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xvicesx's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
relaxing
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? No
3.5
I really worried that I wouldn't get along with this one, because I really struggled with the first chapter and wondered if the whole of it would be a chore. Alas, things got better with the second chapter and from there on, the story was rather nice.
Nova's finding her feet as an orphan, moving back home to look after her sister. Ronan, next door, is finally putting his life back together after a rather spectacular meltdown after life handed him a bad deal. Circumstances throw them together, and attraction keeps them together.
I found the story cutesy, and the characters lovable, but wasn't a fan of the obligatory caricature that was Melinda. Also not a great fan of the ending where Nova gets her cake and eats it while Ronan has to choose love over the opportunity of a lifetime. I'm sure it's romantic and whatnot, but I'm not a fan.
Anyhow. A good read regardless.
Nova's finding her feet as an orphan, moving back home to look after her sister. Ronan, next door, is finally putting his life back together after a rather spectacular meltdown after life handed him a bad deal. Circumstances throw them together, and attraction keeps them together.
I found the story cutesy, and the characters lovable, but wasn't a fan of the obligatory caricature that was Melinda. Also not a great fan of the ending where Nova gets her cake and eats it while Ronan has to choose love over the opportunity of a lifetime. I'm sure it's romantic and whatnot, but I'm not a fan.
Anyhow. A good read regardless.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Cancer, Terminal illness, Grief, and Car accident
sparklingpynk's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
This was equally funny as it is sweet! It felt like I was in the town of Blue Belle getting to experience how Ronan and Nova not only fell for each other, but also fell for the town and its great people. I'm excited to read the next book in this series! The narration of this one is done spectacularly by some of the best narrators and that certainly adds to the enjoyment of this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent
ronnieex's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault and Grief
Moderate: Death, Car accident, and Death of parent
Minor: Infidelity and Alcohol
allingoodtime's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book is excellent. It starts with a bang. And I do mean that quite literally. It’s an interesting way for Nova and Ronan to meet, but their second meeting is such a fun and awkward scene. So good!
One of the things I love about this story is the characters. And I mean all the characters. There are some that I thought I wouldn’t like and I was quickly proven wrong. There were others I thought I wouldn’t like but they somehow grew on me. And then some are just not meant to be liked but aren’t so bad that I can’t see their redemption in the future for them to find their own happiness. When it comes to the main characters and their inner circle, those characters are all a delight from the very beginning.
The chemistry is dripping off the pages with Nova and Ronan. Nova has a lot going on, her whole life has been upended by her mom’s death leaving her with a teenage sister to raise. It’s not the life she envisioned for herself, but she never lets her sister see that. Ronan sees through her grit and determination though and goes out of his way to try to make things easier for her, even before they come to a cease-fire and realize they want to be friends. Nova isn’t afraid to call Ronan on it when he leans too heavily on his football royalty status in town. It’s not something he’s used to but he loves how real and direct she is with him.
This is my first book by this author, but I know I’ll be reading many more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
hazelgirl21's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Grief
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Car accident
overflowingshelf's review against another edition
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!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Infidelity
kb33's review against another edition
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
Graphic: Sexual content, Grief, and Alcohol
Moderate: Alcoholism
Minor: Death, Car accident, and Death of parent
lilyemmaaa's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Sexual content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
jonezzzing's review against another edition
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, and Grief
Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Minor: Deadnaming, Infidelity, and Vomit
nikitanavalkar's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
Okay so this was an interesting journey. I started off on the wrong foot with this book, with multiple things rubbing me the wrong way immediately. Like what was his thing with only blondes being his type 🙄 and then one of the weirdest first encounters I’ve ever read. Add to it the insta lust/love and slightly unsavory one night stand and I was fast losing hope.
But, wait for it. It’s the mark of the author’s talent that in spite and of a rough start, I was very quickly drawn into the narrative once we got past that hump, and before I knew it I was sighing and swooning right along with the population of Blue Belle over Coach Ronan and Nova. This book is a shining example of putting a bunch of my not favorite tropes in a book and making me love it regardless.
Nova and Ronan are the contemporary version of fated mates, and once I got used to the idea, I was rooting hard for them. Helps that they’re ridiculously hot in a goofy sexy way. They have this style of abruptly veering off into conversational tangents, which ended up being surprisingly charming once I got used to that. Ronan is almost too perfect and can do nothing wrong, but his emotional damage and the hang ups he has due to his perfection make him a little more accessible. Nova is quirky and charming and gets Ronan and his hang ups. The cast of secondary characters is also lovable, especially Sabine, and the pets.
***I received an arc from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own***
But, wait for it. It’s the mark of the author’s talent that in spite and of a rough start, I was very quickly drawn into the narrative once we got past that hump, and before I knew it I was sighing and swooning right along with the population of Blue Belle over Coach Ronan and Nova. This book is a shining example of putting a bunch of my not favorite tropes in a book and making me love it regardless.
Nova and Ronan are the contemporary version of fated mates, and once I got used to the idea, I was rooting hard for them. Helps that they’re ridiculously hot in a goofy sexy way. They have this style of abruptly veering off into conversational tangents, which ended up being surprisingly charming once I got used to that. Ronan is almost too perfect and can do nothing wrong, but his emotional damage and the hang ups he has due to his perfection make him a little more accessible. Nova is quirky and charming and gets Ronan and his hang ups. The cast of secondary characters is also lovable, especially Sabine, and the pets.
***I received an arc from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own***
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism