INFRACTION (Players Game #2) by Rachel Van Dyken-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date January 9,2018

Pro footballer Miller Quinton would do anything for his best friend and teammate—including “fake dating” his friend’s sister. What no one knows is that seven months ago in Vegas, Miller and Kinsey did a whole lot more than just kiss. Miller knows that this cheerleader is off-limits to him and any guy on the team. Still, he can’t stop himself.

Kinsey’s whole world is on the verge of crumbling. Her dad has cancer. Her overprotective brother is falling apart. Dating Miller may be a fake-out, but he’s the one guy who can make her forget about everything—including all the reasons she stayed away from football players. With each heated moment, Miller feels more like a safe place…even though he’s not safe at all.

Now temptation is testing every rule in the game of love. But how long can they go on playing when winning is a harder goal than either of them imagined?

•••••

REVIEW: INFRACTION is the second instalment in Rachel Van Dyken’s contemporary, adult PLAYERS GAME sports, romance series focusing on the men and women of the professional football team and their cheerleaders The Bellevue Bucks. This is the Bucks tight-end Miller Quinton, and head cheerleader Kinsey Romonov’s story line. Miller and Kinsey were first introduced in book one FRATERNIZE wherein Miller was part of a love triangle (of sorts) featuring his life long best friend Emerson Rodner, and fellow player Grant Sanchez. INFRACTION can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary.

Told from three first person points of view (Kinsey, Miller, Jax Romonov) INFRACTION follows the friends to lovers, fake romance trope between Bellevue Bucks head cheerleader Kinsey Romonov, and tight end Miller Quinton. Months earlier, following a weekend in Vegas with Miller Quinton, Kinsey found herself forcibly sent to Europe to escape the return of her abusive ex –boyfriend Anderson. Seven months later, Kinsey’s return to America is met with some devastating news that will all but destroy her immediate family. Not only does her father have cancer but her abusive ex-boyfriend is now a member of the Bellevue Bucks. Enter Miller Quinton, Kinsey’s friend, and her brother Jax’s teammate, and the man with whom Kinsey will fall in love. To avoid further conflict with Kinsey’s ex, her brother and ‘America’s quarterback’ Jax Romonov offers up a plan to protect the sister he has always loved-a fake dating scenario between Miller and Kinsey-a hands off relationship that, unbeknownst to Jax, began months before.

The attraction between Kinsey and Miller is immediate but an attraction that must be both played up and played down in order to keep the demons at bay, and Jax from discovering the truth about their past relationship. The $ex scenes are intimate and seductive without the use of over the top sexually graphic, language and text.

A side relationship is developing between Jax Romonov and Kinsey’s friend, fitness model and yoga instructor Harley. Harley is a fiercely independent and brutally honest woman who has caught the eye of ‘America’s Quarterback’, an over-protective alpha male where it concerns his younger sister. Pulled in too many directions Jax struggles with the emotional fall out of his father’s illness, potential threats to his sister, and the fake relationship that isn’t fake-at all.

INFRACTION is a story of family and friendship; secrets and betrayal; falling in love and letting go of the past. The cancer story line is emotional and heart breaking-a heart break that furthers Jax’s spiral out of control. The premise is emotional and sexy; the romance is passionate and fated; the characters are colorful and charismatic.

Reading Order
Fraternize
Infraction

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy