The story of Lance and Charlotte. He has just taken over ownership of the club and she is the HR manager.

When he has to attend a family wedding in the midst of lots happening at work, he invites Charlotte to accompany him, also hoping it will stop his mum from match-making. But the joke is on him when he starts to fall for Charlotte, but will she break the rules and let him in?

I missed some of the context of the story as I don't know anything about baseball or the draft they kept going on about but enjoyed the rest of the story.

I recevied an ARC of this book in exchange for a voluntary and honest review.

OMG!!!!
This is now my new favorite book and author, and I can not wait to read more from her.
After a career-ending injury and his life as he knew it ending. A new job passed on to him from his grandfather, Lance is now the owner of his own football team. From the field to front office and with a hard ass HR lady who follows the rules to a T bursting into his office. With some drama and much-needed help Lance convinces Charlotte to attend his brother's wedding. But with her rules and forms; they sign a strict business only contract. With hours of spending time together for business and for the wedding. Sparks start to fly but will Lance get Charlotte to break her rules for something more?

This book has such a fun banter, with humor, sass, and all those fun little butterflies.

Lance is a former NFL Quarterback who has just inherited the San Antonio Mustangs from his grandfather. He is determined to make the team a success and that means firing all the under performing employees much to the chagrin of his HR manager, Charlotte.

Charlotte couldn’t be any more different from Lance. Where he is brash and uncaring of the consequences of his decisions Charlotte thinks first and acts second. If the team is going to succeed they are going to have to work together to replace all the staff that has been let go.

Lance decides that Charlotte should come to his brother’s wedding with him in North Carolina as they can use the time together to rebuild the team and she agrees but only with a wedding contract to ensure their relationship stays strictly business.

This is a fun and flirty office romance between two very different people. It is the beginning of a new series and contains and eclectic group of secondary characters that leaves us looking forward to the next book in the series.

4.5 “office rules be damn” Stars

If you’re in the mood for a fun, steamy hot, engaging romance you can’t go wrong with The Wedding Deal.

The set up for the story is quite simple, Lance, a former quarterback, just inherited his grandfather’s tanking football team and he knows the only way to turn it around is to start from scratch… which is how he finds himself basically with no staff weeks before the draft. Luckily for him, Charlotte, the HR manager, is not only awesome with forms and rule-enforcing but is a wiz with football players’ stats and a devoted fan.

If Lance has a prayer of getting the team back on track, he needs to dedicate every waking moment, and then some, to building back his staff and coming up with a strategy. When he is forced to lose a whole week of that time going to his brother’s wedding, he decides to beg Charlotte to be his plus one so they can keep working whenever he’s not attending some mandatory wedding activity. Only, the more time he and Charlotte spend together, the more their attraction grows and soon becomes so strong neither of them can fight it.

Lance and Charlotte’s relationship had a bit of rough start when he seems to be set out to break every rule in the office handbook. Their underlying attraction and crazy chemistry was the one thing that made sparks fly whenever they interacted, and I really enjoyed all the bickering and banter.

Charlotte at first comes off as a bit closed off and strict-bordering-on-obnoxious-rule-follower, but once we begin to learn her backstory it is more than understandable. She was funny, sweet and gave as good as she got. I loved how she started to loosen up once she and Lance’s relationship unfolded. I also loved how she made him work for it when he was a ginormous git.

Lance was a pretty great hero. He was clear on what he wanted and went all out to achieve it, be that rebuild a crappy team or win the woman of his dreams. He had some issues to overcome regarding various subjects, and even when he manages to be the most massive dingus, his all-in type of groveling was epic. He was not only sexy and hot as hell, he was also caring, charming and a really great guy… if only with a little disregard for not-swearing-at-the-office policies.

In a nutshell, I had lots of fun reading The Wedding Deal. It was entertaining and light, it had feels and sexiness and I just loved pretty much every one of the characters. I’m really hoping for some of them to get their own stories *cough*coachBryant*cough* in the future.

*I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book*

3.5 stars — This book gave me some mixed feelings…there was so much I loved about it and that made me giggle and swoon! But I also totally saw the misunderstanding conflict coming from a mile away, and was kinda bummed that it played out how I anticipated. BUT! Then the ending just pulled me back in!!

The star of this book for me was the banter between Lance and Charlotte. They had such amazing witty chemistry, and I loved the way they pushed at each other and didn’t back down…particularly Charlotte with Lance. She gave as good as she got, and I LOVED that about her. She could be really fierce and sassy, and I loved that most of the time she was very sure of her opinions and her smarts…she deserved to be, and it was nice to see that confidence there. I didn’t always connect with the whole rule thing she had going on…I mean, we get some explanation about how her past shaped her, but I think I needed more to really buy in on it for as much as it played into the plot.

Then we have Lance…he had my feelings all jumbled up as well!! I LOVED how easily he saw what an asset Charlotte was, and how he didn’t let any gender biases get in the way of appreciating her for what she was worth…it was really refreshing actually! In general he was a good guy…just one who had been hurt in the past and had trust issues. Just like with Charlotte, we’re told about his trust issues and what happened in the past, but I wish I’d understood that part of him better.

As I said above, their friendship/banter chemistry was ALL OF THE THINGS. I loved the way they worked together, listened to one another, just balanced one another. And the steamy chemistry was definitely there as well, though I always have a disconnect with how focused Ms. Madsen often makes her heroines on the physical characteristics that they are attracted to on the hero. Just a personal taste thing, I can only hear how amazing their butt is, or how awesome their muscles are and how they make Charlotte drool before I’m losing interest. I will always inevitably be more interested in the hero’s inner character.

I loved being introduced to Lance’s adorable family, and seeing the dynamics at work there, and how easily Charlotte fit in. I also appreciated the glimpses of the other major players for the Mustangs, whom I’m assuming will become heroes in future books in this series. The coach in particular has me intrigued.

So yeah. Ms. Madsen writes flirty banter like no other, and the climax during the draft saved this book and has me rounding up. Plus, you can’t go wrong with a Sam and Frodo reference. 😉

Lance is an ex football player who inherits his grandfather's team. The team is basically on a losing streak, and he is determined to fix it. I laughed sooo much at his firing the majority of the old team. He was relentless and so darn funny about it. Enter Charlotte, the rule follower, Human Resources, follow alllllll the rules type of girl. She basically has memorized the company handbook, and Lance just flies by the seat of his pants. Totally opposite of each other. She definitely doesn't date coworkers, nor bosses.

During all this mess, he is to attend his brother's wedding in a beach town, but the company needs him and to push his mother at bay for her matchmaking, he recruits Charlotte to come with him to get work accomplished and to be his date for his brother's wedding. Sparks fly and they really give into each other. They slowly develop feelings for each other, but trust is also an issue.

I liked this story, it was entertaining, steamy and quite funny. They had good chemistry, and it was great seeing these two grow in their role at work and personal life.

2.5 Stars

While I enjoyed the abundance of (accurate) sports talk in The Wedding Deal, I didn’t really care about the two main characters getting together. I wish they would have had more serious and heartfelt moments where I could really see them connect. However, I was overly excited about reading a sports romance where the author actually knew the sport she was writing about. Some may find it a little football heavy, but as the characters ran a pro football team, I felt it appropriate to so centered on it.

I received an advanced copy through Netgalley in return for an honest review.

4.5 Stars!

As a Human Resources professional, this book grabbed me right from the beginning. The Wedding Deal by Cindi Madsen is a sports and office romance rolled into one. It is a fun read with bits of emotional turmoil splashed throughout.

Charlotte James is the HR Director for the professional football team that is in last place. She is also a whiz with facts and statistics. Charlotte always follows the rules and expects those around her to do the same. She loves football and her job. When her boss and owner of the team passes away suddenly, his grandson inherits the losing franchise. Lance Quaid is a former superstar quarterback with a personality to match. He has a huge job to do and minding his ps and qs is not one of them. Charlotte is constantly on his case because she knows that his unprofessional behavior will undoubtedly cause the team some legal trouble.

Building a new team is a tough job, and Lance has his work cut out for him. Somehow he and Charlotte find a working stride, and she becomes his greatest advisor. Lance even has her come with him for the week-long festivities of his brother's wedding, so that they never drop the recruiting ball. Over that week, they secure the positions that they need and become much more than colleagues.

I really enjoyed this book. Although facts and figures are not my thing, employee relations is, so it was easy for me to identify with Charlotte's character. I also worked with people like Lance and I understand how difficult it is to move from the playing field into the corporate office. I loved the push and pull between the main characters and how they challenged each other with their unique method of communication. Overall, I recommend this is sexy, well-written romance.

Complimentary copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley.

This book was the perfect amount of sassy and love. It was so good. It definitely didn’t lose sight of the fact that they lived in the real world. Charlotte was adamant about covering their butts and almost neurological about her forms.

She reacted beautifully to the outrageous-ness of Lance. I was low-key applauding her during her speeches. She stood up for what she believed in as well as didn’t let herself get bulldozed by the men in the industry. A ruthless negotiator, Charlotte made sure to emphasize that, regardless of their relationship status, she had her job and Lance was not going to come in and dictate what she should and shouldn’t be doing.

And to his credit, Lance never tried to impose his will on her. In fact, more often than not, Lance was looking to Charlotte for advice and counsel. And, as she points out, he takes her suggestions into consideration. He doesn’t just listen and dismiss, as so many people are wont to do. Lance listens and implements her suggestions.

The same wavelength stuff was super adorable and showed a connection that was so sweet.

Cindi Madsen is a new author to me and I typically don’t read sport romances voluntarily. But this one, for some reason, called to me. And I am so glad I answered. It was the perfect book to curl up with on a weekend.

I'm on the fence so I'm going to say 3.5 stars.

This one took me a bit to get through. There's really not a ton of drama and it was cute how Charlotte was all rules/control freak and football stats were her jam. Lance is just not all about the rules and he was cleaning house with his team. There was some parts that I was really moving along, then other parts that were a wee bit draggy that I found myself putting it down or I started to skim. With the parts that I did enjoy, Charlotte and Lance were a cute couple.

Author Cindi Madsen brings the entertainment to the pages in another not to miss story full of moments to occupy many reader's attentions. Top pick in reading.
Review copy received from Entangled Publishing via Netgalley

The Wedding Deal by Cindi Madsen is the first book in her Heart in the Game series and was funny and sweet and full of steamy chemistry. Lance Quaid, former NFL player, is now the new proud owner of an NFL team. A losing team. A team he is determined to turn around and he knows he needs help.

Charlotte James has no idea what to do with her new boss, Lance. Charlotte has worked hard to be where she is today in her career. She is a no-nonsense type of woman. And Lance, well he is anything but. He is rude and has absolutely no filter. For an HR manager, it is her worst nightmare. Now he seems to be depending on her more and more. But what do they do when they can no longer deny their attraction?

The Wedding Deal by Cindi Madsen was fun and charming. I loved Charlotte’s feistiness and her knowledge of the game. Lance was cocky and determined. Watching them fall was half the fun! I am excited to see what is next in the series.

Happy reading.

You pretty much get exactly what this book’s synopsis spells out for you, my fellow romance book loving friends. At a very leisurely pace, this main couple single handedly attempted to end The Mustangs runaway losing streak by rebuilding it from the ground up. Having inherited this NFL team from his grandfather, Lance was looking for a way to get his mojo back after a career ending injury. What he wasn’t expecting was to find love in the form of his sassy HR manager, who is all about doing things by the book, the HR policy book, that is. Now that part tests his patience to no end, and I couldn’t really blame him there. What really tempts his mind, body, and soul is the fact she is a sexy, walking talking book of football facts/stats and seems to have a sixth sense about selecting the best players. I couldn’t help but find that aspect about her pretty dang cool.

Charlotte has not had a charmed life. She’s struggled to get where she is and isn’t about to let one man ruin everything. With a little guidance, she’s thinking he may actually hold the key to helping this struggling team finally win again. After a rocky start, these two perfect for each other, future lovebirds dance around one other until they stop fighting their attraction and open themselves up to being in a relationship. Quite a bit of time is spent on sneaking stolen glances when they think the other one is not noticing and inner monologues on how much they like what they see. Though the pace of the book is slow, the span of time this happens is relatively fast. Meaning, a lot of it occurs over one week’s time.

A knucklehead move rightfully has one of them declaring endgame and groveling ensues, which happens to be one of my favorite ways to wrap up a romantic read. Color me crazy, but though I found this storyline pretty predictable, I also found it sweet and entertaining, as well. The author added enough of a past personal backdrop to explain why one of them too easily jumped to a hurtful, wrong conclusion. Still didn’t make it right, but it lead to making up, folks.

Cindi Madsen continues to be an author on this avid romantic at heart’s radar. I tend to always fall especially hard for her back and forth bickering banter between the main couple as they fall for one another.

Title: The Wedding Deal, Series: Heart in the Game (Book 1), Author: Cindi Madsen, Pages: 400, stand-alone, office romance, NFL former player/team owner, team HR rep. Heroine, slow paced, relationship angst, knucklehead moment, has to grovel at the end, steamy scenes, no OW/OM drama, no love triangle, no cheating, big knucklehead moment.

(I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I was not given any payment or compensation for this review, nor is there any affiliation or relationship between this reviewer and the author/publisher/NetGalley.)

Cindi has once again delivered a book that has everything we want. It's sweet, funny, and hot with a storyline that is well developed and felt natural.

Lance and Charlotte work together and simply should not cross that line. I'll be honest, I thought I was done with the girl falls for her boss stories for a while...The Wedding Deal reminded me why I liked that trope in the first place. Lance is fun and could easily become my newest favorite book boyfriend. Charlotte is a live by the book kind of girl and I found her so easy to relate to. Lance and Charlotte shouldn't be together because of the complications of working together, their chemistry says differently though.

When Lance and Charlotte give in, will they be able to find a balance or will the passion fizzle our? Read The Wedding Deal and find out!

I do love a great Cindi Madsen book and this one definitely fits the bill. It has all the humor, banter, and sass I've come to expect from her as well as some amazing characters and a story that just made me smile.

Lance and Charlotte are a fun couple. He says and does whatever pops in his brain. She follows all the rules frequently making up new rules as she goes. When Lance convinces Charlotte to accompany him home for his brothers wedding she requires him to sign a wedding contract to be sure things stay strictly business. Will Lance make her end up wanting to break her own rules?

This is a fantastic read and I book I recommend to everyone.

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for a review.

I am usually a huge fan of Cindi Madsen. Reading her books always just makes me feel cheery. And while I liked The Wedding Deal, it is not a favorite of mine by Madsen. I liked both the characters but I felt the book focused on too many phases of their relationship. For example, in the beginning of the novel, the main characters kept focusing on their work relationship and therefore couldn't be together. The next phase seemed a little insta-ish. Insta-lust to insta-love. The book has too many extremes. It was also a lot longer than I thought was necessary and maybe this is what led to the repetitive "phases" of the story. Overall, still a cute read, just not one of my favorites from Madsen.

4.5 Stars for The Wedding Deal. This is a really entertaining, funny, sweet, romantic, easy to read tale and it will certainly captivate you from the very first page.
Charlotte and Lance cross paths when he takes over his late grandfathers NFL team, she is the woman in charge of the HR department and when Lance starts firing people left right and center Charlotte has no option but to read him not only the riot act but also the HR Manual......
Lance is a man on a mission he wants to turn the failing team into winners, he is loud, he is a playboy and he doesn’t follow the rules. Charlotte plays by the book, a paper pusher who has a place for every price of paper she pushes but that doesn’t mean she isn’t attracted to the hot retired quarterback and when he convinces her to be his date for his brothers wedding things really start to heat up......
I loved the characters, the story and the banter flowed and it had enough going on to keep me turning the pages. The chemistry is sizzling and this book is full of love and passion, the banter had me giggling and I was left smiling like a Cheshire Cat. If you are looking for a fun read look no further than this entertaining read.

I have mixed feelings about this book. There were definitely parts that I enjoyed. There were times that just didn’t flow. I had trouble connecting. The hero seemed like a hunk. I like how family was a big part of his story. I could usually relate to the heroine. I just felt myself not being interested in parts, like the daddy drama. I don’t know why. It was an ok read.


I voluntarily read an early copy.

I’ve enjoyed several Cindi Madsen books and thought The Wedding Deal looked like the perfect book to feed my Contemporary craving. While I did like it, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped I would.

I felt the book was much longer than it needed to be. I thought there was too much repetition and the story dragged a little bit. There’s only so many times I need to hear how distracted a character is by their attractive co-worker’s [insert body part here]. I also really dislike long chapters and the majority of the chapters were much longer than I prefer.

That said, I did really enjoy the romance. I thought Lance and Charlotte complemented each other so well, professionally and personally. While there was a little too much of the whole “he/she is so attractive” rhetoric, there was also a lot of discussion about how smart, caring, funny, and hard-working each other were. They helped make each other better, too. I really appreciated that the romance was based on so much more than the physical and I definitely shipped them.

Overall, I enjoyed The Wedding Deal. While it was a little too long for my taste, I did really like the romance and the sweet relationship Charlotte and Lance developed. I also thought the story was set apart a little bit from the normal Sports Romance by focusing on the owner of a team instead of a player. I would recommend it to someone looking for a light romance and doesn’t mind long chapters.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 3 Stars

Fun couple!

Charlotte James is the human resources manager of the San Antonio Mustangs when her previous boss had died and his grandson, former quarterback Lance Quaid inherited the team when everything changes. The Mustangs hadn’t won a game last year and were the joke of the National Football League on how bad they were playing but Lance Quaid wanted to change that but when Charlotte had to explain to him that mass firings were bad without paperwork and it would lead to lawsuits.

When Lance figured out that Charlotte knew the statistics of most of the players, he had her travel with him to his brother’s wedding out of state to be his plus one and keep working on hiring new coaches and staff. Lance and Charlotte are a matched pair in wanting to team to improve the team.

Lance and Charlotte are a cute couple because they both love football and Charlotte made Lance realize that he could have a relationship and own the team at the same time.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.