Between her big heart and his damaged one, a battle is ensuing. In this game of love, every defense will crumble. 

J.R. "Ace" Anderson has made some mistakes and garnered a reputation as a womanizer and a loner. He was basically pushed out of his old team despite winning them two championships and is now playing football for the Southern U Renegades and the new environment is not very welcoming. His new team mate, Ty Masters, is the twin of one of his former team mates, Knox, so his reputation precedes him. 

Ace is just trying to start over, focus, and stay out of trouble. However, possible trouble seems to find him in the form of Bryant Johnson. They hook up, but somehow she keeps coming back and infiltrating his life. He is a bit clueless about what is really going on and could be getting right back into another precarious situation. But everyone loves Bryant and for some reason they are all encouraging him to be with her. But Ace has never done relationships. He recently even screwed up his best friendship with Lucy and is still dealing with the after math.

Bryant sees Ace as her next project to turn bad boys into winners. Ace is the perfect candidate in need of redemption...even if he does not know it.

Bryant listens, understands, and is selfless. She figures out what is really holding the guys back and helps them overcome their issues. She has her reasons for doing it. She is well liked by everyone. Her initial intent is to just help Ace be a better man. She always considered it temporary and never planned on keeping him. But things get a bit out of hand. She did not expect for Ace to get attached to her or for her to do the same. She is scared of a real relationship and does her best to convince herself it is not really serious. But Ace is strong willed and has his own ideas about what is really going on.

I enjoy stories where we see character growth or redemption and both Ace and Bryant did have some issues to face. I honestly did not like Ace at all in Jock Blocked, but ended up loving him in this one. Sure he could be a cocky ahole, and made some mistakes. He started out fighting Bryant until he basically just went along with it. He has some external pressures on him and a past to overcome. But he could also be protective, caring, patient, and even needy. When he cares for someone, it is deeply. We have seen that with his friend, Lucy, as well. Bryant is really sweet, kind, supportive, generous, and a bit quirky. She has good intentions, but is plagued by some deep hurts.

It is told in dual points of view. It is funny, sweet, sexy, and heart felt. It can easily be read as a stand alone, although some characters from the first two books are mentioned or appear. This story illustrates the importance of trust, taking a risk, being vulnerable, priorities, and truly living life. It shows the value of friendship, team mates, and someone to care about. 

I really liked the new team and Coach. I am still hoping that we see a book for Ty next since this book transitioned us over to his team. 

I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review. 

JR “Ace” Anderson is starting over during his senior year. Effectively kicked off the team at Western State, he transferred to Southern in order to continue playing QB for one more year. He has sworn off having anything to do with women attached to the team in any way in order to clean up his image for this final year. No teammates’ sisters and no coaches’ daughters.

Bryant Johnson only seeks to make other people happy. Each project she undertakes means someone, someday will have a model boyfriend rather than the jerks they were before she molded them into the men they should be. She knows Ace is a perfect fit as her next project, if she doesn’t fall for him in the process.

From the very beginning, Bryant’s handling of Ace is different than her other projects. It was fun to watch her try to figure out how to get him to buy into the relationship without losing herself in it, especially with as hard as he fought her on it. As the differences became clear, it was also fun to watch as Ace realized Bryant was in fact his coach’s daughter, breaking his number one rule before the season was even in full swing.

Ace has the added challenge of finding his place within a new team. He has a hard time fitting in and making friends, even when he tries to put himself out there and when he doesn’t find success he keeps to himself. Watching that transition added another angle to the story outside the relationship.

I loved watching these two develop and grow. They each had things they needed to learn about themselves and ultimately, that knowledge changes each of them for the better. I love when characters change over the course of a book, but especially when they find changes that better themselves not because of the other person, but because they see the real benefit to the change.

This was a fun, sweet story told from both perspectives. Though most of the side characters are new with the school transfer, by the end I was drawn into the team at Southern and interested in a new group of players.

I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.