e-Audio, 09:33:21
Narrated by: Yinka Ladeinde
Release Date: April 1, 2025
Published by: Books on Tape (Berkley)
Read from: March 30-31, 2025
Stand-alone
Source: PRH Audio (I received a free e-ALC from the publisher and their app. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Toxic Relationship, Emotional Abuse, Infidelity, Body Shaming, Domestic Abuse, Sexual Content, Injury/Injury Detail, Addiction, Drug Abuse
For Readers Interested In: Audio, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Sparkly Covers, Most Anticipated, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, Realistic Fiction, Romance, Stand-alone, SportsA PR relationship between a pop superstar and a pro-athlete bad boy turns into so much more in this swoony romance from the acclaimed author of When I Think of You.
Ella Simone’s popstar life is what dreams are made of. Her eight year marriage to renowned music producer, Elliot Majors, has helped garner the hits, awards, and adoring fans to prove it. But when Ella tires of Elliot’s many infidelities, she decides to fight for her independence despite the ironclad prenup that threatens her career.
To help her case, Ella is under strict orders to stick to The no headlines, no rumors, no rocking the boat. But this strategy is thrown a curveball after an awards show wardrobe snafu and quick rescue by Miles Westbrook, MLB’s most eligible player, sends the tabloids into a frenzy. Amid tricky divorce proceedings, Ella’s magnetic connection with the charismatic pitcher might just be her downfall.
Now the pressure is on to turn a scandal into an opportunity and give their teams what they a picture-perfect performance that will shore up both Ella and Miles’ reputations. But as the lines between reality and PR begin to blur, Ella will either stick to the choreographed life she knows so well, or surrender to a love that could set her free.
*MY THOUGHTS*
This was one of my most anticipated. Why? Because of the cover lmao I’m not even kidding. And I’m so glad that I thought the inside of the book was just as good as the outside. This one is definitely a winner!
This was like a love letter to R&B. It’s an epistolary story that holds text messages and voice notes. And since those are two of my favorite things, I loved this one. I think I stopped at every song to listen as I read lol But I had to because it was all the classics! I wish I had read this with my eyeballs so that I could also listen at the same time, but even still, pausing it to listen still enhanced the scene a little bit. I actually liked it a lot. This day and age the “letter writing style” is easiest done via text messages. But this is one of the first I’ve found that also has voice notes. Am I the only one who doesn’t use those? I know they’re convenient because the group chat uses them, but I just can’t. Anyways, I think that made it cute. Especially since there was the speech impediment that he had. He trusted her and I thought they were adorable.
The romance was cute but it wasn’t the end all be all? Like they were apart a lot because of the long distance and the baseball games. And of course we can’t forget her terrible ex. But when they finally got to talking, it was the cutest. That video set scene?! My Gawd lol I think I listened to it twice. The chemistry they had made me fan myself lol I knew they were going to be amazing together. But the amount of drama they had was blocked a lot of it. When the spice finally happened it was a lot milder than I thought it would be with the amount of chemistry they had.
Since this is being labeled as a sports romance I guess I should mention how much sports is in it. She watches him on tv, he has an injury from pithing, and they finally get to go to one game. My only qualm is I like a little more sports in my sports romance. I think I wanted to see more of them at the games. I wish that we had gotten to see that one part at the end. Especially since we didn’t get the dual POV. I wanted to see some action on the field since we don’t get in his head.
As for the other characters, I didn’t like them. Like none of them besides the big wig from the record label and her lawyer lol Everyone else was annoying or just ridiculous. The only one I liked even a smidgen was his mom. But if you’re not new here, you know I have issues with parental figures and these types of problems. So yeah. I had some issues, but still.
This was good, but I do wish some things were different. Myah Ariel is definitely getting added to my Auto Buy list. Because both of her books have been bangers to me. I can’t help but wait for her next one!
Overall, I give this
