Breakthrough by Sarah Stevens

A satisfying, drama-packed sports romance

Male athletes tend to be fun to read about, especially when they play for professional teams.  They are often treated like gods by fans, and especially by girls.  So when they finally meet their match, ie: their love interest, it makes for a good read.  I was excited to pick up Sarah Stevens' newest book, Breakthrough, precisely for this reason.  Breakthrough is book one in her Nashville Notes series - yes, ladies, there will be other hockey players we get to read about.

In Breakthrough we meet Mandy, a young single mom and sports trainer who is looking to return to Nashville after living in Boston for several years.  Mandy is looking to start fresh.  She is estranged from her daughter's father and she wants to be with her grandmother, who is the only family she has left.  Mandy meets Parker, the sexy (and doesn't he just know it) playboy goalie of the Nashville Notes.  Parker is used to women falling for him with the littlest effort - a butt wiggle here, a sexy smirk there.  When Mandy doesn't seem to be affected by him at all, suddenly she's all he can think about. And isn't that always the way?  But there are a lot of obstacles in their path.  Mandy has had bad luck with men, and in particular, male athletes and she's not looking to start anything with Parker.  He is awfully attractive though. Then, when Mandy's ex starts causing trouble, and an unknown threat starts targeting them,  Mandy and Parker need to decide if they should fight to be together or if their feelings are better left buried.  

This book was a good romance and it was fun to read.  Although I did find it took me a bit to like Parker.  He was just so overconfident and arrogant.  I definitely took to Mandy right away and was really hoping that she would get her happy ending.  I liked the added drama of the person threatening them - I thought it added to the plot and made what could have been a simple romance far more exciting.  If you like sports romances with plenty of drama, I really think you'll like this book, which promises to be a good start to a new series. Thank you to Give Me Books PR and to the author for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.