Alexa Martin

One of Buzzfeed's 16 Romantic Books To Read This Fall One of Popsugar's Best Books for Winter One of Refinery29's Best Books of December "Definitely a must-read!”—La La Anthony, New York Times bestselling author Maxwell Lewis has to make the play of his life in order to breach the woman of his dream’s defenses in this new football romance from the author of Fumbled. Brynn Larson owes a lot to reality television and professional athletes. Her bar hit new heights of success after becoming a local haunt for the Denver Mustangs players and their WAGs. But although she’s grateful, that doesn’t mean she’s crazy. And that’s exactly what she would be to ever consider dating a professional athlete. Even if it’s Maxwell Lewis, whose shy smile makes her wonder what going on behind those beautiful brown eyes. Maxwell knew from the moment he met Brynn that she was going to change his life. It was only a matter of time. But when he finally makes a move, fate conspires against him and everything goes wrong. Now he has to show her that their potential is real. Too bad for him, Brynn isn’t fooled by his glamorous NFL life, and when ghosts from both their pasts make a sudden reappearance, she must decide who she can trust. But when the person she’s most afraid of is herself, navigating life’s tackles is harder than anticipated.

Blitzed

Sahi K

CW: talk of sexual assault 

It’s definitely a 2.5 but I’m rounding down to 2 because GR still won’t give us half stars.

If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll know that I absolutely adored Alexa Martin’s debut Intercepted. Fumbled was fun too but u guess I had too much expectations. But I couldn’t lessen them for this book because it features one of my favorite characters since the beginning, Brynne. So imagine my disappointment when it didn’t turn out that way. This review might go into spoiler territory, so please read at your own discretion. 

The writing by the author is still fun and I’m glad for that because it means I finished the book in a single sitting and never felt bored. There is a lot of fun banter, but it’s mostly between the Lady Mustangs and while it could be over the top sometimes, I enjoyed it. It’s always nice to see a supportive group of women. And I liked that the author took time to develop a friendship between the MCs even though they were clearly attracted to each other. I really enjoyed all the time they spent together getting to know each other better and their conversations brought a smile to my face. But no communication between them about important issues was a trope that was used prominently and it totally soured my experience towards the end. 

Brynne is a sassy, determined entrepreneur who has built a community for women with her bar and I have really admired her character since the beginning. And she is still all that, but she made so many decisions in this book that felt unlike her that I was disappointed. She completely ignores red flags about a guy she has been warned is dangerous, throws another woman into his path despite the warnings because she is scared that said woman might be interested in her boyfriend, and finally decides to unconditionally believe whatever this guy tells her without ever giving her boyfriend a benefit of the doubt or the opportunity to explain. And then she absolutely does no apologizing or groveling towards the end which completely ruined whatever I may have enjoyed in the first part of the book. 

Maxwell is really the sweetest, most introverted guy I’ve read about in a while. He is kind, compassionate, very considerate and just the kind of guy you want in your corner when the going gets tough. His date ideas are the loveliest and his asking for verbal consent every time (which I know is bare minimum but still) really endeared me a lot to him. I was completely in love with him since the first page. So when the ending conflict happened, I was pretty unhappy that he brushed it all off without even letting Brynne apologize properly, because I thought it was a serious breaking of trust and I just couldn’t believe it can be so easily resolved. 

The side characters are always the best part of the books in this series and it was no different this time around. I’ve come to love all the women here and there were some cool additions too. But Vonnie definitely stole the show here by being a great nosy friend, a worthy leader of Lady Mustangs and also a badass lawyer and mother. I also adored Brynne’s father because he is lovely and supportive and just a delight to be around. 

To conclude, I just want to say I’m pretty unhappy with the way this book turned out. It has a good cast of characters, the sweetest hero ever and a mostly wonderful heroine. But there were lots of questionable choices made and the no communication thing didn’t work for me at all. I don’t know if there are gonna be any more books in these series but I think I still wanna read whatever the author writes next. But I definitely won’t recommend this one.

Lisa W.

** spoiler alert **
           Let me preface and say I’ve always loved Brynn. Prior to this book she was one of the most outstanding characters and had a presence since the first book. However this story felt rushed. 

There was no build up to the romance. It was immediate and all consuming that everyone jumped to accepting. This is not necessarily bad thing however there was no backstory to accompany it. I think this story would have been better told from Maxwell’s point of view. Maybe that was what I desired. She lusted for him prior to their start but it seemed like he quietly loved her first. Even having him expressed that would have shown vulnerability and caused Brynn to face her emotions before the explosion. Also because it was insta love it made the “situation” that much more believable ( between them),

Now being that I can understand the situation occurring and it’s importance. What I cannot understand is how quickly we came to the resolve. It took 3 pages to sum up someone that should have taken half of the book. It feels like Alexa, the author, cannot handle conflict between the two main characters. That is the recipe for the book... at this point, which was 92% in, we shouldn’t have even had a turning point. We should have kept it insta love the entire way through and rode off into the sunset. 

The one thing I can say is that I was surprised that the storyline built up pregnancy so much only to not explore that avenue. I’m not sure if I’m surprised happy or surprised upset. I think that if Brynn would have become pregnant immediately or in the credits, like everyone else, it would have been predictable and the essence of who the character was built to be. So i guess I, happy about it. 

Of course, hands down best character award goes to Vonnie. I really hope we consider doing a backstory on her or give her a reconnecting her love for Justin via a stressful vow renewal ceremony hosted by Aviana on a television special. That would be amazing! I can never get enough of her. 

I was so very happy to get to experience more of TK, Ace and Poppy. I believe like most of us fans, that is Alexa’s favorite couple as well. We will never tire of them. 

Eloise shocked me. I was totally expecting some plot twist between her and Theo. However I’m happy for how she turned out, I just wish it wasn’t so jarring. There needed to be a connecting moment where the readers could understand and become a fan of hers. 

Lastly, can we just say how freaking amazing the concept of HERS is. What a magical place it is and how awesome Brynn is in her marketing, talent scouting and vision. What a touching moment when the young lady walked up to her during the food drive and expressed how she impacted her career choice. 

Overall I’m critical about this story because I enjoy the world it’s set in and wish for more.

Maxwell has finally met an opponent that he can't best in this new football romance from the author of Fumbled. According to Brynn Larson, Maxwell Lewis is more trouble than he's worth. She doesn't care if he's a football god with a rock-hard body that brings most women to their knees. After an encounter that ends poorly, she's not interested in giving him a second chance. The last thing Brynn expects is for him to turn up at her bar months later, hat in hand. It doesn't matter if he brings more customers to her business--she's still not going on a date with him. Maxwell knows he made a mistake. He'd been waiting to make his move on Brynn since the day he laid eyes on her and he was finally ready to go for it until he screwed up. He wishes he could tell her the truth about what happened that night, but he just can't. He can't tell anyone, so he'll make amends and hope she'll forgive him. Brynn's not like other women, though. Playing for the Mustangs doesn't impress her and gifts make her scoff. Max will have to bring his A game if he hopes to win her over.

Find this review and more at 
  kimberlyfaye reads.


I loved the first two books in Alexa Martin's Playbook series. I was super excited for Blitzed pretty much from the minute I saw the cover. (Hello, that side-eye he's giving her? It gives me life.) It was a great read. Brynn and Maxwell were everything I wanted them to be and their romance gave me plenty of heat and swoons. 

Brynn was my favorite kind of smart, driven and sassy heroine. She's a small business owner and she has no time for other people's bs. Things are pretty rocky initially between her and Maxwell — and understandably so — but their chemistry was never a question. I wasn't all that sure about Maxwell early on, but he was so much more than he seemed. He has a really good heart and would do anything for someone he cared about. Plus he was a hot as hell football superstar, so bonus.

There was only one thing about this book that really didn't work for me. That was the "revelation" that happened around the 90% mark of the book. It took me totally by surprise because it's in the portion of the book where I want the new couple smooches and swoons. There's still lots of good stuff between Brynn and Maxwell, but I could've lived without that particular twist at that time.
 
As much as I love the love stories and the realistic — if not always pretty — look at the sport I love so much in the Playbook series, there's something I love even more. What is it? The female friendships. Strong women supporting strong women through the good and the bad? I'm here for it. You can keep your "frenemies" books. I'll take real, solid friendships between kickass women any day of the week. 

I thought Blitzed was the final book in this series, but I'm thrilled to know it's not. I'm super intrigued by Ellie and I'm so excited she's getting a book of her own. I'll admit I side-eyed her a bit during this book, but she wasn't what I thought at all. I'm ready for her story! 

I received a complimentary copy of this book for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Favorite Quotes:

If I have learned anything during my time at HERS, it's that nothing can make you feel less in need of a therapist than a well-produced reality show.

Sure, I'll never have enough money to carry around a new iPhone without a case, but I will also never flip a table on national TV. That, my friends, is called balance.

Alyssa Jacunski

This book was so fun! We finally got a book from Brynn's point of view, and I couldn't be happier!

Brynn, the owner of HERS, is such a bad-ass. An entrepreneur, she is brilliant and full of all the sass. Maxwell, the love interest, is honestly one of the sweetest guys that we've encountered in the Playbook series. He truly cares and does what he can to shield Brynn from less than stellar individuals in his life. 

One of my absolute favorite thing about this book (and the others in this series) is how the female friendships are portrayed. It's amazing to have stories of women lifting each other up, but also get the romance that goes with it.

This isn't my favorite in the series, but I'm so excited for the next one to come out!

Trigger warning: talk of sexual assault.

Lacey

This one was a little disappointing, given how much I enjoyed the first two books. I had a hard time getting into the romance.

Blitzed

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