Risky Game

Solheim’s third Out of Bounds sports contemporary (after Foolish Games) continues the series’ exploration of the tormented inner lives of Baltimore Blaze football players. Charming, gorgeous, talented tight end Brody Janik is paranoid about his health condition getting out during contract negotiations, especially since an anonymous blogger is hunting for football gossip. While spying in the Blaze locker room on the blogger’s behalf, Shay Everett, the team’s spunky intern, learns Brody’s secret, but she decides it’s ethically wrong to share the information. Brody finds the whiskey-eyed Shay a conundrum: fascinating and attractive, but dangerous. Shay signs a contract agreeing to keep Brody’s health concerns private, but the blogger keeps blogging. As Brody struggles to trust Shay, she tries to uncover the blogger’s identity, and everyone else wonders what’s really going on between them. The hero and heroine play well off one another as sexual sparks snap and fizzle. Their numerous disagreements get old fast, saved by the intervention of savory secondary characters. Readers who enjoy introspection and intelligent handling of trust and family obligations over courtship will relish this emotion-driven story. (May)