This HaBO request is from Kat, who is searching for this sports romance:
I’m struggling to remember a contemporary romance novel featuring a British heroine.
Here’s where my memory fails me: I don’t remember if she was a sports agent or a public relations exec. She meets the hero as part of her job (to kind of ground/reprimand a sports team). They get into a reluctant friendship since she wants to avoid diatribes about her sleeping with the team or in order to ascend the career ladder. The hero does break down her walls, they sleep together, yada yada happy ending.
I’m sorry if this is quite vague–I don’t remember many pertinent details, especially the sports featured in the novel. I do remember it being set in the US.
Thanks again for all your help!
Brit heroine. Sports romance. U.S. soil.
At first I thought this was an Amy Andrews book. She has written quite a few sports romances, but I don’t remember this exact plot—plus her books are usually set in Australia. Is it possibly Kathy Lyons’s HARD AND FAST, part of her Locker Room Diaries series? I don’t remember the publicist being from England, but the description sounds similar:
Pro veteran catcher Connor Hart has his hands full keeping the hot-blooded rookies on his team focused on the ultimate prize—the World Series. Too bad he can’t seem to concentrate on the game himself. Because every time publicist Gia Kubic walks out on the field, his attention goes AWOL, and all he can think about is a New Years’ Eve kiss that should have gone much further…
As the team publicist, it’s Gia’s job to make heartthrobs out of every member of the team, but even she can’t figure out how to make America’s hottest catcher—and her not-so-secret fantasy—smile for the cameras. She’s fighting him, and her libido, at every turn.
Neither of them seems capable of saying no forever. But Connor has a secret, and he knows if he lets the sexy publicist get too close, his whole world could come crashing down…
How about:
BODY CHECK –Janna MacNeil is a publicist on a mission—to change the image of the bad boys of hockey: the Stanley Cup Champion New York Blades.
Ty Gallagher is a captain on a mission—to get his team to win the Cup again…at any cost. His determination is legendary, as well as his unwillingness to toe the corporate line. When the persistent publicist and the stubborn captain butt heads, it’s hard enough to crack the ice. But they may end up melting it instead…
THE STRIKER’S CHANCE – “Landing the PR contract for North Carolina’s new soccer team could take Holly Taylor’s career to the next level. Her task? Make Kepler “Killer” de Klerk, an athlete with a party-hard reputation, a star. But revamping the sexy footballer’s image while battling her unwanted attraction to him is easier said than done.”
PLAYING BY HER RULES — “When style columnist Matilda Kent accidentally lets slip that she was once involved with the captain of the Sydney Smoke rugby team, she suddenly finds herself elevated to the position she’s always wanted – feature writer. The catch? She’s stuck doing a six-part series on her ex. Still, there’s no way she can turn down a promotion…or the chance to dish the dirt on the guy who so callously broke her heart.
I also feel like this could be Sarina Bowen but didn’t see anything close.
It could be Most Likely to Score by Lauren Blakely if it’s about American Football.
It seemed like a good idea at the time…
As the team’s publicist, I need a football player to be the face of our charity calendar, and Jones Beckett needs a savvy PR woman to manage his new sponsorship deal.
A simple give and take, and I’m sure I’ll have no problem following my iron-clad rule — don’t date a player. And never ever fall for one. No matter how charming, big-hearted and devilishly clever the man is.
But you know what they say about best laid plans…
Once I start spending my off-season days and nights with Jones, I’m following a brand new playbook, one that has me falling hard for the incorrigible flirt — heart, body and mind.
That’s against the rules, and now what seemed like a bright idea has turned into a dangerously forbidden one.
It was supposed to be an I-scratch-her-back-she-scratched-mine kind of arrangement. And man, did Jillian ever drag her nails down my back on one hell of a hot night. Okay fine, it was several hot nights on the road.
Now we’re back in town and it’s time to set the play clock back to when we were simply player and publicist. Given the way the last few years have gone, I can’t risk this deal. Trouble is, I want more than than just another night with her.
What’s a guy to do when he’s always been most likely to score, but the woman he’s falling for is way off limits?
It’s not Body Check by Deirdre Martin, which @Carol mentioned above. I read that one and she’s not British. I believe she’s from Connecticut (New England, not England.)
I dont think she’should a British heroine, but you might enjoy Changing the Game by Jaci Burton. It’s one of the 14 (so far) books in her play-by-play series.
Maybe Kate Meader’s Chicago Rebel series? She actually inherited the hockey team from her dad and is trying to get them into the playoffs….
I don’t think this is the book you’re talking about because I’m pretty sure the heroine isn’t British, but The Baller by Vi Keeland came to mind.
Jennifer Bernard also also a long series about baseball players and front office staff – Love Between the Bases.
http://www.jenniferbernard.net/love-between-the-bases-series
probably not it. But See Jane Score has sports, not wanting to use sleeping with the team to get ahead, but not British.
This sounds like Susan Elizabeth Phillips Chicago Bears Series. The synopsis sounds like the first book- “It Had Yo Be You”.
“What if a woman who knows nothing about sports inherits a professional football team? The Windy City definitely isn’t ready for Phoebe Somerville, the outrageous York knockout who’s taking over their home town team. And Phoebe is definitely not prepared for the Stars’ head coach Dan Calebow, a sexist jock taskmaster with a one-track mind. This is the book that began it all. The Chicago Stars are about to take the field… and they’re not the only ones playing for keeps”
It could be See Jane Score by Rachel Gibson. The heroine is a sports column reporter and had to travel with the team. The team initially considered her bad luck and then eventually (obviously) they all come around.