Guest Post: Down by Contact – Jami Davenport

It’s showtime.

After twelve years in the league, all Zach Murphy wants is a Super Bowl ring. He’s been about hard hits not smooth manners, about breaking quarterbacks not making small talk at cocktail parties. But now he’s shattered something else. After dumping a tray of drinks on the team owner’s snooty daughter and accidentally feeling up the Governor’s wife, his tenure with his team looks perilously short. And things are getting worse.

Life is looking up for Kelsie Carrington-Richmond. A onetime beauty pageant star and mean girl, she only recently stopped living out of her car. But those times have passed. Her finishing school for real men has a real shot, and the Seattle Lumberjacks have hired her to polish their roughest player.

Except…it’s Zach. Long ago she broke his heart. He’s just the beast she remembers—gruff, protective—but she’s nothing like the beauty from his past. Yet, getting knocked down happens, and getting back up makes a contender. And they both have the hearts of champions.

Series: Seattle Lumberjacks #3
Release Date: March 25, 2013
Publisher: Boroughs Publishing
Source: Author’s Angels
Reviewer: Lucy
Rating:

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Reviewer’s Thoughts

All Zach Murphy has wanted since he was a child was a Super Bowl ring, even taking a pay cut to be traded in order to achieve his dream. While Zack is an amazing player on the field his lack of manners off the field leaves a lot to be desired and makes him an awkward party guest. Just when he thinks a team charity cocktail party can get no worse, struggling with numerous social missteps, he runs into Kelsie Carrington-Richmond. Zach remembers the spoiled beauty queen from high school, and is horrified when he discovers the next day that he must work with her in order to improve his manners. As Zach and Kelsie try to forge a working relationship the reader is left wondering if the rough and tumble football player can learn to appreciate the reformed mean girl from his past.

Zach and Kelsie come from different sides of the track, and both have preconceived notions about the other based on their past relationship. Kelsie really tries to improve herself and works hard to move beyond the selfish girl she was in her youth. Her story is heartbreaking and she displays courage in the face of adversity that is admirable. For all his success Zach is still stuck in the past and can’t seem to move beyond the young boy from the troubled home living in the trailer park. Even with all his social miscues he is just a gentle man with a big heart that takes care of those he loves. It is hard not to fall in love with them both and root for their successes. Ever present are the other teammates that were introduced in previous books such as Derek and Tyler as well as new faces such as Bruce and Brett. Jami Davenport delivers another winning novel in the Seattle Lumberjack series and left the reader wanting the next one.