4.5 STARS

In this debut novel from Alexa Martin, Marlee Harper has been living in the fish bowl world of a professional football player’s girlfriend. Since he chooses to embrace the clichéd skirt chaser life of famous athletes one too many times, Marlee decides she is done with being his long suffering girlfriend. So the last thing she wants is to start another relationship with an even more celebrated athlete on the same team. Four years before while on a break from the man she has been with since high school, Marlee met Gavin Pope. They had a brief fling and she has never forgotten Gavin, or truthfully, moved past being with him.

Marlee wants to find out what life is like when she puts her own wants, needs, and desires first. However, what she feels for Gavin sends her back to the merry-go-round whirl of press, fans, and quite odious wives who want nothing more than to see Marlee go down in flames. Things seem to be working out well when she and Gavin get together despite the difficulties of living life on the public stage. With her adversaries still on the attack, and Gavin making some unexpected choices, Marlee resolves she is not ready to stand on the sidelines…again.

This story is an entertaining and often amusing read, in part, because Ms. Martin spent eight years as an NFL wife so she knows from whence she speaks. The mean girl wives, the women going after the players regardless whether the men are married or in a relationship, and the ruthless press and fans all have authenticity since Ms. Martin lived that life. While set with a humorous tone which the author does quite well, this story is a reminder of who the true heroes are in the sense that the wives and supporters of professional athletes deal with all the downsides of fame, but receive none of the glory.

A great debut from new author Alexa Martin - I really enjoyed this one!

Marlee has been with her NFL boyfriend for a long time, she is a seasoned WAG (Wives and Girlfriends) who knows how things work. She has weekly lunches with the bitchy wives who look down on her for only being a long-term girlfriend, but she holds her own and only really stays involved because she loves to help out with the charity aspects of the WAG community.

But what happens when her boyfriend betrays her and she falls very quickly for his new teammate and rival Gavin?

I loved Gavin, he was a gentleman and an alpha who looked after those people in his life that he cared about, including his loyal fans.

Marlee was a great female character with a sense of humour, if a little immature at times.

All round, it was a good solid story - I am excited to see what this author will bring us next.

This pretty much has everything I love; football, an awesome love story, characters with great chemistry and heaps of drama! I loved the main characters- but that's because they're easy to love. On the other hand, the villains are so easy to hate, its almost fun. I really cannot wait to recommend this to people!

Hmmm. While overall I did enjoy this book, it does have insta love and I really didn't enjoy that. I did enjoy the MCs self discovery and how even the perfect guy had flaws but it still felt too rushed.

The MC is strong willed but she's contradicts her actions a lot. The romance isn't really founded on anything other than one night 4 years ago that we don't really learn much about. From this the relationship in present tense is based on but without knowing why there isnt much substance to it so the romance feels shallow. This aspect is redeemed when the MC finally gains some of her own independence and grows on her own.
I did enjoy the writing but the use of hashtags bothered me. Thats probably just a personal preference but they really took me out of the story.

I also really enjoyed the realism that was covered, when it comes to prejudice and the harsh reality of society and ignorance. There were a lot of relatable topics covered .

I did like the premise and I love football romances. I also liked how the friends and actual life of the MC was important as well, instead of just being filler information.

Review below will go live on my blog and Goodreads on 9/4 (one week before publication)

Synopsis:
Intercepted is the debut novel by Alexa Martin, but is already listed as book #1 in the Playbook series. Marlee is the long-time girlfriend of an NFL player. Things are going well, until her one night stand from four years ago is transferred onto the team and Marlee goes through a dramatic breakup. Marlee swears off NFL players...only to find herself falling for her one-night-stand and her ex's teammate. Should Marlee give him a chance and risk being burned again?

Review:
Since I am not a football fan, I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy this romance. But, romance has been good to me lately, so I requested it and immediately started reading it. I'm so glad I gave it a chance and am already looking forward to book 2.

Marlee is a highly like-able character. While she is a football girlfriend, she is not stuck-up and does not depend on her man for money. Thats a good thing because when they break-up she is left to fend for herself. And fend for herself, she does! Marlee does not wallow in the breakup, but rather finds a new apartment and a new job.

Marlee is a POC and deals with a lot of issues through the novel such as racism, sexism and slut-shaming. I thought that the author did a great job of tackling some issues while keeping the novel as a light read. I should also note that I am not sure if Marlee's love interests were also POC or if they were Caucasian. I realized partway through my reading that I hadn't paid attention to the descriptions and realized I didn't care either way.

Overall, Intercepted is a fun sporty romance that is suitable for the non-football fan like myself. If you've delved into the contemporary romance genre with such titles as The Wedding Date and The Kiss Quotient and loved them, then I'd highly recommend that you pick up Intercepted as well. This was easily a 4 star read for me!

I loved this synopsis so I was able to overlook the cartoon-y cover and dive in.

I really liked Marlee and Gavin. Her inner monologue is hilarious {excluding the excessive use of hashtags because that was annoying af} and he was so genuine. I enjoyed their banter and the seemingly normal {under the circumstances} growth of their relationship.

Plot wise, it moved decently. There are a few rough patches that revolved around her wanting to stand up for herself and him taking over. As well as a few scenes of miscommunication and push and pull. That all makes it sound angsty, but it really was a lot of fluff. The conflict doesn’t last too long.

Overall, it was a quick and fun read. I really enjoyed this group of characters and loved the epilogue.

FYI: there are several scenes of gross douchbaggery from men: including verbal abuse, Marlee getting attacked and punched, and groping.

**Huge thanks to Berkley Books for providing the arc free of charge**

Alexa Martin is a master of voice. This is first person narration that just doesn't sound like anyone else, and Marlee is a completely realized character. I love that Martin created a character that is so real, both full of tenderness and love, but also insecurity and fear. However, the main romance is resolved by the 50% mark, leaving most of the book to feel really off in terms of pacing. Rather than a full description of what makes Gavin and Marlee a great couple, it's instead a series of hurdles that get solved, but never all that convincingly. Gavin remains cryptic throughout the book, with the strength of Marlee as an individual taking center stage. A great book about a strong woman trying to figure out what she's capable of, but a less than satisfying romance.

Right now I’m in football mode so when I saw this debut by Alexa Martin had football in the storyline I knew I had to see what this was all about. Intercepted focuses on Marlee who has been dating Chris since high school and now is his biggest cheerleader since he made the NFL. However, when she finds out he has been cheating for who knows how long this was the last straw and decides to move on. Just as she declares she is done with athletes here comes Gavin Pope someone from her past she never thought she would see again.

During one of her breaks from Chris, Marlee spends one night with a mysterious stranger who blows her mind like no other. He was sexy and treated her so well but the next day he was gone and she never knew who he was and where to find him. So Marlee gets the biggest surprise of her life when she sees the newest quarterback on her ex’s team is no other than her one night stand…Gavin. When she and Chris break up Gavin is there like a knight in shining armor to help her pick up the pieces of her life but she is cautious she can't let some smooth talking hot guy make her weak in the knees. However no matter how hard she tries Gavin is someone she can't resist and soon everyone will be talking about her and how she is just jumping from athlete to athlete.

I loved the chemistry between Marlee and Gavin, talk about HOT! And yes while all that was so steamy I also loved how they balanced each other out. Marlee can be a hot head at times but Gavin was always there to tell and show her that he didn’t care what others thought or said, that he just truly loved her for her. He was so romantic and she needed someone like that in her life to show her she was appreciated. So towards the end of this read when Marlee must make a decision I was kind of upset but I also knew where she was coming from. She had to do what was right for her and she felt like she had to do what was right for herself for the first time in her life. I really enjoyed how this ended and I can't wait for the second book in the series, and as a super fan of football, I really loved how it was a character of sorts in the book. All in all, this was fun, sexy and a romantic read with lots of laughs in between, so if you want something with a lot of sass and sexiness look no further than Intercepted.

Marlee Harper has spent a good chunk of her life being the perfect football girlfriend. From lasagna meals for his teammates to always being there to cheer him on, she’s been her NFL-star’s number one fan. She’s confident that after over a decade of being together – aside from a few breaks – they are finally ready to make it official. Then he shows up: star quarterback Gavin Pope. The hot one-night stand from four years ago during one of the breaks. He’s been hired by the team Marlee’s man plays for. Marlee’s never been able to forget him but she’s sure hoping he’s forgotten her.

Gavin never forgot the woman who disappeared after one perfect night. He can’t believe she’s the longtime girlfriend of his new teammate, a guy known for being one of the biggest philanderers in the game. He tries to keep his distance but when Marlee finally learns her man has been cheating big time and leaves him, Gavin makes sure to be there for her. His plan? Show her he’s nothing like her ex. But it’s going to take a lot to convince Marlee to re-enter the world of big egos, nasty player wives, gossipy fans and endless groupies out to steal your guy.

A tale of second chances, adulting in the twenty-first Century, good friends and the importance of always keeping wine on hand, Intercepted is an intriguing look at life as an NFL girlfriend from an author with firsthand knowledge of the experience.

AAR staffers Maggie Boyd and Lisa Fernandes share their thoughts Alexa Martin's Intercepted, a funny, poignant tale about life in the limelight.

Maggie: One of the things that most excited me about this story was the chance to read about being an NFL girlfriend/wife from someone who is married to a former NFL player, and I felt that authenticity really came through in this tale.  From the family room for between/after games to the hierarchy among the players’ wives I sensed readers I was getting a genuine look at what it’s like to be dating/married to a football player.

Lisa:  Alexa Martin’s writing voice was absolutely terrific, wasn’t it?  The novel has a great balance of realistic, emotionally grounded stuff (Marlee’s life as a football girlfriend, how the Lady Mustangs know and interact with one another, the entire social structure of the Lady Mustangs, and the way Marlee had to start over from scratch as a businesswoman and human being) was FABULOUS, and told in a really great, really fun, unique voice, to boot. Martin has a great eye for both the lifestyle and a point of view that she wanted to project through Marlee’s eyes.

Maggie: Another thing I felt was really authentic about this tale was the way “adulting” is handled. Marlee has to essentially start over after the breakup with her ex. For young people in the twenty-first century, where low salaries, poorly paid starting positions and high rents/food/transportation are the norm, stepping into adult life isn’t as easy as it was historically. I was glad that Marlee had to at least start at a very basic job when she went looking for one and didn’t just land into her dream position as so many romance heroines do. She also had to live in a small apartment in a less than stellar neighborhood and use public transportation, two other realities of modern new adult life. What did you think of that aspect of the tale?

Lisa:  I loved the honesty about her riches to rags tale; the crummy apartment in a bad neighborhood, the job tending bar, the struggle to put something, anything, into savings.

Maggie: Another thing I really enjoyed about this one was the humor, especially the hashtags (#funny).  Did you find humor in the story and the hashtags or was that aspect a bit of a fumble for you?

Lisa: Oh my God, I loved that part.  The general sense of humor, the biting sarcasm of Marlee’s voice, and her observational voice; everything about that part of the novel was perfect.  I SOMETIMES found the hashtags distracting/gimmicky, but very, very rarely.  That may be a YMMV thing for the reader, though, if they don’t like that sort of narrative quirk.  Speaking of social media, I loved the way that Ms. Martin has Marlee doing things like hate searching herself – and the trolls were all angry football fans blaming her for Gavin’s injury!  Somewhere, Jessica Simpson is nodding her head in sympathy.

Maggie: This story is told in first person PoV by Marlee and we experience Gavin only through her eyes. This bothered me a little bit as I felt I never really got to know him beyond the kind of information you find out about someone during the first weeks of a relationship. I liked most of what I saw of him, but I sure did want more. What did you think of Gavin?

Lisa:  I liked him more than you did, I think! Gavin felt very much like a nice, stand-up guy, but also a little bland in a way because of the first person narrative choice you mentioned  –  but that also made him the perfect foil for Marlee’s outré nature.  I did like some of the things he did, and I really liked how much he approved of her choices and loved what she did even when she’d gone from riches to rags -  Gavin is, at least, the kind of guy who saves an important necklace when it falls from the body of his one night stand for several years, which tells me a lot about his character.  That’s the kind of hopeless romantic you wanna fall in love with.

Maggie: I liked Marlee but her life drove me a bit crazy. It seemed as though she landed in one crisis after another, whether it was a problem with her ex, a problem with the other wives/girlfriends of the team members, problems in the media or on social media, befriending the wrong person – she seemed to endlessly be running from trouble or into it. I was glad that she took some time to herself at the end of the novel, to see if she could stand on her own, although I’m not sure if it was long enough. What are your thoughts on Marlee?

Lisa: I’ve known lots of women like Marlee in my life; living life loudly to the point of sometimes annoying others around them (and yes, occasionally Marlee was a TINY bit irritating in that respect, but I was willing to ignore that part of her personality).  She’s a pretty bad judge of character but gets lucky landing Gavin.  I think the novel sufficiently calls her out on that trait.  Her sense of humor really kept me reading and enjoying the piece.

How did you feel about the supporting characters?  Martin made each of the Lady Mustangs pop out to me in 3D, which is an accomplishment and a half, because there are a half-dozen of them.  I found Courtney - particularly her Sally Albright-like way of ordering food - extremely amusing, and I loved Marlee’s dad and trash talking Donny, Gavin’s agent.  My only caveat is that I really, really didn’t like Madison and found her to be yet another stereotypical Nasty Villainess.

Maggie: I thought they were pretty typical supporting characters for a romance novel. I liked or hated them as the author intended me to but once I finished the book they faded from my mind.

I felt hot sex was probably the primary positive component of Marlee and Gavin’s relationship. That’s a nice place to start but I’m not sure their personalities were very compatible beyond the bedroom. I had a feeling that Gavin would always want to take charge of Marlee’s messes and she would always get bent out of shape when he did. I saw some growth towards the end of the story, but I didn’t see enough to convince me these two would have an HEA. More like a happy for a while, rather than a happily ever after. What are your thoughts on the relationship?

Lisa: The biggest problem with the Gavin/Marlee relationship was that it was clearly predestined; it was so obvious Marlee/Chris wasn’t a viable option because Chris was an abusive jerk and Gavin was very much a gentleman.  Chris is such a child throughout the early part of the novel and the break-up, that when Gavin and Marlee finally hooked back up you knew that most of the conflict between them was going to have to come from one of them doing some pretty foolish things – and Marlee does at least one of them, something that made me facepalm hard when I read it.  The mistakes tend to land on Marlee’s side of the fence more than Gavin’s; he’s almost too perfect as to be beyond reproach.

But he was so good and nice to her, and protective and understanding without overwhelming her light, which was a refreshing thing to read.  I don’t know if I agree that Marlee and Gavin’s romance was pretty HFN, since he was very committed to her, and very much there for her during all of her operatic mistakes and she was super appreciative of that.

My biggest problem with the two of them is their third act disagreement. Which was ridiculous, could have been solved with communication, and made Gavin look unreasonable (who the hell surprises someone with life-changing news like that?).

Maggie: My overall grade for this one is a B. I really wanted to know Gavin better and I would have liked to have seen more relationship building but I liked the story enough that I will be reading the next book in the series. What about you?

Lisa: I’m going a bit higher than you on this one!  The humor, the sharp character voices and the heat of the romance made me give this an A-.  I agree that Gavin needed more of a defined PoV and some of the narrative choices grated, which is what keeps it from wholehearted A territory for me.

Buy it at: Amazon/Barnes & Noble/iBooks/Kobo

This was a light, easy read. I enjoyed seeing Marlee come into her own and realize what she needed to do to be her own person. Gavin felt just a little too perfect at times, but it was nice to see her in a relationship with a good man! I would have liked a little more nuance with the characters--either people were horrible human beings who said terrible things to her or her best friends who always told her she was right. It felt a little unrealistic that so many people ranted in such specific detail to her over and over about how horrible she was. And while it would be hard not to respond to people like that, it did feel like she was always giving long, kind of nasty speeches to people who'd treated her badly, too. In real life, I think it would have been more likely that she wasn't always 100% right and those she didn't get along with were 100% wrong, but this story just more extremes than I'm used to.

I fell really hard for the heroine in this contemporary second chance football romance. She was drawn with such a strong specific internal voice, hashtags and all. Marlee was so compelling, made me laugh, made me feel for her. I loved her arc a lot; for me her arc was the best thing about this book, and the center of the story. I adore a good heroine-centered m/f romance, where we get to see her grow, and really get to know her in all her complexity.

But don’t get me wrong, the romance arc was really lovely in a lot of ways. The MCs have incredible chemistry that just leaps off the page. And I really liked the way they navigate his overeager rescue thing, it was such a pleasure to see her call him on that, and to see him apologize for it. I also liked the way he was just so gone for her. I loved the way Marlee was steadfastly refusing to build her life in orbit around the hero, that she got how risky that was; it felt really good to read that.

This definitely has a bit of a soapy feel. It plays a lot with damsel in distress tropes, and includes lots of drama and cattiness and fairly obvious racism directed at the heroine from the women antagonists. I appreciated that there were also really lovely friendships between women in the story. Marlee has two wonderful friends and I’m glad we got to spend quite a bit of time with these friendships on the page. I also liked seeing both of the MCs with their families.

The core conflict was a tough one to recover from. And considering how respectful the hero had been until he messed up, I wasn’t sure how it was going to resolve to a happy ending. I had doubts. I personally would have liked a bit more of him taking responsibility, but I am glad to say that I was generally on board with the resolution, particularly her taking time to really be ready. I appreciated that part a lot, especially given how fast she went from her jerk of an ex to being with Gavin. I honestly would have liked to see a slight bit more of her taking that time, to just give that a bit more solidity and shape.

Overall, I liked the pacing, the tropiness, the strong voice, the humor, the way the story unfolded, and both the central romantic relationship as well as the heroine’s friendships, but for me the thing that I loved the most was the heroine.

Marlee Harper is the long-time girlfriend of an NFL star until she gets proof that he has been cheating on her. She'd been overlooking things in her relationship with Chris for a long time. She doesn't mind having an excuse to avoid the NFL wives especially Courtney, the star quarterback's botoxed wife, who manages the meetings with swings of her glittered gavel. While she favors the good works that the team wives do, she doesn't like the catty gossip sessions at the weekly meetings. Her only friend is Naomi whose husband is another NFL star.

The team has a new quarterback and it just so happens that Marlee had a one-night stand with him during one of the times she and Chris were taking a break in their relationship. Gavin has been her dream man when things were going wrong with Chris but she never actually wanted to meet him again.

But Gavin is there to pick her up when the mean things Chris does get her down. It seems that he has not been able to get their one-night stand out of his mind. They quickly fall in love but the course of true love isn't running smoothly. Between jealous team wives, a jealous publicist who has a not-so-hidden crush on Gavin, and the people of Denver who are sure that Gavin's relationship with Marlee will make him less effective on the field, Marlee and Gavin have problems.

The biggest problem that the two of them have is that Marlee has never really had to figure out who she was as a person. She went from her parents's home to being Chris's girlfriend to being Gavin's girlfriend. She's never had a chance to be just Marlee.

This was a fun story to read. Marlee has a great way of looking at things which we can appreciate since this story is told by her in the first person. I like her relationship with her women friends. I also like her relationship with Gavin who is much different than Chris and also a really nice guy if, perhaps, a little too quick at trying to manage Marlee's life.

Intercepted is a fun and fluffy beach read. Ms. Martin does a wonderful job telling the story of a woman trying to navigate the joys and problems of dating famous athletes and all the shenanigans that accompanies being a WAG to NFL players. The dialogue is believable, while still managing to be witty and funny (and the hashtag kickers are always on point). There is angst, but it is manageable and understandable and the ending is earned. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into when I first started this book, but I am so happy I did!

This was unlike any of the other NFL/Football books I've read in the past, in that it revolved heavily around the group of "wives" of the NFL stars and their little society of drama and stiff-necks.

And although I didn't-at first-think I'd want to read anything to do with such pretentious characters, Marlee proved to stand out amongst them all (with the exception of her best-friend Naomi).

Marlee had a certain whit and snarky attitude about her that had me positively smitten or howling. If it wasn't her clever use of hashtagging every and all scenarios possible (because hashtagging/quoting anything from the movie <i>Mean Girls</i> is an automatic win in my book. #StopTryingToMakeJaviHappen) it was the admirable head on her shoulders that lead her down a path that didn't <i>have</i> to revolve around a man. It was refreshing and fierce and I found myself constantly rooting for her.

But of course, I wouldn't have read this book if we didn't have our male-lead and the love that ensued from it.

I knew I was going to fall just as hard for Gavin as Marlee had when instead of throwing a certain night in Marlee's face, he took the cool route and they talked it out. Yes! Two freaking characters actually talked through a little hiccup. And he only got better from there. From the way, he refused to hold a grudge, to the way he looked out for Marlee and only wanted the best for him. The only issue I had with the integrity of his character was towards the end of the book when he did something so questionable to me I thought for a second, "Is this still the same Gavin?" In the end? He was totally redeemable for not only me but Marlee too and I was so thrilled with the ending of their happily ever after.

Aside for the characters, I thought the story had just enough drama and intrigue to keep it interesting and even though I thought Courtney ought to have someone remove the stick up her butt, if it weren't for her we'd never get to learn and appreciate Marlee's character or every hiccup thereafter.

If this is going to be a series than count me in for the next one!

I really had trouble getting into the book initially and getting caught up in the emotions of the characters. The storyline was good, but it just didn’t stand out in my mind amongst other books in the genre. The blurb was great, but overall the book just fell flat for me.

I received an ARC copy via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Beautiful love story. Storyline kept me engaged from the start and the use of hashtags made it pretty funny :-) Looking forward to "Fumbled" come March 2019. #thisnovelhitthemark

I've been dying to read Intercepted ever since I heard about it from a good friend. With its biracial heroine and its enticing plot surrounding the NFL, I knew that it would be just the perfect read for me. When a copy that I begged for (thank you, Berkley!!) showed up on my doorstep (and fought UPS for!), I immediately abandoned real life and started reading. What a ride it was! There's so much I want to discuss in my review for Intercepted, but I don't want to ruin the experience for potential new readers, so I'm going to give you four reasons why you should consider giving the book a try!

Reason #1: Marlee, Marlee, Marlee!
What a refreshing heroine this girl was! From the first scene, I knew that she and I would get along splendidly and I was right. Marlee has been with Chris, her famous NFL-star boyfriend, since high school. She soon finds out that the ass has been cheating on her for a while. Marlee had no patience whatsoever for the douchenozzle, so she immediately proceeded to dump his butt and didn't give him a chance to make up any excuses for his nonsense. I loved that even though she had been with the guy for so long, she didn't wallow. Instead, she picked up the pieces of her life and went ahead to continue on. She had a lot of self-respect and self-worth which was really awesome to read about because it makes you want to be the same. I just adored everything about her and for me, her independence, her sass, and her wiles were what made this book a success for me.

Reason #2: The Humor
I wasn't expecting this book to make me laugh as much as it did, but man, I was snorting left and right at Marlee's comments. This was a girl with absolutely no filter and I was here for her sass! I love a good book that can have me cracking up.

Reason #3: A Look At A Different Side of Football
Intercepted is unique from other sports romances in that it focused more on the wives and girlfriends of the football players as opposed to the football players themselves. I'm not a fan of football but I always love reading about it in romance books and I feel like I learned a lot here. I low-key loved all the cattiness, the drama, and the jealousy that existed between some of these women. Some of them were drama queens who were out to get Marlee. I grew to hate them all, but I was also very entertained by their methods of "torture". Thankfully, Marlee dished out exactly what they deserved. She wasn't a doormat and wasn't afraid to call the petty women out. Again, I'm not sure if this is, in fact, the reality for many WAGs, but Alexa Martin should know as she was a WAG herself!

Reason #4: Naomi, The BFF & Gavin, The Boo
The one person who was awesome and also a part of the WAGs was Naomi. Her friendship with Marlee was one of the best fictional female friendship I've ever come across. These two ladies were there for each other and they were so comfortable around each other. It warmed my cold heart that Marlee had an awesome and supportive friend in Naomi. I also have to mention the text messages between these two that had me smiling like a goof!

Then there was Gavin. I don't want to talk too much about him because you all have to meet him yourself, but wow! Talk about a swoony gentleman. He was exactly the kind of boyfriend Marlee deserved after Chris. He was a complete sweetheart!

I hope these four reasons were enough to convince you to give Intercepted a try. I'm so happy that this book was a hit for me! I'm excited to read more from Alexa Martin who no doubt will easily become a favorite rom-com author of mine!

An OK read to me! I wanted something light and fun and this definitely fit the bill. A few things niggled at me but most romance readers will love this sports infused story. I've added Alexa's second release to my TBR, hoping to enjoy it!

What a refreshing read!! I never (ever) read debut authors because I'm so picky but saw a friend's review and I was curious.
Firstly, football is my religion. So when I saw that it was a football book and was written by a real life football wife, I settled in and was ready to enjoy the scoop!

The author did a great job at mixing in romance and sports. As a sports lover that is always important to me. I hate when I read a sports book and the author knows nothing about the sport. I need some facts! The sport however didn't overshadow the romance, which I loved. Obvi I'm here for the couple's story ;)

I loved the couple. The h was real, honest, and empowered. The H was super swoony.

There were a few holes that I would have loved being filled in and the ending was a bit too rushed for my taste but overall what a great debut.

I'll be here for the next one! Hurry up ;)

Alexa Martin's debut novel, Intercepted, is a scrumptious, addictive sports romance that follows Marlee, the former girlfriend of an NFL receiver, and her steamy second chance at love with the team's new QB, Gavin Pope... and let me just tell you, I WAS HERE FOR ALL OF OF IT. This unputdownable story is sexy and steamy and so damn good, I can't even believe this was a debut. Intercepted is lush with romance and rich with humor, but it's also a juicy little glimpse into the competitive hierarchy of the NFL WAGS, a drama ridden group of wives and girlfriends that proves to be both fascinating and hilariously entertaining. From the very first snap to the final whistle, Intercepted had me RIVETED. With its steamy romance, sharp humor and captivating characters, Intercepted is a game changer for romance readers everywhere and Alexa Martin is the MVP.

Alexa Martin, who even are you and where the hell have you been all my damn life? Your words are my jam and your storytelling is my  kryptonite. My cheese face looks ridiculous and I know this because I got called out on it by my husband and kids about eighty seven thousand times while I was reading Intercepted. I couldn't stop smiling. The writing in this book is SO ON POINT. It's so smart. So quick. So fresh. I couldn't stop smiling because even when things were legit terrible for Marlee, they were setting up to be all too good for the reader. This story is packed with drama both on and off the football field and all the antics Marlee got herself up to in the her wild world as an NFL girlfriend had me laughing out loud and had my chin on the floor. I just KNEW this was going to be fantastic by, like, page two and I am not even exaggerating. I can't get over how delicious it really was.

I loved this book. This is an addictive sports romance, sure. Gavin Pope is the real deal. He's a gentleman, a family guy, a stellar athlete and a loyal teammate. I lost my mind over this guy every time he opened his mouth. But Marlee's own comeback, her story of finding herself after losing herself is what had me really cheering from the sidelines. She broke the rule book repeatedly on these pages, going rogue, doing and saying the last thing I expected. And it paid off. It made for an unputdownable, feel good, MUST READ romance and I couldn't get enough. I'm ready for more where this came from, Alexa Martin. I'm ready to feel more of the giddy joy I felt while reading this book. I'm ready for more of that yummy heartache and the fury and the sweet romance. I'm here for all of it and I can't wait for more.