Covering Kendall (Love and Football #4) by Julie Brannagh

A Review by Wendy

4 Having to Make it Work Stars 

* * * *

Every once in a while I'll pick up a book, think I know exactly what I am getting. I will be on target most of the time and this book was about to be like many I have read... and then SURPRISE... it gave me much more than I expected.

We have the setting of Football... and the location of Seattle. There is the hot, cut muscled, popular player who is loved by all...but he is not your hard living, hard playing jock... he is more a homebody and loves to read...We meet him during a horrible rain storm and he is thrilled to have the time to go to his favorite bookstore. The employees know him, protect him from fans and treat him just like a "normal" person... not the town's superstar. He sees a book signing and discussion for Carl Sagan's Biographer...goes to the seating area and waits quietly for it to start.

In comes our gal, the temporary GM of the opposing Football team from San Francisco...she just had a horrible meeting with the board members and needs a break. She loves books and sees there is a bookstore down the street....entering the store, she see a sign of the reading. Her father is a huge Carl Sagan fan; she decides to see the talk and get an autographed copy for him. She goes to sit down few seats away from our guy.

They both exchange comments about the horrible storm outside... talk about Sagan and then see the bookstore employee taking away all of the books. It seems the reading was cancelled as the writer was delayed due to the storm.  Our couple look at each other and for some reason they don't want to stop talking .... they go to the coffee shop next door to extend their time together.

As they talk, none of the employees let on he is anything special... and she keeps looking at him, wondering why he looks so familiar... and more to the point ... each is massively in tuned and turned on by the other. Both feel it and she decides to go for it... she is staying in the hotel next door to the bookstore and invites him up to get one of the books they had been discussing. They fight the storm and arrive at the hotel soaked through and through... he comes to her room and one thing starts to lead to another... They are in the heat of passion and he takes off the knit cap he had been wearing... his trademark long blonde hair pulled back comes out... as she pulls away from a kiss to catch her breath... it finally dawns on her why he looks so familiar... He is on the deadly opposing football team they are playing.... he is also the free agent her team wants; she, as the temporary GM, is supposed to make it happen. She tells him to stop... they can't do this... she has worked so hard to be respected as an equal in a man's game and for them to be anything together cannot happen.

This is a problem... he had no idea who she was either and they both are extremely drawn together... although the lusting and wanting is a major factor... there is more to this... he likes talking to her and feels like she could be something more than what he is use too... She is also torn... she knows what she must do.... but is not happy about it at all.

The major part of the story covers how these two try to be together... it is like a modern day Romeo and Juliet with the waring families... but this time it is business... careers on the line and both are conflicted... both have their jobs to do.... and for them to date just isn't done... too many issues to fight... but both are smitten kittens... and they start to figure out how to be together...

There is another part of this story which impressed me ... his mom and dad are roll models for him... their marriage seems perfect... with both his parents contributing to his success in becoming a man... a football star... and ways of taking care of himself. He knows how to cook, organize and handle his business affairs. He has a maturity which is not heavy but solid. His parents also gave him something else very special.... the desire to have a family... he has a plan of wanting to have the same type of marriage his parents have and all which comes with it. He sees this as a concrete goal and is willing in his mind's eye to fight for it. 

She has worked her way up the Football team's front office ladder; starting during her college days, learning all about the team hands on. She was encouraged to stay and continue after she graduated and while she completed her Masters at Wharton, a renowned and prestigious business program. She had reached the peak of being in control of salaries, players' cap and all of the high level needs of the team. The actual owner was fighting a criminal charge and she was thrown in as Temporary GM. She was the only one who could handle the position in such short notice. This caused the dynamic in the front office and board members to change on her... the men in suits were not pleased with a woman doing this job... all eyes were on her waiting for her to fail. It also didn't help that the team right now was dealing with a losing streak; needed to revamp and get players which could reshape and fix their team. She was saddled with attaining this free agent from Seattle... and he had no desire to leave his home or team.

To have all of this on her back... to be a woman at the top... for her to fall and want to be with this player...the risks and ramifications to her career would be devastating... yet the pull to him, not just physically... but emotionally has started to hold on tight...

As I said... this book gave me more than I thought I would get. It had the romance and it was delicious... it had the fella who knew how to deliver...and the team players and all the usual fun with sports books.

But it had so much more; it addresses the idea of long term marriages and what partners need to do so each is fulfilled. It used that concept as a teaching tool for the main characters... for them to learn and open up their minds to seeing things more clearly. 

It also used the hostile way business is done; where old school suits still see women as less than and how it must be addressed. Lastly, it addressed the need for Football teams to be responsible and take ownership of the behavior of their stars... to hold them accountable to actions which are criminal and not look the other way.

All of this was done in a story which captured my attention, made me wish these two would find a way and they could have their HEA. I truly enjoyed this read... and if you like men in tight pants, are great with their hands but also have a heart, too... then don't fumble... go read this book.

A gifted copy was provided by author/publisher for an honest review.

About Julie Brannagh

Julie Brannagh has been writing since she could hold a pencil. She lives in a small town near Seattle, where she once served as a city council member and owned a yarn shop. She shares her home with a wonderful husband, two uncivilized Maine Coons and a rambunctious chocolate Lab.

When she's not writing, she's reading--or armchair-quarterbacking her favorite NFL team from the comfort of the family room couch. Julie is a Golden Heart finalist and the author of contemporary sports romances.