Liz Tomforde Archives - The Litertarian

Welcome to the best sports romance series I’ve read. In the Windy City series, Liz Tomforde has created an irresistable cast of characters you can’t help but love. They’re eclectic, they’re flawed, they’re possessive, quite spicy, and you want to be friends with every last one of them. The first in the series is probably the sassiest and perhaps the most transformational of them all. In my opinion, every book only gets better than the last, and you can’t ask for better than that!

Zanders is the ladiest of ladies men. As in, he’s got numbers for ladies in every city his professional hockey team visits. Multiple ladies. In every town. He’s a player, and he’s not ashamed of it. But when their new flight attendant, Stevie, refuses to take any of his shit, he’s curious, and then obsessed with cracking through her tough shell. Too bad she’s completely unimpressed with professional athletes since her twin brother is one of the biggest NBA stars in the country.

“You following me?”

What do I love about this book? Both of these characters are challenged and go through a lot of big growth. I appreciate that Stevie can be insecure about her body, and I absolutely love that Zanders only has heart eyes for every inch of her. There are bumps and bruises along the way, but they both really get a quick sense of each other and are able to care for one another intuitively from pretty early on. Not only do they grow together, they go through their own personal transformations, too, that pave the way for a healthy relationship.

I love that these books are so long and detailed. Everything feels very connected and weaved together, and not splotchy and clumsily tied together. You really get to spend a lot of time with the characters and their world, so you get a really great payoff in the end when things finally click into place.

Any fan of romance should give this series the good try. I haven’t seen a single person who disliked them yet. There are FIVE books to enjoy (I can’t wait to enjoy the last one after my reread of the rest!), and I cannot wait to see what Liz Tomforde comes up with next! Let’s get it girl!

Details

Title:: Mile High (Windy City #1)
Author:: Liz Tomforde
Genre:: Sports Romance
Publisher:: Indie
Length:: 603 pages
Audio Length:: 16h 48m
Audiobook Narrator:: Winston James and Mari
Published:: June 4th, 2022
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

Play Along | Liz Tomforde
The Graham Effect | Elle Kennedy
Gloves Off | Stephanie Archer

Play Along is the 4th book in the Windy City spicy sports romance series by Liz Tomforde. If you’re a fan of sports romance, this series is a must read. Play Along lives up to the same meant-to-be, charged with heat romance, and it has the same deep heart healing running through it too.

Isaiah Rhodes (pro shortstop) and Kennedy Kay (an athletic physical therapist for his pro baseball team) met in a bathroom on a bad day for them both. Three years later, they get drunk as skunks and married in Vegas so Kennedy can feel some sense of power in her f*cked up family dynamic. The next morning the real world comes at them like the world’s worst hangover, and they realize that if Kennedy is really going to get what she wants (professionally), they’ll have to play out this marriage like it’s real for the whole baseball season. The only problem is Isaiah has a very real thing for Kennedy, and she is looking forward to having actual freedom for the first time in her life – which means D-I-V-O-R-C-E, A.S.A.P.

I love this series. Tomforde has built up a big ol’ cast of characters that are supportive and spunky and endearing and sprinkled throughout each other’s stories. Isaiah is the younger brother of Kai, the hero of my favorite book in the series, Caught Up. But man, Isaiah really gives Kai a run for his money. I’m honestly conflicted at this point on which to claim as my favorite, but in the end it doesn’t matter – they’re both (all) brilliant.

I love the depth that this series explores in each volume. They’re fairly long books compared to many in the genre, but still, I’m left wanting more (seriously, I had to look up if there is a fifth book in the series coming, and – rejoice – there is!). Both lead characters always get a robust backstory and very real conflicts and insecurities that they work through that gives them such depth and allows us to empathize with them deeply. In this case, Isaiah lost his mother at the age of thirteen and is dealing with some severe anxiety when triggered, and is also learning that it’s okay to be himself instead of the mask of humor and the relentless easy-going nature he forces himself to wear at all times. For Kennedy, she comes from a cold family who has never expressed love or affection for her and uses her like a pawn in their own schemes. She has trouble feeling important or worth anyone’s time, and has problems with physical touch. Through all the tropey gimmicks, these two come together to heal each other in all the right places.

If Liz Tomforde wrote ten books in this series, I would read them all. I trust that she can string together a story that I’ll care about no matter the context. She’s good at characters with heart, and they’re all living rent-free in my head. If you love that all-consuming possessive longing love feeling, you’d be hard pressed to find something better than this series. Pick it up! You won’t be sorry.

Details

Title:: Play Along
Author:: Liz Tomforde
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: Golden Boy Publishing LLC
Length:: 272 pages
Audio Length:: 12h 32m
Audiobook Narrator:: Jacob Morgan & Samantha Brentmoor
Audiobook Publisher:: Golden Boy Publishing LLC
Published:: July 11th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars
Spice Level:: 4 (open door, explicit language)