This is a good book. The two main characters are Francesca and Tuck. Francesca is a tattoo artist and an artist. Tuck is a football player. There is an instant attraction when they meet at a club. They both have trust issues but together they work them out and fall in love

I received an advanced reader copy to leave an honest review of this book. I have not read many books by Madden-Mills but I loved this book! In fact I have already gone and gotten the first book in the series to read also. Great writing style, excellent characters and a fun/romantic plot with some obvious angst.

This book follows Tuck, a professional football player with a lot emotional turmoil from his parents. His mother is bipolar and wants nothing to do with him since she blames him for his father's death. His parents were very abusive towards each other and emotionally towards Tuck. Then there is Francesca who is an orphan; she was given up as a baby and has major abandonment issues as she was shuffled from home to home. A chance encounter at a private club during a masquerade party is the beginning for Tuck and Francesca. No names, one night, no taking off the masks. It seems perfect until Francesca ends up pregnant. Once that happens, it seems like fate throws the two together at every opportunity. Unfortunately, Fran doesn't trust Tucker not to abandon them so she doesn't tell him about the pregnancy; especially when Tucker makes it clear doesn't want any kids and potentially end up like his parents.

Overall a great book! Lots for the two to overcome to be together but with the help of some awesome characters in the book. Would highly recommend.

Princess and the Player was a really cute sports romance with a accidental pregnancy thrown on top.

I really enjoyed how the author connected these characters with more than a chance encounter, but instead all of these little coincidences that added up. It really created this “meant to be” theme that played well with the drama.

There was also an element of hidden family as the MC (Francesca) was abandoned at birth and only had this heirloom necklace to connect her to her brith family. I will say that this might have been a little much on top of the other tropes included already in the plot. I’m not quite sure how much it really added to the plot and was kind of a side story working parallel and distracting from the main characters.

That being said, I did enjoy reading this book because it did have so many great tropes that I look for in my books: found family, sports romance, lost family, surprise pregnancy, and maybe a couple others!

Overall a good sports romance read that definitely brings the drama and emotion but balances it with interesting characters. Definitely a good addition to any romcom lovers shelves.

3.5 ⭐️This is the second book in the Strangers in Love series but can be read as a stand-alone! Honestly, the first was way better, so I suggest reading that first!

Francesca and Tuck meet at a masquerade party and agree to spend the night together with no strings attached. Francesca just caught her fiancé cheating and Tuck has no plans for a relationship. However, fate had other things in store and of course, the two run into each other when and where they least expect it!

I loved how the themes of fate and coincidence were ingrained throughout the stores and how the author emphasized the importance of found family. There was great banter and a good amount of steam. I also loved the scenes that focused on the two MCs getting to know each other, especially their walks in the park. What’s not giving this a higher rating is the way the author incorporated the unplanned pregnancy trope. There was also some inconsistency between Tuck’s personality in Beauty and the Baller and in this one.

Read if you like:
-Sports romance
-Just a hookup
-Alrernating POVs
-Found family
-NYC setting

Thank you Montlake for the ARC!!

This one was not as polished as the Beauty and the Baller, but it’s a good story.

It’s a fast paced whirl wind romance where renowned football player Tuck Avery meets Francesca, a woman scorned by her ex - fiancé, at an exclusive club. The one word that would sum these two up would be chemistry. They had it in spades. I really loved the sense of humor between the two and how they often just seemed free to be themselves.

As I said, this one wasn’t as polished, not only in terms of grammar and such, but also in terms of flow. I just felt like many transitions were rough and it was a little too much on the cheesy side for my liking in the last 15% of the book or so.

Otherwise, I loved the side characters as I did in Beauty and the Baller.

Mr. Darden is hands down the highlight of this book. He was crankiest old man with the best sense of humor and a kinder heart than one might initially believe. CeCe is brazen and a complete handful. She gave me quite a few chuckles. Brogan isn’t in the forefront as much, so unfortunately there’s not much to say about him. Jasper…Jasper I did not love as much. He was on 1000 with no brakes 24/7 and I found that I became exasperated at times with him, but there were other times where he gave me a few chuckles as well.

Super sweet and cheesy read if you’re in the mood for that kind of read.

Rating: 3.5

Francesca Lane is having a crappy day. She found out her fiancee was cheating on her and decides to play dress up in her wedding dress and attend a masquerade ball at an exclusive sex club. It's there that she meets the man she dubs the player. He's seductive, handsome and kind to her. They agree to a one night, no strings attached night.

It's Tuck Avery's 35th birthday and his friends decide to surprise him with a birthday party at a sex club. Tuck's not too into the celebrating, until he literally runs into the pretty lady dressed up as a princess. But they both agreed to a one night stand and to never see each other again. No names, no truths - just one night.

Only, fate has other ideas for Francesca and Tuck. Soon these find each other at the same restaurants, book stores and even living in the same building in Manhattan. The more time they spend together the closer they become. Only Francesca has a teensy tiny little secret that she's hiding. And the longer she keeps it in, the worse it will be when Tuck finds out the truth.

I always love Ilsa Madden-Mills writing and flew through Princess and the Player in less than a day. The way she creates not only the main characters, but the supporting characters always feels so effortless. I always get old school Susan Elizabeth Phillips vibes when I'm reading her sports romances!

While I'm not a fan of the oops, I'm pregnant storyline, I feel like Ilsa did a great job still showing us the vulnerabilities of both Francesca and Tuck in Princess and the Player. Both of these characters had a lot of trauma from their past and they were both figuring out how to come to terms with that.

I am adoring the Strangers in Love series and hope to read more from this series in the future.

CW: anxiety, stalker (in past), parental neglect, cheating (secondary characters), pregnancy

I adored the first book in this series - but this one fell very flat for me. I should say - one-night stands that lead to unexpected pregnancies are NOT my favorite. Tuck and Francesca were both difficult to like and their feelings about a baby - while something I think most people could identify with - were challenging. This was a DNF for me at about the 35% mark.

Ilsa Madden-Mills is such a talented author - and I wanted to love this - but it just wasn't for me.

When I think of romance, I think of books just like this one, that gives all the feels and satisfies every romance junkies' heart. This is a perfect book to snuggle up with on any day.

My favourite Ilsa Madden-Mills book yet! I think this is the fourth book of hers that I’ve read and it is definitely the best. I really enjoyed the relationship between Fran and Tuck, and while accidental pregnancy is not normally a trope I go for (I can only think of one other book I have read with this trope), I was surprised at how much I also enjoyed that aspect! That said, we didn’t actually get a lot of the later pregnancy stuff, more of the plot happened early on and midway through, and the book essentially ended with the birth, but yeah I really liked it.
A couple of other things I loved about this book were the New York setting, and the focus on art - which is Fran’s career. And there was even an unexpected plot point or two that I most definitely was not expecting, but I enjoyed the ride all the same! Overall, I would definitely recommend this book as a romance, the characters are both fun and interesting to read about and this is actually a book I could see myself buying and rereading after it comes out.
Though I would say if you're looking specifically for a sports romance, this one doesn't actually have a very big focus on the sport, regardless of Tuck being in the NFL, so just keep that in mind.

I so enjoyed this story that halfway through I added the other books to be read pile. Francesca and Tuck develop such a great relationship., their chemistry of off the charts, and the verbal play is hot., The supporting characters are a hoot and incredibly supportive. All of them added background and depth to the story.

A masquerade ball brings together an NFL player and a penniless princess in this smart and sexy romance from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills.

Levelheaded Francesca Lane never thought she’d miss her own wedding. But when her fiancé betrays her, she puts on her wedding dress and ditches the altar for a masquerade ball—at an exclusive lifestyle club.

There, she meets unknown-to-her NFL star Tuck Avery, dressed as a prince and hiding behind a mask—he’s there to celebrate his birthday. For one night, Francesca and Tuck indulge in a wickedly incognito affair. No names. No strings. And the masks don’t come off.

Unfortunately, Francesca realizes quickly that her masked prince is the wealthy jock who lives in the penthouse of her apartment building. His hobbies include parties and supermodels—or so the tabloids say. Getting tangled up with a shallow jerk is the last thing Francesca needs right now, so she vows to keep Tuck from recognizing her (not that she’s his type anyway).

But fate has a teeny-tiny trick up her sleeve … a plus sign on a pregnancy test. Can this tormented prince accept love, or will he push his princess away forever?

I was waiting so long for this book. And ahh it really didn’t disappoint. And, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that it was rather worth the wait. I liked and loved almost all the characters in this book. However, my absolute favourite has to be Francessca; she was so relatable to me. But, it was the romance between the MCs that made dreamily sigh every now and then!! So, it’s a full 5 stars read for me.

I don't know why I haven't read Ilsa Madden-Mills yet. This story was great. I loved Tuck and Francesca. I love the secret baby trope and this was a good one. Good cast of characters around the main characters. Now I REALLY want Jasper's story.

Well hello there again favorites! Back with another advance review. This time for Ilsa Madden-Mill’s upcoming contemporary sports romance Princess and the Player, book 2 in her Strangers in Love series. Having read book one (featuring Nova and Ronan) and feeling a little lukewarm about it, I was hesitant to jump into this one. And after reading it I think I might still have a few, uh weird feelings about it?

As always huge thanks to NetGalley and Montlake for the advance copy, thoughts below are my own.

One of my very first thoughts when I sat down to write this review, went something like: If Vi Keeland’s The Baller and P. Dangelico’s Wrecking Ball had a baby, it would be Princess and the Player. I’m currently pretty torn about my full feelings on this one, I’ll be honest.

At it’s core this is a one-night-stand-turned-accidental-pregnancy. Which when done well can be really slow burn-y, sweet and VERY satisfying. But there were so many a,b,c,d (and so on…) plots happening at once that I really struggled to connect with the overarching love story.

First we have the trauma filled back-stories of both Tuck and Francesca. Which are SO heavy. Montlake, hook a reader up with some trigger warnings. Physical abuse, abandonment of a child, terrible experiences in foster care, addiction trauma, suicide of a parent, negative depictions of someone living with Bipolar disease, almost sexual assault at a sex club, a throw away line about a hysterectomy from endometriosis, like y’all what the actual heck?! Folks, please take good care of yourself if any of the above is hard for you to sit with, read or process.

There were some good moments, and honestly I would have loved to kind of just ditch all the trauma-porn and hang out in what seemed to be a less murder-y Arconia (from Only Murders in the Building), with Darden and the Widow, and whoever else goes to bookclub and shits on Nicholas Sparks books. THAT would have been a real treat.

And for fans of the accidental pregnancy trope (of which there are many) if you’re looking for care-taking, sweet baby daddy moments or two almost perfect strangers bonding over the duration of the pregnancy, there is almost none, because spoiler alert she hides it from him for almost the entire duration of the book, which (you guessed it) leads to the 3rd act break up. And the biggest, most essential issue I have with all of this, is while he’s on his yacht “processing” and coming to his whirlwind of a realization, she’s also FIGURING OUT WHO HER PARENTS WERE THAT ABANDONED HER, who are both dead (and died in really horribly traumatic ways).

Listen, this book may work for you. You may read it and love it, and to you I say: YES! LOVE THIS FOR YOU! For me, it was a lot and made my head hurt and my heart a little heavy. If you’re interested in picking up Princess and the Player, grab it wherever you get your books when it hits shelves November 8th, 2022.

Tuck and Francesca meet at a high-scale sex club and, faces hidden behind masks, they have a no strings attached One Night Stand. Both are intent for it to be only one night, as Francesca has recently discovered her fiancé’s cheating ways and Tuck has no plans for a relationship. However it is hard for both of them to forget the other and they end up running into each other and figure out that they live in the same building.

I flew through the book, it was well written, had an interwoven story and an engaging romance.

The book started with establishing chapters from Tucks perspective and I really loved that we got his thoughts on their first meeting. And was a great first meeting that was, they hit it off so well - I loved their camaraderie and chemistry! Overall I enjoyed the romance.

One of my favorite parts of the story were the side characters. The whole cast of them were great and added a lot to the story as they were distinctive and not one of them felt like they could’ve written off without missing a part of the story.

It would’ve been interesting if Francesca had revealed her pregnancy a little earlier as the ending felt a little to fast and some plotlines didn’t get the proper amount of times to unfold.

Tuck and Francesca might meet under false pretenses, but the spark that is felt rolls over into a storyline that is not only explosive but combines the perfect amount of humor and opposite attraction. With both characters carrying emotional baggage from past hurts, it is the steps they take to overcome these obstacles and tear down the walls surrounding their hearts that makes this book a joy to read. Ilsa Madden-Mills once again gives her readers just what they needed in a romance story.

𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 follows NFL star Tuck Avery in an exclusive club on his birthday night where he encounters Francesca Lane on her supposed wedding night i.e. before her fiance betrayed her. Clad in fairy tale attire, they share a night of pleasure and passion, no names exchanged. Days later Francesca finds out she's pregnant and soon also discovers the real identity of Player aka Tuck aka the guy who lives in the same building as her, yeah definitely not a problem.

- ~ -

Right well I've never really been a fan of the accidental pregnancy trope but genuinely it wasn't even about the trope here.

In my opinion, Tuck's personality in this book doesn't correspond with his personality in Rowan's book.

On another note, the romance felt like it was missing that spark. They met without any idea of who the other was, they were attracted, they had sex, the night ended, she got pregnant, they met again but this time with introductions, still attracted, they get into a relationship, she tells him the truth, his vulnerability takes over, he gets some sense knocked into him, he begs for forgiveness, she forgives, baby is born, end of story.

When did they fall? Or did they even? Did the emotions take over? I don't know.

Overall: The first romance in the series was much better and it honestly hurts to say this but Tuck deserved better. I was so excited for his story after getting to know him in Rowan and Nova's book but alas. Also, I was expecting atleast one Rowan and Nova cameo but nada... nothing.

- ~ -

3.58 / 5✩

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘐 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 & 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘥. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

Loved!!
Pregnancy troupe but done so well. Loved both main characters. At the start i thought this would be a totally different book than what it was.

I absolutety adored this book !!!! FrancesCa and Tuck literally rules and theres NO OTHER way, than fall love hard in their love story.

I couldn't put this book down! From the begining this author proved that her plan is to leave her readers speachles and in awe, and she did it so well. Ilsa Madden Mills a one click author for me since the first moment I read her book few years ago. Until today nothing had changed... Princess and the Player is everything what I would love to recieved from this author.

This book might start with a big baby suprise, but I loved how author made the rest story as a slow burn romance. From one page to another one, the action bring all the feels and breathtaking moments. Francesca is young woman, who exaclty knows what she wants from life, sometimes the patience is very needed, but step by step she is reaching her goal. Author couldn't write her more perfect for Tuck. He looks like big - let's play - alpha, but underneath he's a big carring and loving teddy bear. They both has certain life experioence, so their relationship evoled thru the pages, just to show at the end, there's nothing more beautifull, than pure love, that had been born from friendship.

MUST READ ALERT!

Francesca and Tuck meet, masked, at a sex club. It’s supposed to be one night, no strings, but a series of coincidences and a positive pregnancy test completely change all that.

I’m vacillating between 3 and 4 stars for this one. It starts so well. I liked Francesca’s voice, her determination, the way she created her own family. But then, as it progresses… I promise this is not a spoiler, but the very last line of the book makes a reference to chaos, and that’s how the whole second half feels. There’s too much going on, and some characters and sub-plots feel unnecessary. The relationship between Tuck and Francesca develops choppily: I didn’t feel I saw enough of it, didn’t feel the chemistry, possibly because of all the other stuff. It’s a shame, because I enjoyed the first in the series, but this time I was a little disappointed.