He may be a player, but this stud’s not shooting blanks.NICKI’m nobody’s baby daddy.I don’t care how many stunning women throw themselves at me,looking to turn one hot night into an eighteen-year paycheck.I’ve got way too much on the line to throw it away for one night of pleasure.Ball is life, and basketball is my first priority.I’ve got a championship to win.But when I see that familiar face … priority.
I’ve got a championship to win.
But when I see that familiar face shaking her pom-poms on the sidelines,
I’m transported back to childhood,
Back to the days before a fiery plane crash ripped us apart,
forcing us to grow up overnight.
Those were the days when Eden Evans stole my heart.
This time, I might be ready to give it right back to her.
EDEN
I have no interest in a man who comes with groupies.
With a rock legend for a father, I’ve seen the toll fame takes on a marriage.
The last thing I need is a guy with more Twitter followers than Justin Beiber.
So when Nick Barnes dribbles his way back into my life,
my heart and head go into battle.
I can’t fight my desire for the sexy baller with his eight-pack abs
and panty-dropping charm.
And when that little stick shows an unmistakable plus sign,
suddenly, everything is on the line.
With a secret baby on the way, will Nick realize that having the home court advantage is what he’s wanted all along?
Note: This is a standalone romance novel with a HEA and no cliffhangers. Light on basketball and heavy on steamy romance, this is the first book featuring members of the Barnes family.
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Nick and Eden are reconnecting and it’s resulting in quite the reunion. Eden is not one of the those cliche girls that takes with field each Sunday with her short skirt and nothing going on upstairs. It’s a misnomer that professional cheerleaders are all splash and no substance, she should know as a doctor and a cheerleader she is the poster woman for brains, beauty, and athleticism. When her paths cross with blast from the past Nick Barnes, she is not sure what to think. As kids they had special bond that unfortunately drifted apart when tragedy struck their families. It seems that everyone around Nick wants a piece of him. From woman and his fans to even his mother he cannot let his guard down. When Nick sees Eden Evans again he knows he cannot possible let this woman get away again. It seems fate agrees with him, but getting Eden to see it the same way is gonna to take some skills and patience.
I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this book
This is the 2nd book I read by Normandie Alleman. This is the 2nd book I read in this series. I liked the basketball aspect of the story. I think this book’s story line had too much going on for me. I think Nick & Eden needed more passion & chemistry.
The Baller’s Secret Baby: A Sports Romance
Barnes Family, Book 1
By: Normandie Alleman
Narrated by: Aiden Snow, Alicyn Aimes
What a fun listen this story is! I love stories that revolve around family and characters with history. This one fits the bill with some sports thrown in too! Nick and Eden’s families grew up together. Until something split them apart. Now grown, Nick is a pro basketball player. He sees this research doctor when she is fulfilling her dream of being a cheerleader and he has every intention of talking to her. And our story begins. It’s filled with getting to know each other and working through trust issues, but what I really enjoyed is the family dynamics. The over controlling parent, the secrets that come out and getting to know siblings is just as much fun as the romance. It’s spicy, it’s fun and a great listen! Normandie Alleman has a winning audio!
Aiden Snow and Alicyn Aimes are a fantastic team, tell this story perfectly. Snow’s talent lets him become Nick, the famous player, the attentive boyfriend and adamant son. Each voice of Nick is spot on, depending on the situation, and Snow brings it all into play. Alicyn Aimes brings Eden to life with the emotional side, loving, trusting, and wanting what is best for them both. It’s an fun listen and I can’t wait to meet more of the Barnes Family.
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The Baller’s Secret Baby (Barnes Family Book 1) by Normandie Alleman
This is the story of Nick Barnes who is a wonderfully gifted basketball player and a member of the famous Barnes Family, Eden Evans who is a dancer/cheerleader in her free time and she is also a doctor that does research. They were friends as children, and now they have a strong love for each other. Their fathers were part of a popular band back in the past and were killed in a plane crash. The Barnes family reminds me of the Kardashians, Lucinda is overbearing but is the mom manager of all her four kids careers. This was a great story. I very much enjoyed it.
This is a review for the audiobook.
Nick has always wanted to play basketball and he is living the dream. His career is going perfectly when he sees the girl who he grew up with and always had a crush on, Eden Evans. Nick feels like he has met his soulmate with Eden, her beauty radiates and he knows he wants more with Eden. However life has a way of throwing hurdles in the way, will Nick and Eden be able to survive everything that is thrown in their way?
This was the type of book I have been looking for recently. I thought the story was fantastic and was routing for Nick and Eden. The audiobook version was perfect, I liked both the readers and felt completely pulled into the story. Anxious to see what happens to Nick’s siblings, this looks to be a fantastic series to follow.
I liked their background together and I loved how amazing the heroine is. She can do anything. The Barnes family is fascinating, even their monster of a mother. The H/h had great chemistry and I loved being a part of their growing relationship. This was a great audiobook with some amazing twists. The narrators were new to me but I really liked their voices and the passion they brought their characters.
This was a great start to a new series by Normandie Alleman. The Barnes family is comprised of the Matriarch Lucinda who is also the Momager/Agent for all of the children, the Baller Nick, the Supermodel Dynassy, the twin Popstars Leo & Ivy. Lucinda’s late husband (and father to all four kids) Ziggy was a 80’s rocker that died in a plane crash several years earlier.
This first book in the series is based on the Baller ~ Nick. Nick is a player both on and off the court but when his personal assistant catches a women trying to keep his sperm (after a BJ without a condom) in order to impregnate herself he knows he has to change his ways.
Eden and Nick were childhood friends until their fathers died in a plane crash and her mother moved her to Texas. While Eden kept in touch with Dynassy (Nick’s sister) she didn’t stay in contact with Nick so Nick had no idea that they were living in the same area of Texas until he saw her cheering at a football game. But once he sees her all of his old feelings come raging back and he knows that he will stop at nothing until she is his again.
This story was so enjoyable to read, I loved the chemistry between Eden and Nick, the relationship he had with his sister, Dynassy, was so typical of a brother/sister relationship…you know where they want to kill one another one minute but didn’t know what they would do without them the next, and his relationship with his mother/momager/agent was an interesting one. The only thing that really surprised me was the epilogue, it wasn’t done in your typical fashion where it sets up the next book instead it was set up with the name of each of the major people in the book with a paragraph telling you a bit about what was happening with them. This was an interesting twist on things because it left Nick and Eden’s story wide open for more development through each of the following books in the series.
This review is for the audiobook version.
This story starts off with me wondering more about the men in charge of the Barnes and Evans family. It’s because of them that we have this story and the subsequent ones that follow. With this one, we have two kids that grew up together and then all that changed. Later in life they reconnect and that’s what creates the ups and downs here. My hook moment had to be Nick’s conversation with his mother at the beginning of the story.
I’m not really a current basketball fan but that didn’t stop me from wanting to listen to this book. In reality the season is over as I’m listening to Nick and Eden’s story but I can picture, when I listen to this again, going to a game but having my earbuds in while the narrators tell me the story once more. Mr. Snow was great in helping me picture what Nick may look and act like. However, Ms. Aimes made it hard to picture Eden. I like her as a narrator but I can’t picture Eden as a cheerleader with Ms. Aimes voice. But if I forget that, I enjoyed having this story being told to me. For continuity, I’m glad to see that they will help me enjoy the rest of the Barnes Family series. The only issue I had with the audio version is that every time I bent over to do something, the story would cut out or skip. I don’t feel it was the book itself but due to an issue with my earbuds.
Our author made it very easy for me to listen to her her words. She’s great at building a family that I’m eager to get to know better. I can see myself having both the book and the audible copies. There are plenty of times where I would prefer having someone read to me and then in other cases I just have to have a book because it forces me to sit down and concentrate on the words that I’m reading. With an audiobook, and having my hands free, I can go about my business and get work done while Ms. Aimes and Mr. Snow get me aquainted with the characters and the world they live in. Can’t wait for my credit to come so I can get the next book in the series.
I voluntarily reviewed an Audiobook copy of this book.