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A review by justmevictoria
The Underdog by Kate Lauren
slow-paced
4.0
It’s not about playing to win, it’s about playing to find your heart and home…
After the death of her grandfather Ida, the only person in the family who seemed to understand her, Delaney Matthews is on a mission to keep a hold of the one thing her gramps adored - the Crawfield Football Team. But with her parents only seeing dollar signs, she urges them to let her work her PR magic on the team to make it worth keeping. And that’s how she finds herself moving from Houston, Texas to Crawley, England for the next three months. CFC coach Warren Park is dreading having a member of the Matthews family in the vicinity of the club - he may have looked up to Ida as a father figure, but his experience with Ida’s son has him worried about the fate of the team he holds so dear. So when the bubbly Delaney steps foot on the field, he knows he’s in trouble. Not only because the team all but fall over themselves to start flirting with her, but because she’s stunning. He doesn’t want anyone coming in distracting him or upsetting the dynamic at Crawfield, but when she shows him how determined she is to help the team succeed, on and off the field, he’s entranced by how quickly she becomes part of the team. But when her three months are up, it’s crunch time for Delaney and any roots she was hoping to put down in the one place she finally feels like she belongs.
Y’all know how much your girl LOVES sports romance, and Kate has served up a delectable one! And it’s set in the UK? Yes, sign me up, give me those British accents! It’s so refreshing to have a sports romance focusing on the coach rather than a player - give me more romances between members of the coaching staff/team employees rather than just the players!
I absolutely ADORED the dynamic of CFC! One of the reasons I love sports romances so much, especially when they are part of companion novel series, is getting to see the dynamic between players and staff, and Crawfield had so much fun banter that has me so excited for future books in this series. Kate had a great balance between the fun team banter and the romance, especially since the romance isn’t actually involving a player, so there’s less opportunity to see that banter and those connections.
I’ll admit, it took me a little to get into the romance between Delaney and Warren. Sure, they have a good bit of chemistry, but we didn’t really get to see that chemistry in action until about halfway through the book - talk about a slow burn! Don’t get me wrong, I knew this was going to be a bit of a slow burn going in, I just didn’t think it would be slow in giving us that initial chemistry between the main characters. Sure, each character referenced how they found the other attractive, but there wasn’t a lot of actual chemistry to work off, or at least the grumpy/sunshine chemistry that I’ve come to love.
But once we really got into that Delaney/Warren dynamic? Oh boy was it good! They were so fun and sweet, and the bit of spice was a nice cherry on top! They really came into their characters when they were together, and I really enjoyed watching their relationship develop both in and out of the stadium. And the ending? It had so much heart and soul and was the perfect way to wrap up the story for these characters.
Move over cowboy era, I need to get back to sweaty and swoony sports players! Get ready to journey across the pond to fall in love with the greatest football team ever!
After the death of her grandfather Ida, the only person in the family who seemed to understand her, Delaney Matthews is on a mission to keep a hold of the one thing her gramps adored - the Crawfield Football Team. But with her parents only seeing dollar signs, she urges them to let her work her PR magic on the team to make it worth keeping. And that’s how she finds herself moving from Houston, Texas to Crawley, England for the next three months. CFC coach Warren Park is dreading having a member of the Matthews family in the vicinity of the club - he may have looked up to Ida as a father figure, but his experience with Ida’s son has him worried about the fate of the team he holds so dear. So when the bubbly Delaney steps foot on the field, he knows he’s in trouble. Not only because the team all but fall over themselves to start flirting with her, but because she’s stunning. He doesn’t want anyone coming in distracting him or upsetting the dynamic at Crawfield, but when she shows him how determined she is to help the team succeed, on and off the field, he’s entranced by how quickly she becomes part of the team. But when her three months are up, it’s crunch time for Delaney and any roots she was hoping to put down in the one place she finally feels like she belongs.
Y’all know how much your girl LOVES sports romance, and Kate has served up a delectable one! And it’s set in the UK? Yes, sign me up, give me those British accents! It’s so refreshing to have a sports romance focusing on the coach rather than a player - give me more romances between members of the coaching staff/team employees rather than just the players!
I absolutely ADORED the dynamic of CFC! One of the reasons I love sports romances so much, especially when they are part of companion novel series, is getting to see the dynamic between players and staff, and Crawfield had so much fun banter that has me so excited for future books in this series. Kate had a great balance between the fun team banter and the romance, especially since the romance isn’t actually involving a player, so there’s less opportunity to see that banter and those connections.
I’ll admit, it took me a little to get into the romance between Delaney and Warren. Sure, they have a good bit of chemistry, but we didn’t really get to see that chemistry in action until about halfway through the book - talk about a slow burn! Don’t get me wrong, I knew this was going to be a bit of a slow burn going in, I just didn’t think it would be slow in giving us that initial chemistry between the main characters. Sure, each character referenced how they found the other attractive, but there wasn’t a lot of actual chemistry to work off, or at least the grumpy/sunshine chemistry that I’ve come to love.
But once we really got into that Delaney/Warren dynamic? Oh boy was it good! They were so fun and sweet, and the bit of spice was a nice cherry on top! They really came into their characters when they were together, and I really enjoyed watching their relationship develop both in and out of the stadium. And the ending? It had so much heart and soul and was the perfect way to wrap up the story for these characters.
Move over cowboy era, I need to get back to sweaty and swoony sports players! Get ready to journey across the pond to fall in love with the greatest football team ever!