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Hall Sisters #3
Ivy's League
Is it true that winning isn't everything?
The Hall sisters were no strangers to success. And Ivy, the youngest and shiest sister, had a lot to live up to. So when she started her new job, she was determined to show the world just what she could do.
There was one flaw in her plan, though. Rick Scott, her oh-so-handsome co-worker, didn't think she could succeed on her own. Of course, it was only after she resisted his help, demanded he treat her like everyone else and make a big mistake, that she realized she might be the wrong woman for that job. And he might be the right man for her.
The Hall sisters were no strangers to success. And Ivy, the youngest and shiest sister, had a lot to live up to. So when she started her new job, she was determined to show the world just what she could do.
There was one flaw in her plan, though. Rick Scott, her oh-so-handsome co-worker, didn't think she could succeed on her own. Of course, it was only after she resisted his help, demanded he treat her like everyone else and make a big mistake, that she realized she might be the wrong woman for that job. And he might be the right man for her.
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 1, 1993
About the author
Heather Allison
37 books8 followersHeather W. MacAllister lives in Texas and is married to her high-school sweetheart. Following the instructions in How to Get a Teen-Age Boy, and What to Do with Him When You Get Him by Ellen Peck, one of her all-time favorite books, she expressed an interest in his hobby — ham radio. He challenged her — learn Morse code and get her license, and he’d take her to the senior prom. She did, and currently sports her call sign, WB5RMA, on her car license plate.
Heather became addicted to romance novels in college, yet still managed to graduate and become a music teacher. And then her sons were born. Within seven months, nine baby-sitters quit, so she took pity on the childcare industry, quit teaching, and began avoiding housework by writing during her sons’ nap time.
Before she was published, Heather won the Romance Writer's of America Golden Heart Award. She published as Heather Allison and as Heather MacAllister. Her published novels have been nominated for the RWA RITA award three times, and eHarlequin.com readers voted LONE STAR SANTA favorite Laugh-Out-Loud book of 2006. In addition to awards for best Harlequin Romance and best Harlequin Temptation, Romantic Times Book Reviews has twice nominated Heather for a Career Achievement Award in Series Love and Laughter. She has published over 40 books with Harlequin. Her award-winning romantic comedies have been translated into 25 languages and published in dozens of countries.
When she's not writing, Heather spends her time collecting vintage jewelry, watching fireworks displays, and killing plants.
Heather became addicted to romance novels in college, yet still managed to graduate and become a music teacher. And then her sons were born. Within seven months, nine baby-sitters quit, so she took pity on the childcare industry, quit teaching, and began avoiding housework by writing during her sons’ nap time.
Before she was published, Heather won the Romance Writer's of America Golden Heart Award. She published as Heather Allison and as Heather MacAllister. Her published novels have been nominated for the RWA RITA award three times, and eHarlequin.com readers voted LONE STAR SANTA favorite Laugh-Out-Loud book of 2006. In addition to awards for best Harlequin Romance and best Harlequin Temptation, Romantic Times Book Reviews has twice nominated Heather for a Career Achievement Award in Series Love and Laughter. She has published over 40 books with Harlequin. Her award-winning romantic comedies have been translated into 25 languages and published in dozens of countries.
When she's not writing, Heather spends her time collecting vintage jewelry, watching fireworks displays, and killing plants.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 10, 2013
4.25-4.5
LOVED the beginning. Never actually read a beginning like that to be honest. And there was a line in the book which made me laugh for 5 minutes straight (snorts and all) so there was that.
LOVED the beginning. Never actually read a beginning like that to be honest. And there was a line in the book which made me laugh for 5 minutes straight (snorts and all) so there was that.
November 11, 2014
Review can be read at It's About The Book
3.5 stars
A cute, quick read about a woman trying to fit into a man’s world of sports journalism. I’m not sure if this is a reprint of a series that was originally written in the early 90’s as all three books in this series have a 1990 publishing date as well as 2014, so be check if you have it first before purchasing.
The third book in the series about the Hall sisters, this book is about shy, quiet Ivy. A gifted writer, Ivy has decided to become a sports writer with the Austin Globe. Covering men’s sports is difficult enough for a woman, but having to compete with well-known sports figure Rick Scott is embarrassing. He keeps catching Ivy at her most inept–when she’s being ignored by players in the locker room or when she’s blushing the color of a firetruck at seeing men drop their towels. Plus, she’s always felt like she had to compete with her two successful older sisters – and with their looks and success, that’s a hard job to do.
Luckily Rick decides to help shy Ivy with the Bambi eyes, so he sends over players, carefully vetted not to drop towels, to give her stories. And he helps her every week to get her story in on time. She wonders why he’s doing it until she realizes that the attraction that she feels for him is mutual — he’s doing it because he likes her. Also, since he’s the only other sports writer on the Austin Globe, helping her helps him, just like he said. But they agree that they will have to keep their personal life separate from their professional life, since they will be competing at work.
When Ivy starts covering the local soccer beat and ends up coaching not one girls team but two, Rick again steps in to help her. When his style of coaching differs from hers, she begins to become defensive. Women have to act tough like men, right? They have to play to win, right? She believes that and trains her girls hard; however, Rick seems to have a more fun approach. The man who was once a professional athlete seems to think it’s more important for the girls to have fun? She doesn’t understand. If women have to be tough like men to get ahead why shouldn’t it start when they’re young, in sports?
After a while, Ivy decides that she doesn’t want Rick helping her at work–she wants to make it on her own. But she still wants their personal, dating relationship to continue, as does he. But she screws up something Rick asks her to do one night after a game, assuming that he’s trying to help her again. This is incredibly frustrating for Rick, and it creates a barrier between them that wasn’t there before. She misses him and seeks him out when she realizes that he’s avoiding her; and they make up. Rick realizes that not only is she in love with him, but he’s in love with her. He wanted to help Ivy because otherwise, for her to be successful at sports reporting she would have to become aggressive and driven and change her entire personality; and he loves her exactly as she is. And when she won’t let him help, and doesn’t seem to realize that she might take losing personally, it’s only a matter of time before something happens to upset the apple cart.
After a series of letdowns, Ivy answers a phone call for Rick that gives her an idea for a lead that turns into a trap. Luckily Rick pulls her butt out of the fire and saves her career. But his story scoops all the papers, and this makes Ivy really unreasonably mad–at him and the profession. She quits the paper and leaves–bitter and disenchanted. Rick had told her that they had to keep their personal and professional lives separate–but she couldn’t. And when he said that they had to compete and not take it personally if the other won–she never realized how much it would hurt. This didn’t seem like her dream job at all.
Can these two journalists write themselves a happy ending?
While I certainly enjoyed this read, it lacked in heat and length. I would have loved more description of their time together, and I would have liked to have known a little more about the circumstances surrounding Rick’s injury. I think reading the other two books in the series that came before would help. I also think the fact that this book was originally published in 1993 explains the lack of sexy times in it! Would have appreciated a heads up about the two different publishing dates and if this was a reprint, maybe a new edition would have made it more enjoyable and timely. Thanks for the read.
3.5 stars
A cute, quick read about a woman trying to fit into a man’s world of sports journalism. I’m not sure if this is a reprint of a series that was originally written in the early 90’s as all three books in this series have a 1990 publishing date as well as 2014, so be check if you have it first before purchasing.
The third book in the series about the Hall sisters, this book is about shy, quiet Ivy. A gifted writer, Ivy has decided to become a sports writer with the Austin Globe. Covering men’s sports is difficult enough for a woman, but having to compete with well-known sports figure Rick Scott is embarrassing. He keeps catching Ivy at her most inept–when she’s being ignored by players in the locker room or when she’s blushing the color of a firetruck at seeing men drop their towels. Plus, she’s always felt like she had to compete with her two successful older sisters – and with their looks and success, that’s a hard job to do.
Luckily Rick decides to help shy Ivy with the Bambi eyes, so he sends over players, carefully vetted not to drop towels, to give her stories. And he helps her every week to get her story in on time. She wonders why he’s doing it until she realizes that the attraction that she feels for him is mutual — he’s doing it because he likes her. Also, since he’s the only other sports writer on the Austin Globe, helping her helps him, just like he said. But they agree that they will have to keep their personal life separate from their professional life, since they will be competing at work.
When Ivy starts covering the local soccer beat and ends up coaching not one girls team but two, Rick again steps in to help her. When his style of coaching differs from hers, she begins to become defensive. Women have to act tough like men, right? They have to play to win, right? She believes that and trains her girls hard; however, Rick seems to have a more fun approach. The man who was once a professional athlete seems to think it’s more important for the girls to have fun? She doesn’t understand. If women have to be tough like men to get ahead why shouldn’t it start when they’re young, in sports?
After a while, Ivy decides that she doesn’t want Rick helping her at work–she wants to make it on her own. But she still wants their personal, dating relationship to continue, as does he. But she screws up something Rick asks her to do one night after a game, assuming that he’s trying to help her again. This is incredibly frustrating for Rick, and it creates a barrier between them that wasn’t there before. She misses him and seeks him out when she realizes that he’s avoiding her; and they make up. Rick realizes that not only is she in love with him, but he’s in love with her. He wanted to help Ivy because otherwise, for her to be successful at sports reporting she would have to become aggressive and driven and change her entire personality; and he loves her exactly as she is. And when she won’t let him help, and doesn’t seem to realize that she might take losing personally, it’s only a matter of time before something happens to upset the apple cart.
After a series of letdowns, Ivy answers a phone call for Rick that gives her an idea for a lead that turns into a trap. Luckily Rick pulls her butt out of the fire and saves her career. But his story scoops all the papers, and this makes Ivy really unreasonably mad–at him and the profession. She quits the paper and leaves–bitter and disenchanted. Rick had told her that they had to keep their personal and professional lives separate–but she couldn’t. And when he said that they had to compete and not take it personally if the other won–she never realized how much it would hurt. This didn’t seem like her dream job at all.
Can these two journalists write themselves a happy ending?
While I certainly enjoyed this read, it lacked in heat and length. I would have loved more description of their time together, and I would have liked to have known a little more about the circumstances surrounding Rick’s injury. I think reading the other two books in the series that came before would help. I also think the fact that this book was originally published in 1993 explains the lack of sexy times in it! Would have appreciated a heads up about the two different publishing dates and if this was a reprint, maybe a new edition would have made it more enjoyable and timely. Thanks for the read.
June 28, 2021
Někdy jsem měla chuť Ivy zakopat…
October 10, 2014
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Having read a fair share of romantic novels this year I have to say it’s refreshing stumbling onto a book that doesn’t sugarcoat everything. The relationship between Ivy and Rick seems very realistic, sweet, funny and complicated. They don’t just fall in love and walk into to sunset, they have to work for it when personalities and work related troubles clash.
Ivy’s League is the third book in Heather MacAllister’s series of the Hall Sister’s. Not having read the first two books I must say that I enjoyed this book so much that I might just Benjamin Button my way through the series. This book follows the story of the youngest Hall sister in her struggle to balance what she wants in life and what she expects to get from her career.
I liked the book, I liked the characters, I liked the story, I hated the little ballet girls (but that just might be my own repressed ballet memories resurfacing). The only problem I had was with the edition, it was backwards, as in having to press the left button instead of the right in order to read, but hopefully that is a simple error the editors can fix.
I got this book from NetGalley.
Ivy’s League is the third book in Heather MacAllister’s series of the Hall Sister’s. Not having read the first two books I must say that I enjoyed this book so much that I might just Benjamin Button my way through the series. This book follows the story of the youngest Hall sister in her struggle to balance what she wants in life and what she expects to get from her career.
I liked the book, I liked the characters, I liked the story, I hated the little ballet girls (but that just might be my own repressed ballet memories resurfacing). The only problem I had was with the edition, it was backwards, as in having to press the left button instead of the right in order to read, but hopefully that is a simple error the editors can fix.
I got this book from NetGalley.
March 12, 2009
From the book blurb:
Is it true that winning isn't everything?
The Hall sisters were no strangers to success. And Ivy, the youngest and shiest sister, had a lot to live up to. So when she started her new job, she was determined to show the world just what she could do.
There was one flaw in her plan, though. Rick Scott, her oh-so-handsome co-worker, didn't think she could succeed on her own. Of course, it was only after she resisted his help, demanded he treat her like everyone else and make a big mistake, that she realized she might be the wrong woman for that job. And he might be the right man for her.
**********
Is it true that winning isn't everything?
The Hall sisters were no strangers to success. And Ivy, the youngest and shiest sister, had a lot to live up to. So when she started her new job, she was determined to show the world just what she could do.
There was one flaw in her plan, though. Rick Scott, her oh-so-handsome co-worker, didn't think she could succeed on her own. Of course, it was only after she resisted his help, demanded he treat her like everyone else and make a big mistake, that she realized she might be the wrong woman for that job. And he might be the right man for her.
**********
April 30, 2008
Loved the part when they're painting the office, and they play with the paint. So cheesy fun.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews