Intercepted

The Playbook, Book 1

By: Alexa Martin

Narrated by: January LaVoy

Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

Series in development with Starz & G-Unit Films and Television by 50 Cent and La La Anthony 

One of NPR's Best Books of 2018 

An Amazon Best Romance of 2018 Pick 

An iBooks "Best of September" Pick

A GoodReads Best of the Month pick for September

One of Booklist's Top 10 Romance Debuts for 2018

One of BookBub's Best Fall Romances of 2018 

Marlee thought she scored the man of her dreams only to be scorched by a bad breakup. But there's a new player on the horizon, and he's in a league of his own...

Marlee Harper is the perfect girlfriend. She's definitely had enough practice by dating her NFL-star boyfriend for the last 10 years. But when she discovers he has been tackling other women on the sly, she vows to never date an athlete again. There's just one problem: Gavin Pope, the new hotshot quarterback and a fling from the past, has Marlee in his sights.

Gavin fights to show Marlee he's nothing like her ex. Unfortunately, not everyone is ready to let her escape her past. The team's wives, who never led the welcome wagon, are not happy with Marlee's return. They have only one thing on their minds: taking her down. But when the gossip makes Marlee public enemy number one, she worries about more than just her reputation.

Between their own fumbles and the wicked wives, it will take a Hail Mary for Marlee and Gavin's relationship to survive the season.

©2018 Alexa Martin (P)2018 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Narrator January LaVoy's performance of this contemporary sports romance will have listeners cheering.... LaVoy brings humor, drama, and conflict to life as she nails unique and consistent voices for a host of characters. Her comedic timing and portrayals of emotional pain will make binge-listening the easiest play in the audiobook." (AudioFile)

"The writing is snappy, the pacing is quick, the romance is sublime, and the humor is off-the-charts. Alexa Martin delivers a stellar love story, and I can’t wait to see what she writes next." (USA Today)

"Martin scores a touchdown of a debut with Intercepted, a witty rom-com set in the world of professional football players and their wives." (Entertainment Weekly)

"[Marlee's] love story isn't about which football player is The One for her, it's about a woman claiming her independence on her own terms, even when a hunky guy keeps coming to the rescue." (NPR)

Waste of a credit

It normally takes for a book to be really bad for me to write a review and this one came close. I felt lied to about this book from the reviews, summary, and cover. I went into this book thinking it was going to be a great book about a POC and her love interest. What I got was a character full of whininess, hashtags, and self hate. The book loved to mention "black girl magic" but I saw none of that. The main female was not strength at all. I wonder if the book would have come across better if the narrator was a POC because all I took away from the narration was self entitlement. When there were some "hood" slang thrown in, it sounded hilarious (not in a good way) coming from the narrator.

January is a POC

I purchased this book and author due to narrator Ms LaVoy who has become my new fave performer. See Ms LaVoy performing author Marcia Clark, Rachel Knight series. The series is great and I have enjoyed re listening to each of the stories again. Do not miss Ms LaVoy narration of Mary Higgins Clark I’ve Got My Eyes on You, as that book steals your heart. See Ms LaVoy on Twitter as she proudly claims her biracial heritage. She has such a rich narrative voice for interpreting an author work. Her male and children voices are superb.
Audibles bio on author being a pass NFL wife gives credence to this wonderful romance comedy and the Publishers summery is spot on.
This story has wonderful self-deprecating humor from our heroine who is smart enough to be able to carry it off. It is hilarious and entertaining!
You are right there in the players box listening to wives and fans shout out cheers that can make your ears burn or at the players wives luncheons where some order salads and others pretend to eat thinly! You are right there at the table when our heroine who, a size 8 eats real food and lives to tell about it.
Our hero Gavin is just a peach of a man, and I mean WOW. Ms LaVoy makes him sound so yummy.
I am not sure why the change in narrators for book 2, and I am terribly disappointed author or publisher decided to give another narrator a chance at book 2.
I do use the 1.25x speed to match the authors intent.
Were my comments helpful?

Too. Many. Hashtags.

I think I was about to go crazy with the amount of “hashtag, *sassy quote here*” moments in this book. It was too many in the first few chapters...by the end of the book I was wishing upon a shooting star that I was the type of person that could handle not finishing a book. It ruined the book. I was literally rolling my eyes. Marley was a like able character so I was invested in her but I would have really enjoyed hearing her voice in a more realistic tone?? The colloquialisms and manner of her speech would have been better delivered by someone who really spoke like her. To be fair, January handled all of the different voices very well and I think she is a great narrator overall. I just would appreciate the authors/publishers picking people who can deliver the story in the tone that it was written. There were so many times that the characters would say something the way me and my girls would talk...but it just didn’t land. I’d listen to her again in a heartbeat if it wasn’t an urban story.

Perfect Debut Novel

4.5 Stars
Alexa Martin’s debut novel was fantastic! I love sports romances and this one lived up to all my expectations. I adored this book and the characters.The narrator was perfect and really brought the story to life and made me love the characters more.

Marlee was dating an NFL receiver on and off for a while. She was just waiting on him to make it official and she could join the elite wives club of the football players. She wasn’t expected the teams new QB to be someone from her past.

Gavin is sweet, sexy, a great athlete and fiercely loyal. He is a great player and tried to get along with everyone. Gavin is the perfect book boyfriend you can’t help but love.

Intercepted has the perfect amount of drama and romance mixed with football. I devoured this book and can’t wait for the book by this author.

Great...except for the romance

It's true this book has a wonderful, witty heroine with interesting female friendships. It's well-written (though, god, #enoughwiththehashtags). In the end I gave up on it because the central relationship just wasn't very interesting, and the hero just didn't have much of a personality other than being hot, wealthy, nice. If only some of the zing from the friendships had made it into the romance!

#annoying

The shouting of hashtag was over the top and way over used. as the book went on the main character Marley became so annoying I wanted to punch her in the face! I don’t think I have been more annoyed with a character in years and between my Kindle, Nook and physical books I own more than 2000 books. I have only an hour left of this book and I’m not sure I will be able to finish it. This is one of the worst books I have listened to in a while. Uggh - saving grace is Gavin!

Just ok..maybe for a younger audience (20-30)

Book was really long for no real reason.
The hashtags drove me crazy, but maybe I am just too old for this book (43), just sounded like the author was trying to hard. The narrator was great.

Well written and well produced but...

This is a tough one. The book was well-written, well-narrated and well-edited but the premise and the characters’ actions/reactions seemed like a junior high school girl’s fantasy. Very immature.
The narrator is very talented. Her different voices for different characters were top-notch. However, the level of snark was too intense throughout the book. I think a lot of that was due to the author’s words but much of it came from the narrator’s interpretation. The heroine thought she was a little too cute.
Unfortunately, this was a miss for me.

I love this book so much!

Ms. Martin is now on my “insta buy” list! This was a really funny book and I enjoyed laughing out loud to it. The narration was very well done!

An Inside Look at the NFL

I loved this story of catty NFL wives, a charity group similar to the worst of the Junior Leagues, and a swoon-worthy romance. The narration by January LaVoy was amazing. LaVoy is one seriously talented voice actor who nailed each character. Listen to this one for the narration alone!

sweet story

the hashtag thing was a bit strange and off putting, an ick if you like and the pacing is fast and loose. still enjoyed though. it's a cute story. I like Naomi and Brynn and Marlee. I don't like the wags and I don't understand why they were given such power within the organization...

fun easy read

perfect off day, switch off, easy listen without being distracted by bad plots and writing which easy reads can be. I really enjoyed this.