Skin in the Game (Entangled Brazen)

by Jackie Barbosa

[Cocktails and Books]

This was a cute story about the golden boy of the football field coming home to find love with the girl that never stood out in high school.

Cade Reynolds suffered a devastating shoulder injury and is hoping to make it back into a starting position in the NFL. But when his high school football coach calls to ask him to fill in as high school football coach for a few weeks, Cade knows he's returning back home to do his coach this favor. He didn't expect to find Angie Petersen, the girl that game him advice his senior year that lead to the State Championships, to be one of his assistant coaches or to be the one woman he can't live without.

I loved Angie being this super hot football coach who's players all loved her and had the respect of her head coach, but a woman who really doesn't understand just how respected she is. Cade shows her that she not only has earned and deserves her coaching job, but she also deserves to have a man who understands when to take a back seat to her.

Cade may have been "God's gift" at one point and time, but he learns that what he had can come and go in a flash. It takes spending a few weeks with Angie for him to discover that what's important is having a home and someone to love, with or without the game that made him who he is.

This was a cute read. It went fast and was enjoyable. I wished the story could have developed a little bit more and not felt so rushed, especially towards the end, but that didn't take away from the overall story itself.