Winning the Player (The Bay, #1)

by Leesa Bow

[Kelly]

http://www.divabooknerd.com/2014/04/winning-player-by-leesa-bow.html
Winning The Player is the first Aussie footy based fiction I've come across and although I have an aversion to New Adult novels, I couldn't wait to read it. I found Aubree to be not only realistic, but charming in an offbeat sense. She isn't perfect, isn't self absorbed or finds herself fighting off men with her unnatural beauty. She's real. She represents how so many of us feel at one point or another, her future was all but shattered and she's struggling to pick up the pieces and move on. She's tough and doesn't need a man to make her feel loved or needed, she wants to pick herself up and make something of the life she's left with. Hunter on the other hand, I couldn't relate to him at all.

Hunter is an imbecile. He gives the reader the impression that there aren't many women in Adelaide that he hasn't slept with and that he has a reputation of being explosive in bed. I was so unimpressed that I was hoping someone would relive him of one of his testicles just so he would reign in his testosterone charged chest beating. I can understand that his character was an elite sportsman and his football was a way of life, but did he need to be the stereotypical sportsman that seem to dominate New Adult today?

Regardless, Leesa Bow has created characters that will invoke emotions in readers. Women will relate to Aubree and her quiet and reflective personality. This isn't your typical New Adult novel though, although it does feature very mild sex scenes, it just a natural progression of the storyline. It's not sex heavy and concentrates more on Aubree, healing and learning to start again. I only wish that Hunter was more than a stereotype, Aubree deserved so much more. Even if you don't love your footy as much as I do, the storyline is engaging, will keep you riveted and unable to put down. Definitely grab a copy of this one and give it a go.

Ms Bow, I shall leave you with... Go Pies. Humph. Blackbirds indeed. Very clever.