Title: Tempting The Player
Series: London Legends Book #3
Author: Kat Latham
Genre: Romance
Blurb: Libby Hart and Matt Ogden are perfect for each other—as friends. They’ve known each other for ages. They act as each other’s plus-ones. They even share custody of a dog. And if there’s always been a little spark between them, so what? It’s never been worth jeopardizing their friendship.
Professional rugby player Matt is fighting for a starter position with the London Legends—and that’s not the only thing he’s fighting. A crippling fear of flying means he’s struggling to get his career off the ground. He has no time for a relationship, even if Libby does make him ache. As an airline pilot, Libby’s looking for a stay-at-home husband so she can have a family without sacrificing her high-flying career. Matt’s certainly not that man.
But just because they don’t have a future together doesn’t mean they can’t have a right now. When Matt asks Libby for help overcoming his fear, they agree to take a vacation from their platonic relationship—whenever they fly together, they can have sex. It’s the perfect way to resolve all that built-up tension. As long as they can avoid getting a little too comfortable…
Thoughts: I’m a huge fan of the “friends to lovers” troupe, particularly when there is always this underlying tension there between them that they just never seem to act upon – at least before. There were a lot of sections in the book that just seemed to drag for me, fewer that I actually felt the chemistry there between this couple. When it did happen it was great – I just wish there had been more of it, particularly in the beginning – which I felt was focused far too much on the rugby portion. And to be honest (while I love sports themed books) that is not what I’m reading them for and it’s not enough to carry it. With such a large amount focused on rugby, I should say I certainly do not know enough about rugby to really get it. The book takes place in London, which would normally not be an issue – however, in this case I feel there was a huge amount of British words and slang that may make it difficult for some readers to get – which I feel odd saying, since I spent over seven years in the United Kingdom myself and I have picked up and read books straight off the British economy that did not have the same feel as this one. It almost seemed like the author went out of her way to make it almost over the top, in a way. The author compensated by adding a brief little section in the beginning that explains a lot of terminology, particularly as it pertains to rugby, which I thought was thoughtful – but really should have been unnecessary just a nice little extra. But you really might need it with this one. For me, the book was just ok.
Rate: C+
