Three things you should know about Me:
I LOVE football (Go Colts!)
I read a lot of romance novels
I’m a woman of color
So fumbled should have been a 100% Super Bowl game winning touch down of a “he could go all the way!” pick for me but eh…
Single-mother Poppy Patterson moved across the country when she was sixteen and pregnant to find a new normal. After years of hard work, she's built a life she loves. It may include a job at a nightclub, weekend soccer games, and more stretch marks than she anticipated, but it's all hers, and nobody can take that away. Well, except for one person.
TK Moore, the starting wide receiver for the Denver Mustangs, dreamt his entire life about being in the NFL. His world is football, parties, and women. Maybe at one point he thought his future would play out with his high school sweetheart by his side, but Poppy is long gone and he's moved on.
When Poppy and TK cross paths in the most unlikely of places, emotions they've suppressed for years come rushing back. But with all the secrets they never told each other lying between them, they'll need more than a dating playbook to help them navigate their relationship.
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So sounds good right? PERFECT FOR ME RIGHT?!?
Nope.
Was TK hot hot? Yes. 100%. Felt those cute white boy vibes, like he was equal parts Clay Matthews and Travis Kelce from Kansas City.
Was Poppy a fully fleshed out black woman who was sassy and fun? Yes.
Was the boring interracial rom com trope of the secret baby, from ya black girlfriend who your family hates dragged out and used? Yep.
Did the CTE plot, ***SPOILER ALERT*** let’s give up football because we’ve just gotten back in a relationship and I say so a little unbelievable? HELL YES.
If you take out those last two things, this would have been a perfect fun romance novel that I devoured so quickly during quarantine, I might have been even be a little embarrassed! Honestly Alexa Martin nails the banter, the gal pals, and whew the sexy! I just…maybe its just me…but I read a lot of interracial romance, and why please someone TELL ME WHY FOR THE LOVE OF PETE! Is this secret baby trope so popular?
If we just agree to disagree on that, fine throw that out the window, I am still loving the book.
BUT WAIT…what Dear Reader do you ask made me silent scream at 4:4am in the dark of my bedroom when I swiped to the end of the book?
HE.GIVES.UP.HIS.LIFELONG.DREAM.OF.PLAYING. PROFESSIONAL. FOOTBALL.
AFTER BARELY BEING BACK IN THIS WOMAN’S LIFE FOR A HOT MINUTE. I get it, I am a childless shrew, so I can’t understand parenthood fine! FAIR! OK! What I do understand is a lifelong dream to work in an industry, where very few people get to be considered, the top tier, an elite individual, and to just up and walk away?
I grapple with my love of football, the serious undeniable fact that CTE is real, and the human brain even with a helmet and updated safety protocols is not meant to be bounced around like that in our skull. So real talk, I get. It just seemed a tad unrealistic… and that’s coming from a football fan whose quarterback up and retired early because he wanted to live injury free and fully enjoy his life.
So there you have it, I loved Fumbled and I hated it. Alexa Martin’s writing overall was killer, and I’m up for reading the other books in this universe (already requested it from the library). I just have a few bones to pick about this one.
It was a passionate romance for us, darling Fumbled and I…but sadly it ended and I would give it ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/6.
Still would recommended it to a romance and sports loving friend, just would also include my full secret baby rant while handing over a copy.
You can get yours on Amazon here
