For the Win (Perfect Play #1) by Sara Rider-Review,Guest Post & Giveaway

FOR THE WIN
The Perfect Play #1
by Sara Rider
Genre: adult, contemporary, sports, romance
Release Date: June 6, 2016

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About the book: Release Date June 6, 2016

Lainey Lukas has sacrificed everything—sleep, family, carbs, a life—to earn her spot as the top player and captain of the Seattle Falcons women’s soccer team. She’s determined to lead her team to a national championship and finally earn the sport the respect it deserves—and nothing will throw her off her game. When Lainey’s hero Gabe Havelak, star of the Seattle Surge, crashes her team’s first press conference—making the Falcons look like a joke to the local media and humiliating Lainey in the process—she’s hell-bent on revenge.

Charming, confident Gabe is practically a god to Seattle soccer fans, but he doesn’t mind a little friendly competition from tough-as-nails Lainey, with her top-notch athletic skills, her mile-long legs, and her girl-next-door freckles. But when he learns the Falcons are booting the Surge from their coveted practice space to the notoriously cursed Cricket Field, those warm feelings give way to crippling superstition. With his contract up for renewal and his thirty-fourth birthday just weeks away, Gabe will risk anything to protect his position with the Surge.

The rivals agree to settle their differences in a Battle of the Sexes competition—a test of skills, fitness, and willpower. At first the situation seems win-win: Gabe gets the chance to earn back the Surge’s practice space, and Lainey’s team will finally get some much-deserved media attention. But as the friction between them becomes hot enough to spark and smolder, Lainey and Gabe are entering new territory—and with both of their careers on the line, love might just be the toughest opponent of all.

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REVIEW: As the blurb states, Lainey has sacrificed a lot for her love of soccer. She was on the team that won the World Cup, but a devastating injury left her battling her way back and into top form. When she and her new team hold their first press conference, things don’t go quite as planned. She hates talking to the press and that is exacerbated when Gabe crashes the press conference. He’s a media darling and has the smooth charm that immediately wins anyone and everyone over, except for Lainey. Even though she’s a huge fan of his, she’s determined to bring him and his team down a notch…..or three.

When the owner of both teams (yes, the same man owns both teams) does not like what he saw on the news, he calls them both in. However, when Lainey arrives, she had no idea Gabe had been called in as well. Her heart sinks but she’s not going to take the tongue lashing lightly. As Gabe tries to soothe things over, she stands up for herself and her team, much to everyone’s surprise. The resulting plan that is a battle of the sexes, which both are determined to win. What follows is something neither ever expected. With careers on the line, will they be able fight their growing attraction to each other and do what’s best for their respective teams? Will their feelings for each other be enough for them to conquer old superstitions and forge a path that is beneficial for them all? Well, of course they will. This is a romance, after all. But, oh, what a read it is!

For the Win is a nicely written story by Sara Rider. Lainey is as strong and determined as she is stubborn. The way she leads her team and conducts herself makes her a worthy young woman. The way she guards her heart, or tries to, not only makes her believable, it makes her vulnerable. But, not in a bad way. Then, there’s Gabe. He has to work very hard to overcome his woman-chasing reputation in order to get Lainey to give him a chance. He’s very protective of everyone around him, but his interaction with his family, as well as Lainey, will make you swoon. When I first started this book, I was like….meh… But, a funny thing happened on my way to the end of the book. I absolutely fell in love with these characters. The way Rider lets you see their thoughts (told from dual POVs) was intriguing. I found myself not being able to turn the pages fast enough. No, it’s not a pulse pounding thriller, but it IS a wonderfully written romance about a boy and a girl who decide to throw caution to the wind, give in to their desires and see what can be. The secondary characters were well written as well. This book was funny, sexy and left you feeling like you actually knew the main characters. This was the first I’ve read by Sara Rider, but it will NOT be the last. If you’re looking for a fast, smart and sexy read, you cannot go wrong with this one! Well done, Sara Rider! Very well done!

Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley

Reviewed by Vickie M

Developing the Heroine

You can follow Sara at : Website / Goodreads/ Twitter/

Hello and thank you for having me on your blog today!

Soccer is one of the few sports in North America where the top female are arguably much more successful than their male counterparts – the US Women’s National Team have won the World Cup and Olympics multiple times – yet receive a fraction of the prestige, income and media attention. The financial rewards and glory are substantial for male soccer players, but some of the best female soccer players in the country can’t afford to play pro soccer without taking on second jobs or making huge financial sacrifices. This is a dynamic that has always captivated me and what inspired the character of Lainey Lukas in my novel For The Win.

Lainey is a character who pushes herself to the extreme in order to achieve her dreams simply because she loves the game more than anything else in the world. She is stubborn, fiercely independent and driven to a fault, to the point where even her own teammates sometimes find it difficult to relate to her. As a writer, her character fascinated me, but it also challenged me to find a way to make her sympathetic. The easy road would have been to soften her edges, but it was important to me to make her as honest and authentic as possible.

Rather than portray Lainey’s single-minded drive simply as a flaw, I wanted it to be the very thing that makes Gabe Havelak, the hero, fall in love with her. As a successful athlete himself, Gabe deeply respects her work ethic and determination but finds her curious at the same time. In many ways, they are opposite sides of the same coin – Lainey is adamant that hard work is the only variable she can control whereas Gabe believes that luck has played a huge role in his success. Matching Lainey with someone as laid-back and charming as Gabe was a way for me as writer to peel back her layers and find out what really makes her tick.

The fun part of writing a character like Lainey is that her journey isn’t just about falling love. Her struggle to connect with her new teammates on the Seattle Falcons is a huge part of the book, and allowed for the lighter moments in the story. Having to build a brand new team in a new league from the ground up means Lainey can’t just rely on herself anymore. She has to find a way to work with a group of women who have been her opponents and competitors in the past. Ultimately, developing a bond with her teammates is what gives Lainey the confidence to open herself up to love.

That’s the story of how Lainey Lukas came to be. I hope you enjoy reading about her as much as I enjoyed writing her!

~~Sara~~

Sara’s publisher is offering an ecopy of FOR THE WIN to ONE (1) lucky commenter at The Reading Cafe.

IMPORTANT: The  ebook download will NOT work with a Kindle e-reader

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