Heaven, Texas
It’s the everyday, no-nonsense woman meets sports hero/movie star with an over-inflated ego. One of my favorite tropes, it seems!
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I grabbed this recommendation from the Fated Mates podcast, with particular focus on the “what HE will do to get to HER” moment of the romance story. That treasure-y story nugget in these books is what the hosts were focusing on, and me too, if that’s not abundantly clear. Why, you ask? Because that’s one of the best moments in these tales! Some authors just get it right, so that was the thrust of my investigation—reading more books with a good grovel and a stellar come-back moment.
After all, that story beat is part of great storytelling. The break-up has occurred! The hero/partner is devastated! What will they do to glue together the trust they smashed to smithereens and earn back the heart of their lover? In the climax, there’s a story beat that is essentially the gathering of the wits or the assembly of a team, metaphorical or actual. It happens just prior to the grovel and the the oh-so-hopefully-satisfying make-up scene. Without spoiling that for you, I’ll tell you that particular moment (the pre-grovel antics, in particular) in this story were filled with drama and comedy. That part was, let’s face it, pretty darn good.
Do note that if you’re about to set out on the partial road trip that is this book, know that you’re you’re about to buckle up in a DeLorean and go back to the future. Ok, more like Back to the Future 3. Plus five years. That makes it 1995, if you’re still with me and my terrible analogy/time math. The point is that there are references to that time period—technology, gender roles/norms, etc.—that might seem jarring. Like a blazer with shoulder pads. (Wait? Are those back in again? I can’t keep track!)
The story is ripe with patriarchy, but that’s partly the appeal of this kind love story, in a way. Isn’t it? That the entitled “king pin” gets toppled by love? (Read on, but beware. Spoilers below.)
Photo by leah hetteberg on Unsplash
So, here we have doted, spoiled, football legend Bobby Tom Denton who can no longer play due to a career-ending injury. He has women, money, fame and all the smokin’ hot looks. And now a movie deal. And a name. What a name, indeed. You’d think it would be everything! Surprise—it’s not. (Wait a sec, you mean money can’t buy happiness?!)
As we peel back the layers of his character history in this book, it seems that nearly everyone wants a piece of Bobby Tom. His phone rings off the hook with a seemingly never-ending stream of appeals, and he’s has a hard time saying ‘no,’ due to an emotionally scarring childhood incident. (Hear that? It’s the sound of my heart. Breaking.)
Back in his home town of Telarosa, AKA, Heaven, Texas, he’s does his thing by swaggerin’ all over the place and generally just taking up space as a big, handsome, ultra-privileged, pompous, southern white boy who sprawls and drawls from here to yonder. And yet. I was starting to feel for him. When Telarosa came up with a sort of birthplace museum right in his childhood home, the idea was totally distasteful, and yet Bobby Tom felt he owed his hometown in some way. Or at least he realized their claim on him, so he didn’t say ‘no.’
Enter lil’ Gracie Snow and her “plain” looks, lack of a huge rack, and “stubborn” career ambitions. But by golly, Bobby Tom slowly but surely falls in love with her. It sneaks up on him, and honestly, on the reader, too. BT’s so in “having feelings” denial—and frankly becomes dependent on her like the personal assistant she’s being paid to be—that this realization isn’t perfectly clear until the final make-up scene. That bit came a bit late in the book for me, which is partly why I gave the book got 3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️ on Goodreads.
The sexy times in this book are lots of fun. They land around a 3-plus chili rating 🌶🌶🌶 I’d say. The first time Gracie and Bobby Tom finally knock boots, their dual orgasms are described like this:
“…they tumbled together in a warm shower of silver rain.”
Hmmm. Well, that’s never happened to me, though a person can dream. (Never mind that that mess sounds difficult to clean up.) But, anyhoodle, those two have some fun in the bedroom and the author does a good job with creative sexy playtimes. Especially with icecream!
There’s a B story about Bobby Tom’s mom that would have been a smoking hot sex scene, had it not been rife with “dubious” consent. To be honest, it was more like forced sex work rather than “dubious.” While Suzy went along with it, and even enjoyed it during moments, it was pretty icky and she cried herself to sleep afterwards. That was another reason I didn’t rate the book higher overall. That part was just…no.
Romances, and thus fantasy, embark into some strange territory. What is scintillating fantasy for some is offensive or downright rape-y for others. Like a kidnapping fantasy or a sex worker fantasy. Except in this case, BT’s mom Suzy wasn’t playing out a fantasy—she felt she had to have sex with the corporate baddie in order to save the town. If those aren’t high sexual stakes, I don’t know what is?! Eek.
To sum up this rambling review, the emotional chemistry between Gracie and BT isn’t really on the page, but I went along with it. The feelings run very one-way, as in flowing from Gracie to her spoiled rotten partner. Gracie eventually admits to loving him because she can’t help it. But that’s realistic, because in life, sometimes we love people even though they’re bad for us. Amirite?
Bobby Tom was a terrible, selfish person right up until 99%. It was hard to like him, and there was no epilogue in which we could witness his redemption. But if you’re into that sort of lazy, handsome, sport-figure, alpha-hole, this one might push your buttons.
