Published 16th May 2024 by Hera.
From the cover of the book:
Can a player on the court be a keeper at home?Elle's love language is food. But finding the right kind of work in her industry is difficult. After multiple different stints and temporary work, she lands her dream role: a personal chef to huge tennis star, Nicky Salco. It's just a bonus that he's handsome and athletic...but totally off limits.
The pressure is on, and not just in the kitchen. As Nicky trains for hours on the court for Wimbledon, Elle treads carefully around his brutally judgemental fiancée, while also trying to ignore her own boyfriend's cheating habits.
But the temperature rises when Nicky's training leads him to get hungry late at night and Elle is the one tasked with keeping his belly full. Despite being worlds apart, their late night rendezvous seem to lead to more than what they intended.
Should they risk the lives they have already built, for the lives they truly want?
A sizzling, forced-proximity sporting romance that fans of Hannah Grace and Ali Hazelwood will fall head over heels for.
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Chef, Elle is not having the best of times. Out of a job, she has been relying on patchy agency work and is stuck living with her cheating boyfriend, none of which is ideal. Finally, the dice roll in her favour and she is offered the role of live-in personal chef to handsome American tennis star, Nicky Salco, while he is in England for the Wimbledon Championship. The job comes with an unusual requirement: Elle will need to get up in the middle of the night to cook for the ever-hungry Nicky, but this is an opportunity for better things that she really cannot afford to pass up.
After a bumpy start, Nicky and Elle fall into an easy night-time routine. He cannot seem get enough of Elle's food, or her company, and she cannot deny that the attraction is mutual, but Nicky is out of bounds, because he has a fiancée in tow - the glamorous, and manipulative Mackenzie, who is less than happy about having a female chef as part of his entourage. Elle really does not want to get in the middle of their relationship, but things are threatening to boil over in more ways than one...
Love Game by Emma Rae is a little gem of a rom-com, that delves into the worlds of food and the professional tennis circuit. Rae chooses her ingredients with care, bringing together down-on-her-luck chef Elle and tempestuous tennis star Nicky, and surrounding them with a host of well-drawn characters to provide the sweet and sour notes you need to make up a literary dish that is very tasty indeed - and which has just the right level of spice to keep things steamy in the kitchen!
Elle is such a great character that you cannot help taking her to your heart from page one, and Rae keeps you guessing about the eventual result of the love match with Nicky, who takes some time to reveal his vulnerable side. Oodles of romantic suspense arise from the well-played mishaps and misunderstandings that grow out of their forced proximity, and once the game of passion is afoot the pace of the story hots up all the way to the most delicious, full-circle climax that had me sobbing into my strawberries and cream.
I devoured this little beauty in one single sitting, lapping up the love story, the passion, and all the lovely detail about food and the professional tennis circuit... and the Jane Eyre references! It is so wonderfully cinematic (please someone make me happy with an adaptation) and touches the emotional soft spot to perfection. Welcome to the ideal appetiser to the upcoming Wimbledon fortnight, romance fans!
Love Game by Emma Rae is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio book formats.
Thank you to Hera for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.
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