Review: Most Valuable Playboy by Lauren Blakely

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Standalone - Ballers and Babes #1
Release - September 1, 2017
Genre - Friends-to-lovers RomCom
Male POV - 1st person
Heat - 4 out of 5
Length - 288 pages

Hands down, my favorite thing in the world is to score. Touchdowns.
Don't let the fact that I'm the leading pick in the Most Valuable Playboy charity auction fool you. These days, I'm only a player on the field. I've kept my pants zipped all season long -- and it has been long -- because nothing's more important than leading my team to victory every week. Except maybe escaping from the team owner's recently-widowed and handsy-as-hell sister who's dead set on winning more than a date with me.

Enter Violet and a well-placed Hail Mary.
She's my best friend's sister with a smile as sweet as cherry pie and a mind that runs quicker than the 40-yard-dash. After Violet saves the day with the highest bid, I don't even give her a two-minute warning before I kiss her in front of the whole crowd and then announce that she's my girlfriend. Which would be fine except my agent tells me we have to keep up the act while he's negotiating my contract.
Violet takes one for the team and pretends to be mine, but our boyfriend-girlfriend scrimmage quickly turns into a full contact sport, and I want it to go into overtime. The problem is -- I've been riding the bench for years.

How can a guy like me, who finally has a chance to prove his worth on the field, convince the girl she’s most valuable to his heart?

Find your copy of Most Valuable Playboy here:
Goodreads | Amazon

MY REVIEW

Most Valuable Playboy was another stunner from New York Times Bestselling Author Lauren Blakely! By the end of the first sentence on the first page I found myself already falling for the charms of one Cooper Armstrong!!

Cooper’s been warming the bench for three years while with the Renegades. When the team’s starting quarterback finally retires, it’s Cooper’s time to shine. After a slow start, that’s exactly what he does. There’s only one little fly in the ointment - the owner’s sister, Maxine, and her determination to have him. The night of the Most Valuable Playboy auction, not wanting to rock the boat with the owner, especially during the negotiation for his new (hopefully) contract, Cooper’s desperate to have someone outbid Maxine and save him from her predatory clutches. In swoops Violet to the rescue, which sparks their fake relationship, which wasn’t really all that fake, and their journey to love.

Funnily enough, I loved everyone in this story. It’s so rare for this to happen that I kept looking for someone to hate. Anyone really. Never happened. Even Maxine with her almost pathetic attempts at seduction had endeared herself to me. I can’t even pinpoint what exactly I loved most about this book. This author has an amazing technique when it comes to writing from the male perspective and this story was no different. Cooper was an accomplished athlete who was dedicated to his career, focused on his plan, and had a kind and generous heart, which showed throughout this story at every turn. And although we don’t get Violet’s perspective, it was easy to see that she was a beautiful woman, inside and out, and more than worthy of the love that Cooper had in store for her.

I swear, Cooper had me chuckling so much. Whether from his internal monologue:

"It warms the cockles of my heart to see so many here to help us support the charity. Yeah, I don’t know what cockles are either, but mine are toasty, and our fans are amazing."

Or his interactions with his teammates, his best friend, Trent, or his banter with Violet. There was no bad side to be found in all that made Cooper who he was and therefore I could find no reason to take away any stars in this review. He deserves all the stars. This world needs more men like this character and like the other men featured in this story. I’m going to try to patiently wait for Jones’ book, Most Likely To Score, because I’m excited to see how this star receiver and Jillian achieve their happily ever after. I hope Harlan’s after that!!