The Game Changer by Jaqueline Snowe (Spotlight, excerpt, review, and GIVEAWAY) GFT ADULT title

The Game Changer

by

Jaqueline Snowe

ADULT title

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GENRE:   NA Romance

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BLURB:

Pretending to date your best friend is always a good idea…right? Wrong.

Greta Aske has a lot on her mind, and a string of bad dates has her giving up on men, at least for the time being. Her life contains a little too much drama, meaning she needs a break and to save money and get good grades. The perfect solution presents itself—pretend to date the campus playboy. That’ll keep the guys away for sure.

Aaron Hill is desperate to save his baseball career because, with his dad fighting cancer, he damn well knows he can’t ask for a single penny from his parents. Baseball is his past, present and future, so when a scandal threatens his chance in the MLB, he turns to his best friend for help. A fake relationship will keep him out of trouble. It’s perfect, really. Greta’s taking a break from dating and Aaron needs to focus on training.

Nothing could go wrong…as long as neither falls for the other. But when lines are crossed, what’s real and fake blurs and the two are forced to face their fears. Could Greta be the game changer Aaron needs?

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EXCERPT

  

I groaned into his shoulder. “I would do it again if I had to.”

“I know you would, G.” He laughed softly, the first time that night. I’d missed that sound.

“There it is. I wondered if your laughing part broke.”

“Okay, no need to be dramatic.” He picked up the ice and hissed at my arm. “Promise me something.”

“No need. I already made a vow to never online date again. No, to never date again. Or at least for five years. Don’t worry. This will never happen again.”

“It better not.” His hand came around my leg, squeezing my knee. “Promise me you’ll call me if you need help. Any time. Any place. You’re one of the most important people in my goddamn life.”

“Okay.” I met his gaze and winced at the intensity in his eyes. “I promise.”

“Good.” He yawned, taking the bag off my arm. “I’m going to sleep. I’m beat.”

“Uh, should I call a cab?” I hesitated.

“Don’t be a dumbass. Sleep here. You’ve crashed on the couch countless times.” He leaned back, fluffing up the pillows and rolling over. Damn those back muscles. I want to bite them.

I pushed myself up to head downstairs when his arm wrapped around me. “Uh, Aaron?”

“Stay here. My bed is huge. Don’t make it weird.”

Buy links:

Finch Books

Amazon

B&N

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Jaqueline Snowe lives in Arizona where the "dry heat" really isn't that bad. She identifies as a full-blown Gryffindor and prefers drinking coffee all hours of the day. She is the mother to two fur-babies who don’t realize they aren’t humans. Her life revolves around balancing her day job in education and her incessant need to write and explore the world with her wonderful baseball-loving husband.

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The tour dates can be found here

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My review:

4 out of 5 stars

The Game Changer by Jacqueline Snowe centers around the relationship between best friends Aaron Hill and Greta Aske. Aaron’s hedonistic lifestyle as a star athlete on campus threatens to derail his hopes for a professional career and his desperate attempt at redemption requires a fake romantic relationship with Greta. Both go into the arrangement knowing that it’s fake, and they’re both determined to adhere to the terms they set…or are they?

This contemporary new adult romance is part of the ‘Cleat Chasers’ series and definitely depicts the angst, stress, and joy of dealing with college life, friendships, relationships, and family challenges. Part of the charm of the story is its depiction of the awkwardness that is part of the maturing process as these new adults bump their heads and make unwise choices and hopefully learn from them.

I enjoy the friends-to-lovers trope and thought these two make a cute couple, but there were a few things glossed over that I would have liked to learned about in more detail to get a better sense of their respective backgrounds. I think some things were treated as having been resolved more optimistically than they actually were, and although I understand the need for hope, I thought the reactions were a little unrealistic.

Somehow I think my wince at an impulsive decision or two is due to an age perspective and I’m very relieved that college days are long since past, lol. Those in search of an entertaining tale featuring new adults dealing with the difficult task of adulting should enjoy the antics of these folks. Hopefully some of the charismatic secondary characters will also get their time in the spotlight.

A copy of this title was provided for review.