Maddie McPherson is sick of Normal-both her hometown of Normal, Illinois and being the 'normal' sibling. But when she lands a summer internship with a sports marketing firm, she finally has a chance to crawl out of her genius brother's shadow. Not to mention, a glowing letter of recommendation secure her admission to her dream college.
But Maddie's nickname is "Calamaddie" for a reason, and when the company tasks her with repairing the image of teen soccer phenom Gabriel Fortunato, she wonders if she's set herself up for embarrassment. Gabriel is a tabloid magnet, who's best-known for flubbing Italy's World Cup hopes. As Maddie works with him to develop "pleasant and friendly" content for social media, she also learns he's thoughtful, multi-talented, and fiercely loyal-maybe even to a fault. Falling for a footballer is exactly how Calamaddie would botch this internship, but with the firm pressuring her to get the job done, perhaps her heart is worth risking?
Thank you Netgalley and Page Street Publishing for a free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I devoured this and had to be torn away from reading it non-stop for "apparently" essential things like eating and sleeping. I love a good old fashioned romance and this is a perfect example of why... Yes, I know what's going to happen and how it's going to end just by looking at the front cover but I'm totally there for the ride.
Maddie has just started an internship at her aunt's sports publicity firm and literally lands at the feet of her first big assignment. Gabe is the classic misunderstood bad boy of football who, after missing a shot at the world cup spirals into one bad situation to the next. Maddie has been set the task of creating a glowing reputation for him via social media and so blooms a budding relationship. Of course there are ups and downs, it wouldn't be a romance with out the obligatory misunderstandings and disasters, but I enjoyed every second and am only sad that I've finished it so quickly.
