He’s noticed by everyone…
Griffin Chandler.
He’s captain of our college’s basketball team. I swear to God I’ve already seen him in a Nike ad, and he’s one of the top picks when he goes pro following our spring graduation.
His life is on display for the world. Both his accomplishments and demons there for judgment.
I’m a girl who likes to play roller derby from, of all places, Wisconsin. My own demons better concealed. And one day…
He notices me.
Griffin and Roxie are both in their senior year of college. Even though they've been going to the same school, they were never much on each other's radar. Roxie knew of course who he was and might have been admiring Griffin from afar for a while, but it isn't until a weird situation in the laundry room when they make that first connection.
Now Griffin never minded being the big man on campus, it definitely had its perks, but lately he's just done with it. The quiet life, without drama seems like heaven and if that means that he can get to know Roxie, it's even better.
Roxie is a bit wary of Griffin's intentions. His reputation isn't the best and she's nothing like the girls he usually date. That is of course why he likes her so much. Still she gives him a chance and things between them take off pretty quickly.
Not everyone is very happy with that development. Griffin has some ex-girlfriend, that doesn't take kindly to being shoved aside. So there is definitely drama from that side. Then there is the fact that the basketball team over the years has been accepting "gifts" from parties interested in their success. Also Roxie has some skeletons in her closet that are not that easy to look over. Though all these elements added extra dimension to the story, I felt that some parts like Roxie's secret and the team's bribes, were not handled serious enough in this book. The solutions were a bit too easy and Roxie is beyond lucky that nobody found out.
They were both really great characters. Griffin wasn't that over the top alpha I've become used to, so that's refreshing. He's a genuine nice guy, who've made some stupid choices in the past, but it's clearly how badly he wants this to work between him and Roxie. She is rather a contradiction. On the one hand, certainly in the beginning, she seems so shy and insecure. Then the next moment she's fierce, knows what she wants and that vulnerability kind of falls away. That's why I sometimes had a bit of trouble really connecting with her, because some things did not make sense in my mind.
Overall it's a fun story, with not just romance but also some mystery and a lot of drama. You kind of breeze through it, loving the characters you need to love and hating the ones that need hating. A sweet new adult story with some strong characters.
The Author
In her free time, she enjoys extreme couponing, blogging, reading, and sending off a few tweets on Twitter when she can. She writes new adult fiction romance in the sub-genres of science fiction, urban fantasy, and contemporary, but really, anywhere her pen takes her she goes. She’s also co-founder of NA Alley, a group fiction blog dedicated toward the spread of the ‘new adult’ fiction category.
