An offer she cannot refuse, can she?

Synopsis

Next up in the Puget Sound Pilots series is Jaeger and Jade’s enemies-to-lovers sports romance.

My name’s Jaeger Matlin. Known to fans as Jaeger “Bomb” or “Jaeger Meister” because I knock my opponents on their…well, you know.

As last year’s rookie phenom with the Puget Sound Pilots, I took home the highest rookie payday ever. And I deserved it. It’s not often a rookie will single-handedly bring a new franchise team their first championship trophy and be named league MVP.

I’m young. I’m cocky. I’ve got women lining up to make me their Romeo.

But I know all this is fleeting. Which is why I want to invest wisely now in smart business ventures.

First up, is opening a chain of branded gyms that cater to Seattle’s elite. 

The only thing that stands in my way is my rival—Jade Russell.

She’s not impressed with me, my fame, or my offer to buy her out.

Which only raises the stakes and makes me want it more.

My review

Jade Russell has worked hard to get her where she is right now. Even a trauma of the past won’t stop her for running not only her own gym, but also being there for those in need. And that can be from helping the homeless ones, to offering self – defence classes.
So the last thing she needs is a cocky Puget Sound Pilots player, crushing her dreams by waving his money and his you – know – what.
But Jaeger Matlin is not a quitter. He will do anything to achieve his own dreams. The more Jade and Jaeger clash, the more Jaeger realizes that he wants the one thing he cannot have, and that is Jade…

Basketball is not my sport. To be honest, any sport you’ll name and I’ll say it’s not my sport, especially if someone would think I would actually be doing any kind of sports… But I am always open for discovering new things, having learnt that these new things can lead to expanding my reading addictions. 

I think all of us can think of a real person who seems to have it all, and just has to wave with his/her money to make things happen.
So yes, initially Jaeger wasn’t my favourite person in the world, especially reading how he boasts about his successes, both in the game as with the ladies.
And then his nicknames made me even cringe a little bit, as they were not that original and they felt very undermining. (Don’t misunderstand me here, I am NOT critizing the author, I am just trying to put into words how Jaeger and his behaviour made me feel!) 

On the other hand we have Jade. She has worked so hard to get where she is right now, didn’t have it easy on so many different areas, even had a very traumatic experience a few years ago. For her I felt admiration, even if I could see how she was still carrying around that trauma.
Also her dedication of helping out people in need made me only like her even more. And so it made perfectly sense to be totally in Team Jade when she and Jaeger would collide. 

And collide they did…  

It takes a while before there is some ‘action’, and I expected it to happen much quicker. But that also made me love the story even more.
Because this isn’t the kind of book where there is less “blabla” and more “boomboom”. We get to know both main characters, we understand them so much better, we change our opinions of them (well yeah, I changed my opinion of Jaeger 😊). 

All this because the author takes her time to allow the characters to evolve, to mature, to grow. Jaeger learns to actually see around him, see what is needed, see how he can make a contribution himself. But he also learns how feelings can grow and how a man with a certain reputation doesn’t care about his conquests anymore. But only that one woman is all that matters. 

While Jade slowly not only learns to put her trust into people again, but also finds the force to take (baby) steps to process her trauma. She sees also that those who love her, know that something happened to her, but that she needed her own time to come clean about it.
But also that giving up on something means that something else and perhaps even better can come your way. 

While this book is the third part of a series, I can assure you this can be perfectly read as a standalone, as I didn’t read the previous parts. There are side characters that have a history, but you’ll know what there is to know about them. 

So while I read only part 3, I am now absolutely intrigued by this author and cannot wait to start reading the previous books too!
Because while there are absolutely spicy moments in it, for me it didn’t feel like the most important bit. It was more about allowing people in your life, trusting them with your trust and seeing what there is to see in the world. 

But obviously I had the best time too, reading how Jaeger is put on his knees by a woman like Jade! 😊