Simply the Best (Chicago Stars) – ARC review

Simply the Best
by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Release Date: February 13, 2024
Publisher: Avon
Book #10 in the Chicago Stars series
Number of Pages: 382
Source: ARC from NetGalley
Contemporary Romance
Ages 15 and up
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Take one hard-driving sports agent…
Throw in a failed chocolatier…
And her superstar football player brother…
Add a quirky pink and purple food truck…

Then, to really screw things up, mix in a very unfortunate murder.

Brett Rivers is the hottest sports agent in the business—fast and furious, swift and deadly. Failure? Not an option.

Rory Garrett is—let’s be honest—a disaster. She has a big heart, an empty bank account, a passion for making exquisite chocolate, and a huge inferiority complex from living in the shadow of Brett’s most important client, her football legend brother.

Brett and Rory should never have met, and they absolutely, positively should never have had to deal with the consequences of one stupid, drunken night…one disastrous lie…one career in jeopardy…one missing football player…and a very dead body.

It’s going to get messy…and dangerous…and heartbreaking…and sexy. To Rory, Brett represents skewed values and a devious mind. To Brett, Rory is forbidden fruit, off limits, do not disturb, and no entry—definitely no entry.

A woman who has succeeded at nothing and a man who’s succeeded at everything confront the challenge of their lives as they struggle with themselves and each other. When it comes to love—what price are any of us willing to pay to be simply the best?

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Whenever I pick up a Susan Elizabeth Phillips book I know I’m in for an enjoyable time. Especially when it’s a Chicago Stars story. While this book isn’t as zany as her stories can get (see Nobody’s Baby But Mine), there is a murder mystery to solve. Yep, SEP is throwing murder into the mix. Of course, we also get some cameos from old favorites, too.

Rory is such an amazing FMC. She is kind and caring even if her life is a mess. She marches to her own beat and doesn’t care what others think. Yet, inside, she is still that little girl whose mom died, whose dad remarried quickly, who ended up the big sister to a super-star little brother. Rory has always felt she could do no right in her stepmom’s eyes, and she was invisible in her father’s eyes. Her brother’s not a bad guy, but she has hard feelings from the mere fact he was whom she was always compared to…and found inferior every time.

This story starts with starts fast right out of the gate. One thing after another until Rory and Brett are somewhat forced into working together and go from nemeses to frienemies to friends to (finally) lovers. I love the way they snipe at one another because of their fear of the feelings they are having. Sometimes they even own up to being wrong and apologize and that’s even more amazing.

As usual with this author, the chemistry is on point. The push/pull of these two is amazing. Toward the end of the story, there is a text exchange thread that had me falling more in love with Brett and convinced me he was the right man for Rory. Amazing.

Reading this book reminded me that I still have some SEP books I never read. I’m going back to see what I still need to read and getting to that asap.

5 stars

**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**