{Book Review} The Baller: A Down and Dirty Football Novel by Vi Keeland

From Goodreads

From New York Times and USA Today Bestseller, Vi Keeland, comes a sexy new 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. 

My Thoughts

3 "It's BYE-Week!" Stars

I'll be honest and say I bought this book mostly for it's ab-tastic (and pec-tastic, and arm-tastic, and cock-tastic) cover, but I did take into account the glowing reviews. I've been in the mood for these lighter, sexy contemporary romances lately, and this seemed to fit the bill.

Sadly, I was disappointed. 

I felt almost no chemistry between Delilah and Brody. She was definitely infatuated and I even wound up believing her love for him, but whenever Brody's POV was on, I read nothing but sexual attraction on his part, and only when he was around Delilah. When he wasn't with her, she hardly ever crossed his mind. He's a bit of a dick, and not even in a good way. He's just a dick.

This lead to the romance feeling forced, the drama and angst boring and over the top, and the sex, while objectively hot, didn't have enough to flesh it out. 

I'm usually completely clueless on the lingo when it comes to sport romances and don't pay much attention to it, but I live in the south. Even though I'm not much of a fan, football - college vs. professional, but still - is the way of life down here, and it's hard not to absorb some of it. The author lacked in her research of the sport, enough that even I could pick up on it. 

For example, there's a week during the season where a team doesn't have a game. This is called a bye week, not a bi week, as it's called in the story.

There's the introduction of a third and completely unneeded point of view about half way into the story, and there's more than a slight love triangle (for the hero instead of the norm of the heroine having multi love interests), though it winds up not going anywhere. Love triangles are the bane of my existence in and of themselves, but when the character is awful and it's handled poorly, it infuriates me even more.

So why three stars instead of 1? For some reason, I couldn't put the story down. I blew through it in less than a day, and stayed up way too late to finish it. It was addictive, and some parts were laugh out loud hilarious. I really liked Delilah as a character, despite her questionable taste in men, and the banter between her and her best friend was great. 

I did wind up somewhat enjoying the story, but I'm definitely the minority for not loving it. Check it out yourself if you're brave!

- The Bibliophile Babe