Guest Reviewed by Ami
Title: Under the Lights
Author: Shannon Stacey
Series: Boys of Fall #1
Heroine/Hero: Kelly McDonnell/Chase Sanders
Genre: MF Contemporary Romance
Length: 304 Pages
Publisher: Berkley/Jove
Release Date: May 26, 2015
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads
Blurb: They were the golden boys of fall: Stewart Mills High School’s legendary championship winning football team. Fourteen years later, they’re back to relive their glory, save the team—and find themselves again…
Chase Sanders’s life has taken a lot of crazy turns lately. But returning to his hometown to help his old coach keep his high school football team afloat might be the craziest thing to happen to him yet. That is, until he starts falling for the last person he should—Coach’s gorgeous daughter…
Kelly McDonnell learned the hard way that cocky, charming men are nothing but trouble, so she knows Chase is bad news. Still, she can’t resist his smile—or the rest of him. But when his loyalty to her father conflicts with their growing attraction, any hope for a relationship might be blocked before it can even begin…
Review: First … I found the occupation of the main characters to be interesting. See, Chase, despite being the star of the winning football team fourteen years ago, doesn’t continue his life as professional athlete. He is just a normal guy, who starts the story with problems with his love life and job-life (his girlfriend left him and his business partner took away his money). Meanwhile, Kelly is a police officer (!) who is also the daughter of the high school football coach. She is trying to raise money to save the football team. So I guess, it was interesting for me, because Under the Lights became a story about ‘football’ but not the players (well, except for the high school kids).
The combination of these people trying to save the football team, along with the community/ small town feel, made it quite a heartwarming story. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really sold on the romance. I thought Chase and Kelly’s romance to be lukewarm at best. Which made it quite difficult for me to be emotionally invested with their journey for the happily ever after. It lacked the chemistry and sexual tension that could give this story a more engaging feel.
So in the end, this one was good but personally, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue with the series. Of course, your mileage may vary…
Overall Impression: It was good
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for a fair and honest review.*
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