First I’d like to thank the publisher, Berkley, for allowing me to read this advanced copy of Snapped before it’s release in exchange for an honest review. This was the first time I’d reached out to a publisher for an ARC successfully and it was such a great experience!

Anyone who’s been here for awhile knows that I am a very big fan of Alexa Martin’s Playbook series. I love the Mustangs and the women who love them. When I found out we were getting another book in this series, I was over the moon. Fumbled is still my absolute favorite, but I couldn’t wait to see what Alexa had in store next and thankfully, she didn’t disappoint.

Snapped throws us right into the deep end of the pool from page one. Quinton Howard Jr. is the new quarterback from the Mustangs with an amazing contract and amazing skills. Everyone expects him to get the Mustangs to the playoffs, but no one expects him to take a knee and cover his league logo the first time he takes the field. Showing support for the Black Lives Matter movement and calling attention to the racist and bigoted industry that is football? Who would do a thing like that? That’s what Elliot Reed wants to know. While she completely understands the injustices that are going on in the world, the last thing she wants to see is Quinton protesting it on the field. While she supports the cause, as the newest PR employee on the Mustangs roster, she was hoping not to have to face anything too large right off the bat. Sure she understands why Quinton is protesting, but he’s jeopardizing her job in the process. Why couldn’t he just tell the league he wanted to protest? She could have helped him do it in a way that didn’t piss off the Mustangs’ owner and could’ve helped spread his message without it possibly ruining her career. When the owner of the Mustangs give Elliott the task of putting an end to Quinton’s protest, Elliot is forced to face some things she’d rather keep hidden…and maybe find both love and herself in the process.

I’ll admit I was worried. With such a big social justice message, I wasn’t entirely sure how things would play out or how they would be handled in the book. I must say, Alexa did a great job. It wasn’t hard to fall in love with Quinton. He was passionate about shedding light not only on racial injustice, but the injustices within professional football as well, no matter the cost. Whenever he talked about why this was important to him or why he needed to do this, I fell in love a little more because he was speaking nothing but facts. Quinton gives us tons of insight throughout the entire book and I must say he almost rivaled the love I have for TK from Fumbled.

While falling in love with Quinton wasn’t hard, loving Elliot was a little bit more difficult. She’s a strong woman, which I loved, but being inside her head tended to be frustrating for awhile. Here’s why: Elliot is a mixed race woman. Born to a Black mom who died early on and raised by her White father, Elliot was raised to be “color-blind”, which is a direct quote. As a Black woman, I know how ridiculous this is, but it’s not surprising. So many White people believe that being color-blind will end racism because if you don’t see color, then we’re all the same. WRONG! You can’t be color-blind and saying you can ignore color is just another way of saying that you can ignore me. I don’t want you to ignore my Black skin, I want you to embrace it, respect it, and treat me like the person I am. Elliot wasn’t taught this though and she’s spent a lifetime trying to fit into a world that sees her one way, when she was raised another. I wanted to shake her sometimes, but I finally began to understand that Elliot’s faults were not her own. They were a product of her upbringing. I don’t know what it’s like to be raised around people who don’t share my skin tone or be told to deny half of what I am. Quinton doesn’t have this experience either and so part of what we see in the book is Quinton calling Elliot out on this and Elliot realizing that maybe she has some things to work on within herself and in her past that she’s been trying to push to the side for so long. In case you’re worried: yes Elliot does finally learn, but her journey getting there was both amazing and frustrating to watch (I loved it lol).

Alexa Martin writes an Author’s Note at the beginning of Snapped discussing why she wanted to tell this story and I implore anyone who picks up this book to read it. Alexa discusses how she was raised in a household similar to Elliot and how it wasn’t until she was an adult with a Black husband and black children that she finally began to understand just how much her upbringing and experiences affected her. She discusses how she minimized herself, excused or ignored microaggressions around her, and mentions how growing up in an all White family and confronting racism may mean for the ones she loved. This is important. Without this context, I don’t know if you can fully appreciate the struggle that Elliot and other women like her (Alexa included) have gone through when faced with situations like this one. It’s what prompted me to believe that Elliot would grow throughout the story because I knew that growth was personal to the author herself.

The one thing I will say is, I was a little frustrated by the ending, though I promise it was not because of Elliot or Quinton’s actions, but rather by the actions of his teammates and the fans.One you read it, I think you’ll understand why. Quinton was such a big spirit and so driven to do what was right, but it seemed as if people weren’t ready to support him openly until a “big” gesture was made. Either way, we were given the happy ending we deserve and I’m happy to say, Alexa Martin’s amazingness struck again!

Another solid installment in the Playbook series!

Elliot is really good at her job, which is why she is put in charge of handling the scandal of Quinten taking a knee at a game. Their chemistry is electric, the discussion happening within the novel is lovely, and I genuinely enjoyed my time with these characters. I really will read as many of these books as Martin wants to write. I hope you enjoy it also!

I have read all books written by her up to date but this one is special. She took such an important subject and weaved a story around it. What I really liked was the female protagonist’s perspective, how it’s not that she isn’t unaware but she doesn’t think racism touches her. And it’s not something wrong but there are people out there who live in that fantasy. Unfortunately, whether we accept it or racism exists and it does for everyone who is a person of color.
——
It’s the perfect read for this year and I really appreciate @alexambooks for writing it.

I've been reading the Playbook series since the beginning and even though I'm not a football fan, I can't seem to put them down! Alexa Martin has done it again with Snapped and this one felt different than her other ones. She says in her introduction that this book came more from her personal experience, particularly as a biracial woman and you can feel that in the book. Elliot is a great character and I loved her internal monologue. Also, one of the things that I adore about this series is the friend group that has been created through this series of Vonnie, Poppy, Brynn, Elliot, and others; you can feel the love and support they have for each other radiating through the book. My only wish was that Quinton's character had been a little more fleshed out, like Elliot's, but overall this is one of my favorites in the Playbook series, behind Fumbled.

If you liked the The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai or any of the The Bromance Book Club series by Lyssa Kay Adams, you'll most likely enjoy this book and the rest of the series as well.

Okay, the first thing you should know is that I am not a sports person by any stretch of the imagination, but I've thoroughly enjoyed The Playbook series by Alexa Martin. I just binge re-read the entire series over the past few days (yes, I re-re-read Intercepted, Fumbled, and re-read Blitzed) in preparation for reading the latest addition to this series, Snapped. I'm so glad I did. It was nice refamiliarizing myself with the Lady Mustangs (the wives and girlfriends of the Denver Mustang players) and their drama and romances. Each book in this series touches upon some serious issues while also providing a great steamy romance read. Snapped is a bit more serious in that it takes to heart the issues of long-term adverse effects of head injuries or CTE and lack of player parity within the football league, as well as professional athlete protests on-the-field and racial representation within the industry. I knew little about any of these subjects before reading this book (trust me, you'll want to do some research if you watch any professional football).

Elliot "Elle" Reed is just as lacking in confidence as some of the other women we've seen in previous books in this series. If I were dealing with professional athletes pulling in millions of dollars each year and having hundreds, if not thousands, of groupies throwing themselves at these players, I'd probably be somewhat lacking in confidence as well. But Elle is also dealing with childhood issues from being biracial and not quite knowing how to fit into society as she was raised by her white father without any strong black role models or guidance. She's had to quietly straddle the fence of both races without being fully embraced into either one and trying to live her life colorblind, the way she was raised. I can tell you that it isn't going well. Quinton Howard Jr. is the new star quarterback for the Denver Mustangs and has become something of a problem issue by blacking out the league logo on his jersey at the start of each game and his taking a knee during the national anthem. He's quiet and respectful to all, but he's also using his voice and money to try and right some wrongs. Elle's job is to make the Mustangs and the league look good, so she has to once again straddle the fence by keeping the team's owner happy whilst also working with Quinton to assure his personal goals are met. Needless to say, there's a bit of friction and attraction between the two. Will they be able to make things work or will things frizzle out? Hey, this is a romance, and what is a romance without a HEA. Yes, there is trouble. Not only for Quinton and Elle but also for "Vonnie" Lamar and her husband Justin Lamar. Most of the trouble gets resolved (not all, but most). This book deals with quite a number of issues, including racial identity, racism, systemic racism within certain professional sports leagues, lack of parity in the treatment of retired professional athletes (NFL vs. NBA for example), and more. Yes, these are heavy topics to be dealt with in a romance, but Ms. Martin deals with these issues without lightly glossing over them or being too heavy-handed, or at least she does so in this reader's opinion. There are plenty of light-hearted moments (it is a romance, people) and some moments that just make you want to say "aww." If you've read any of the previous books in this series, then you'll definitely want to add Snapped to your immediate TBR list. If you haven't read any of the books in this series and you enjoy romance, then you'll definitely want to grab all three of the previous books as well as a copy of Snapped when it releases. Something tells me that I'll be re-re-re-re-reading this series at some point soon (yes, I'm enjoying it just that much!). I'm hopeful that this isn't the end of this series, simply because I want to read more about these amazing women along with their struggles, their careers, their friendships, their families, and yes, their romances.

Happy Reading, y'all!

Snapped is the fourth novel in the Playbook series, a saga which focuses on the love lives of the Denver Mustangs football team. Written by a former NFL wife, these fun, flirty, stories sing with authenticity and humor. You don’t have to read the first few books to enjoy this one but you definitely should. Not only does it give you a deeper introduction to some of the secondary characters, they’re such wonderful reads you simply won’t want to miss them.

Elliot Reed has never had a job with perks before but her new position as the Strategic Communications Manager for the Mustangs comes with a doozy - discounted and regularly available game tickets. The daughter of a football fanatic who was raised to love the sport too, she owes it to her dad’s memory to use this benefit as much as possible - which is why she is cheerfully munching nachos, drinking beer and otherwise enjoying her great seats as the Mustangs take the field. But her smile quickly fades when quarterback Quin (Quinton) Howard Jr. enters the arena, blacks out the League’s emblem with tape and then takes a knee during the national anthem. She knows she is going to spend the whole day tomorrow trying to clean up this public relations fiasco, especially if the media gets a hold of it.

Which of course they do. It’s the lead story on every ESPN broadcast for weeks. The fire is fueled when a politician decides to soapbox about the issue and use Quin’s supposed disrespect for the troops, the league and the country to stoke his career. The Mustangs are doing their best to put a positive spin on Quin’s actions - and their best means dropping the whole steaming mess into Elliot’s lap and telling her to deal with him.

As the son of a former player, Quin knows all there is to know about the NFL. He’s spent his entire life working hard to become the Championship winning player he is now but he also knows a lot of other men worked equally hard to be on that field, men who retired without the pension and healthcare benefits he has. Men whom the league treats with contempt,  unconcerned about how the game impacted their health, leaving them with mangled, crippled bodies and equally crippling medical debts. Quin finds the racial disparity in management equally disturbing: seventy percent of the players are black but only nine percent of managers and zero percent of owners are. He finally has a position that gives him a platform for addressing the problems he sees in the league and race relations in America in general and he intends to use it.

Quin and Eliot’s working relationship doesn’t get off to a great start. Elliot agrees to meet Quin at HERS, the sports bar owned by Mustang wife Brynn Sterling, but when she approaches his table to introduce herself he delivers a withering set-down. Convinced she’s a groupie, he tells her in no uncertain terms she’s not his type and isn’t good looking enough for him to sleep with her.

Elliot, a total professional, handles the situation with grace, and the two do move beyond this horrifically rude moment to form a fragile working partnership. But will their combined efforts be enough to save their careers as Quin continues to push the Mustangs - and the rest of the NFL and the country- for change?

I hate enemies-to-lovers stories and heroes that spend the first quarter of the book putting their foot in their mouth, aka insulting the heroine either unintentionally or intentionally, and yet somehow I loved Snapped in spite of it having both those elements. This is undoubtedly in part because of how much I loved, loved, loved Elliot. She claims she’s a hot mess, endlessly in therapy to deal with her issues - including her beloved father’s recent death - but that just isn’t true. Elliot is smart, skilled, gracious, kind, loving, tenacious, a good listener, the best kind of friend - my list could go on and on. She does have a tendency to give ill-behaved folks the benefit of the doubt, even when they don’t deserve it. This can be a great trait; it enables her to welcome new people into her life wholeheartedly, especially when it comes to Quin, who ladles out a few heavy insults at the start of their relationship. It works against her, though, when it keeps her from seeing the evil in some of the folks around her.

Quin is a passionate, heroic character. He is willing to put all he has worked for on the line for others, and through his foundation, he gives not just of his time but big chunks of his money to help bring about real change. While he gets off to a rather poor start with Elliot, I appreciated that it had the benefit of most likely being realistic; it’s easy to believe that m en in his position are used to being approached by people who want to take advantage of their fame or exploit them. Lifelike as his rudeness was however, I wouldn’t have forgiven it if he hadn’t changed into a warm, caring, thoughtful lover by the end of the book. The HEA is lovely and believable because by the halfway mark he is doing a lot of wonderful, attentive acts to let Elliot know just how much he cares.

The author does something pretty amazing with their romance. Even though they don’t exchange more than a single, extremely awkward kiss for the first seventy percent of the story, she still manages to create a sense of anticipation, desire and unity without resorting to insta-lust. You can tell from the start these two are going to be terrific together and that’s because, quietly and slowly, as they spend time with each other, the author moves them towards an emotionally deep, rich relationship.

This is a romance which discusses some heavy subjects but the author’s tremendous skill is put to good use, since in spite of the weighty issues of racism and income disparity which are laced throughout the text, Snapped is light hearted, fun and romantic. I absolutely loved it, found it to be a quick, delightful read and never once felt like the story was lost to the causes being promoted. Ms. Martin does just an absolutely fantastic job of showing how these problems impact her characters in their everyday reality, and are therefore a natural part of Elliot and Quin’s romance.

Most books contain flaws and this one has a few minor issues. It seemed a tad unrealistic that Brynn and the other Mustang wives would embrace Elliot and her friends so quickly. The ending contains a snag that involves Elliot making a sacrifice that Quin is not also called to make. It just felt a bit unbalanced to me, especially since he would likely be in a better position to make said sacrifice.

Those are quibbles, though, in an otherwise stellar novel. Snapped broke through my La Vida Covid romance reading fugue and helped me remember what I love about this genre. I strongly recommend it to contemporary romance fans, especially those who like their romances sweet but meaningful.

Buy it at: Amazon, Audible, or your local independent bookstore
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Omg, I loved this book! I don't even know where to start, so forgive me if this is one long, rambling post. Snapped tells the story of Quinton Howard Jr., star quarterback of the Denver Mustangs. Elliott Reed is the Strategic Communications Manager for the team. She usually does damage control PR for the players. After Quinton takes a knee during the national anthem, Elliot is "assigned to him," with the job of getting Quinton to back down. The relationship between Quinton and Elliot showed one of my favorite tropes: enemies to lovers. They definitely get off to a rocky start, but over the course of the book, their professional relationship turns into a romantic one. Elliot is still navigating the loss of her father, and Quinton too is dealing with personal things that no one quite knows about. Elliot was by far one of my favorite characters I have ever had the chance to get to know through a book. Like me, she is biracial, and was raised in a predominantly white world. She talks about never quite fitting in, always feeling on the outside, not being enough, and so much more. There were so many times I found myself nodding and agreeing with everything Martin portrayed. It is so validating to feel represented and see yourself in a book; it really makes you feel less alone and more human. So to Alexa Martin, thank you for creating a character I saw myself in. Quinton and Elliot were funny, entertaining, adorable, romantic, and this book was everything. Thank you @berkleyromance @alexambooks @netgalley for this book. Snapped is out on Tuesday 10.20.20!

Thank you to the publisher for the eARC.

This one is great. It hits on heavy themes - racism and social justice. It talks about the microcosm that is the football world.

I really loved the story, the romance between Elliot and Quinston, and the female friendships. The Lady Mustangs are back in full force and they are the best.

Definitely recommend this one.

First of all, I would like to thank NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for the ARC of Alexa Martin's Snapped. The fourth book the Playback series.

I think this book was my favorite of the four. By the fourth book, I think Alexa has mastered the art of sports romance and the world of the Denver mustangs. This book brought some controversial issues to light that are extremely important today, which I love to see in a contemporary romance book. I think sometimes when messages like these are put into more casual contexts such as a romance novel it is easier for people to learn and relate to.

The character development throughout the four books was amazing and I think I am truly going to miss the entire Denver Mustangs squad. One of the things I really liked about this romance was that the characters were actually good at communication and sometimes the lack of communication is annoying!

I wish I had more Denver mustangs content to read, but I am very interested to see where Alexa Martin takes her career from here.

Though I hadn’t read any of the previous books in this series, I still found this one an easy entry point. I thought it did a good job including discussions of personal and national issues alongside the romance plot, and that the universe felt really complete, with plenty of side characters with their own lives and personalities.

However, I didn't find Elliot to be a particularly strongly characterized MC, and she came off a lot of the time as imo pretty unrealistically naïve about race/racism and even somewhat obtuse about her own experiences. I liked that there was some grappling with this toward the end and found it pretty powerful in the ways it complicated her grief about her father, but thought it was an especially uncomfortable choice for her white best friends to basically explain her life to her, and for the finale of the book to involve her emailing other players to...talk about the points which had already been made? (And by people who seemingly had more understanding of them than five minutes' worth.) There was also a subtle sort of shift in the book, from the protest being about racism, including police violence and treatment of POC in the United States, and in sports in particular, to being about care for ex-players: I feel like the latter would be a generally more popular cause, while demonstrating against systemic racism would have been more likely to meet with pushback from other players, but while more realistic, it felt as if it was being watered down. This is an #ownvoices book from a biracial author, and it sounds like there are significant overlaps with her own experience, but at least on the page it all came off pretty awkwardly.

The romance itself felt a little shallow and lackluster to me - there were some cute moments, but I didn’t really feel particular swooniness or attachment about any of it - and I thought that Quinton, the love interest, was portrayed perhaps too flawlessly. There’s an early scene where he is rude and somewhat standoffish, but after that he is pretty much socially conscious, caring, super hot, generous, supportive, etc, and while I by no means need a bad boy MC or LI, it felt a little bit boring. I think it also contributed to making the ending feel quite unbalanced, with one partner having been super great and the other having made all the mistakes.
(Also, the title choice is a bit odd to me: I get that it’s referring to the football term, but it doesn’t feel like it related much to the actual book itself.)

It’s a quick read, though the more serious issues it tackles keep it from being pure fluff. The most obvious readalike in terms of plot is probably The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai, and the inclusion of strong grief is reminiscent of The Happily Ever After Playlist, plus there’s the POC romance/current social issues element a la Helen Hoang/Talia Hibbert/Jasmine Guillory etc. However, the writing style feels a little lighter, perhaps more like a Tessa Bailey. Fans of sports romances (or even sports adjacent books such as The Bromance Book Club) might enjoy as well.

📚 Book Review 📚
Thank you so much to @netgalley and @berkleyromance for this eARC in exchange for a review!

I love Alexa Martin’s books so much. They combine sports and romance which are two of my favorite things. Needless to say, the expectations were high for the finale in the Playbook series, and it did not disappoint.

What I Liked: First of all, Elle’s personality and her stream of consciousness/thought process are basically me. 😂 So naturally I adored her. I loved this enemies to lover premise because it actually seemed reasonable why they didn’t get along at first. Quinton is super swoon worthy too, in my opinion. Also, Martin is great at building these great female friendships and making them just as much a part of the story as the romance. Brynn was back and I love all the meddling (excuse me, “helping”) she does once again. Finally, and most importantly, Martin tackles some very real, very big issues: racism, sexism, grief, and the lifelong physical issues pro football players face and she does it really well.

What I Struggled With: The biggest issue I had was how quickly it came to a conclusion. It just felt a bit rushed. I didn’t lower my rating for this because romance novels are inherently fairy-tale like, but the ending with Quinton and his teammates was very much a fairy tale ending. I’ll just leave it at that so as not to spoil anything.

I’m sad this series has come to an end because I love all of Martin’s heroines. I can’t wait to see what she writes next. (As a note: All of these can be read as stand alones. Characters from other books do make appearances though).

TW: death of a parent, cancer, racism, sexism, and a Donald Trump like character is mentioned.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🔥🔥.5 (there is one really steamy scene, but it is easy to skip if you don’t want to read it.)

(I will be posting my review to my Instagram on 10/16/20)

Another touchdown for Alexa Martin!!! It was a very genuine little romance book, but at the same time giving shine to social commentaries relevant to the times. This novel was cute, swoony, romantic and thought provoking, all in Alexa Martins style..4/5 STAR!!!!

R E V I E W🌟
Thank you to @netgalley and @berkleypublishing for this e-ARC of Snapped by Alexa Martin!

This was (what I believe is) the final book in the Playbook series. Snapped in a very timely novel and it appears as more than just a fluffy, sports romance. It discusses football players taking the knees to bring light to the racism very much present within their League. I loved the romance. The romance was great because it wasn’t in your face. Based on the premise of the book, the romance happened very organically and I think it was absolutely perfect because it was honest and genuine.

Elliot was such a strong and dedicated character. She did have some growing to do so it was great being able to see her begin to take those steps towards finding herself and finding some resolution with how she was raised and her identity. Quinton was just such a fantastic character who is uniquely passionate about his cause and wouldn’t let anyone derail that. I feel like Alexa Martin was really able to flesh out his character beautifully.

I know this is supposed to be the final book of the series but I will have my fingers crossed and hold out for another book (ahem, Vonnie’s book).

This was a joy to read and it’s getting ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars for me!

I started off not really liking this series, but it's grown on me. This was a good one, and I loved that Martin brought social justice issues into the text, and how she grappled with her own identity through the characters. A good read!

This book is the conclusion to the football-centric romance series that I have read books 1 and 2 of and enjoyed (despite not enjoying football), however I think there was almost too much in this book for it to hit all of its marks. Between the important racial and social justice issues and the enemies to lovers romance there was a lot to pack in a small book.

As a Romance book it is needed for the book to all wrap up nicely but it is hard to imagine all of the racial issues wrapping up as nicely as it did in the book and since the romance happened so late in the book the conflict and resolution also happened very quickly.

I did really like both of the main characters, Quintin and Elliot and felt like they worked together well and liked how they hated each other at first and then grew to respect and love each other.

I wish there was a clear focus to the book as I felt like both topics were lost a bit, but it was still fun, cute, important, and filled with love.

Snapped is the 4th and final addition to the Playbook series by Alexa Martin. I have read Intercepted, Fumbled, and now Snapped. Luckily, each book follows different characters so you do not have to read them in order.

In Snapped, we follow Elliot Reed, a biracial Black woman, who has just landed her dream job as Strategic Communications Manager for the Denver Mustangs. Her dad has recently passed away and their favorite activity to do together was watch the Mustangs play. Everything is going well until star quarterback Quinton Howard Jr. becomes the first player to take a knee during the national anthem. Quinton is fighting for change in the league. He is tired of the racist behaviors and poor treatment against Black players and coaching staff. Nobody is going to stop him from taking a knee, not even Elliot, who is assigned to manage him and stop him from protesting.

Although Snapped had significantly less hot and steamy scenes that we have grown to associate with the Playbook series, I still really enjoyed this book. Alexa Martin does warn readers that this book will look different than the others at the beginning in an author's note so I didn't go in expecting much smut.

After Elliot's and Quinton's awkward first meeting, I soon began to absolutely love and swoon over Quinton. A Black man who is smart and knows what he wants? What more can you ask for? He sheds light on racism in sports very well through the creation of his foundation. He is thoughtful and pays attention to detail. Elliot on the other hand, was not always my favorite character. She mentions that she is biracial very often and basically that since she was raised by her white father, she doesn't blame everything on race aka not all white people are bad. This is true, but the white characters in this book were obviously operating under racist intentions. She cares about her job way too much, even when she is asked to complete a task that leads to secrets. Secrets are messy! And the mess definitely followed.

My main issue with the book was the ending. The way the taking a knee plot line was dealt with was not realistic. I understand that this is a work of fiction and racism will not be solved in less than 400 pages, but there could've been a different solution. Despite this critique, I still throughly enjoyed the book. It is a fast read, you can get through it in one or two sittings. I absolutely adored Quinton's character. Where can I find a man like him? Elliot was not my favorite, but I did feel as though she genuinely cared about Quinton and vice versa. I just have never read a book that tackles these specific issues and that alone plays a big role in my appreciation of this book. If you want to read a social justice sports romance, you should pick this book up!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for this eARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

When I received an ARC of Snapped I was SO EXCITED! Thank you to Berkeley and NetGalley for an ARC to review!

I have really enjoyed Alexa Martin's Playbook series. Poppy and TK are by far my favorite (and I didn't love Brynn and Maxwell's book), but I think that Elliot and Quinton might have surpassed Poppy and TK. Elliott has experienced a huge loss in her family, but she has just started her dream job in PR at the Mustangs. Unfortunately, her first task is to change the PR for Quinton, who blacks out the NFL logo and kneels for the anthem at the start of the season. Elliott and Quinton must work together to turn the tide of negative public outcry against Quinton while battling racism, systemic oppression, and a growing attraction.

I love how authentic Martin's books feel to football. As a football fan, it has been much harder to watch in recent years as we see how the League treats it's players. Retirement funds are atrocious for players prior to 1993, the League is a capitalistic organization that puts money over players, and when the majority of owners, GMs, and coaches are white men, issues of race and racism are abound. It makes me so happy when romance especially mixes real life issues into the text and Martin does it so well.

I struggled a bit with Elliott. As a biracial person, I felt for Elliott. She was where I was maybe 8 years ago - thinking that being color-blind is best, leaning more towards my white family because I didn't want to forsake them, not believing the race is the cause of everything. So I get where she was coming from with some of her blindness, but I wanted her to see through it quicker. She has her head in the sand for a lot of the book and it made me so upset to see her not recognize when she was being treated poorly because of her race. I did love the romance between Elliott and Quinton - a "forced proximity" relationship is catnip for me and I loved seeing their friendship blossom. I still feel that Martin ends her books too quickly (I need a little more resolution!) but this one might just be my favorite in the series.

I think the way the author used her platform to tell a story that highlights racial injustices and current social issues, while also somewhat maintaining the theme of the other books is great. However the character development fell a little short for me and I have to admit I was disappointed the romance was not the majority of this book like I originally thought it would be. I can see why Elliot and Quinton didn't get together until later in the story, but it made me less invested in their relationship and the ending was unsatisfying to me. I don't know if I believe that they stay together forever and ever. I would've also liked to see more of Quinton's voice in this. I have mixed feelings on if I like Elliot, she seemed really ignorant to a lot of issues and in denial about reality. Her signing the NDA and then worrying about how Quinton would react seemed odd to me. Quinton's teammates finally deciding to take a knee and support him AFTER Elliot's email rubbed me the wrong way as well. All in all, I think this book was an okay read. It wasn't my favorite in the series but I can also appreciate what the author was trying to say and bring attention to, which I don't think should go unnoticed.

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Elliot Reed has her dream job with the Denver Mustangs as the Strategic Communications Manager. This opportunity means more to her than just a place to work; it connects Elliot to her late father with whom she shared a love of all things football in general and the Mustangs in particular. New on the job, Elliot, as known as Elle, needs to prove to upper management that she can handle the most difficult subjects spinning them in the team’s favor. Her first big assignment is a whopper when the star quarterback, Quinton Howard, Jr. decides to make his stand against all that has been called wrong with professional football by taking the controversial knee during the anthem.

Since Quinton’s father also played pro football, he is well versed in the league’s history, and its attendant problems especially what the older players are dealing with in failing health and lack of retirement funds. Quinton knows what he is doing is divisive; however, he sees it as the only way to make a statement in order to get people paying attention to his cause. Besides her career depending on working with Quinton to find a tenable solution, Elle is not sure she agrees with his methods thinking the bad feelings he is causing will backfire turning fans against Quinton and the team.

As Elle and Quinton work together to find common ground, Elle’s romantic feelings deepen for Quinton and, seemingly, his for her. They have a complicated relationship especially since keeping her job depends on success at defusing the situation and reigning in the rebel quarterback. Quinton’s insistence that perhaps Elle is working with blinders on to the league’s past and current history of racial prejudice and injustice to those who have sacrificed much for the sport puts them often at odds.

There are a lot of vexed issues in this story that will certainly make readers think about what is happening in the politically charged state of football these days. The old adage of walking or in this case, running a mile in someone’s shoes applies here for both Elle and Quinton. This story is definitely highly charged between Elle’s biracial experiences and work issues, Quinton’s philanthropic goals, and less in focus for this book, their bumpy road of a romance. Fourth in the Playbook series, this book can be read as a standalone.

This book started out strong with a message which was a delight, given the current climate. I thought this might be different, since the h/h is Black. The heroine is actually biracial raised by a white man, a kind of "I don't see color" type of person. I had a hard time reminding myself that these characters are Black.

I thought this book was going to veer closer into a literature category but about halfway thru, the self-conscious, why doesn't he like me begins and the book quickly dissolves into a quirky romance with the girl pining for the guy she can't have and then she cries and he feels bad.

Then Quenton magically has liked her all along, and he dates a woman that WORKS FOR HIM. It's thin, it's flimsy, He's kind of jerk to her for much of the book and she's still attracted to him. He says a couple of nice words and suddenly... it's a big leap for me and I'm tired.

I wanted to see what happened with Quentin and the league and the issue with kneeling. Everything is tied up in a big pretty bow and that's what makes this a dreamy romance and not an expose on what Kaepernick started and is still working through. Now everyone wants to kneel, and the gesture is meaningless.

I applaud this author for trying to bring authentic life into romance. We're tacking all kinds of issues in this genre and mostly, that's what kept me reading, as I didn't have any affinity for Eliot as a heroine, and Quentin was just... there.

That said, this is my last book by this author. I am not her audience. And that's cool!