A review by profromance
He's a Player by Stacy Travis

5.0

Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️

Stacy Travis’s He’s A Player is a cornucopia of delicious tropes: second chance romance, adversaries-to-friends, fake relationship, complex parental relationships that inform the characters’ sense of self, opposites attract, and sports romance. It follows the handsome, playboyish Tim, one of the stars of Travis’s San Francisco Strikers - a professional soccer team, and Jordan, the newest team doctor. Tim and Jordan have a past. In high school, Tim, as an international student, lived with Jordan’s family. When she eventually propositions Tim to take her virginity, he denies her request and leaves her family’s home shortly after. After this humiliation and being confronted with Tim’s presence on the Strikers, she’s intent on remaining professional. However, at their reunion, she finds herself in an embarrassing situation. In the wake of that, Tim and Jordan try to deny their attraction to each other, but Tim is dealing with physical issues and needs Jordan to protect his position on the team, and Jordan needs Tim’s help with team management. Their solution becomes a fake relationship and eventual engagement. However, the past is never far as a reminder of Jordan’s humiliation. Are Tim and Jordan fated for a happy ending?

I am absolutely enjoying Stacy Travis’s newest series, the San Francisco Strikers. I’m a big fan of sports romance, and Travis balances sports with character development and romance well. To date, He’s A Player is one of my favorite stories from her after Isla’s story in her Berkley Hills series. Traversing the many tropes of this book, you never lose sight of Tim and Jordan’s journey, and Travis balances her book well. If I have any suggestions, it would relate to the ending. It felt rushed, but I may be the only reader who wanted more after Tim’s recognition he can be everything Jordan needs. However, that aside, I’m ready for more stories in Stacy Travis’s newest story world.