Making the Play

T. J. Kline

Sept 2016 · Hidden Falls Book 1 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this eBook

T.J. Kline launches a brand new series with the charming story of a NFL player who finds love when he least expects it…

Grant McQuaid has dedicated his entire life to his football career. Now an injury threatens his place on the team and he’s forced to return home to rehabilitate. But when he meets his “biggest fan,” a precocious, blue-eyed, hearing impaired boy named James—and his beautiful mother, Bethany—Grant begins to question whether football is the future he still wants.

Bethany Mills has been doing just fine since her husband walked out on them… and she definitely doesn’t need another man to disappoint her—or her son. But when James runs into his hero at the park, Bethany admits there is a void in her son’s life that she just can’t fill. Her attraction to the handsome football star is undeniable, but a man in the limelight is the last thing she wants for herself, or James.

Grant doesn’t want to subject Bethany to the chaos of dating a professional athlete. But the more time he spends with her and James, the harder it is to resist making a play for her heart…

Ratings and reviews

Routine. We all have one. A plan that helps us stay on track and gets up from point A to point B. But what happens when that becomes redundant? A person can get stuck and when something happens to break the sequence, it easy to become thrown off course. Grant is faced with a similar situation in Making the Play. An injury has left him in limbo and faced with a future beyond the field. Will a single mother with a chip on her shoulder and her adorably little boy show him the true meaning of the word "hero"? T.J. Kline gets to the bottom of what's truly important and gives the reader something to think about while doing so.

This book was highly enjoyable. I just loved the characters. James, Bethany's little boy was too precious. Then you add in a hunky football player you just have the right recipe going for this book. Bethany is leary to start anything with a man and she has good reasons too, but being near Grant makes her start to realize what she's missing out on. Grant is trying make a comeback in football after an injury so staying in his small hometown is temporary. The one problem Bethany and James make it come to light something he never knew he wished for, a family. How can he start anything when he won't be around long? I just loved his friendship he develops with James, just priceless. This is a make feel good story and it's exactly the type of book I've been craving.

A fantastic read and the beginning of a wonderful new series. If this book is any indication of what we can expect in upcoming books, I'm going to need to stock up on tissues. This one is packed with emotion. Grant is dealing with the end of his NFL career, Bethany is dealing with her issues of abandonment and trust, and James (cutest kid ever!) just wants to be accepted. When an impromptu meeting in the park leads first to a friendship and then to love, it's difficult for Bethany to trust that what she and Grant have could be lasting. Will he be there for her and James or will he let her down like so many others have? This was an exceptional sweet and emotional read. I highly recommend it to everyone.

About the author

T. J. Kline was bitten by the horse bug early and began training horses at fourteen—as well as competing in rodeos and winning several rodeo queen competitions—but has always known writing was her first love. She also writes under the name Tina Klinesmith. In her spare time, she can be found spending as many hours as possible laughing hysterically with her husband, teens, and their menagerie of pets in Northern California. That is, when she isn't running around the California Gold Country researching new stories.