My name is Jason Hart.
As the best defensive lineman in the country, I eat, sleep and breathe football. And I like it that way. I’ve only got a few more years before I’ll have to retire, so expending energy on anything other than football seems like a waste of time.
That is, until I have a random meeting with a little boy who just lost his father. We have more in common than you might think and it creates an unlikely bond. As our friendship grows, so do my feelings for his mother.
I know Addison, as a recent widow, isn’t ready to date again. But I want to get to know her better, in spite of all her rejections.
Is it possible that I, a self-proclaimed bachelor, could be having a Change of Hart?
My Review
I have always been a reader, but I found myself sticking to a small group of authors that I really enjoyed. Over the last year or so I expanded my horizons and took some chances on new authors. For me, it's all about the synopsis. If it grabs my attention, I will read it. I've been lucky that most of the new authors I have discovered have been great and this book is a great example of that.
When I read the synopsis for "Change of Hart" I immediately thought, "Yeah, I am going to like this book." I love sports. Can't play them to save my life, but I love watching them. Plus, athletes are just the sexiest thing ever, so of course I am going to enjoy books that have sports has a backdrop.
I can't recommend this book enough. If you like sports romance novels, this is a MUST READ. So much about this book just felt real (see excerpt below). And that is what I liked most about this book. Yes, Jason is a famous football player, but from the very beginning I could tell that he wasn't the stereotypical, conceited jock. I do get a little bored with the whole "I know he seems like an ass, but deep down he is a great guy!" story line. From the very first pages of the book we know that Jason is a good guy, with good intentions and as a reader I appreciated that.
Jason plays for the Dallas Cowboys and he is making an appearance at a local school. He makes it very clear from the beginning that he is not there for publicity's sake, but because he wants to be there. While he is at the school, he has a very memorable interaction with Jaxon. I don't want to say too much about their first meeting, but I will say that I loved this kid the moment I met him. He's so adorable and is so excited that Jason is at his school...I even got a little emotional.
Jason feels a bit of a kinship with Jaxon and the two form a special bond. He invites Jaxon to get a tour of the football stadium and it is there where me meets Jaxon's mom, Addison. Jason is immediately attracted to her, but knows that she is still mourning her husband. The two form a friendship that Jason hopes will eventually turn into more. I liked that fact that Jason was more than willing to spend time with Jaxon, even without Addison. It just stressed the fact that this all started because he wanted to be a presence in Jaxon's life, with or without Addison.
I really liked Addison. She is a wonderful, single mom trying to move on after her husband's death and is wary to start a relationship with Jason, but the reasons for her wariness aren't what one would think. Thankfully Addison does eventually give Jason a chance and these two are just the cutest. The excerpt below is exactly why I love these two. This seems like a conversation that two people would actually have, one that I could see myself having.
“You’re worried about your body not being perfect, right?” I asked her, unbuttoning my shirt and cufflinks. She bit her bottom lip and nodded, blushing slightly. I lost the shirt and yanked my undershirt over my head.
“Look at me,” I said. She looked right in my eyes. I smiled. “Not my eyes, babe. Look at my body.”
She smirked as her gaze ran down my chest to my stomach and everything in between
“What do you see?” I asked her.
“Um . . . I see a really sexy man,” she said, looking back in my eyes.
“Uh huh . . . but what about me is sexy?” I asked, trying to make a point.
“Your arms really turn me on,” she admitted. “And your shoulders. And probably your back even though I haven’t seen it yet.”
I smiled at that. “But do you see any washboard abs like those male models have?”
She looked at my stomach but didn’t say anything.
“Do you see that ‘V’ that women talk about? You know . . . the one on a guy’s hips that supposedly point to the goods?”
She cracked a smile but didn’t say anything.
“I don’t have any of that. My body isn’t made that way. I work out every single day and I’m probably stronger than most of the guys in those pictures. But my body isn’t built to look like that,” I said. “I’m more like . . . a square. Like Spongebob Squarepants.”
A smile crossed her lips. “You’re sexy to me,” she said shyly.
I nodded. “Exactly.” I walked toward her and cupped her face in my hands. “You are the sexiest, most beautiful woman I have ever met in my life. Just knowing you are standing here in my bedroom is the biggest turn-on.”
She reached up on her tiptoes and kissed me. I put one hand on the back of her neck to pull her mouth closer to mine and used the other to find the zipper on the back of her dress and pull it down. When my hands pulled the dress forward so it could fall off of her onto the floor, I finally broke away from the kiss to have my first look at this beautiful woman’s body.
It was not what I expected.
“What the hell is that?” I asked, looking down and around her.
She giggled. “It’s my Spanx. It uh . . . smoothed out all my bumps since the dress was so fitted.”Like I said earlier, I can't recommend this book enough. You can't help but want these two to make things works. Of course there is some drama in this book, but I liked the way the author handled it. I hope the author plans on writing more books...I know I will be ready to read them!
Amazon buy link: http://amzn.com/B00QZKEYSI
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