Intercepted

Alexa Martin

Sept 2018 · Playbook, The Book 1 · Sold by Penguin

About this eBook

Series in development with Starz & G-Unit Films and Television by 50 Cent and La La Anthony

One of NPR's Best Books of 2018
An Amazon Best Romance of 2018 Pick
An iBooks “Best of September” Pick
A GoodReads Best of the Month pick for September
One of Booklist's Top 10 Romance Debuts for 2018 
One of BookBubs Best Fall Romances of 2018

Marlee thought she scored the man of her dreams only to be scorched by a bad breakup. But there's a new player on the horizon, and he's in a league of his own...

Marlee Harper is the perfect girlfriend. She's definitely had enough practice by dating her NFL-star boyfriend for the last ten years. But when she discovers he has been tackling other women on the sly, she vows to never date an athlete again. There's just one problem: Gavin Pope, the new hotshot quarterback and a fling from the past, has Marlee in his sights. 

Gavin fights to show Marlee he's nothing like her ex. Unfortunately, not everyone is ready to let her escape her past. The team's wives, who never led the welcome wagon, are not happy with Marlee's return. They have only one thing on their minds: taking her down. But when the gossip makes Marlee public enemy number one, she worries about more than just her reputation. 

Between their own fumbles and the wicked wives, it will take a Hail Mary for Marlee and Gavin's relationship to survive the season.

Ratings and reviews

4 stars — This one had me all kinds of entertained, but was balanced by some actions that confused me. Maybe it’s even a 3.5 stars, but whatever, I’m going to stick to my gut. I will admit, I had a love-confused relationship with Marlee. She would make me LAUGH AND LAUGH at her antics, and I would just want to high five her all over the place sometimes with the way she would stand up for herself or the smart-ass things she would say. I loved how forthright she was, and how valiantly she pursued her career and her goals. But she was also a much more…aggressive? heroine, and I had a harder time connecting with that. I wasn’t always that big on the way she was over the top competitive, or how occasionally her taunts felt a little juvenile and more fitting for the reality shows she liked to watch (which, since I’m not a fan of those, it makes sense that wasn’t my favourite aspect of her personality). I think I also had a hard time at the beginning of the story understanding why she was with Chris for so long. He truly treated her horribly, and while we get some explanation, it wasn’t enough for me to make it fit with the Marlee that we know for the rest of the book. And while I got in general where she was coming from wrt her relationship with Gavin, it took me a while to get there and get behind her decisions. I initially found her harder to sympathize with…or rather I was torn, b/c part of me did and part of me didn’t. Which probably doesn’t make sense, but when do I ever make sense? Gavin for the most part was awesome. He was sweet, persistent, fun, kind, just the opposite of the stereotype of a NFL player that we’re usually presented with. But damn was he oblivious sometimes, especially at the end. It made me wonder if he knew Marlee at all, and honestly it didn’t fit with what I’d come to know of him up to that point… I appreciated the way the end played out, because it was the right decision for them, and it made me have more faith in their relationship, though I will admit I still wanted something more out of Gavin. Their chemistry was pretty awesome. I actually loved the way they connected on a friendship level the most, they really meshed well on an everyday level. In general, the secondary characters were pretty great I especially LOVED Marlee’s friendship with Naomi and Brynn. I was a bit bummed that most of the other WAGs were fairly villainous. For some reason I’d like to believe there would have been a few more good ones in there… I like this author’s voice in general, she’s pretty freaking funny…but there are moments of disconnect for me as well. It’s *really* hard to articulate what is missing for me though, but there is something preventing me from full on fangirling. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to TK’s book!

Intercepted is witty, fast-paced, and fun. At least in the beginning. I really liked Marley with her sass and attitude, and Gavin is like someone cloned all the perfect boyfriend qualities into one and came up with him. A bit too perfect, yes, but it's impossible not to love him. However, my high opinion of this one waned a bit with the second half of the book. The many hashtags that seemed amusing in the beginning grew tedious, and the little dramas just kept going on and on. When I say little dramas, I mean exactly that. Something would happen, Gavin would step up and save the day, and all would be sunshine and roses again, repeatedly. We do get a bigger bit of angst toward the end, but Marley's epiphany and resulting need to find who I am soul search could've come so much sooner. Plus the thing that brings it all on is so completely out of character for Gavin that it was all a little bit of a let down for me. That said, I did enjoy the author's wit, minus all the hashtags, and really liked the first half of this book. It is well worth the read and I'll be interested to see how the author's writing grows with future books.

loved it, couldnt stop reading once it started

About the author

Alexa Martin is a writer and stay at home mom. She lives in Colorado with her husband, a former NFL player who now coaches at the high school where they met, their four children, and a German Shepherd. When she's not telling her kids to put their shoes on...again, you can find her catching up with her latest book boyfriend or on Pinterest pinning meals she'll probably never make. Her first book, Intercepted, was inspired by the eight years she spent as an NFL wife.