some moves he hasn’t seen yet. It’s going to be a long, hot season.

PLAYER is a stand alone book with a guaranteed HEA and no cheating!

Michel’s Review

I was looking for a fun light book to read. There were a lot of posts in several of the reading groups I belong to on FB. The readers were excited for this release.

Player by Joanna Blake is a New Adult Contemporary Sports Romance. I love sports romance and I love new adult romance. This book sounded like my kind of book.

Player is a short novel and can be read rather quickly. Unfortunately I was disappointed with the book. As a seasoned reviewer and blogger I look for several things in a book. I look for good character development, a well executed plot, a good story flow – fluid pacing, good dialogue and interaction between the characters, and good editing. If the book is entertaining and keeps me interested I can overlook some of these things. After all when the first editions of Fifty Shades of Grey came out the editing was horrible and there were holes in the overall story. Despite the issues, the book was good and readers embraced it whole heartedly. I honestly don’t think that this is going to happen with Player. There were too many problems I found within this book.

The overall plot for the story was good. The problem was the execution. It was rushed and seemed to follow the outline rather than creating a world where the characters come to life. The chemistry between James and Nadine felt synthetic and forced. Their heated moments almost felt clinical at times. Their personalities didn’t seem to really connect in a personal and touching way.

There were other things that seemed too unrealistic. An example is James football career as a college student. Universities and Colleges are highly regulated concerning their athletes. Sure they can give their players some perks but not the kind that James was receiving. When he signed with the professional team, the Miami Dolphins, he insisted on getting Nadine into FSU as part of his signing package. Sounds good but totally impossible in this story. FSU is in Tallahassee, Florida. That is about 480 miles north of Miami. I think that it would be very hard for Nadine to commute to school and live with James in Miami. I absolutely hate when an author does not research the story background to make a story realistic. It insults the readers intelligence.

There were several editing problems throughout the book. I highlighted several editing problems that should of been caught before publishing. Readers are paying for this book with their hard earned money. It doesn’t matter if this book is .99 or 2.99. It reflects poorly on the author. Many readers will refuse to read future books because of editing problems.

I really wanted to love this book but had to force myself to finish it. I love adding new authors to my reading list. I will not let this one book dissuade me from reading other books by this author. She seems to have a solid fan base and reader love.

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Author Bio:

Joanna Blake loves good old fashioned romance, men who open doors and work with their hands. Hot Blooded Heroes is a series of sizzling stories about True Blue American men and the women who love them. She’s thrilled to be collaborating with Pincushion Press on her new series! Come along for the ride!
XoX,
Joanna
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