I appreciated the depth of this story and the fact that both the hero and heroine had to make some tough choices about their lives to get to their happy place. ~ Slick, Guilty Pleasures
Description:
They were the golden boys of fall: Stewart Mills High School’s legendary championship football team. Fourteen years later, they’re back to relive their glory, save the team—and find themselves again…
Globetrotting photographer Alex Murphy returns to Stewart Mills for a football fundraiser, but stays to document the football team and the town’s changes. Since his project includes photos of the Walker farm, he rents a room there.
Needing money to save the family farm, Gretchen Walker doesn’t have time to deal with the sexy photographer in her house. After all, Alex is a man with no sense of home, and to her, home is everything. But when she finds herself falling for him, she’ll be forced to decide where her dreams really lie…
Review copy provided for an honest review
When I read the first book in Shannon Stacey’s Boys of Fall series, I liked it quite a bit but I was a 
bit disappointed in that the romance seemed lost in the story. Don’t get me wrong, the story was wonderful but I didn’t feel like I had enough time with the couple to really love it. In Defending Hearts, Ms. Stacey gave me everything I could want in a romance and more. I loved this book; the out of sorts hero, the strong and somewhat stubborn heroine, a feisty matchmaking grandma, the backdrop of a small town and two people so very different finding common ground.
In the first book Alex Murphy an award winning photojournalist returns to his hometown, Stewart Mills, New Hampshire, to help raise funds for the football program as a tribute to the coach who taught him much about life. After a particularly grueling assignment Alex feels the need to return “home” again and ends up renting a room at a farm from a woman who was a few years behind him in school and her grandmother who raised her. The last thing Gretchen wants is a boarder in her and her grandmother’s home but it is money they can use and he’s not a complete stranger but finding him handsome and charming isn’t what she expects or the fact that he seems every bit as interested in her as she is in him.
I was fascinated by how different the lives of Alex and Gretchen were but how they found so much common ground. Alex couldn’t wait to get out of the small town he grew up in and he has traveled the world, lived in some great and not so great places, and had experiences most people dream about but finds himself wondering if a chance at happiness has passed him by. Gretchen has spent her life on her grandparent’s farm after she went to live with them as a small child. Following her grandfather’s death she took over managing the farm and earning the money to keep it going. She honestly loves the town and the farm and doesn’t mind the hard work but meeting Alex and listening to him talk makes her wonder if she’s missed out by not having any adventures. Truly opposites in so many ways yet the minute Alex stepped into her home it seemed like he’d been there forever he charmed Ida (or Gram) as well as their dog, Cocoa and he even managed to rankle Gretchen a bit from the start. I enjoyed watching him go about working on a piece about the town and the football team and rediscovering the joys of his hometown as an adult. I felt like I watched Gretchen blossom when Alex was around and even though she went down kicking and screaming it was easy to see that he made her happy just as she did for him.
While we saw quite a few secondary character in this book from both Gretchen and Alex’s friends to her grandmother and the football coach and his wife they added to this story. They offered some very wise advice; they were a shoulder to cry on and sometimes delivered a much needed push in the right direction.
While it took some time for them to explore the physical side of their relationship, once they did they had some interesting and extremely sexy encounters that I think took them both a bit by surprise.
I appreciated the depth of this story and the fact that both the hero and heroine had to make some tough choices about their lives to get to their happy place. Completely entertaining, wonderfully written and surprisingly sexy Defending Hearts is a fantastic addition to this series and I am very excited about what’s to come next!
I was lukewarm about the first book for the same reasons as you. I’m thrilled that this one is better. Thanks for a great review!
Sounds pretty good…thanks Slick for the review