If you can’t tell by the cover and the title, this is a contemporary sports romance. This isn’t in my wheelhouse. This is my wheelhouse. I also hadn’t read any of the previous Sante Fe Bobcats books (this is the third in the series), but I got along just fine. I’m sure references to past events would have had a bigger impact, though I didn’t get the sense that I was missing out on anything. Readers should be a-okay if they jump in here.

Stephen Harrison is fresh out of rehab after struggling with alcoholism last football season. Margaret “Mags” Logan is Stephen’s housekeeper and she’s kept up her rotation even while he’s been gone. She doesn’t like the thought of him coming home to a dusty house and an empty fridge. Mags also does housework for a few of the other Bobcats players because she’s trustworthy when it comes to their personal belongings and their personal spaces.

After a slip of the tongue to his coach about having a girlfriend, Stephen is stuck having to put his money where his mouth is. It’s either get a girlfriend who can be his “accountability buddy” (on top of the sponsor he has already) or get a life coach appointed by the team’s organizers. He knows Mags isn’t making what she should. The agency that hires her out takes a bulk of her pay despite her high-profile clientele. So Stephen asks her to play girlfriend for the season. She can move in and he’d pay her double her current salary. Mags doesn’t war with herself over the decision very long, which I liked. She needs the money to start her own cleaning company. Her current job treats her like shit. Plus, she likes Stephen. They’ve known each other for a few years now and get along rather well.

That’s the basis for a plot – the fake relationship trope with a sports setting.

It’s truly a sweet romance, despite the recovery and football playing aspects of the plot. If you’re looking for angst and drama, this really isn’t the book for you, and typically, that’s what I tend to go for. I honestly would have liked more tension, but I also understand that’s not what this romance is about. With Stephen trying to get his footing in sobriety and on his team now that he’s fifty pounds lighter, having a relationship that’s supportive and subtle and a little hesitant was the right complement. Injecting the book with some unnecessary drama to make things more tense and angst-ridden would have felt out of place.

However, that doesn’t mean I wish there was a little more oomph to the whole thing.

What I really loved, though, about this book was the dialogue. It seemed almost effortless, and I never once rolled my eyes and scoffed to myself with a, “This isn’t how people talk.” The banter and conversations were natural and funny and totally adorable. Stephen and Mags arguing about kale – snortworthy. Mags’ elderly landlord being feisty and saying the words “lady balls” – definitely here for that. And though I worship frequently at the House of Target, I will forever use the phrase “Target pizza bagel.”

“Target is for hand soap, pizza bagels, and five-dollar flip-flops.” Anya shoved the next few hangers aside in quick succession, a little harder than necessary. Each clatter of plastic on plastic sounded like a gunshot. “A black-tie wardrobe—“ Clash. ‘’—was not meant—“ Clash. “—to be found in the same store—“ Clash. “—you can find greeting cards and windshield wiper blades.”

She had a point on the black-tie part. But still…Mags eyed the rack, found a cocktail dress that didn’t scream I’m trying too hard, and looked at the price. Two fifty.

“I can’t do this.” She wandered over to a tufted mini couch and sat down heavily. Her large purse hit the floor by her feet. “I can’t afford this stuff. I can’t find something that will be presentable. I can’t show up on his arm looking like a Target pizza bagel.”

The concept of beauty and physical attraction is something Takes Two to Tackle does well, and it came as such a surprise because as a romance reader, sometimes we get conditioned to the hero and heroine being completely gorgeous and instantly attracted to one another.

There’s a scene earlier in the book where Stephen is thinking of this crazy fake relationship idea and, in his mind, he doesn’t see Mags as beautiful, but that changes (obviously). There’s no insta-lust and it’s a great example of how getting to know someone and spending time with them can increase your physical attraction.

This was also the first romance I can remember reading where the hero felt some sort of physical insecurity. Stephen lost a lot of weight in rehab because we all know that as a good as booze tastes, it’s liquid calories. He isn’t used to this new body and the first time he and Mags have sex, he even keeps his shirt on. I thought this was a nice moment in the book and I liked the deviation from the typical walking-perfection that we usually see in romance.

There’s no chest-thumping or overt acts of aggression from any of the men in this book. There’s no crisis threatening the central relationship in the story. It’s simply a very sweet, “will they-won’t they” romance, and we all know they will.