on January 17 2016
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Sports
Narrator: Mackenzie Cartwright, Sean Crisden
Length: 8 Hours and 49 Mins
Pages: 285
Format: Audiobook
Source: Self Purchased
Three consecutive weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list and #1 on Amazon.
From New York Times & USA Today Bestseller, Vi Keeland, comes a sexy new standalone novel.
The first time I met Brody Easton was in the men's locker room.
It was my first interview as a professional sportscaster.
The famed quarterback decided to bare all.
And by all, I don't mean he told me any of his secrets.
No. The arrogant ass decided to drop his towel, just as I asked the first question. On camera.
The Super Bowl MVP quickly adopted a new hobby--screwing with me.
When I pushed back, he shifted from wanting to screw with me, to wanting to screw me.
But I don't date players.
And it's not because I'm one of the few women working in the world of professional football.
I'd date an athlete.
It's the other kind of player I don't date.
You know the type. Good looking, strong, cocky, always looking to get laid.Brody Easton was the ultimate player.
Every woman wanted to be the one to change him.
But the truth was, all he needed was a girl worth changing for.
Turned out, I was that girl.
Simple right?
Let's face it. It never is.
There's a story between once upon a time and happily ever after...
And this one is ours.
The Baller brings together a sexy pro football quarterback and a feisty sportscaster….a story that begins with intense chemistry and develops into a strong and poignant romance to curl your toes.
The Baller is another single title by Vi Keeland, although I am crossing my fingers that she will continue more with books like this one because she does great SPORT romances. I mean I was definitely hooked on this book from beginning to end. I am beginning to get addicted to the style of Vi Keeland. Her writing is so sassy and fun and gives me hoots of entertainment from the first page to the very end. Our featured key players in this wonderful book are:
- Brody Easton, our shameful playboy, Brody is the Quarterback for a Pro Football team. He seems to have everything: A successful career, playing a sport he loves, women dropping at his feet and more than enough money to suit him for the rest of his life. But Brody has a painful past, and has been hurt and keeps things casual even though he earns for love in a place that no one can see
- Delilah Maddox is a Football TV presenter and reporter and has worked herself to the bone for YEARS to get to where she is. She can name any stat of any player in the league in a heartbeat. She is the daughter of an infamous football pro player herself and understands the passion for the sport.
I have to say how impressed I was with this story, and I honestly didn’t think that I would enjoy this one as much as I did. I have no clue how Vi Keeland does it, but her books SO work for me especially her audio books. She has the best narrators and these narrators ROCKED MY WORLD!! Their voices are beyond sexy and sultry and I just wanted to listen more and more. The lady narrator I believe I have listened to before: Mackenzie Cartright…I really loved her voice. It was very engaging and I felt she implemented the tones of the book very well. And our male narrator: Sean Crisden —has such a swoony voice. And he totally worked for this book, he had such a rough and deep voice that matches the hero so well.
A great aspect of this book that I really enjoyed that you don’t always see in dual POV, is that we just about get the hero’s perspective as much as the heroine and that was SO awesome. Too many times we get too much heroine and not enough of the hero’s side of things, so I found it quite refreshing to see his side of things and although I would have loved to see more of him, what we get to see is pretty stellar.
Our story begins when Delilah, has been promoted and is starting to settle into her new job. She still has to deal with rude male workers who try to make everything about sex. Delilah has had to work so hard for the position she got. And now she is the living the dream. When she goes to interview the star MVP quarterback, Brody Easton, chemistry is off the charts between them. Even though she tries to be professional….Brody is shameful when he likes a woman and drops his towel for the WHOLE world to see. Yeah….you bet that the start of this book is unconventional and I was curious to see how these two would get along because on the surface they are so different from each other. The hero is playful and carefree and our heroine is a bit too serious. But once you get to the inner cores of the characters you begin to see how they balance each other out especially in their quirks.
“… You’re hot as fuck. And I like you.”
“Oh really? You have a funny way of showing that you like me. Every time I see you, you try to sabotage my interview.”
“Every time I see you, I expose myself to you.” He flashed me his trademark smile. “That’s how we show girls we like them where I’m from.”
“Where are you from, the jungle?”
“Brooklyn.”
I truly adored both Delilah and Brody in different ways. However, I will say that Brody was a hero that I soon fell in love with. Because yeah he is silly at times, but he has such HEART and depth to him and I love seeing him being “peeled” like an onion and what great layers he has that you just fall so quickly into.
There is one aspect of the story that drove me a bit crazy was the ex-girlfriend of Brody’s. It does add a sense of conflict to the story, so I can see why the author put this aspect in, it just got a bit frustrating toward the end. But in all honesty, it didn’t take away at all of my enjoyment of this story. And it was very unique, much different from what I was expecting especially when we get to see her POV on occasion.
Overall The Baller was a fantastic and thrilling story that had me feeling…ALL THE FEELS!! A story that is engaging, endearing and empowering.
LOL, the shameless football hustler. I love getting both points of view, too. Sounds like a fun one.
That’s another one I still have to get to – I do have some of her books but barely time to read anything outside of my ARC schedule. Adding to that is that both Penelope Ward and Vi Keeland mostly do the invitation only ARCs I doubt i’ll get to her soon.
Great review, lovely, I love both POVs. I agree that there aren’t enough books that have that, often it produces an unnecessary disconnect.
That’s some cover lol
Players aren’t always my thing but I like humor so I might give it a try.
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That cover is dirty 😉
I haven’t read this author before but I am a huge fan of sports romances so this looks good to me. I am so glad you enjoyed this one.