Lavender and Linebackers is a contemporary sports romance about a rookie linebacker and a professional cheerleader, once childhood best friends and now enemies, who are forced to work together on a major marketing campaign despite a rule forbidding them from being together.
When fate forces time with the enemy . . . tackle it.
Ryder Monroe
Alice Monarch is my biggest regret. My childhood best friend turned enemy.
I knew there was a possibility I’d see her. I just never imagined it would be on day one of my rookie season as a linebacker for the Tampa Tarpons. I’m a football player. She’s a cheerleader. There’s a reason the handbook strictly forbids it.
What I never saw coming was the organization pairing us together for a major marketing campaign. Saying no isn’t an option. It’s in my contract that I’m required to say yes. Now I’m stuck with her for months, representing the Tarpons around town. I hate her, and she hates me.
The only problem? I can’t stop looking at her. She’s smart, kind, even more beautiful than I remember, and the more time I spend with her, the harder it becomes to understand why I let her go.
Alice Monarch
The rules are in place for a reason. Football players and cheerleaders are off-limits.
For years, I’ve compared every man I’ve ever met to Ryder Monroe. He was my first love, my best friend, and the one person I never imagined living without. Until he ruined us, left town, and ghosted me.
Now, years later, we’re being thrown back together. Okay, “forced” isn’t entirely accurate. I chose this because the Tarpons agreed to sponsor my youth cheer team, the Mighty Monarchs.
This team is my everything. I’d do anything for them. Even work side by side with the man who broke my heart. It doesn’t matter that Ryder still has the most irresistible smile I’ve ever seen or that he can still make my heart race. My career and sponsorship are on the line. The only problem? The more time I spend with him, the harder it becomes to remember why I swore I’d never forgive him.
Ex-childhood best friends
Enemies-to-lovers
Football player and cheerleader
Workplace romance
Forbidden romance
Second chance romance
Slow burn
Found family
Interconnected standalone
Sunny Shelly’s Review: 4 Stars
The third installment in the Tampa Tarpons series, Alice and Ryder’s story delivers a slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers, former childhood friends romance. They haven’t spoken since a misunderstanding after their high school graduation, but now Alice is a new cheerleader and Ryder is a rookie on the team. They have been paired together by the marketing department on a “hometown heroes” PR push, and being forced to spend time together forces them to face their past.
The banter between the two is delicious, and I really enjoyed how they dealt with the misunderstanding between them and tried to figure out how to move forward in the face of the non-fraternization clause the team has in place.
If you are looking for a lighthearted romance, Lavender & Linebackers hits all the right notes! Thank you to Kathryn Andrews for the complimentary copy.
Sunny Shelly Reads 