Release & Review - Intercepted by Alexa Martin

Image and blurb from Goodreads

Title: Intercepted
Author: Alexa Martin
Publication Date: September 11th, 2018

Publisher: Berkley Books
Category/Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

Marlee thought she scored the man of her dreams only to be scorched by a bad breakup. But there's a new player on the horizon, and he's in a league of his own...

Marlee Harper is the perfect girlfriend. She's definitely had enough practice by dating her NFL-star boyfriend for the last ten years. But when she discovers he has been tackling other women on the sly, she vows to never date an athlete again. There's just one problem: Gavin Pope, the new hotshot quarterback and a fling from the past, has Marlee in his sights. 

Gavin fights to show Marlee he's nothing like her ex. Unfortunately, not everyone is ready to let her escape her past. The team's wives, who never led the welcome wagon, are not happy with Marlee's return. They have only one thing on their minds: taking her down. But when the gossip makes Marlee public enemy number one, she worries about more than just her reputation. 

Between their own fumbles and the wicked wives, it will take a Hail Mary for Marlee and Gavin's relationship to survive the season.

Goodreads

Buy Link: Amazon

3.5 “#NFLwivesarescary” Stars

As a fan of football and NFL-themed romances, I was looking forward to Intercepted, a book that got a huge amount of buzz before its release. The romance lived up to the hype, but I was so bothered by how women were portrayed in this story that I couldn’t fall entirely in love with the book.

Look, the protagonist, Marlee was fun and her voice was awesome, even with all the hashtags thrown in the middle. I loved that she was biracial! She was one of those “out there” people who loved their personality and didn’t make excuses for it, which made her easy to like. It also helped that this was written by a former NFL wife, which gave authenticity to the whole thing. There were some nice inside details thrown in there.

Gavin was a little grey for me. Not really alpha, not really beta, but still pretty hot and likable. Aside from that move near the end, he was thoughtful and respectful of Marlee. Together, Mrlee and Gavin had great chemistry.

If only based on the romance, my rating would’ve been higher. Problem is, Marlee pretty much hates and is hated/antagonized by practically every women she meets. Like I said, this is a debut from a former NFL wife, so I guess she knows what she’s talking about, but I still find it hard to believe every single NFL wife is a selfish, self-serving, problematic, bitchy person.

Thinking back, I can only recall two women that were nice to Marlee from start to finish: her best friend, Noami (a really great character), which doesn’t really count because being nice is part of the job as a BFF; and her new boss at a super cool bar she starts working at. Every other woman (and there were tons of them) antagonized her. The main villain was the wife of the former quarterback, and that rivalry worked just fine considering their loved ones position in the team, but it could’ve ended there. There was no need for every other woman to be portrayed as insufferable and selfish human beings. It really bothered me to see all the woman-on-woman hate.

#Taylorsaiditbest

So while I enjoyed the romance, the dynamics involving the main character and the other women in the story left a bitter taste in my mouth, preventing me from loving this.

*If you liked this review (or not), if you read the book (or not), come say hello and leave your comments bellow.