Dream Girl Drama

Forbidden love filled with all the tension, longing, and heart you could ask for.

This is basically a slow burn in the Tessa Bailey world, despite a timeline that feels jarringly fast at first. You get a very charming meet cute, leap through the getting to know you phase, and dive deep into the desperation of two people forced to ignore their feelings. It kind of feels like the whole book takes place in a third-act-breakup, but not in a bad way. The timeline makes sense since so much of Sig and Chloe's story takes place before we meet them in the previous book. It's written in a way that feels natural, there's just a small part of me that is bummed I missed out on some of those early moments.

Sig and Chloe are likeable (yet flawed) and you really root for them to figure things out. Really great romantic tension with their efforts to not cross the line drawn between them. Watching Chloe grow more confident and independent with Sig's help is a delight.

The actual sports aspect is pretty light but it IS there. There are plenty of fun scenes with notable members of the team outside of practice or games, so to me it did still feel like a sports romance.

Tessa Bailey should also be called The Queen of Breadcrumbs because she always sets up her next book in a way that has you invested based off of just a few pages. I have no hesitation about continuing with the series.

I'd recommend to anyone who loves Tessa Bailey (obviously), fans of Clueless, and people who think self sacrifice is a noble way to show your love.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper and Avon Voyager for access to this ARC in return for honest feedback.