Book Review: The Baller by Vi Keeland

Genre:	Adult, Romance, Contemporary
Publication.Date	January 18th, 2016
Pages:	284
Published By:	Vi Keeland
Website	Vi Keeland
	The Baller on Goodreads
My review copy:	Bought

Where to get:

From New York Times and USA Today Bestseller, Vi Keeland, comes a sexy new novel.

The first time I met Brody Easton was in the men’s locker room.
It was my first interview as a professional sportscaster.
The famed quarterback decided to bare all.
And by all, I don’t mean he told me any of his secrets.
No. The arrogant ass decided to drop his towel, just as I asked the first question. On camera.
The Super Bowl MVP quickly adopted a new hobby—screwing with me.
When I pushed back, he shifted from wanting to screw with me, to wanting to screw me.
But I don’t date players.
And it’s not because I’m one of the few women working in the world of professional football.
I’d date an athlete.
It’s the other kind of player I don’t date.
You know the type. Good looking, strong, cocky, always looking to get laid.

Brody Easton was the ultimate player.
Every woman wanted to be the one to change him.
But the truth was, all he needed was a girl worth changing for.
Turned out, I was that girl.
Simple right?
Let’s face it. It never is.
There’s a story between once upon a time and happily ever after…
And this one is ours.

(Goodreads)

"Relax. I'm joking. Dinner means dinner. You know, I take you out to some overpriced restaurant where we share a meal and I tell you how great I am."

"See," he said when Siselee had gone. "I'm making you laugh. And you think I'm hot. This is a great courtship. I don't know what you're talking about."

"That's an oddly sweet statement."
"I'm an oddly sweet kinda guy. Now shut up and kiss me."

This book was popping up super frequently around social media a few weeks ago, and the synopsis and teaser quotes made this sound right up my alley. A fun sports romance? Sign me up. And you know, for the first chunk of the book, The Baller was totally living up to my expectations. But then I hit a point, around halfway through, where the whole thing started feeling kind of...meh. And from then on, the book never really built back up to a point where I was LOVING it--it was just okay.

The main characters were cool. Delilah is a snarky sports reporter who refuses to take any crap from the hotshot QB. Brody is a star football player who loves to tease. They both have shadows in their pasts, and in the beginning, that was an interesting aspect. I liked reading their points of view and learning about them while trying to unravel exactly what had happened. And both of the characters are very likeable--it is not hard at all to get in their corner and start rooting for them, both separately to face their issues and together to be the amazing couple they are clearly meant to be. But, again, once I got to a certain point about halfway through it began to lose its shine.

The romance in particular was great. I loved Brody and Delilah as a couple. I enjoyed reading them and wanted them to be together. Plus, if you're looking for steam, these two have definitely got it. So they really cover all the bases in that regard.

As far as plot goes, however, I think that's partly where this book lost me. The writing factored in, too. Because when I reached that point about halfway through, something was revealed about one of their pasts that took me out of how much I was liking the story. I knew, I just KNEW, what would happen. How it would go downhill, how that would annoy me. And even though I wasn't to the part where it was happening yet, I was already gearing up for it. I was right, of course. And I didn't like it. I also did not like how the dual POV I was enjoying so much (as I ALWAYS do, because dual POV is my jam) stretched to include another point of narration, of someone I was not a fan of and did not want to even be there let alone read from.

Then there's the simple fact that I found this book kind of forgettable. It was fun in the beginning, but then it went downhill and I stopped caring so much. I read it anyway, parts that I disliked and all, but then I put the book down and was like... *shrug* Honestly, as I was reading it I felt the same way. That's probably the best way to describe my feelings about this book in general--with a shrug. It was okay. I didn't hate it, I didn't love it, it's just a book I read.

Overall, The Baller started out great, but that only lasted for about half of the novel. I wasn't too fond of the second half, and as a whole, this book was forgettable. I'm kind of the black sheep on this, though, because I've seen so many people raving about it. Personally, I didn't find it to be very special. Or addictive. Or anything of the sort. But if you're interested in checking this one out, maybe read a few more reviews to get a more broad idea of whether or not this book will work for you. Just because it wasn't my cup of tea doesn't necessarily mean it won't be yours.