Review - - Gossip Game

Gossip Game

by Tracy Solheim

Baltimore Blaze Football Romance - Book 5

Publisher: Sun Home Productions

Release Date: August 15, 2024

Reviewed by PJ

Heiress Charlotte Davis has pulled some impulsive stunts in her twenty-seven years. Ranking right up at the top? “Buying” at auction the quarterback of her brother’s precious football team, the Baltimore Blaze. In her defense, the event was for charity. Besides, she owed the guy one. He’d rescued her from a situation even more dire years before—right before he broke her heart.

After a dismal season, Noah Hudson’s reputation with the fans and the media is circling the drain. Getting “bought” by a notorious tabloid princess wasn’t exactly the shot in the arm he was hoping for. Especially since the same woman badly bruised his ego when she ghosted him years ago.

But when the two share a mocking kiss in front of the cameras, a feeding frenzy is ignited among football’s talking heads. Suddenly, the Blaze are winning games and women around the world are all over social media cheering them on. So what if it’s a bunch of Charlotte’s faithful fans buying up Noah’s jersey? If their influence keeps him as the team’s starter, he can work with that.

When a vindictive sports reporter begins to spread malicious gossip about Noah and Charlotte, however, the two are forced to face their past mistakes and, just maybe, build a future together.

This second chance novella can be read as a standalone. It takes readers back to Baltimore where they’ll reconnect with their favorite Blaze players and their families.

PJ's Thoughts:

Second-Chance romance is one of my favorite tropes and in the hands of Tracy Solheim, this new novella shines. A good deed brought Noah and Charlotte together years earlier, instant attraction sealed the deal, and a quiet night of talking revealed the hidden depths few others took the time to notice. But misunderstandings (on both sides) sent them in different directions. Now reunited, a new misunderstanding (on the part of the public) has them dealing with feelings that neither of them wants. Or do they? 

Filled with snappy banter, sizzling attraction, and emotional depth, these characters pulled me into their story within the first few pages and kept me eagerly reading until the end. Fans of Solheim's Baltimore Blaze Football Romance series will no doubt enjoy revisiting favorite characters from that series while readers new to these stories can absolutely jump into Gossip Game without missing a beat.

Gossip Game is a quick, satisfying, heart-tugging romance that reminded me of why I enjoy this author's writing so much. For a sports fan (like me), it's a terrific lead-in to my favorite season of the year: football! For those non-sports-fan readers, it's a great second-chance romance that just might introduce you to a new favorite author and romance genre.