This was one of the books I was most anticipating to read this month because, as a fan of sports romances, I thought it was beyond cool to read a story written by someone who actually lived one of those stories. The author of this book was an NFL wife herself! So I couldn’t wait to see her real take on one of my favorite tropes. In some ways, it definitely lived up to my expectations. But I think it fell a bit short in the execution.

I’m not going to lie, I got a little worried at first because our heroine has already been dating one of the players on the team for years, but she’s actually supposed to end up with someone else. Rest assured, there’s no cheating involved. That being said, I think the whole situation was handled quite easily. From being in a long term relationship waiting for a proposal to single and then with reconnecting with a previous flame in an instant (almost). Too easy, too fast for my taste.

One of the things I liked about this book was the heroine’s personality. I’m surprised I’m saying that because generally this is the type of heroine that can give me hives. But I actually liked her and found her funny. She definitely made this book a lot more lively and entertaining.

So Marlee and Gavin had a one night stand years ago and he had no clue how to find her again. Shortly after that she had gotten back together with her boyfriend and things had gone back to normal in her life. Until Gavin is traded and is the quarterback of her boyfriend’s team. I really loved Gavin. He was that perfect ideal of the fantasy man we love to read about. I loved how he had wanted more from that one night stand and even how he held on to those memories of the night. I may not have liked how clueless he was in the end, but then again both him and Marlee made my head spin a little at that point and I wanted to start beating sense into both of them.

The best thing about this book is that it’s fun. With all the issues with the NFL wives, all the cattiness and back and forth between them, as well as the romancing of the main couple, this was an all around entertaining read. I do think that the writing and pacing could improve as it didn’t feel like it flowed seamlessly, but I’m interested to read more from this author so I’ll be continuing with the series.

This was a super fun read for me! Loved that it had to do with sports and that Marlee was a hilarious ball of sass. Read this pretty much in one sitting as I was swept away in the story, the tell of a good book if you ask me :) Can't wait to read more from Alexa!

Simply put, I really loved this book!

Sports romance and even more specifically, football romance is one of my favorite subgenres. So, you could say that my standards are fairly high for them as well.

Intercepted was a really fun read. I adored Marlee and Gavin and I really enjoyed how Ms. Martin developed their relationship. Gavin and Marlee had great chemistry and I especially loved how Gavin treated Marlee. Gavin is definitely book boyfriend material!

Intercepted is a strong start to the Playbook series and an outstanding debut for Ms. Martin.

*Copy provided by Netgalley

Brought to you by OBS Reviewer jerjen

Marlee’s life is falling apart. She has learned that her boyfriend is cheating on her and she has to put up with obnoxious wives of her cheating boyfriend’s NFL team. Talk about mean girls, this group is the definition of those words. And to make matters worse, a one-night-stand from her past is now back in her life, as the team’s new quarterback. She never forgot that night and how wonderful it was. If it was not for bad luck, Marlee would have no luck at all. She is going to have a hard time keeping it all together, she knows she is facing one tough challenge.

Gavin seems like a really great guy, although he did lie to her when she first met him (remember the one-night-stand). He is intrigued with Marlee and wants to get to know her better. Since honesty is very important to Marlee, he has an uphill battle. But he does not give up easily and he knows that Marlee is definitely worth fighting for.

The writing style flows smoothly and the book is an easy read. I am not a fan of books written in the first person, which this one is. That is my personal preference and other readers might like this. There were a lot of hashtags in the book, and I thought this added even more humor to the book (it was a book that was plenty funny). I find the fact that this is her first book surprising (it was very good for a first book) and the fact that she is a former NFL wife fascinating. She knows first hand what that life is like and it showed in her book, I enjoyed that insight.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well written women’s contemporary (whether you like football or not). I would not let a young adult read this book, because of the language and intimate moments, but I do not think this is the intended audience. If you are looking for a good read, then pick this book up.

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*

There was something about the writing style that I found to be a bit too juvenile for my liking. I tried multiple times to continue reading but I found myself putting the book down again and again until I gave up.

This was the first title I'd read by Alexa Martin and I really enjoyed it. I like the way Marlee had a life and interests outside of the man in her life. I also thought that the depiction of the life of a professional athlete was fairly accurate. I appreciated the way that Gavin recognized his faults and worked to fix them, but wasn't perfect immediately. A quick and enjoyable read!

This novel is so enjoyable, funny, and heartfelt, definitely a sports romance winner! The main characters, Marlee and Gavin, are amazing together, plus there is plenty of drama in their developing relationship. And the author knows NFL football! I am looking forward to what comes next from Alexa Martin.

I really loved this book - it had such an incredibly strong, unique voice. Told from Marlee's POV and wow, does she have a strong viewpoint. Some didn't love that we get all of her - good and bad - but I like messy heroines. She had not-so-nice opinions on some of the other women in the books, and I was okay with that. Because sometimes that's how it is, but if it were from a male POV, there is zero way I could have handled those opinions. Marlee carried the book 100% for me, and while I did enjoy the romance, that part was a bit weaker in the last quarter of the book. 4 Stars.

DNFing (for now) at 51%. As much as I want to love this story, I keep putting it down and thinking about reading something else. 😕

I’m not ruling out going back to it someday. It’s just not working right now for me.

This book was so different than what I'm used to reading. Even though this encompasses so many things I love, I still have never read anything like this before. And though it wasn't perfect, it was still a very entertaining, very good read.
Marlee is an amazing girlfriend and it shows since she's been with her boyfriend for 10 years. But then things in this relationship goes awry. And as it turns out, someone has been there the entire time. Gavin has been trying so hard to show Marlee that he's not at all like the guy who she was with beforehand. But with all the times she'd been hurt by an athlete, she didn't trust him. Will Marlee and Gavin's new found love survive the season?
First off, I LOVED the romance. From the very beginning I loved Gavin. Like when he was first introduced. As for Chris, I hated him from jump lol How she couldn't tell that he was shit for 10 years was beyond me. But anyways, I love Gavin and how he treated Marlee. I loved the way he did things for her and built her up and put her first. And Lawd, let's not even talk about that freakin jet scene. I had to pause the book and go stick my head in the freezer. If you don't know the hotness of it, I can only encourage you to read it and find out for yourself!
However, the hashtags were out of control and definitely threw me out of the story at times. I didn't like reading a physical copy of this because of the hashtags, so I decided to go ahead and try an audio. That was an even worse idea because the narrator SAID hashtag every time. At least if I had read it I could have skipped over it. My complaint isn't about the hashtags, I wouldn't have minded them had it only been a few, but it was THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE BOOK. It got so annoying. At some points I felt jolted out of the story and like I was looking at Twitter or something. It was a weird and I could have done without it.
Lastly, I really enjoyed the narrator. I had never heard her on anything before, so it definitely made me interested in finding other things that she might have been on. I didn't realize that she was actually really popular and I have indeed listened to something that else she had narrated before.
Even though I loved so many things about this one, it still fell just short of a complete touchdown with me. I will be on the lookout for Martin's next book to get to know a character I grew to really like in this one!

I thoroughly enjoyed Alexa Martin’s book INTERCEPTED. I connected with the characters and loved their interactions and their chemistry. This is a refreshing, lighthearted story told from Marlee’s hilarious, irreverent perspective. Life is never boring in Marlee’s life. She speaks her mind and it usually gets her into trouble but that never bothers her. I admired Marlee and her optimistic attitude. She is colorful, unique and unforgettable. I enjoyed knowing all of Marlee’s inner thoughts and musings. They had me laughing out loud.


Marlee finds herself once again falling for an NFL player and after her last relationship ended badly, she is hesitant to open her heart to Gavin. The story chronicles the ups and downs of dating a famous football player. Yes there is the money, parties and VIP treatment, but there is also interfering fans, catty players wives, the media and always coming in second after football.

Gavin is wonderful and he stole my heart along with Marlee’s. He is honest with her and his feelings never waver. He is sweet and is not afraid to share his feelings with Marlee. Gavin does make some mistakes along with way, but I found it easy to forgive him. I enjoyed this entertaining book and highly recommend it, especially if you like hot, sweet and protective football players.

I don’t have a lot to say about this one. I had really high hopes and it was quite a bit of a letdown. It did start off well. I found Marlee to be really funny and I didn’t mind her hash-tagging her life as I’ve seen some mention in their reviews. There was a bit of instalove (which I loathe) on the hero’s part but that didn’t bother me too much.

I can’t quite put my finger on why this one just didn’t work. I think the arc of the story wasn’t super clear to me. Yes, obviously the love story but I couldn’t figure out Marlee’s character arc. It felt like the story dragged especially after the couple went to Gavin’s hometown to visit. I just wasn’t sure what the point was except maybe to create some conflict between the couple and his family.

The scene at the park when Marlee is walking through and basically gets attacked by that homeless guy and winds up at Gavin’s apartment felt weird to me. I thought more would come from that – the guy would show up again somewhere, and that would be the main anxiety/conflict in the book, but we never really hear from him again except for the police saying they caught him. So the attack came off as just a plot device for Marlee to wind up at Gavin’s. Which is fine that's the author's choice, but for such a big thing to happen and for the guy never to appear again just made the whole situation kind of pointless for me.

I really think this is a story that could have benefitted a lot from more editing. Since it is her debut, I will give the author another chance and read her next book to see if it gets better. I did see some good things about this story, it just didn’t all come together in a cohesive way for me.

Intercepted was another highly anticipated title of mine, and I couldn't make it past the first couple of chapters. I'm not sure why it didn't work other than Alexa's writing style not being conducive to the kind that I enjoy--there was very little depth in those first few chapters for me to grasp onto any real part of the character or the story, almost as if it was too quickly dropped into the action without enough lead-up, if that makes sense. At this point, I don't figure I'll be able to get into it after trying it a couple of times, so sadly I have to put it on my DNF shelf. Hopefully I can try one of her titles in the future and be able to fall into it.

As a fan of football romances this book was on my radar for a while. But when an opportunity was presented to do a buddy read with some of my fantasy football girls it was a no brainer. Seven of us read Intercepted together and we had a lot of fun doing it and being able to discuss it.

Intercepted is the story of Marlee. Marlee has been the perfect girlfriend to NFL wide receiver, Chris Alexander, for the last ten years. She was supposed to be his wife. Instead she discovers her relationship wasn’t want she thought. Suddenly single she swears off NFL players and all the baggage that comes with them. That is until she sees the new QB on the team, a guy she never thought she would see again after their one night together. Marlee soon realizes that giving up NFL players may not Be as easy as she thought. Especially with Gavin Pope underfoot.

Honestly, as fun as the book was to read with my fabulous football ladies, I didn’t love it as much as I hoped. It was good enough, and not a struggle to read, but something was off for me. There were things I was supposed to laugh at, I think, and I ended up being annoyed which made me sad. I did like some of the characters a lot though so that was a bonus. But what I really enjoyed was that the author was able to base the book off her experience from being an actually NFL WAG. That was hands down my favorite part of the story.

All in all it was a good book and I may read the next in the series. But really it was just fun to chat about with my girls. It’s been a long time since I’ve done a book club kind of thing and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

The following review appeared on our blog on September 21st.

https://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/overall-b-reviews/b-minus-reviews/review-intercepted-by-alexa-martin/

4.5 Stars
Alexa Martin’s debut novel was fantastic! I love sports romances and this one lived up to all my expectations. I adored this book and the characters.

Marlee was dating an NFL receiver on and off for a while. She was just waiting on him to make it official and she could join the elite wives club of the football players. She wasn’t expected the teams new QB to be someone from her past.

Gavin is sweet, sexy, a great athlete and fiercely loyal. He is a great player and tried to get along with everyone. Gavin is the perfect book boyfriend you can’t help but love.

Intercepted has the perfect amount of drama and romance mixed with football. I devoured this book and can’t wait for the book by this author.

Intercepted had my heart! This is very much a sports romance, and as someone who could honestly not know less about sports, I still ADORED it!!! It was fun, humorous, and had a whole lot of heart. I am now an Alexa Martin superfan and will read anything she writes. The fact that the hero was so chivalrous, rugged, and SEXY was an added bonus. :)

Thanks to NetGalley for this copy!

Intercepted by Alexa Martin is a 2018 Berkley publication.

Hilarious and super sexy!!

Several years ago, Marlee had a one-night stand with a guy she thought was an investment banker, while on a break from her boyfriend.

Now, not only is she back with her boyfriend, who happens to be a professional football player, they are engaged!! Life's good... Well, except when it comes to the catty football wives. Oh, and that one-night stand? He’s the new star quarterback for the team!

For Marlee, her night with Gavin was unforgettable, scorched into her memory, but will he remember her after all this time?

This book was absolutely hilarious. I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun reading a romance novel. Alexa Martin writes what she knows, since she spent eight years as the wife of an NFL football player. (now retired). Her experience gives readers a little insider’s peak inside the cliques, competitions, rules, and politics of professional football.

Of course, this also means getting a look at the underbelly, which is not all that glamorous and could be offensive, at times. Although, I must put my own dig in here, and say that in reality I'm sure it's a thousand times worse than anything portrayed in this book.

For a debut novel, I thought this book was well constructed, and fleshed out nicely. The relationship drama might have dragged out a bit too long, however, that's better than feeling like the story was too rushed. The characterizations were very well done, from the good to the bad, and points in between.

The dialogue is razor sharp and ladies, Gavin!! OMG!! This guy had me melting into a puddle, going all dreamy eyed, and walking around with a big goofy grin on my face. There’s some high drama, a little action, a little suspense, some steamy, sexy times, and a lovely diverse cast of characters.

Honestly, I had no idea what to expect when I started this book, since I don’t read a lot of sports romance, especially if it is centered around football. While I don’t think this life sounds all that appealing, if sports heroes are your secret fantasy, you don’t want to miss this one.

But, even if you aren’t a sports fan, you’ll still love the romance, friendships, and humor… and GAVIN!! Unless I am mistaken, this novel is also the first of a planned series. I obviously enjoyed this one enough to sign up for the next one.

4 stars

If there was ever a book to read during the NFL season, this is it! Intercepted by Alexa Martin is just what you’ve been waiting for… this is as close to the inside scoop as you are going to get to the outrageous world of professional athletes. The Football WAGs… aka Wives And Girlfriends are one crazy group! Oh the drama, there was drama, at times too much drama, but that’s what made this book so addicting. Marlee Harper does not have it easy, not by a mile, and this is her story.

New author Alexa Martin dives in, from personal experience, into the life of being the girlfriend of a superstar football player. The story is fresh, fun, and witty and it takes you on a wild ride. The future is bright for this new author. This debut novel is getting a ton of buzz… check it out!

Several of the Smexy ladies have read Intercepted and really enjoyed it, so I wanted to hop on that train. I want to report that I did not love it. And here why. My notes might be spoilery, so here’s your first warning.

The Kristen Ashley vibe was STRONG in this book. Imagine your favorite KA hero playing professional football and you will get this novel. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But it might be a thing for some readers. Martin mentions her love of KA in the acknowledgements and I picked it up in the writing almost immediately. Another smexy lady noticed it too. There is even a scene that felt classic KA, where Gavin looks at Marlee’s dad and says something like -now she gets it.

Things I liked:
Marlee is funny and has a lot of witty dialogue. She uses hashtags a lot. Some are very silly and it worked for me. I did like her with Gavin, but more on that later.

I LOVED seeing a diverse cast of characters, especially in the sports world. Too often sports books are too white.

Things I didn’t like:

The majority of the other women on the football wives club were terrible. They felt very one dimensional. I saw at least one review comment on the positive female friendships and I would disagree, well at least on some levels. It’s great to build positive female friendships, but when all the other women in the book are depicted as “bitches” it kind of negates it for me. The word bitch is used 45 times. I didn’t look at each of them, but I feel strongly that the majority were used to call other another woman a bitch. I am not here for this. Sometimes women are the worst. Sometimes they aren’t. In my opinion, there wasn’t enough nuance. We don’t have to tear some women down in order to let others shine.

The backstory felt like it was missing. Marlee and Gavin met four years ago in Chicago and slept together. She even lost her necklace and he returns it when they reconnect. But there was very little information given about their initial meeting. I wanted to know more. I wanted to know how Gavin had been pining for her all these years. The book is told solely from Marlee’s POV so I think the backstory would have helped me believe in their story more. Marlee and Gavin also upgraded to boy/girlfriend after a week of being friends/dating and having had sex once. This felt really fast, especially without knowing their previous connection.

Marlee’s ex, Chris was TRASH and got too much page time.

I thought there wasn’t enough groveling. Gavin makes some assumptions and is a complete douche to Marlee. And he got off way too easy.

Spoiler alert/Content warning
Not one, but TWO acts of violence against the heroine. This is not a suspense book. I know bad things happen and I was willing to accept that one bad thing happened. But when the second act of violence was perpetuated against the heroine, it felt gratuitous and to serve solely as making the hero the savior. I am not ever here for this.

In short, I didn’t love it. I had a lot of problems with it and it is unlikely I will read the next one. It had a reality show feel to it and that is not what I am looking for in a book. I think others will enjoy it though and that is great.