Princess and the Player (Strangers in Love)

Ilsa has done it again! Wonderful dialogue, hilarious secondary characters, heartfelt romance, hot steamy sex, engaging protagonists, and the most beautiful cover! This is the second of the second of her Strangers in Love series and I hope she keeps them coming!Princess and the Player is the story of two characters who have suffered immense disappointment in their lives and end up at a costume party in a sex club. They are immediately attracted to each other – she is dressed in her “would-be” wedding gown, and he is the prince of her dreams. Agreeing to a one-night stand where no names or information would be exchanged, they find them enraptured with each other. When morning comes, they go their separate ways. Or do they?Karma has other ideas for Francesca and Tuck. They keep running into each other at obscure places like the coffee shop and bookstore. And in their apartment building. O, and a little pink pregnancy line appears to complicate their situation.One of the great attributes of an Ilsa Madden-Mills book are the secondary characters she develops. Darden, Cece, Brogan, Widow Carter, and Jasper are well defined and increase the hilarity of the book. Ilsa also manages to mention the primary characters from Beauty and the Baller, Nova and Ronan into this storyline to keep the continuity going.I fell in love with Tuck Avery when he gave his winter coat to a homeless man sitting on the curb. Francesca Lane may have taken a little longer. But she falls deeper in love with the football great.I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to those who come across it. It is worth every penny. Thank you, Ilsa for another satisfying read. Please keep the series going.

Princess and the Player is the second book in the series called Strangers in Love, however, each book stands on it's own with one main couple. I have read the first book and, not that this story is terrible, but I liked Beauty and the Baller more. I'm not a huge fan of babies/children in my romance. I usually avoid the trope but I am a fan of Ilsa Madden-Mills and she can usually make it work when I wouldn't otherwise accept it. For the most part I was ok with the pregnancy in this one because it wasn't the sole focus of every scene.Francesca and Tuck meet in a unique way on Tuck's (not a fan of this name) birthday celebration with Tuck's two buddies. Francesca (not a fan of this name either) ended her engagement when her fiancée cheats, but she puts on her dress and goes out with her friend. and Tuck isn't interested in a serious relationship. She meets Tuck, their chemistry is great, they agree to a one and done hook-up, and just like they agreed, they somewhat reluctantly go their separate ways.There were many side characters to be found in this story. Jasper (another name I'm not fond of unless it's a butler or chauffeur) was pretty close to Tuck ("T" from now on). Francesca (I'm calling her "F" from now on) has her besty, Cece, who has fallen in love and making huge changes in her life and her other besty, Brogan (🙄) who is our token LGBTQ character and is my favorite side character. There are other friends, neighbors, and associates with some more names I'm not fond of but each play and important part of the story while also providing comic relief.F and T both have some baggage and major trust issues that unfold over the course of their relationship. It takes a lot of time and patience but they do grow closer. Then she drops the baby bømb and T doesn't take it well, naturally. I'll let you read about it yourself. F finds out some life changing information about herself which is both interesting and mysterious at the same time. T makes some life altering decisions that affect both their present and the future. There's a lot going on for F and T that you are going to want to read.I was pretty immersed in the first half of the book but it did drag a bit here and there and I think I know where I lost interest. There was a lot going on in this one and each plot line deserved time. It did get bogged down a couple of times but it works out satisfactorily in the end. I enjoyed the bookFor the most part this was a well written story and had good plot lines and back stories for the characters. There weren't any major errors although I have noticed that the author likes to use the word grouse a lot. I've been counting the occurrences for fun. 😂 Also, she started using the word carding/card in place of just "running fingers through hair". I had to look it up because I have never seen the word used that way. And I am not sure her usage is the way the word is intended to be used but what do I know; I've never written a book. I can barely write a review. 😂Overall, I did enjoy the story and I would definitely recommend it. There is no cheating, no overly obnoxious OW/OM drama, and F, T, and the baby get a beautiful HEA. I look forward to the next installment which I am guessing is Jasper and possibly Courtney though I will be reading no matter who it's about. I'm giving this a four shiny star rating.

I’m not normally a fan of the unexpected pregnancy trope but this was a good one. The characters are so well developed that it felt like reading about friends

Book: Princess and the Player by Ilsa Madden-MillsPublished: November 8, 2022Pages: 283Genres: Romance, AthleteFormat: KindleDate Read: March 12-13, 2023Rating: 3 StarsI wanted to love this book so badly, I really did, but I can't bring myself give it a better rating. The premise was great, the beginning was binge worthy and then it all fell apart in the middle. The entire middle of the book is Francesca trying to come up with reasons not to tell Tuck she's pregnant and putting it off every chance she gets. I understand her being afraid and not wanting to lose him but she's 30 years old at this point, she's not an 18 year old kid. And that was literally all the middle of the book was - when is she going to tell Tuck she's pregnant? And then the end was very rushed and didn't wrap things up as nicely as I would have liked.I did enjoy the characters! I liked that Francesca was a fighter who kept her head held high and didn't let her cheating jerk of a fiancé ruin her. It was refreshing to see a heroine that keeps going, even after being knocked down several times. I absolutely loved Cece and Brogan, and Jasper too, I feel like they made the book honestly! And I obviously enjoyed reading about Tuck as well! He also didn't have an easy life growing up and is now at a big moment at his life when his football career is coming to an end, which is a huge life altering change. I loved that he wasn't afraid to pursue Francesca and continued to seek her out because he knew there was something there with their chemistry.The ending, while forced, made me smile because our couple got their happily ever after which is really all I want to see in a romance book like this. Overall it was a good read but will I read it again? Most likely not.

This was such a delight. Excellent main story with laughter and tears and well developed side characters that I want to read more about.

Eu achei muito fofo, e uma leitura bem tranquila e rápida.O plot é bem clichê mas emocionante.Vale a pena

Una novela fácil de leer , ellos dos con un pasado complicado pero al final era parte de lo que los une.Me encanto como se dan las cosas y como al final el amor gana

I didn't think I'd love the characters. I saw it was a surprise pregnancy, I was feeling like reading that trope today so I jumped in. And I loved it.The way Tuck's and Francesca's life had been intertwined felt so good, and their story... Wow 🥺 Their past was really heartbreaking and I am so happy that they finally have their happily-ever-after 🫶Also, loved the heck out of the side characters. They made this book shine ✨

I enjoyed this one even more than the other one. Francesca and Tuck are great characters, who have to deal with a lot before finding each other and themselves.I especially loved Cece and Jacob