Wild Ride

South Florida Riders #1

by Breezie Bennett

A smoking hot wide receiver with a tattered reputation. A feisty tomboy with dreams of being a sports agent. Can he build his brand with a fake fiancée? Can she snag the promotion she desperately wants? Sure. If he can keep it in his pants and she can resist taking the ride of her life. Fall in love with Leo and Frankie as their romance slides from fake to forever.

Leo:

I guess I’m in trouble for real now. At least that’s what my agent says. Just talking my way out of my latest PR shitshow isn’t going to cut it this time. He says the South Florida Riders fans need to believe I’m more than just a cocky wide receiver who throws Benjamins at strippers and breaks the hearts of innocent girls.

His brilliant plan to fix my image is to hook the perfect woman on my arm and convince the world I’m engaged to her. Only problem is, I definitely don’t have the perfect woman. As my agent puts it, I’ve been ‘too busy banging my way through NFL groupies to get serious.’ He’s not wrong.

But then he decides to hire his intriguing and annoyingly hot assistant to play the part…and all of a sudden his ideas don’t seem so dumb.

Frankie:

I know you, Leo Sterling. I know your type. I can predict your every move, on and off the field. And I want absolutely as little to do with you as possible.

I’m well aware that working for a sports agent will be a pain in the ass and that my dream of eventually becoming an agent myself will put me in very close quarters with unfathomably arrogant athletes like Leo. It’s par for the course with my career path, one I chose so that I can stay as close as possible to the one true love of my life—football.

So, when my boss tells me I have to be fake fiancée to this particularly infuriating and sexy player to keep my job, I have no choice. And it doesn’t exactly suck. Having a little weakness for athletes like Leo Sterling doesn’t make me pathetic, it makes me a normal human. And it definitely doesn’t mean I’ll fall for him.

Genres: Sports, Romance, Sports Romance, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Football, Amazon

238 pages, ebook

First published October 18, 2019

About the author

Breezie Bennett has had her fingers on a keyboard since she was a middle-schooler writing sports romances about her brother’s baseball team. A graduate of the University of Florida, she is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, can dance on pointe, and has been known to shotgun a beer in 5.2 seconds. When not writing romance, you’ll find her on a Florida beach with her two dogs, Ginger and Rosemary, and a playlist full of Pink Floyd and Lil Wayne.

Reviews

[Cami · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had potential until it didn’t……..I know that doesn’t make any sense. The problem is the storyline could have worked had there not been annoying stuff with the writing.

First of all the over use of the word “giggle” made me want to slap someone. I don’t really need to know every little “giggle” that happens but if it needs to be expressed try some different words occasionally like chuckle, chortle, snicker…..I don’t know maybe check a thesaurus, I bet there are even more words meaning the same thing.

The writing seemed to flow fine and then all of the sudden an immature or crass type line would be thrown in. I mean the hero is 28 years old, he isn’t some college frat boy and shouldn’t be using words like bang, banging, banged when talking about sex.

I really wanted to like this since I am a HUGE FOOTBALL fan but it was just okay.

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (2/13/2020)! 🎁

[Isha Coleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wild Ride (South Florida Riders #1) by: Breezie Bennett  
 
 
 
Wild Ride by Breezie BennettMy rating: 5 of 5 starsAs an avid bookworm, I am always in search for my next addiction. Breezie Bennett took me by surprise. Leo and Frankie gave my heart a jolt and put a smile on my face at first introduction. Wild Ride grabs right at the funny bone and works it's way under the skin rather quickly. From hello to goodbye, I was hooked. 

[Alexandria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sports and HEA

I’m a big fan of a book that has sports and a HEA. Frankie is a fabulous character. She puts Leo in his place and makes him work to get a fabulous girl like her. She’s different from all of the girls who usually fall at his feet.

I’m looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Suzanne Clemons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fans of Susan Elizabeth Phillips Chicago Stars series will love this debut novel. Fresh and well written with smart dialogue and relatable characters. Football fans will love the realistic feel of the story line. Writing in first person and present tense adds a sense of immediency to the story.

[Kathy Davie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute.

[Liza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wild Ride is the first book in the South Florida Riders series of books by debut author Breezie Bennett. I absolutely fell in love with Frankie's and Leo's story from page one. The fake fiance troupe is such a fun troupe when done well, and Ms. Bennett knocked one out of the ballpark with her very first book (totally mixing up my sports metaphors here).

Frankie and Leo are both such fun characters, even if Leo is known as a bit of a bad boy when we first meet him. Because of that situation, his agent decides he needs a fake fiance and as Frankie works for his agent's company, she is the perfect person for the job. Let me just tell you Frankie is absolutely my favorite character in this book. She is a tomboy who loves sports and can walk the walk and talk the talk. I'm a huge sports fan, and it was fun to read about another woman being so into sports. She is such a smart and laugh out loud funny character. She even invents a drinking game that I know my friends and I would have been all over when we were in college.

Leo is super yummy and all about his football career...until Frankie arrives. I liked their friendship moved naturally to a physical relationship based on mutual attraction. Seriously you could feel their connection from the very beginning, and it only grew stronger with each day they spent together. The sexy times are super sexy in Wild Ride! So much mad love for this story! I literally couldn't put the book down until I was finished reading and stayed up way too late to read it in one night.


Breezie Bennett is a fresh new voice in sports romance, perfectly blending steamy romance and heartfelt humor. I can't wait to read the rest of the books in the South Florida Riders series of books!

[Pj Ausdenmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, flirty, and deliciously dirty, Breezie Bennett hits the ground running with this fast-paced, first=person, contemporary romance that shows this debut author's potential for a stellar career. I'm a self-admitted football addict and was immediately pulled into the lives of the players and others associated with Bennett's (fictional) South Florida Riders. The author's deep well of football knowledge is clear and lends authenticity to the story while her well-developed, multi-layered characters engaged both my mind and my heart. Her dialogue is fast-paced and sassy - and she had me (happily) reaching for a fan more than once during sizzling sex scenes - but she also touched my heart with the depth of emotion that develops between Leo and Frankie.

Breezie Bennett is a fresh new voice in contemporary romance. I thoroughly enjoyed her debut novel, WILD RIDE, and am all in for more football, heart-tugging romance, snappy banter, and smoking hot chemistry in future South Florida Riders stories.

*Advance review copy received from author. All opinions expressed are unbiased and my own.

[Jennie Fortna · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC for honest review with no compensation

Wild Ride is book 1 in the new series South Florida Riders by new up and coming author Breezie Bennett and OMG what a way to start!!

Leo Sterling, NFL wide receiver, sexy, handsome, womanizer, now needs a fake fiancée his agent decides it should be his new assistant, Frankie Monroe. Frankie takes on the job but because she was burned before by her college football boyfriend she has sets her wall up high on her heart, no falling for Leo...just fun and games...

What happens next will keep you turning the pages, laughter, fun times, bittersweet moments, football games, sexy times, romance and finally opening up their hearts to find a love that neither expected...

[Toni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wild Ride, the debut novel by Breezie Bennett, is a solid first outing. The voice flows and the characters are well-developed. A classic fake engagement story, with a football twist, this novel will delight sports fans. The hero consistently calls the heroine “kid” though they are contemporaries in age; this habit kept pulling me out of the story with the perceived power imbalance. Otherwise I enjoyed the read and look forward to seeing where Bennett goes from here.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this novel.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one surprised me. Sure, sure, we've read it before, the football star has to clean up his image with the fake fiance. And yes they fall for each other and there's the inevitable HEA. But what makes this book special is the endearing down to earth Frankie and how Leo can't help but be charmed and fall head over heels for her. Super cute fun read.

Love finding a new author. One that's got me ready to 1-click book 2 about Leo's single dad teammate.

FYI - No cheating.

Happy reading!

[Susan Field · Rating 5 out of 5]

A real page turner - couldn’t put it down. Would highly recommend and looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Stacy K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought this was a cute book. The only thing that I didn’t like was Leo calling Frankie ‘kid’ or ‘kido’

[Taylor.Korrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not usually one to review books, but when I saw this was her debut novel I was blown away, and knew I had to post something! That’s not to say this book is perfect, BUT if you’re a sucker for tropes and happy endings I think you’ll love this too! “Fun and flirty” is the perfect way to describe this book and the whole series (which I read all of in less than a day), it has the perfect amount of fluff to balance out the angst! This was exactly what I needed to distract me and lift my spirits, as we are currently dealing with the covid-19 crisis at the time of reading this.

Each book in the series focuses on a different couple from the same group of football players and friends. This story is about Frankie and Leo, and how a fake engagement leads to friendship and then possibly more. Leo is a bit of a playboy at the start, which had gotten him into trouble, but from the first chapter we see he is a good guy who just isn’t ready for commitment. Frankie is career focused, and wary of hot jocks because of her ex. The main characters in each book also feature heavily as side characters in future books, and I love to see how their stories all progress from different perspectives.

Back to the tropes, there are a lot of them, but they’re my favorite kind! Fake engagement, forced proximity, found family, and “not like other girls” feature prominently in this, but the execution was fun and I understood why these two people would be drawn to one another. There is some minor miscommunication drama, but I like how quickly things are addressed.

My favorite part about this author is how she gives each character their own voice and personality, she doesn’t tell you someone is sarcastic or spunky, but shows you through their dialogue and interactions. One of my biggest pet peeves as a snarky b**** is when an author says a character is sarcastic and then they never say one sarcastic thing!! Also, these personalities stay consistent as the series goes on, which I appreciate!

These books won’t be everyone’s favorite, but I loved them and will re-read them when I want a pick-me-up!! Seriously impressed this was her first published work, as this is worlds better than some veteran romance authors I’ve read! I can’t wait for the next book of this series and to see what else she comes up with!

[amirahlynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I pull the blanket back and watch Frankie and her giant dog nestle into the bed. Out of all the guests I’ve ever had in this bed, these two are by far my favorites"~

Okay okay, I did not expect to like this at all. I'm not a sports person and this is my first sports romance and AHHHH I LOVED IT. At first I was annoyed by how many times these football players said "bro" and "dude" but I quickly got over that. Also, I experienced female blue balls at a particular scene so, extra star for that 🤣

Frankie is a tomboy and football lover who knows everything about the sport and NFL players. Shes also been cheated on and heartbroken by an ex who was a college football player. She stays away from cocky, arrogant, confident athletes

Leo is at his prime and a playboy who needs to save his reputation and his agent Ryan (Frankie's boss) makes them fake an engagement. He's swore to never settle and plans to end the fake engagement when the season is over

I loved reading Leo's POV's because he so clearly cared for her and even her dog and as an only child, it was cute reading the chapter with him and Frankie's brothers playing beach football since he never got to experience that. I also lived vicariously through Frankie, can this happen to me please?? She's "not like other girls" but I didn't find it annoying to read about how different she is from other girls.

[Katja · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this sassy fake engagement variation although I'm not into NFL at all and
the plot doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Leo needs to salvage his reputation because he was filmed at a strip club bachelor party. Somehow his agent thinks that a fake fiancee would help although in my opinion if a committed, engaged man got intimate with strippers he would look more like a heel than a bachelor and a free agent doing the same thing. Anyway, he and Frankie get fake engaged, and the plan is to break up a little later. She is doing it because she wants to be a sports agent and his boss wants her to do it. Not sure being known as a dumped WAG would be such a great career move but she feels she has no choice.
They move in together, party a little and eventually have sex and fall in love, not necessarily in that order. One of her brothers is warning her off because she got her heart broken by an athlete once and apparently that's a good enough reason to judge all athletes for evermore. Eventually they have a misunderstanding and the fakeness of the relationship becomes public Information.

The resolution feels a little rushed, I think it needed some more scenes to explain how they got people to believe in the relationship that had just been declared fake. And they
did some drunk driving after drinking Beer or margaritas, I didn't like that.

There was enough funny banter to make it a really enjoyable, entertaining read despite some problems, and I finished it in one sitting (my attention tends to wander usually).

[Diana Torr]

Nothing irks me more than when the protagonist is like "I'm not like other girls" and that is what Frankie is! Ughhh I really hate when a protagonist thinks she is better than other girls or "different" just because she like this and not that. Girl sit down, as someone who actually has three brothers this annoys me so much. It makes it really hard to get into the story. Like damn let a girl like what she wants without putting them down. Look, ain't no one going to be a better supporter than a girl/sister.

My second issue was with Leo, all of his POV's sound so immature. I felt like I was reading about a high school sophomore instead of a 28 year old.

My third issue was I really liked what was happening in the beginning with how Frankie didn't want anything to do with Leo, but then after one coffee now they are all buddy buddy? Girl your job was just on the line just because this douche can't keep it in his pants. So I wish there was more hostility between Frankie and Leo in the beginning because it would have made the tension 10x better

DNF at @28% Even though I didn't like where this one was going, I'll be trying the next book since Elliot seems a lot more mature

[Karen Wood]

its been a while since I read a sports related book and I loved this one from the start to end, I fell in love with Leo and Frankie.

Leo is a player, because he is a famous NFL player he can have any woman he wants and does, but he has gone too far and he needs to improve his reputation, so his agent suggests a fake engagement will do that, for the whole season.

Frankie works for Leo's agent and gets volunteered to be the fake fiancée to calm Leo down, he is not her type, she has been heartbroken before so is perfect for the job.

read how their relationship progresses with a few twists along the way, great story, great book!

[AnneMarie Davee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute sports romance

Frankie is adorable in their book as the sports loving fake fiancé. Leo is the typical sports player, in every sense of the word. They make a cute couple. It was a bit frustrating because there were some parts that didn’t work (losing by six, too far for a kick. Good thing, since 3 points wouldn’t win the game! And then they didn’t go for the extra point that actually wins the game). The plastic ring was cute, but didn’t he decide not to give it to her? Overall, a cute story and kept me interested to the end.

[Jerrica (Mrsmar10Reads) Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Swoon

Leo is a pro baller who needs his image cleaned up. Sexy, cocky, serial womanizer. Frankie is a smart up an coming agent in the making from a football fanatical family who can give facts and stats on any player. She's currently Leo's agent new assistant. So, when Leo's latest scandal hits, his agent suggests Frankie plays Leo fake fiance for the season or lose her job. Well what happens when the lines between real and fake get blurred and people start catching footballs and feelings?

[Clarie Giselle Speights · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent but I have a few qualms with this story...

So a few problems that were left unsaid. What happened with the interview that Leo was suppose to do to clear how he basically broke off everything with Frankie via tv?
Why did Frankie forgive so easily ?
Why the heck is he always calling her kid ?
Other than that it was a decent story buildup from lust to love. They did not jump into bed together right away.

[Katrina Berry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wild Ride by Breezie Bennett is Book 1 of the South Florida Riders Series.

From start-to-finish Ms. Bennett brought her A-game. If you enjoy fake engagements, sport romances and HEA’s then this would be the book for you. Great characters that really pull you in and have you invested in their story.

[Marc F Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read with enjoyable characters

I liked the story, although it was rather formulaic. Characters were reasonably fleshed out, dialogue was ok most of time and just occasionally stilted. There were some editing errors. The ending was a little abrupt and neat but I was happy there was cliffhanger..

[Paige Norman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wild ride it is!

Started with a standard fake engagement storyline and ends up with smiles and true love! Football star needs a pretend fiance to prove he's not a jerk, sexy football nerd needs a path to being the next great sports agent. Add in a crazy family, a lovable dog and some great football, and you've got a winner!!!

[Alyson Nerren · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good!!

First off, I'm a sucker for a good sports romance book...and this one was definitely a good one! I loved Frankie!!! She was a football nerd and it wad just the best when she schooled Leo's teammates! Ha! Then we have Leo who was a huge player and then got schooled by Frankie! This is my first by this author and I can't wait to watch the rest of these boys fall!!!

[Elaine Barker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love sport books

I love books about sports, especially football. This book was great. Usually all football players are cocky and a little obnoxious and players until they meet the "right one" woman.

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved Leo and Frankie!!! The way they started their relationship has been written a million times over, however, I really enjoyed this author’s take on it. The emotion was high and honest, and I enjoyed every moment of it.

[Shawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wild Ride

I enjoyed this book so much. It had all the feels and wonderful characters, lots of love and humor and just enough heat. It was a sweet story that took you on a little bit of a ride but had a wonderfully sweet ending.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read

New author to me but was really impressed by the story telling and the characters who were extremely likeable. Not too much angst but certainly a well developed story and loved both Frankie and Leo. Well done and recommend.

[Debra McEathron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Football and love

This is a cute contemporary story about Frankie and Leo. It takes place in Ft Lauderdale. Frankie is a football loving lady that wants a career as an agent for football players. Leo is a star player in trouble with his fans and management.