Marlee has been dating her NFL-star boyfriend, Chris, since they were in high school. They’ve had their ups and downs, but Marlee’s convinced that things have finally taken a turn for the better. Sure, he still treats her like his little servant and belittles her work, but think of all the good times they’ve shared! Then she finds out that Chris is cheating on her – again – and she’s finally done with his sorry ass. Marlee’s ready to leave him and the Mustangs in her dust.

But moving on and moving up is easier said than done. With her old flame Gavin now playing for the Mustangs, it seems like Marlee really can’t escape football. Slowly and carefully wooing her, Gavin’s genuine interest in Marlee and his gentlemanly behaviour might just be enough to make her change her mind about professional athletes. Their romance was exactly the warm and secure relationship that Marlee needed to heal from the wounds of her past.

Since Intercepted is told entirely from Marlee’s POV, there isn’t that much detail about football in here. For me, that was a plus. Instead of high stakes football games, much of the drama here came from the wives and girlfriends (WAGs) of the players. There’s something about the concept of WAGs that I find kind of gross – maybe it’s the blatant heteronormativity. Despite myself, I was entertained by the pettiness, the drama, and the snark wars between Marlee and the WAGs. Folks who love reality TV “best moments” compilations will find lots to enjoy.

There’s some disappointing “girl hate” going on in Intercepted, although I can’t say I blame Marlee since the WAGS were actually pretty hateful themselves. Thankfully, Marlee’s long-time friend Naomi and newcomer Brynn balance things out. These women were interesting characters in their own right, and they both supported Marlee and called her out when needed. I wanted to see more scenes with the three of them, and an explanation for how they’ll stay connected to each other in the future.

I recommend Intercepted to readers who like their romance with a healthy dose of snarky humour.

I adore everything Alexa Martin writes. Her dialogue sparkles, her characters feel like friends, and she tackles social issues with power, grace, and humor.

This book was fun, intense, and full of heat. Marlee's inner voice was hilarious and I loved that she fought for herself. Gavin was down to earth and seemed so genuine. Their story together was full of banter and love. There were some rough patches of miscommunication and him trying to fight her battles, but for the most part it was a positive and full of happy times.

Intercepted is a strong debut to the Playbook series and I am so happy to see that there are more to come. Who wouldn't want a sneak peek into the lives of pro players and their families? There is a ton of drama, but there is also a great support system built-in. Marlee is an easy-to-like heroine who puts up with a lot, but she also shows growth throughout the story. Gavin is also likable but a little one-dimensional at times. The hashtag usage almost made me start skimming the story, but I am glad I stuck with it. Overall, it was an easy and enjoyable sports romance.

Enjoyed this book more than I thought I would, despite all of the modern colloquialisms I found it really fun.

Intercepted pulled me in from the beginning. I loved the characters. The only thing that annoyed me was the # every other sentence, I felt it took away from the story.

I love the NFL so what could be better than a book about an NFL relationship. I loved this book and can not wait to read the next in the series. This is a fun light hearted read that will have you routing for all the characters and building all your dislike on certain characters. This book will have you on a roller coaster ride with highs and lows and cheering for the ending that you get!

Top Three Reasons Why You Need To Read
Intercepted by Alexa Martin


REASON ONE: It’s Diverse AF.
If you couldn’t tell by the cover, Marlee the heroine of this story, is a WOC!

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Not just a WOC, but biracial woman–which hits home for me. I can not express enough about the importance of representation in books. I love being able to immediately have a connection to the characters in a story I’m reading, and Intercepted had diversity in spades, honey.

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REASON TWO: It’s a SPORTS ROMANCE, y’all.
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From the blurb:

Gavin Pope, the new hotshot quarterback and a fling from the past, has Marlee in his sights.

Yeah, I’m 100% here for this.

All you need to know about Gavin (aside from the fact that he brings the swoon factor in this story) is that he fills out his Football pants really well. Did I mention that Alexa may have dropped Julian Edelman when I asked for visual inspo for Gavin’s character?

As in, this man:

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#yourewelcome

Basically, I’m going to go reread and put this body in my mind whilst I read about Gavin.

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REASON THREE: THE HEROINE IS HILARIOUS.
Seriously.

While reading, there were several moments where I found myself laughing out loud at Marlee’s quirky internal dialogue, and sassiness. I also loved all of the scenes between Marlee and her girl squad, too. Get those gals together with some booze, and it’s a recipe for a good time.

I love a good sports romance, and I love a good sports romance even more when the Hot Hero is a good guy. So thank you, Alexa Martin, for delivering Gavin, who is very much a good guy Hot Hero.

Even better, Alexa Martin gives us Marlee, one heck of a fabulous heroine. I love her sass and confidence, and I love her give-no-farts attitude. Marlee is tremendously true to herself, even when doing so might hurt her heart. She is not going to comport herself in such a way that you can put her in a box. Rather, she will do what she wants to do, and usually what she wants to do is highly entertaining.

Marlee also is a good friend and daughter. When she gives her word, she follows through, which makes her deserve someone like Gavin. In other words, he isn’t wasted on her. If Marlee settled for anything less than Gavin, I would have to shout at her to stop.

Occasionally the story feels a little cliché, but Marlee and Gavin are so fun to spend time with that you forgive Alexa Martin for those moments of “I’ve seen this before.” And dear reader, this romance is HOT. The sexy times singe their pages, making you sigh, swoon, and squeeze your thighs.

This is my first Alexa Martin book, but it will not be my last. She has other books in this series, and I plan on devouring all of them.

When I read the synopsis for Intercepted by Alexa Martin, I knew immediately I had to dig in. Hottie football players and a strong sassy heroine?! #SignMeUp

After Marlee’s douchecanoe boyfriend cheats on her, she swears to never look at another football player again. #F%*ckHim #CrushHisBalls

But, wait for it... one name... Gavin Pope. Holy hot, sex-on-a-stick, yummy deliciousness. My god what I would do to him 😍😍. In walks the new quarterback and a one night stand from the past and Marlee is his conquest.

God Gavin, I don’t know who could say no to you!! Marlee tried to resist, but cmon, how can she? And he is amazing—everything her ex isn’t. Sweet, thoughtful, and pure perfection.

Intercepted is chock full of laughs, sexy times, romance, and characters you’ll love. I adored this sports romance and Alexa Martin’s writing was fantastic. I can’t wait for Fumbled!!!

As soon as I heard about Intercepted, I knew I HAD to read it. I'm a sucker for sports romances, especially hockey and football, and I love that the author is the wife of a former NFL player so I knew a lot of her technical details would be accurate. Plus: SECOND CHANCE ROMANCE!!! I am happy to report rookie author Alexa Martin has delivered a sexy and romantic story with a heroine and hero with explosive chemistry and who you can't not root for.

YOU GUYS. Marlee & Gavin are amaaaaaaaaaazing together. I kind of hate that the book started with Marlee together with Chris because it took away from time that could have been better spent with Marlee & Gavin being adorable and sexy together. I ship them so hard! But at the same time, Chris's presence allows Marlee to draw some really awesome boundaries that I don't see a lot. Namely, Marlee constantly lets Gavin know she can fight her own battles. Sure, it's sexy to have a guy go to bat for you, but it does reinforce the ugly sexist stereotype that women need a man to go to bat for them. So I love that even while these two were heating up the (supposedly super comfy) sheets, Marlee was creating those limits in their relationship.

Gavin is a total dreamboat, btw. He does step over the boundaries Marlee draws, which is a no no and she lets him know he did the wrong thing, but he's still a really decent man and a good boyfriend. I know a lot of readers take issue with Gavin becoming unlike himself toward the end, but that wasn't a huge issue for me. There's a point where Gavin does not tell Marlee some really big news, but it's because he was trying to surprise her, not that he was maliciously lying. Also, at one point Marlee tells Gavin of a dream she had for the future, and I knew—I KNEW—it would be the miscommunication that would cause the black moment (which is a term I did not know until I read this book. Thanks,Wendy!). I'm not saying Gavin did the right thing by keeping some REALLY HECKIN BIG NEWS from Marlee, because it was truly life-changing news, but I didn't think Gavin completely became another character entirely. I think he just fucked up, and I can appreciate a seemingly perfect character screwing up ROYALLY. It's good to see those godlike characters exhibit real flaws; otherwise, it doesn't feel realistic.

Unfortunately, there were a few things about Intercepted that just didn't sit well with me. My friend Andi has a term for books that contain an overabundance of plot points: kitchen sink books. As in they contain everything but. There's just a LOT going on here. Not only does Marlee have to deal with a breakup, moving into a new place, finding a new job, and a new romance, there's also a group of conniving football wives, an assault by a local druggie, an almost assault on a train, a manipulative friend/publicist, your typical romance misunderstanding that leads to a breakup, and much more. Life is messy and always throws more at you than you think you can handle, but in fiction, less is usually more. With this many plot points, the story itself was kind of chaotic, and I felt none of them got as much attention as they deserved. Like the assault. It happened super randomly with no lead up, then the cops show up, the media covers it by the next day, and then the assailant is arrested with little fanfare. Then it's barely mentioned again. No need for Marlee to go ID the man. No mention of going to court. Nothing. Just... done. I feel like Intercepted could have gone through another round or two of edits to focus more closely on few storylines and polish them up.

Secondly, I am POSITIVE Alexa herself had to deal with bitchy football WAGs. When you're that close to fame and money, it's a guarantee. However, there's also an entire paragraph of the acknowledgement dedicated to the WAGs who took her in. I would have liked to have seen more than just one woman in the Lady Mustangs be a decent fucking human being to Marlee. With the sole exception of Naomi, every woman even tangentially tied to Mustangs players is a complete "see you next Tuesday", and I cannot describe how over this demonizing of women in romance and YA I am. Awful women are everywhere, yes, but I don't need to see them when I read. If I want to see a horrible human being, I can go find one IRL or in the news. What I want to see in books are women like Naomi and Brynn who are supportive and friendly. I want to see ride-or-die friendships. I have those people in my life, largely part to the book community and the fantasy football league I'm in. It makes me immeasurably sad that fictional characters don't even get that courtesy.

Finally, I am firmly #TeamNoHashtagsInBooks. I started the book after everyone else in the group, and I was warned they would drive me crazy. Spoiler alert: they did. Marlee hashtags a lot of random things (#HeDidn'tPutARingOnIt is the first, and there's also such winners as #HotMessExpress, #NotAnEnglishMajor, and #IMeantThatIMeantThatIDidn'tMeanIt). They pop up a couple times each chapter, usually right before a break or the end of a chapter, and it's distracting AF. They should have been edited out immediately because if you're not actually talking about a topic trending on Twitter or Instagram, hashtags have no place in prose. Just about the only hashtag in this entire book that might be appropriate was #IceSkateGate because of a situation at an ice skating rink.

There's a lot to enjoy about Intercepted: steamy romance, an amazing female-led business, a biracial mc and therefore interracial couple, A+ humor, and SPORTS! But it's also flush with the drama so if you're looking for low angst, Intercepted is not that book. But I'm still super hyped for book 2!

This was a great read. My book club loved it and are looking forward to picking up the next few books in the series.

I absolutely loved this book and would recommend it to all sports romance readers. I adore a second chance romance and this one was perfect. This maybe her second novel but she is force to be reckoned with. I cannot wait for more.

I'm a huge fan of sports romance and this one did not disappoint from the debut author. I'm sure Alexa being an ex-NFL wife helped a ton with the nuances of that world. I loved it!

My favorite things in romance novels is a super strong kickass female heroine and Marlee fit the bill.

Things I loved: Marlee, Gavin, the banter between characters, the start of a girl posse, the bitchiness of the NFL wives and the actual story line.

Thing I didn't love was I'm not a huge hashtag girl, so all the hashtags got to be a bit too much for me but for the others who love hashtags then this will right up their alley.

Such a great story from a debut author. I can not wait to read more from this author and this series.

Intercepted is fun, emotional and sexy. This is a must read for any sports romance lover. Marlee has an A+ voice and I found myself laughing on loud at many parts.

This book was so good (and I am so not a sports fan). The characters were well-drawn and intelligent - and fun- I wanted to spend more time with them.

4 stars — This one had me all kinds of entertained, but was balanced by some actions that confused me. Maybe it’s even a 3.5 stars, but whatever, I’m going to stick to my gut.

I will admit, I had a love-confused relationship with Marlee. She would make me LAUGH AND LAUGH at her antics, and I would just want to high five her all over the place sometimes with the way she would stand up for herself or the smart-ass things she would say. I loved how forthright she was, and how valiantly she pursued her career and her goals. But she was also a much more…aggressive? heroine, and I had a harder time connecting with that. I wasn’t always that big on the way she was over the top competitive, or how occasionally her taunts felt a little juvenile and more fitting for the reality shows she liked to watch (which, since I’m not a fan of those, it makes sense that wasn’t my favourite aspect of her personality).

I think I also had a hard time at the beginning of the story understanding why she was with Chris for so long. He truly treated her horribly, and while we get some explanation, it wasn’t enough for me to make it fit with the Marlee that we know for the rest of the book. And while I got in general where she was coming from wrt her relationship with Gavin, it took me a while to get there and get behind her decisions. I initially found her harder to sympathize with…or rather I was torn, b/c part of me did and part of me didn’t. Which probably doesn’t make sense, but when do I ever make sense?

Gavin for the most part was awesome. He was sweet, persistent, fun, kind, just the opposite of the stereotype of a NFL player that we’re usually presented with. But damn was he oblivious sometimes, especially at the end. It made me wonder if he knew Marlee at all, and honestly it didn’t fit with what I’d come to know of him up to that point…

I appreciated the way the end played out, because it was the right decision for them, and it made me have more faith in their relationship, though I will admit I still wanted something more out of Gavin.

Their chemistry was pretty awesome. I actually loved the way they connected on a friendship level the most, they really meshed well on an everyday level.

In general, the secondary characters were pretty great I especially LOVED Marlee’s friendship with Naomi and Brynn. I was a bit bummed that most of the other WAGs were fairly villainous. For some reason I’d like to believe there would have been a few more good ones in there…

I like this author’s voice in general, she’s pretty freaking funny…but there are moments of disconnect for me as well. It’s *really* hard to articulate what is missing for me though, but there is something preventing me from full on fangirling. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to TK’s book!

LOVED THIS ONE! I adore sports romances and Martin has created a story that I just raced through. I can't wait to read more of her work!

Longtime girlfriend (but not wife!) of an NFL player, Marlee has never quite fit in with the team's pack of wives. And when she leaves her boyfriend upon learning he's been cheating on her, the last person she's interested in dating is another football player. Too bad the hot new quarterback Gavin Pope is such a good guy and so hard to ignore…. The author is the spouse of a former NFL player, and lots of details about players and wives and the NFL ring true. More important, Martin understands that you can't let someone else fight your battles, and that the person you love is sometimes the person who inadvertently is undermining you the most. Clever, nuanced, and deeply funny, Intercepted is a winner. - Adrian Liang, Amazon Book Review

The best new voice in contemporary romance! This was so fun and romantic. Did I mention fun? I loved this book to pieces.