Gavin has an admitted anger management problem. He is completely unsure how he will manage without football for six whole months and it’s eating at him that he’s letting the team down by not being available this season. When the story begins, football is all he knows. He grew up in foster care and group homes, and football was his ticket out of poverty. Gavin knows he has only a few more years left to play before his body gives out. Gavin is bisexual but not out the NFL is not all that LGBTQ-friendly and he and his advisors see him coming out as a career-limiting move. Noah’s BFF, Jasmine, has a contact with the Barons and encourages Noah to apply for the role with Gavin. As Noah had, himself, slept with said manager (consensually), his revelation was seen as more a result of jealousy rather than any misconduct on the manager’s part (where have we heard that before, ladies?) and now he’s out of a job. Noah Munro is a gay social worker who was fired after going to the management of his last place of employment to advise that one of the managers was sleeping with clients. So, his manager convinces him to hire a personal assistant. From a very practical perspective, as he is not allowed to leave the property, he needs help so that whatever he needs can be brought to him. He’s suspended for the NFL season and, apart from very occasional visits to see his agent, he is stuck in his West Hampton mansion on his own for half a year, wearing a monitoring device on his ankle to ensure his compliance. There’s a story behind it (naturally) but he’s a 6’5” very burly dude and even though the other guy hit first, Gavin is held responsible given his size, his profession and his celebrity. For one thing, the heat factor is much greater (not a complaint) and, as it is an M/M romance featuring a closeted character, coming out publicly is an issue that must be addressed one way or another for a HEA to be achieved.īarons tight end, Gavin Brawley, is under house arrest for the next six months after being charged and convicted regarding a very public assault. Both books feature a slow burn romance against the background of NFL football, both involve an employee/employer relationship burgeoning into romance and neither require a lifelong love of sport in general or football in particular to enjoy. In many ways, Illegal Contact reminded me of The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata (another romance that I also recommend – although that one is M/F and Illegal Contact is M/M) and I mean that in the most complimentary of ways. It’s smart, sweet, sexy – and recommended particularly for those who enjoy a slow burn romance.

I’m a fan of sports romances generally and was excited to have the chance to review Illegal Contact, which features characters who play NFL for the fictional New York Barons.

Narrated by Alexander Cendese & Eric London

Illegal contact by santino hassell