Beauty and the Baller

Strangers in Love

By: Ilsa Madden-Mills

Narrated by: Sebastian York, Savannah Peachwood

Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

An Amazon Charts and #1 Kindle Store bestseller.

An NFL quarterback turned small-town coach gets sacked by a Texas beauty queen in this swoony, passionate romance from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills.

Gorgeous, talented, and brilliant, NFL quarterback Ronan Smith has the world in his hands. But after losing his career and his fiancée in a car accident, he falls into a pit of grief and bad choices. When a mysterious girl shows up to his party, he feels drawn to her and makes her his…for one night.

Former beauty queen Nova Morgan is on a mission. Scantily clad as a princess from a galaxy far, far away, she sneaks into a high-profile party to capture the attention of her favorite quarterback. But her hopes crash after an awful one-night stand.

Fast-forward two years. Broke and desperate, Nova returns home to Blue Belle, Texas, where, by a cosmic twist of fate, her broody neighbor is none other than Ronan, the shiny new football coach everyone adores. But he has no idea who she is.

The booster club keeps shoving women at Ronan to keep him in town. His solution? He proposes fake dating to Nova. But things heat up for real under these Friday-night lights when he realizes she’s the one who slipped away.

Has this jaded beauty found her forever baller, or will his past keep them apart?

©2022 Ilsa Madden-Mills. (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“With a tremendous appeal to fans of Contemporary Romance Comedies…impressively performed…by the narrative team of Sebastian York and Savannah Peachwood. A fun listening experience from beginning to end.” —Midwest Book Review

“In this un-put-downable romance, Madden-Mills skillfully balances the emotional with the physical to produce a love story that’s equal parts scorching and sweet.” —Publishers Weekly

“A sexy, fun romance from an author who always delivers.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Fun Sports small town romance

Ronan is stuck by grief by losing his fiancé and his NFL career cause of an injury. His friend gets him out one night and thats where he meets Princess Leia. One night stand that ends badly and never to be heard from again. Nova moves back home from NY cause her mom died and she needs take care of her sister. When she is almost hit by some woman in her front yard. She realizes that the girl is coming from her neighbors yard, who happens to be the star high school football coach. Low and behold when she finds out the new football coach is none other than Ronan, her one night stand. What happens when they figure out that they can both benefit by fake dating? What happens when history comes into play? What happens when small town gossip comes in?

This was such a cute sports small town story. This audio was great too. I really liked the fun small town life and how everyone knew everyone. I loved that Ronan was really jealous but scared and he was just confused and I really liked seeing his arc and really figuring out what he wanted. Nova was a really fun character and I saw a lot of myself in her.

LOVE IT WORTH IT!

Oh my AMAZING from the start and did not disappoint. GREAT NARRATION! AWESOME STORY! FANTASTIC!

Exceptional story!

Ronan Smith has hit rock bottom. The all-star quarterback of the New York Pythons, he lost his fiancée in a car crash, and he lost his career as a football player, too. Now he's spending his days with whiskey and Tuck, his only friend and teammate. In a deep funk, one evening, Ronan stares as a beautiful, sexy lady waltzes in to a Pythons private party, dressed as Princess Leia and calling to him. His thoughts go from the past, into the present, and he's consumed with lust, but grief and guilt, as well. How can he feel pleasure when Whitney feels nothing. Ronan makes the biggest mistake when he calls out Whitney as they make love, and Nova is gone before he can so much as open his eyes. What did he do! Two and a half years later, Nova's mother has passed away from an aneurysm, and she's going back to Blue Belle, TX, to take care of her fifteen-year-old sister, Sabine. There's a loud party going on next door and an even louder car screeches into the street and right over Nova's rose bush. She's going to go over and ask for restitution from the new coach who moved in at the beginning of the year. The football coach, of course, is Ronan Smith, not only the coach, but the center of attention for every marriage-minded female in town. Nova confronts him and he doesn't even recognize her! It's going to be mighty interesting when he finally gets a clue. Once he figures it out, he's tense and unhappy, thinking he can't get involved, even if he's crazy-attracted to her. In his mind, he's not worthy of anyone's love and he tells himself he doesn't know how to love. It's a fascinating and clever story of seeing the outside of a person and the understanding that there's an entire other being on the inside. Nova sees right through Ronan, past the scars and into his heart, but Ronan's stuck in a bad place. His football team is what's bringing him the most attention and a bit of fame, none of which he really wants. He just wants his team to go on to the championship and win. I had the feeling that Ronan wasn't giving himself a fair chance and, even though it's obvious that he loves Nova, he can't bring himself to say the words. Fame catches up to him and he's offered the quarterbacks coaching position for the Pythons, but how can he take it when his heart is still in Texas. The emotions run high and I'm a little disappointed that Ronan doesn't ever make the grand gesture. We are told that he comes to the realization as to how much in love he is, but he doesn't show it for far too long. The HEA is rather rushed and not as romantic as I would like in the closet with his clothes! Those are just my thoughts and I'm sure most readers will be happy with how it ends. The Epilogue is so sweet and revisits the secondary characters who have become just as important as Nova and Ronan. Thanksgiving dinner? Brilliant! Savannah Peachwood and Sebastian York do a marvelous job with the narration. Both do both male and female voices well and the intonation and modulation are exceptional! 

Beautiful story!

I loved this story! It had so many instances where I was laughing and then tearing up at a sweet or sad part! Ronan and Nova are so good together and their HEA had me crying! Sebastian York and Savannah Peachwood brought these characters to life for me and I heard their voices in my head as I would read sections over again!

Enjoyed Very much.

I usually do not write reviews but decided that I would on this book. I almost didn’t purchase this book because of a review that said formulative and not very good. I have to disagree and wanted to say I enjoyed the story and the characters and did not find it overly formulated. Maybe the reviewer was referring to the Happy Ending. ( the very reason I buy these books. I want happy.

So if your on the fence, I would say give it a go if you like Texas, football and strong women. This book is a great Saturday afternoon read.

Perfect

Enjoyed everything about this book. From the narration to the banter. Great storyline as well. Looking forward to part two. Hope the narration is just as great. 5 stars for me!

Must have

The bok was hard to put down after starting it..it was fantastic to listen to.

Great story 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

This is a cute story. The narrators were great. Love Savannah Peach and Sebastian York. Llsa Madden-Mills you did a great job.
Paula(NJ)

Ahhh. ❤️ Worth my credit

I loved this sweet love story.
I laughed and cried. My heart-ached for the characters and then I fell in love with them and their personalities.

There is no big crazy storyline just two people finding one another and finding their own selves allowing them to find love.

I read negative reviews but really I liked it so much I stayed up until 3:30am to finish it so that should tell you how much I liked it.

A fun, well-rounded read!

I loved this book! It kept popping up in my suggestions and I bought it on one of the sales a while back. I thought it would be one of the canned sports player/beauty stories but this one had so much more. I couldn't stop listening.