In the new Play-by-Play novel by the New York Times bestselling author of Rules of Contact, a star quarterback is torn between his love of the game—and the woman who may be the love of his life.Nathan Riley is ready to follow in the footsteps of his famous football player father. He’s been drafted as quarterback for his dad’s former team, and his future is bright. When his friend Mia Cassidy … When his friend Mia Cassidy moves to the same city, their years-long friendship suddenly sparks hot, reminding him of the one night they had together in college that he can never forget.
Like Nathan, Mia is from a sports dynasty family and embarking on an incredible new career—as founder of her own sports management company. Her friendship with Nathan means everything to her, and tossing sex into the mix again could jeopardize it. But the chemistry between them has always sizzled, and it isn’t long before Mia realizes she wants more with Nathan than just late-night talks and pizza.
Passion has a funny way of changing the rules, and soon Nathan and Mia discover that to win it all, they’ll have to make an unexpected play for love.
more
I read the first Play by Play book years ago, so don’t remember much about it. Nathan was just a teenager then. Now he is all grown up about to take his father’s spot as Quarterback for the Sabers. His best friend from college, Mia Cassidy has also moved to town, and growing up in a family of pro athletes has opened her own sports management company. The two of them kept up their friendship through the years and are now happy to spend time together. But the attraction that drove them to a drunken one night “sleepover” in college has not dissipated. While Nathan would like to repeat that night, Mia is worried about losing her best friend, which means everything to her. Neither is at a place where they are looking for romance, but they finally give in to the pull, determined to keep it simple. But life isn’t like that, and when they get to the point where they both realize that they love each other, Mia does that really annoying “sacrificing their relationship for the one they love” making a unilateral decision without talking with him about it. I hate that scenario.
While I like all the characters- no villain here, Mia’s constant dithering got old. About a third of the book is them having sex or drinking wine and beer and almost as much of her whining. I would have liked more story.
I love Jaci Burton’s books . This 13th book’s story line was really good. I really liked the hot & steamy scenes. I really liked Mia’s character. I really liked Nathan’s character. I loved the family scenes. I really liked the ending.
Nathan Riley is all grown up and taking over his fathers team as quarterback. Not only that, his best friend is Mia Cassidy, yea that Mia Cassidy, and their one time hook up in college now seems to be more than a memory. Even though they try to play thing down between each other and not let anyone else in on their feelings, it seems everyone knows about them. Will they make it work or will they call it quits before they even get started? Great addition to this series.
I quite enjoy this series, but this one’s not my fave. Friends to Lovers to ‘we can’t do this’. I just wanted to smack them one. I think there was a typo in the ages of the characters, as dad’s age didn’t add up. If you like a fluffy sport’s romance this one is for you.
I normally love the Play By Play novels, but I had such a hard time getting into this one. And it wasn’t the story, that was good, it was everything else.
For example Mia. She drove me nuts with her constant whining about friendship. And I know it has been a while since I read Mick and Tara’s story, but how old is Nathan? I know he was 15 in Mick’s story and now Mick is only 37 but his son is playing pro football on the same team? Ummmm…..huh? Let’s do some math and this is just a guess because we don’t find out how old Nathan is, but let’s take a stab in the dark. So let’s estimate that Nathan went to college at 18 and spent 4 years in college. That puts him at 22 when he was drafted, he rode the bench for his rookie season and then get bumped to starting QB when his Dad retires. That puts him at 23 maybe 24 years old. When Mick is 37. So we are really supposed to believe that Mick was 13 when Nathan was born? I know he’s not his biological father but still, come on. I don’t remember Tara being way older than Mick, but I could be wrong, it has been years. But that honestly bothered me the entire story. Over all a decent read, but not my favorite in the series, not by a long shot.
I’ve enjoyed the Play by play series by Jaci Burton. This book catches you up with characters from the previous books, which was enjoyable. Mia and Nathan were really cute in prior books. Together they should make a great couple. What kept this from being a great book is Mia’s annoying personality change. She was cute and fun in prior books, she becomes annoyingly neurotic in this book. She is constantly pushing Nathan away, she is so wishy-washy with what she wants. I know you need some sort of tension in the fourth act, but this reason for breaking the couple up was really annoying.
The Final Score is a sexy little literary adventure that is sure to score some serious points with readers! The moment I cracked the cover on this one, and Nathan waltzed onto the page I was completely enamored with him, he was everything you look for in a book boyfriend, and so much more!! The story line is very engaging, full of heart melting moments, and lots of steamy toe curling moments too… I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it!! Highly recommend you get your hands on this one, the moment you meet this sexy QB you will lose your heart to him.. he is such a charmer!!
I really like this author but this was not one of her better novels. Definitely worth a read, though.
Loved these two
I’m a fan of Jaci Burton and her Play-by-Play Series so I was surprised, and excited, to receive an ARC in the mail last week.
Mia Cassidy and Nathan Riley are best friends. They had one HOT drunk night together in college, and chose to be friends instead of lovers. Nathan is the new starting quarterback for the San Francisco Sabers. Nathan is happy to have his best friend Mia living in San Francisco, and he wants to be more than friends. Mia is starting up a new Sports Management Business and doesn’t have time in her life for a relationship, OR does she.
I love that Nathan knows what he wants but is respectful of Mia’s feelings. As for Mia … she is afraid of loosing her best friend, and this makes her do crazy things … like make pros vs. cons lists on every aspect of her relationship with Nathan. Mia is scared and this causes her to make a decision without consulting Nathan. Will Mia figure out that love is everything before it’s too late?
I was cheering Nathan on as I yelled at Mia (in my head) at times. These two are an amazing couple together. I volunteered to review an Advance Reader Copy of this book.