Four and a Half Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭒
In It to Win It by Sharon C. Cooper is a second-chance romance that I just loved.

Story Recap:
Morgan Redford is a bit spoiled and has grown up not wanting for anything. But, she’s determined to make her own way in life. She found a cause that she’s passionate about and it’s helping children age out of the foster care program. But, in order to grow her nonprofit, she needs a building, and a friend of the family has the perfect place up for sale.

Real estate developer Drake Faulkner wants the same property. It has sentimental value to him, and his mentor is selling it, so he believes he’s a shoo-in to get the property. Drake is shocked when he learns there will be a competition for the property and he’ll be competing against his ex-girlfriend, Morgan. He was madly in love with Morgan in college, until the day she suddenly left him and left the country without a word of explanation.

My Thoughts:
I loved this wonderful second-chance romance. I could understand why Morgan left the country and Drake when she was still in college. It’s not a very mature move, but Morgan wasn’t very mature at that time. She’s now grown up and much more mature and self-assured than she was back in college.

Drake is a swoon-worthy hero. He had to raise his teenage twin siblings since they were 2 years old after their parents were killed when he was in college. He was forced to become self-sufficient and responsible from a young age.

Drakes's teenage twin siblings, Aiden and Addison stole the show for me, I just loved them. I was surprised that the actual competition didn’t happen until after the halfway mark, but that was ok with me. Obviously, Drake has some hard feelings towards Morgan, but once he heard her explanation for disappearing all those years ago, he finally forgave her, he was still wary that she might leave him again.

Although this is not a series, we got to meet up with some of her characters from her previous book, Business Not as Usual, and that was fun.

Recommendation:
I highly recommend In It To Win It to anyone who enjoys romance. I received a complimentary copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

In It To Win It is a quick and lighthearted read that can be enjoyed in an afternoon.

Although not articulated as part of a series, this book has characters related to her last book Business Not As Usual. You don’t have to read it to enjoy this story, however, this one can stand alone. I loved Business Not As Usual so I jumped at the chance to read In It To Win It. Unfortunately, this one fell a little flat for me.

I will say I enjoyed the characters. The story is told in alternating viewpoints from both Morgan and Drake. I liked them both and I found myself cheering for them as they competed to win the chance to buy the property. The chemistry between them was well constructed and I wanted them to get their second chance at love. I was so pleased to see a return of my beloved character Dreamy in this book. She’s just so terrific. She is engaged to Morgan’s brother Karter and is really there for Morgan when she needs advice and encouragement. Bonus points for great teen characters in Drake’s little brother and sister twin duo Aiden and Addison. They were just adorable with their plots and schemes to get Morgan and Drake together. Some of the secondary characters like Morgan’s best friend Izzy were cute, but could have benefitted from further development.

Similar to Business Not As Usual, this book has a pretty implausible plotline, but where I could suspend my disbelief for the previous book and just kinda go with it, I found it harder to do that for this book. I just couldn’t get behind the idea that a bunch of real estate developers would willingly compete in the Titan Games to win the chance to buy a property.

Overall this one wasn’t my favourite, but I’m still looking forward to Sharon’s next book.

Thanks, Berkeley Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It was promising until the surprise pregnancy plot twist. And to make matters worse, she started the book with no plans to have kids! Hard pass!

IN IT TO WIN IT by Sharon C. Cooper is a cute and funny second chance romance that turns business rivals into competitors in an entertaining way. Morgan Redford had a privileged upbringing, but she is determined to do something more meaningful with her life than pursuing a degree in fashion design. She has founded a non-profit to help children that are aging out of the foster care system. She is searching for a larger space to be able to serve even more kids in need and has found the perfect property being sold by an old friend of her family. Drake Faulkner is a Los Angeles real estate developer with his eyes on a special property being sold by his billionaire mentor. For him, buying the property is personal and he is sure it will soon be his. But the seller has other ideas. Not only will potential buyers have to prove they have the worthiest reason to own the property, they will have to compete in an Iron Man-like competition to decide who gets the winning bid. Both Morgan and Drake are stunned when they learn the other is in the running. They have a romantic history that was shattered when Morgan left Drake without word, breaking his heart. Morgan is repentant but Drake is still hurt after all these years. They soon realize their attraction is still strong. Can they both vie for the prize knowing only one of them can win? As they go through the competition together, the pair rekindle their romance and try to restore the trust they once knew. I enjoyed the sweet and steamy rom-com and thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read and review an early copy.

This was a fun book. I wasn't aware that it was somewhat in a series and I loved Business Not As Usual so this was great. I am grateful that the plot wasn't full of this back and forth with some test of their relationship. I liked that they were able to discuss things openly.
I loved the ending. Of course it is cheesy but that's alright because those are the best. Its a feel good story.

I liked it. This was my second Sharon C Cooper that I received from Netgalley. I definitely liked the last one better than this one but I liked Morgan and Drake , Some of the pacing could have been better but it did keep me engaged enough to not DNF

IN IT TO WIN IT is a smart-alecky, sexy romance that delivers. Two entrepreneurs who are former sweethearts from college fight for a fantastic property that each has dreams of owning. Morgan Redford is a beautiful girl and a talented fashion designer. She didn't finish her degree but forged a path on her own handling a burgeoning community center for foster kids who age out of the system who need a place to stay. She needs this Hollywood property to handle the influx of kids. Will she win it?

Morgan's ex-boyfriend, Drake Faulkner, whose heart she broke many years ago, is also bidding on the same property. Drake, a handsome guy and real estate developer, who wants to own the building his father designed. Years ago a tragic accident forced Drake to grow up fast, while raising his two siblings. Now, the threat of his ex-girlfriend showing up now to bid on the same building he cherishes to preserve his family's legacy sticks in his craw. Dang though if she isn't still fine to look at with those luscious curves!

However, the owner of the building forces potential bidders to participate in a crazy marathon competition to weed out potential losers. Drake and Morgan compete side by side, fighting for the property. Only they are still hot for each other and more! Will Drake fall for the raging beauty at his side? Does Morgan give in to her longings for the hunky muscle man?

IN IT TO WIN IT stole my heart as two feisty college sweethearts fight to win a beautiful building. Drake and Morgan clash, sass and sizzle as they finagle a potential purchase on a prime piece of property. They have eyes for each other even after Morgan dropped Drake years ago to follow her dreams. This is a fabulous story that is filled with crazy situations, witty repartee, and a fascinating plot. Ms. Cooper perfectly spices up this steamy story! This is a fast-paced romance filled with charm, warmth and heat.

Sharon C. Cooper, I am glad I discovered your books this year! I read Business Not As Usual in April and loved Dreamy and Karter. Dreamy was such an individual with the best fashion sense that I wanted to rip out of the pages and steal for myself. Their desire to grow and learn was so beautiful. When Berkley Romance granted me access to a free advanced copy of In It To Win it, I knew I had to read it!

In It To Win It follows Morgan Redford (Karter’s sister) and Drake Faulkner, two entrepreneurs competing for the same property. If that weren’t bad enough, the two have history. Morgan vanished from Drake’s life years before without a word, breaking his heart. Their reunion is icy at best, as competitors they are eager to beat the other out and as former lovers the two are determined to leave the past behind and stay their own path.

Morgan and Drake are such good people that you root for them both throughout the entirety of the book. Even when Morgan does one thing I found utterly frustrating, I understood the need for the characters setbacks to ultimately help display her growth. Drake is a gem. I would marry him if I could. I think he may be one of my first book boyfriends! I rarely like the love interest that much, but he’s a genuinely good human with values and beliefs that only made him more attractive to me.

If you enjoyed her previous books, I recommend reading this. Readers who enjoy Jasmine Guillory, Tessa Bailey, and a spicier version of Sarah Adams, will enjoy reading Sharon C. Cooper’s latest!

A fun and steamy second chance romance. Morgan and Drake reconnect when they both realize they are vying to purchase the same property, both with equally compelling reasons to own the building. When the seller challenges all potential buyers to a contest to win the opportunity to buy the building, Morgan and Drake are pitted against each other. or will this bring them together again? Will Drake be able to forgive Morgan for the way she broke his heart in the past. An easy and quick read, it was a nice escape from hectic crazy days. At times I felt
the narrative was a bit forced and overdone and would have liked to have experience a little more movement in the story. The characters were great though and found myself rooting for them.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read and honestly review an advanced digital copy.

This rating represents 2.5 stars rounded up, as, well, this leaned to the disappointing end for me.

I accepted the offered ARC since I'd read the first book in this universe that isn't quite a series, and that one was okay, but this one was even less impressive. Beware my last couple of paragraphs as they contain a bit of a spoiler, but something I'd love for books to begin including content warnings for, honestly. Tag everything like fanfic, then there's no bad surprises.

So, Morgan is the sister of Karter, who we met in Business Not As Usual; so we know she's wealthy and fashionable and nice. She runs a nonprofit organization for youth, too, and the need to expand its space leads her to a real estate bidding war of sorts, and one of the rivals for this piece of property is Drake, her old flame from college whom she left when things got a little too real. This is more second chance romance trope than rivals to lovers.

It was certainly refreshing to have a Black lady protagonist who is not struggling with money, a nice counter point to the first book in this loose series by Cooper. The L.A. setting was refreshing for this sort of plot, too! I could totally see Lifetime or Hallmark making a movie of this. As for whether I'd watch it...Well.

The plot leaned very heavily into ludicrous, physically humorous comedy of errors vibes. One after another, ridiculous things happened - the protagonist's pants split while she's twerking, a cartoonish bar brawl breaks out while they're on a date, she wears heels to a grassy outdoors event, they stick in the mud and she needs to be carried around.

I could deal with the actually pretty low-conflict, highly silly plot, until a big thing at the end. What broke me was a sophisticated, wealthy, progressive career woman in L.A. experiencing an unplanned pregnancy and never once mentioning the option of abortion. In a modern romance in 2022, with these very rights under fire in this country, I was deeply disappointed in this character not confronting their options on-page. The character takes a test, and the text literally says becoming a parent is happening, whether she likes it or not? What? No.

Needless to say, pregnancy content is one of my absolute No-gos in romance, so what was a middling kind of book took a sharp turn into No Thanks in that last ten percent. I'd skip this one.

I thought this was going to be enemies to lovers territory with the way Drake was treating Morgan in the beginning, not that she didn't deserve it but it's definitely a second chance love story. In it to Win It follows Drake ad Morgan as they try to rekindle their friendship and the love that they have for each other, without giving too much away, they were college sweethearts when a decision that Morgan made resulted in them not seeing each other for years, around that time drake had a very tragic thing happen in his life which resulted in him raising his two year old twin siblings, Aiden and Addison (I love them)

The way Drake and Morgan ran into each other after so many years was both mortifying and hilarious LOL (I'll let you read about that part on your own) They both will be bidding on a building that's very important to both, for Drake it is the very first building his father ever designed so it's personal for him and for Morgan she and her bestfriend want the property so that they can have more space for their nonprofit "Open Arms" which helps young adults between the ages of 18 to 22 who have aged out of foster care. It helps with everything from securing housing, getting scholarships, and employment. The building they currently have only accommodates about twenty people and having this new property they will be able to take in more people and not have to turn them away.

Bidding on the building isn't as easy as they both believe and puts them in very interesting situations.

In it to Win it is a funny, cute and romantic story with an HEA.

Morgan Redford (little sister to Karter, the venture capitalist hero of Business Not As Usual) has turned her back on pursuing a career in fashion design (to her mother's disdain) and is hustling to get a larger space for her nonprofit, Open Arms, in order to serve more young adults aging out of foster care. She's put in a bid on the perfect building, but the owner has decided to bring together all the bidders to request more than a simple monetary offer: he wants to know their purpose, because the property has sentimental value to him. And among the other bidders, Morgan is astonished to find Drake Faulkner, the man she loved -- and left -- in college.

Drake's not too impressed to find Morgan at the meeting. He's never really gotten over her unexplained disappearing act, and he doesn't really want to hear excuses. But the attraction is still there, and as they both progress through the competition together, the ties between them grow even stronger.

This second-chance romance between business rivals has a lot for the reader to appreciate. Morgan is determined from the start to be honest with Drake about her past disappearance -- a step that, even though she mishandled it, she took as an acknowledgement that she was too young and immature for a relationship at the time -- and to offer sincere apologies and attempts to prove that she has grown and matured. Drake rightfully expresses his anger and hurt but never crosses the line by inflicting pain on the woman he still loves. And as the two rekindle their romance, they learn to support each other in all ways.

Drake's twin siblings, Addison and Aiden, often steal the scene with their antics and their surprisingly sage advice. Morgan's bestie and business partner Isabella and Drake's business partner Matteo both offer cautionary advice to the reunited lovers, though Matteo nearly steps into toxic territory with some of his remarks. I'm not too impressed with how Morgan's mother still remains almost a caricature of a mean mom by the end of the book, so I felt that thread was left dangling in a very unsatisfying way. (One other nitpick: Morgan's expressed disinclination toward motherhood resolved in a somewhat unsatisfying way, too.)

Good pacing, believable development of the plot and resolution of the conflicts, entertaining cameos from characters from the first book -- overall, an enjoyable read and HEA. 3.5 stars rounded up.

Thank you, Berkley Romance and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.

I dunno--I don't think I have ever once been disappointed by a Berkley title, but not only does this story not really have enough narrative chops to be acquired imho, it was really poorly edited on a mechanical level. Bad news. Stakes? Can't find any. Accidental reference to an NBC show produced by the Rock? Check. Absolutely implausible, even by a romcom suspension of disbelief standard? Yes. I really expect much better from you guys.

This book is sooo good! I love that Drake and Morgan got their second chance, and it was such a wonderful one! The twins are the absolute best, and I loved seeing Dreamy, Karter, and Gramps again! This author is definitely a fave of mine after the two books I’ve read!