What an intriguing twist on the sports romance genre! I loved seeing the female main character stepping into the protector role while the male lead finds himself in need of a little saving. The plot certainly held my attention, but I did find myself craving a bit more clarity on how the central conflict unfolded. While the tropes were enjoyable, I’m starting to tire of the classic miscommunication between characters—sometimes it feels like an easy way to add tension when a straightforward conversation could solve everything without derailing the story. On a positive note, the spice was delightful and felt perfectly natural within the context. Overall, this story offered a refreshing take on traditional dynamics, making it a worthwhile read!

Thank you to Netgalley, author and publisher for allowing me a chance to read this!

I think that this book has a lot of promise- the story was great and I liked the pacing until towards the end.
I felt like there was a need for atleast 3 more chapters 1 on Tate standing up to his dad, 1 on lily catching the bad guy and one on tate finding out more about lily and her life after college! The story was there but more needs to be done
Thank you NetGalley for letting me read and review.

As a second chance romance: wonderful, spicy, a little angsty, full of tension and love.

As a sports romance: nonsensical, confusing, and despite the author warning us at the start that she doesn’t quite understand the rules of the game, infuriatingly inaccurate. I’m not sure why you wouldn’t a) do the bloody research required to know your chosen sport backwards and forwards
Or 2) choose a different sport that you do know?

This book features a Texas football team the MMC is a player on said team (what position is anyone’s guess) and is set mostly in New York-somehow 🤨. I was so confused.

Some plot lines weren’t finished-what happened to BadPerson™️? Why did they do what they did? I need reasons not just they did this but we fixed it so let’s move on.

And the worst part about all this? I would have LOVED this book if it had made a lick more sense.

Spice was alright though 2.5 🫑 3.5 ⭐️

First of all, thank You Netgalley, for the ARC grante to me. A quick and compelling narrative, with sport romance(one of my favorite tropes to read!) and altough I couldn't connect much with the plot, it was such a good reading!

This one released this week; I love me a good football book. I finished this is two sittings and it was a fun read. Think Miss Congeniality, all the Sandra Bullock vibes. The main character becomes a body guard for one of the top football stars set to play in the Super Bowl. The book follows the two weeks leading up to the big game. The twist, they dated in college and the relationship ended badly to say the least. Now 8 years later they are back in each others orbit.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A quick and fun book, second chance romance with some mysterious angle. After Lily and Tate ended their relationship years ago in college on a misunderstanding, they are reunited as she is assigned to be his bodyguard when he receives threatening letters - and they have to fake an engagement to cover her role.

I’ve really enjoyed the bantering between them, them reconnecting and falling right into their old patterns - like they can’t be professional with each other for a minute. It was funny to see them fall hard and fast again, and also to have them slowly question the decisions they’ve made in the years apart and realise they lift each other up, and they’ve just buried their feelings deep for years.

Thank you to One More Chapter for reaching out to me and netgalley for access to this ARC ✨

I love sports romances and I’ve never read a football-based story so I wanted to give this one a go however I just didn’t connect with it. I felt that the characters lacked real chemistry - they had a lot of sexual chemistry, sure, but the deep romance aspect just wasn’t there for me. The story was also a little rushed and lacked some reasoning behind the major twist. I did enjoy the action during last part of the book.

Esay, steammy and quick romance read and a sweet story:

-Fake-dating
-The one that got away
-Football player/Bodyguard
-Flashbacks
-Spice

A thanks to Netgalley for the ARC

*the cover is givning Taylor Swift and Travis vibes ;)

I received this book as an Advance Reader copy, Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins NZ + One More Chapter!

This book had so much potential - with the MMC as a high-profile NFL player headed to the Superbowl and the FMC his newly appointed bodyguard, add in they were College sweethearts and you can expect fireworks.
However, the story is often confused and the author doesn't seem to know anything about football or the NFL - be it from calling the game a match(?) or frequently describing the MMC as a ball player. I also couldn't understand why the MMC is playing for a team from Houston yet the team is training in NYC but the Superbowl is in New Orleans, and they seemed to be playing games but not, and were in the Superbowl but still had games on. It made no sense.
This book has decent spice, though it does seem to be just dropped in with no real connection to the story. She's cooking, and he's chopping onions and arguing, then suddenly, she's sitting on the bench, and he's between her legs. Also, every time they have a spicy moment, the FMC becomes incredibly wishy-washy, whereas she is actually an ex-spy SAS-trained security person.
Make it make sense!

I really did want to like this and was enjoying the first 30% but the story then seemed to get very confused and whilst a good plot idea it was a bit confused.

The Big Game is a sports romance book centred around Tate and Lily. The two dated in college and it ended badly. 8 years later Tate is a famous football star and Lily is hired as his bodyguard. Cue the drama!

Tropes include enemies to lovers, second chance romance with a little bit of found family thrown in.

Tate is a confident self assured MMC with a dirty mouth and it was great to see a kick ass FMC in Lily who’s an ex MI6 agent. Some people have commented on the football references not being great, I personally didn’t notice and the author does address this in her authors note.

This is a spicy, light hearted romance. A lovely read that I managed to finish in a couple of hours. If you’re not a fan of spice then this book isn’t for you.

I really enjoyed The Big Game! It was a cute story and the spice was spicy. There were a few times throughout the book that the language differences showed, but I appreciated the authors note about that. The ending was pretty abrupt with no real closure to the major event that happened, and it felt unrealistic that things would have just carried on that day. That being said, I could not put this book down. It was entertaining the whole time and was a cute & quick read.

This book was adorable. I loved the characters and their love story. I am becoming more of a fan of sports romances and this did not disappoint!

a decent read. a predictable storyline however the characters were fun and the story was interesting so it kept you reading

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC.

I ended up DNFing this because it felt like a badly written fanfic. I'm actually kind of surprised this is traditionally published, to be honest.

I dont know anything about American football, as I'm not American, so I can't speak to that but everything else felt so...ridiculous.

Lily and Tate dated in college - she was a cheerleader and he was a football superstar on his way to the NFL. After overhearing a bad conversation, Lily flees back to England to be with her ill dad and doesn't actually tell Tate anything. As you might expect, a common theme of this book!

Eight years later, they meet again when Lily is hired to be Tate's bodyguard after threats against him. It's coming up to the Superbowl, and the team doesn't want anything happening to their star player. The sparks fly because Tate and Lily now hate each other.

Lily felt like a fanfics perfect main character. Her dad is ex-SAS and taught her everything she knows, and for some reason he's also a member of the aristocracy (lol because we can't just have a normal Brit). She felt too perfect, and I just didn't vibe with her.

The communication between Tate and Lily was...immature for two in their late 20s. You'd think they were still in college.

So yeah, I ended up DNFing because it all just felt very cringe. I know there's people who are going to lap this up, and I hope you enjoy it more than I did!

This was such a good book. I loved the story and the writing so much. The characters were great and the story flowed smoothly. Will definitely read more books by this author in the future.

Thanks so much to One More Chapter for an ARC of this book. I’d never read one of Cassie Connor’s books before so I was going in blind to her writing style but based on the description of the book I thought it had quite an interesting concept.
The characters had quite a bit of depth to them and whilst Lily is quite a larger than life and unrealistic character it was quite enjoyable to step into her story.
The mystery of who wants Tate dead was the most interesting part of this story to me and the romance while still front and centre seemed a bit lacklustre to me. I don’t know if that’s due to the misunderstanding between them that led to their initial break up, or the time it took for them to actually discuss their breakup - not sure but it just didn’t vibe too well for me, though the spicier scenes were well written.

My biggest annoyance with this book though would have to do with the cover and obvious Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce inspiration, especially when it comes to the end of the book where they describe Tate’s uniform as being blue and white, plus his number is never mentioned in the book, and the book is riddled with Taylor Swift lyrics and references. I’m a Taylor Swift fan and can understand other Swifties who write stories putting in little nods but it just feels very cash-grabby in my opinion.

I’d probably give this more of 3.5 stars if I could. It wasn’t the best book ever but it also wasn’t the worst.

I liked the main characters but like so many enemies to lovers or second chance romances the dislike is drawn out for sooooo long. And even when they finally would admit their feelings there would then be a lot of second guessing.

Also, and this is just my personal feeling, maybe when flashbacks are in the middle of a chapter I like them italicized or set apart just for ease of reading.

It was a fun read if you like bodyguard/spy romance books.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK/One More Chapter for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Tate and Lily are college sweethearts that split up due to a misunderstanding. Their paths cross again eight years later when he’s a pro football player and she’s hired to be his bodyguard. She’s tasked with protecting his life leading up to the Super Bowl and being with him 24/7. The two are forced to face their feelings and deceive how to proceed.

Second chance romances are hit or miss for me, and this was sadly a miss. There wasn’t really any romance and the couple wasn’t a convincing match to me. Even though it was first person dual POV, I didn’t feel like we ever really saw deep emotions or connections between the two. Their relationship always felt surface level and unconvincing.

The Big Game by Cassie Connor is a delightful romantic novel that combines heartwarming moments with sizzling chemistry.
I absolutely love her two previous titles and was so excited to jump into a new one!
She did not disappoint!
The characters are well-drawn and relatable. The chemistry between the two leads is palpable, making their journey an enjoyable and captivating one.
This was such a fun read! I can't wait for more by this author. I would absolutely recommend.

Sinopsis en español:

Han pasado años desde que el corazón de Lily fue destrozado por su novio de la universidad y mariscal de campo estrella, Tate Donaghue. Ahora, es un jugador de la NFL de alto perfil, y desafortunadamente para Lily, su última asignación de seguridad.

Para Tate, Lily se fue hace todos esos años sin siquiera una mirada hacia atrás, y mucho menos una explicación. Pero fingir que está enamorado de ella ahora es más fácil de lo que le gustaría admitir...

Con la cuenta atrás para el juego más grande en la historia de la NFL y la intensificación del nivel de amenaza, ¿pueden Lily y Tate superar el pasado, o van a torpezar la pelota y su relación, cuando más importa?




Reseña:


Dos ex amores que no esperaban encontrarse de nuevo y ahora tendrán que trabajar juntos porque el famoso deportista Tate está recibido amenazas y su guardaespaldas será nada menos que la única mujer que alguna vez amo, Lily. Esta será su oportunidad para aclarar malos entendidos y ver si vale la pena una segunda oportunidad.



Gracias NetGalley por el Arc.