Edge of Glory

This is a contemporary, new adult, sports romance. It is definitely written with new/young adults in mind and it is a quick, enjoyable summer read. It is a sweet love story with a little heat. It had humor with a snarky awkward heroine and a handsome, famous, or is it infamous, Olympic swimmer! Ryan Lochte is the muse for this story and with the 2016 Olympics coming up next month made this read all the more fun for me. Jay Morningstar came from an affluent southern California family. His sister is a reality star, hot mess actress and his ex-girlfriend is an equally hot mess reality star and friend of his sister. Jay worked hard to get where he is in the swimming world, although his fame after winning eight gold medals at the last Olympics went to his head and he partied hard and got into trouble. He had to work very hard to get back in the good graces of the swimming community again. He was in Friendship, Texas training with his coach and a few teammates, when he met Lia. There were supposed to be no distractions here in Texas, but her couldn’t get Lia out his head. Rosalia (Lia) Conti is the youngest child and only daughter to a very overprotective, immigrant Sicilian family. Her parents owned the only Italian restaurant in her small town, and the entire family worked there. Her family was a riot; loud and in your face and business all the time. Lia didn’t date much because she didn’t want to have to deal with her family. She is a student working on the last few classes before obtaining her Associates Degree and then she wanted to transfer to her dream university, USC to study music management. Her family wanted her to stay and go to a university in Texas. She had a huge crush on Jay Morningstar for years and even had a huge poster of him in his speedos on her bedroom wall. So when she came face to face with this beautiful man, she was speechless. The story line follows the courtship of Lia and Jay. Jay pursued Lia and she just didn’t understand how he wanted to be with her, she had insecurities that caused problems with their relationship. They have quite a few hurdles to jump through, or swim through, to get to their HEA. Lia has walls that she puts up to protect her heart. She uses sarcasm and humor to diffuse situations. She is a virgin and doesn’t want to just give herself to someone unless she is ready to give her heart. There are a few sexy scenes towards the end of the book, so if you are looking for a steamy read, then this isn’t the book for you. This is such a sweet love story with some drama involving both families and the pressures of dealing with the press, obnoxious mean girls and Lia’s crazy family, which includes her Nona and her Nona’s pet goat that acts more like a dog. There is a lot of laugh out loud moments with her crazy family and friends. If you want a sweet heat sports romance, give this one a try.