Man, He Was a Jerk, But I Loved Him!

TITLE: Mile High (Windy City #1)

AUTHOR: Liz Tomforde

PUBLISHER: Hodder

PUBLISHING DATE: June 7, 2022

PAGES: 603   

SOURCE: KU

FROM GOODREADS: ZANDERS Chicago hockey isn't complete without me - everyone's favourite player to hate. I know my role, and I play it well. In fact, I thoroughly enjoy spending the majority of my game time in the penalty box before leaving the arena with a new girl on my arm each night. 

What I don't like is the new flight attendant on our team's private plane. She works for me, not the other way around. But I'll be sure to remind her of that, and I can guarantee, by the end of the season, she'll be begging to quit her job. 

But every road trip blurs the lines, and I can't quite figure out if I keep pushing that flight attendant call button in order to push her buttons, or if it's more than that. 

STEVIE I've been a flight attendant for years. I thought I'd seen it all, but when my new job lands me onboard working for the most egotistical and self-righteous diva in the NHL, I start to second guess everything. Including the promise I made to myself of never hooking up with an athlete again . . . no matter how annoyingly tempting he may be. 

Evan Zanders is unfiltered, unapologetic, and too attractive for his own good. He loves his image, but I hate everything about it. 

Everything but him.

MY THOUGHTS: This was not a book I planned to read in May, but I ended up participating in a book club over on Instagram ran by Iulia @ Adopt that Monster where she focuses on book each month that features the bond between humans and their dogs.  I believe she is a dog trainer, and I have linked her account in case you want to check her out. Anyway, doesn't that sound like the perfect club for me so I grabbed this book on KU. 

Stevie is a flight attendant who has been hired to work on all the away trips for the Chicago Raptors.  She is currently living with her brother, a star basketball player, and loves the time in between trips because it allows her to do her favorite thing - work at a dog shelter which focuses on getting more senior dogs adopted.  Zander is the bad boy of the team who has fueled his team, and his reputation, by being a womanizing all-fun, no-commitment guy.  It's a reputation that is partly fake, but which he is playing into because he thinks that is what the fans expect of him and his contract is up for renewal at the end of the season.  

When Stevie and Zander meet on their first trip together, Zander is a complete ass.  Yet, Stevie is more than capable of holding her own and dishes his attitude right back which only intrigues me more.  You don't have to be a genius to see where this book was headed and while I initially thought 603 pages was WAY too long for a romance book, apparently, I was wrong because I loved it and finished it in under 24 hours.

Zander and Stevie have an insta-hate connection which drove me to turn each page quicker than the previous.  They both carry their own baggage and insecurities and as the book progresses, the reader learns more about their past.  In fact, even though Zander was a jerk in the beginning (aka - ass), I was able to see why and understand that he was more than meets the eye.  The author also did a wonderful job at character develop and at the end of the book, Zander went down as one of my favorite leading men ever in a romance book.  Stevie was sweet and endearing and this really showed in her volunteer work with the dogs at the shelter and her commitment to fining every last one a forever home.  And the dog shelter plays a huge role in this book which of course I loved. 

I believe there are five books in this series and the next one focuses on Stevie's basketball-playing brother.  I do enjoy sports, especially college and pro football, and can finally see some of the lure in sports romances.  Don't know that they will dethrone my cowboy-romance era anytime soon, but I will definitely pick up the next book when I need a romantic palette cleanser.

MY RATING: 5 PAWS