Guarding Sophie is a super short novella. You can read it without having read the other books in the series (but all of them have been on my TBR so I am excited to dive into a few!). Sophie is a domestic abuse survivor on the run and Kyle is a pro football player. They knew each other in HS and randomly meet in a tiny town 4000 miles away from where they grew up. Sophie is in hiding, and in a way, so is Kyle. The 'girl on the run' trope is pretty predictable but this wasn't a bad book. Its well written (even if predictable) but it ends sort of abruptly! I was really confused because it was just sort of over. I know its a novella but it just ended oddly for me.
POV: 3rd (I have had a string of 3rd person books lately and I really don't care for 3rd person!)
Trope: girl on the run, famous athlete
Tears: no
Cliffhanger: no
Heat: 1 ( )

Full Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

My Thoughts: As many of you are aware, I have been on one heck of a contemporary romance kick lately. I saw the synopsis for Guarding Sophie and wanted to give it a try. I liked the idea that the two main characters already knew each other years before. I thought it might be a slight change of pace.

After I requested it, I realized I actually had a copy of 2 other books in this series. Don’t worry, you don’t really have to read this series in order. I think there’s a slight advantage because characters from the other books are mentioned, but it’s not necessary.

The chemistry between Sophie and Kyle was almost non-existent for me. It was like you were supposed to take the author’s word for it that there was chemistry because the characters had a history. I definitely felt like I was being told there was chemistry rather than shown, which is not enjoyable in a book.

Neither character was particularly engaging or exciting to read about. They weren’t fleshed out; you just had to take a lot at face value. Part of the blame for that has to fall on it being a short story. There was too much that could’ve been added, but would’ve ultimately made Guarding Sophie a novel.

To that end, Guarding Sophie had an awfully in-depth story line for a short story. Unfortunately because of that it felt rushed and not at all realistic. This would’ve made an interesting full length novel.

So far, I feel like I’ve mostly been negative which gives you a lopsided review. I did actually like Guarding Sophie. Sophie and Kyle each had good qualities, they were just overshadowed by everything else that was going on. The references to other players and couples from previous books would’ve been more enjoyable for me had I actually read those books.

Overall, I wasn’t impressed. It doesn’t dim my interest in the rest of the series, but I’m almost positive I would’ve enjoyed Guarding Sophie a little more if I’d read the other books first. In a sense, I’m thinking it’s my own fault here, not the author’s. I would recommend Guarding Sophie, if you’ve already read something in the Love and Football series.

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