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Review
3.5 stars
This is such a cute read! Chock full of fun tropes, this is a grumpy/sunshine, marriage of convenience, single parent, sports romance that is fun and heartfelt, and full of chemistry. It’s the third book in the Washington Wolves series, but can absolutely stand alone, and I really enjoyed it.
I read the Ward Sisters series before realising it was a spin-off from this book, so by the time I picked this one up, I was already completely in love with Logan and Paige, and Logan’s sisters, but it was so much fun to go back and see their beginning.
Logan is an NFL player who took custody of his four younger half-sisters in his 20s after his father died, and the girls’ mother took off. He’s the strong and silent type and is significantly older than the girls, but he fills his father-ish role with pride, and he loves and protects them all fiercely. So when one of them ends up in hospital and his a-hole older brother swoops in threatening to take custody, Logan is prepared to do anything to keep his family together.
Paige is an ex-model who is currently without purpose. She’s living with her best friend (the owner of Logan’s NFL team) and wondering what to do with her life when she learns that her eccentric aunt left her a significant inheritance – on the condition that she be married within a year. She’s busy considering her options when, in a While You Were Sleeping moment, she is confused as Logan’s fiancé, and she decides to roll with it.
Logan and Paige have met before, though they haven’t really had much to do with each other, and suddenly they are husband and wife, and Paige is thrown into the chaos of his life – dealing with his hectic football schedule, two teenagers and 12 year old twins who seem determined to test her at every opportunity. It’s a fun set-up, and made all the more awesome because Paige is a bold and sassy badass who takes no shit, giving back as good as she gets, and it’s so entertaining to watch.
“He didn’t ask me to dim who I was to appease his own ego; he simply matched me toe to toe.”
I loved getting to know the Ward sisters as little girls. Knowing where their stories go brought an added element of depth to watching them as teenagers, and I loved seeing their younger personalities. Paige’s relationships with them develop beautifully, and I loved watching things change with each of them individually as she found her way.
If only it was as easy with their big brother. Logan is focussed on his sisters and football. He doesn’t have time for love – especially when his wife has every intention of eventually leaving him. So we get lots of tense moments which are actually kinda funny because Paige is a firecracker who flirts with Logan at every step, making the whole situation sexy yet light-hearted. She wants him, she holds nothing back in letting him know, and her teasing is lots of fun. We know that Logan is feeling their chemistry just as much as she is, but he boldly holds out…. until he can’t, and when is finally unleashed, all of that sexual tension leads to some really steamy sexy time.
“I don’t do casual, and the second you bare your body to me, the second I get my hands on you like I’ve imagined a thousand times, the second you take me in, it’s you and me, you got it?”
It turns out that there’s more to their fake marriage than cohabitation and hot sex, they develop a true appreciation of each other, and they fall hard.
That was the piece I’d been missing all along.
Paige and I were the same.
Whatever fire burned inside her, I had it in me too.
Can these two opposites find their common ground and turn their legal agreement into an actual relationship? Do they even want to? Of course they do! They have some hurdles to overcome, and there is a bit of drama, but it’s shortlived, before we get a sweetly happy ending.
This is a really cute read. As I said, I already loved these characters, and loved seeing them so young and becoming the tight-knit group that I know them to be. I would have liked a bit more romance – it takes a while Logan and Paige them to come together, and I wish we could have seem some more of them as a couple, but I enjoyed this book.
3.5 stars.
An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Washington Wolves
The Bombshell Effect (#1)
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The Ex Effect (#2)
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The Marriage Effect (#3)
Review
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