Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Beauty and the Baller

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Beauty and the Baller by Ilsa Madden-Mills

9 reviews

overflowingshelf's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

CW: Grief; depression; car accident; injury; death of a parent; alcoholism; cheating (not the main couple)

Recently, I was craving a heartachingly good sports romance, and Beauty and the Baller delivered! This book was the perfect fake dating, sports, and small-town romance that seriously gave me all the feels. I was instantly hooked as soon as I started and stayed up waaaaay too late to finish it in one sitting.

First off, I LOVED the premise of this! It has so many elements I truly adore, so I couldn’t help but be hooked by it.

The story starts with the most perfect, nerdy opening. Nova shows up to a party in Princess Leia’s gold bikini and instantly captures Ronan’s attention (he’s a Star Wars nerd), leading to a one-night stand (don’t worry, there are no surprise babies here!) And then, of course, when Nova moves back home after her mother’s death, who does she find as her new next-door neighbor? The new hot football coach, who just happens to be the sexy ex-NFL player that Nova slept with dressed as Princess Leia. Unfortunately (or fortunately), he doesn’t seem to remember her right away. With all the women in town trying to lock Ronan down so he stays the town’s football coach, he asks Nova to be his fake girlfriend to get them off his back.

This premise worked well with the romance and helped build the tension. Seriously, the romantic tension in this book? FIRE. And the chemistry! The chemistry was there from Ronan and Nova’s first meeting, which made the one-night stand element work perfectly. I was a bit worried that there could be some long-term deception since he didn’t recognize her, but luckily, that was resolved quickly enough not to cause long-term issues.

Fake dating is a trope that feels a bit overdone nowadays and one that I struggle with in contemporary romances, but it was utilized and executed perfectly here! I truly loved how Madden-Mills deployed it here. It fits the small-town vibes well and perfectly fits the overarching football plot. Plus, I loved that Nova was like, “This is a bad idea,” the whole time, as it felt very realistic. Obviously, with the fake dating trope, you always get a lot of emotional tension as the characters cannot tell what’s real and what’s fake, and I’m a sucker for that, and it was played up perfectly in this book. There is some conflict toward the end with Nova and Ronan’s relationship (and just a bit of miscommunication), but that worked really well here, given the situation and how it was set up.

Outside the romance, I truly adored both Ronan and Nova. With Ronan, he was in such a dark place in the beginning as he was overwhelmed with grief. The grief is not something that ever goes away, but watching him learn to live with it and come out of the fog of grief was heartwarming. This man also has a heart of gold, and I absolutely adored that. The relationship he has with his players – he’s sort of a pseudo father figure to some – and the contributions he makes to the town show how much he cares about Blue Belle, even if he says he’s going to leave it all behind it.

Nova is the beauty from the title, but she was not what I expected. As a former beauty queen, I expected her not to be super fleshed out as a character, but that was not the case. Like Ronan, she’s also dealing with grief after losing her mother suddenly and being forced into the parental role with her younger sister Sabine. Plus, she’s emotionally damaged from her past relationship, and being back in her hometown, face-to-face with her cheating ex, who claims he wants to get back to her, is extra challenging. I enjoyed watching her navigate this unexpected twist life threw at her, and I loved how she’s incredibly empathetic. Nova and Ronan are very similar in that way, and I think it’s why they work so perfectly as a couple.

I seriously flew through this book, leaving me with such a severe book hangover! I’ve been chasing that high for the last month or so, trying to find a book that will deliver all the emotions and the romance like Beauty and the Baller did, but falling short with so many books.

I want to check out more books from Ilsa Madden-Mills, as this one seriously blew me away! I don’t think I will read the sequel Princess and the Player because it deals with my least favorite trope – surprise pregnancy – and I know that will just prejudice me against it. But Madden-Mills has many other books on KU that sound right up my alley, so I’m excited to check some of those out! In the meantime, I highly recommend Beauty and the Baller if you’re craving a sports/fake dating romance, as it is seriously top-tier!

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kb33's review

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lighthearted medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

CW/TW: graphic descriptions of grief over death of a fiancée; short description of fiancé’s death in a car accident.

Content Warnings

lilyemmaaa's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

I am so glad that I listened the this book instead of reading it loll.

This was a cute and enjoyable read, that had a lot more spice than I thought it would going into it. It was a cute premise and was done fairly well. I enjoyed the aspect of Nova being a former beauty queen and then having to mother her sister when a tragic accident happened. And I loved how Ronan was the NFL star turned high school coach. Both the characters how more depth than I expected and I feel like that made it easier to enjoy.

I’m a sucker for second chances, and the way that Nova disliked him when they meet again made me happy, considering all the happened the first time they met. Seeing Ronan overcome his grief and the trauma he experienced when he lost his first wife was heartbreaking to read about, but also so enlightening. And seeing Nova express the love she had for her mother and the memories she once experienced with her was so heartbreaking to read about.

This book was enjoyable and it was also a really quick and easy read. The one thing I am just not a fan of is the Star Wars references. I’ve noticed that this author loves Star Wars, but coming from someone who has never enjoyed that universe, it gets annoying to hear about every chapter or so.

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bribreez's review

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funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

You would think that when having a one night stand that it’d be all hot, steamy, and then go your separate ways right? Well Nova Morgan managed to hook up with a handsome man one night, and while things ended on an interesting night, after that she never saw him again. Fast forward two years later, Nova moved back home after her mom passed, and had to take care of her younger sister. One night, Nova’s neighbor was having a big party, being loud, someone almost running her over with their car, and Nova was planning to give her neighbor a piece of her mind. Up until the moment Nova went over, she had no idea who this person was aside from being the football coach that everyone knew and loved. One look at his face, and immediately Nova knew who she was dealing with, her former one night stand from two years ago, a.k.a. Former NFL football star Ronan Smith.

With a small town setting, noisy/meddling neighbors, and a whole lot of responsibilities that Nova had to deal with, Ronan was just another unexpected surprise in her life. The fact that Nova and Ronan ended up seeing each other after two years, and being neighbors in the same small town wasn’t just a coincidence, but maybe fate? Either way, Nova couldn’t believe it, and despite Ronan not knowing or remembering Nova right away, he still felt like she was vividly familiar to him. The initial meeting (again) between Nova and Ronan wasn’t what you would imagine as “cute”, but more like, Nova straight up calling Ronan a jerk, and Ronan wondering why this woman didn’t like him. Nova was the kind of woman that wasn’t susceptible to his good looks and everything, I mean she clearly saw Ronan was still the attractive man she spent that one night with, but she had others things to focus on like, sister and settling back into life in Blue Belle.

I also thought it was pretty funny how literally everyone in town LOVED Ronan. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Ronan, but with him being the football coach and getting the school’s team in great shape to win, it seemed like the whole town treated him like a god.Like literally anybody’s grand daughter, sister, aunt, cousin, newly divorced women, you name any single women in Blue Belle, and chances were they were all gunning for their shot at becoming Mrs. Ronan Smith! Poor Ronan, his life was “hard” having to deal with all the women in town haha, but seriously though kind of felt bad for him since most of the women were treating it as a competition to see who could snag Ronan.

Fake dating? Yes please! With Ronan trying to avoid the constant line of women trying to date him, what better way to get them off his back then to fake date Nova? You already know that when it comes to fake dating, there’s either already sizzling chemistry or it jump starts something between the two leads, and for Nova and Ronan, it just gave them the opportunity to jump into kisses and other goodness! Nova and Ronan definitely had great chemistry, and even Ronan was aware of that. The whole fake dating aspect wasn’t too much of a stretch for Nova and Ronan since they already had something brewing between them. Sure they only had that one night two years ago, but with their first “fake kiss” and then their steamy session after playing darts, PLEASEEEEE IT WAS INEVITABLE! Ronan ended up becoming so enamored with Nova, and Nova liked seeing the smiles and laughter Ronan had around her.

Although Ronan was the most beloved man in Blue Belle, he still struggled with believing he deserved the best in life. After the loss of his fiancé, and the aftermath of injuries from the crash that he and his fiancé suffered from, Ronan still had lingering thoughts about it. Ronan didn’t believe in himself, didn’t think that he deserved Nova or how everyone in town was giving him too much credit, when in fact he was afraid of letting everyone down. For the most part, Ronan just went about his life as routine as possible, but with meeting Nova again, he found himself opening up to her about his darkest fears and worries. My heart broke for Ronan when he got super worried about Nova when she got sick from eating shellfish at the fancy party they attended. Ronan still dealt with lingering guilt that he couldn’t save Whitney (his fiancé) and didn’t want anything to happen to Nova. I mean, come on! You can’t tell me that doesn’t hit you right in the heart? Ronan must be protected at all costs! I did appreciate seeing Nova being so supportive and caring when it came to Ronan’s fears, and making sure he knew that it was ok to voice his concerns as well as know that he shouldn’t put so much pressure on himself. Lots of vulnerability that Ronan showed in this story, and it helped in him growing, but also made me want to hug him.

Man this was such a fun, and amazing book! I love stories set in a small town, and yet again stole my heart. Ronan was the biggest Star Wars fan/ geekiest fan boy while also being such a strong, powerful former NFL football player, and also being the most romantic man ever! Nova truly was like a star, always bringing a shine to herself, and radiating kindness and love, but don’t be mistaken because, as a southern women she knew when to stand her ground. Nova and Ronan’s story was romantic, heartfelt, and hilarious. There were a couple of scenes that had me laughing, swooning, and of course made my jaw drop! I’m a hopeless romantic and I love seeing when a man gets protective over his lady love, and Ronan was that type of man with Nova. I loved the epilogue, it was so sweet, and heartwarming to see how Nova and Ronan’s life turned out. All in all, I had so much fun reading, and can gladly say I was smiling majority of the time, and loved Nova and Ronan. Definitely would recommend this book if you love sports romance, small town settings, laughable moments, loveable characters, and romance!

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ecravens's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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nuriiaa12's review

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

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gnlee26's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

it was okay 🤷‍♀️ i didn’t really like ronan very much (and every time i heard his name i just pictured ronan the destroyer and he does NOT fit in the world 🤦‍♀️) and nova was just okay too. i really enjoyed sonja and skeeter(?) though they were fun. and i’d love to read about toby and sabine but nova and ronan just didn’t really do it for me. it was definitely a cute and easy read but nothing super special

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jonezzzing's review against another edition

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3.75

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mells_view's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I want to touch the stars, even if I get burned.

Absolutely loved Beauty and the Baller so much. It’s been a minute since I’ve read a new Ilsa book, and BatB was exactly what the librarian ordered. Did this book make me want to pack up and move to Blue Belle? 100%! I so easily fell in love with Nova, Ronan and just about every single character in this book.

This is definitely a sweet romance with an interesting meet-cute, and some hot steamy bits, but honestly the meaningful non-romantic relationships and self reflection from both Nova and Ronan really sealed my love for this one. These characters are not in the exact place in life that they planned to be, but they are figuring out that maybe they are right where they need to be anyway. There are some ups and downs between the main couple, but honestly they make sense to the characters and anything else would have been too easy. Ronan messes up a handful of times, but he wins Nova and me over every single time afterward. I felt so many things while reading this book. I cried, I smiled, I got mad, and I laughed my butt off at some parts. I think this was such a well written and well rounded story. It had a little bit of everything and was a definite reminder of why I love Ilsa’s books so much!

Obviously I don’t want to spoil anything, but if you like love after loss, sweet small towns with nosy neighbors, sweet as strawberry jaw sibling relationships, not so fake faking dating, and a love story that’s not easy going, but definitely worth it, then you’ll LOVE Beauty and the Baller!

AVAILABLE MARCH 29th!
*ARC

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