First of all, I want to warn my fellow romance readers that there are a LOT of distracting typos in this book. Normally, while I’m a complete grammar nazi in my daily life(comes with being a language teacher, I suspect), I am nonetheless usually able to ignore the occasional typo in my romances, mainly because I don’t tend to read them all THAT closely. But in this book, there were enough that it bothered even me and took me out of the story on occasion. I know stuff like that can be a deal-breaker for some, hence the friendly warning.
Chester “Chess” Cooper (her parents thought they were getting a boy, and met at a screening of The Goonies, so stuck with the name they’d decided on, even when they got a girl) is a high profile fashion photographer who feels like she’s pretty much just going through the motions. She’s bored, she hasn’t met a guy she liked in ages and has never really found a guy she clicked with. She’s photographed a ton of handsome naked men for a variety of charity calendars, without ever being affected, so she’s certainly not expecting anything to be different when she’s due to shoot the local football team. That she gets all hot and bothered by the pretty boy quarterback Finn Mannus is certainly a surprise.
Finn Mannus is instantly taken with Chess, but since she makes it clear she’s looking for something permanent and he’s more of a one night stand kind of guy, he suggests that they just be friends, even when it’s clear to everyone around them that their chemistry is off the charts. When Chess’ apartment/studio burns down and she is left homeless, without even a working laptop, Finn insists that Chess move in with him at least until she gets her insurance money, and hitting on his room mate would just be rude, right? Both of them undeniably like living together, but despite their obvious attraction to each other, neither of them makes a move to change things, until Finn’s going home for the holidays.
He invites Chess to come with him, and persuades her to pose as his girlfriend, as his mother seems to be nagging him to settle down. While Chess is initially reluctant, she eventually agrees. It doesn’t take long before their relationship is no longer just pretend. Both Chess and Finn have issues in their past, though, and scorching personal chemistry and mutual attraction won’t be enough if they’re going to have a chance at a long-term future together.
Full review on my blog.
I just read The Game Plan, review forthcoming, but I assumed this pair would be next. Glad I was right!