Review: Fangirl Down by Tessa Bailey

Fangirl Down by Tessa Bailey

Series: Big Shots #1

Publication date: February 13th, 2024

Pages: 380

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Synopsis:

#1 New York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey launches a super sexy sports romance series with a rom-com about a bad boy professional athlete who falls for his biggest fan...

Wells Whitaker was once golf's hottest rising star, but lately, all he has to show for his "promising" career is a killer hangover, a collection of broken clubs, and one remaining supporter. No matter how bad he plays, the beautiful, sunny redhead is always on the sidelines. He curses, she cheers. He scowls, she smiles. But when Wells quits in a blaze of glory and his fangirl goes home, he knows he made the greatest mistake of his life.

Josephine Doyle believed in the gorgeous, grumpy golfer, even when he didn't believe in himself. Yet after he throws in the towel, she begins to wonder if her faith was misplaced. This a determined Wells shows up at her door with a wild proposal: be his new caddy, help him turn his game around, and split the prize money. And considering Josephine's professional and personal life is in shambles, she could really use the cash...

As they travel together, spending days on the green and nights in neighboring hotel rooms, sparks fly. Before long, they're inseparable, Wells starts winning again, and Josephine is surprised to find a sweet, thoughtful guy underneath his gruff, growly exterior. This hot man wants to brush her hair, feed her snacks, and take bubble baths together? Is this real life? But Wells is technically her boss and an athlete falling for his fangirl would be ridiculous... right?

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Review:

Wells was done with the game of golf. There was no returning to the land of glory for him. He was a two-bit has-been and he is done trying to attempt to be anything else. He has lost his swing, the favor of his mentor and fans, and nobody wishes to work with the grump anymore. The only person he has left is one adoring fan who he can't see to get enough of seeing on his sidelines. But even the darling redhead isn't enough to keep him playing a game that he no longer cares about. So he quits. Even when his last remaining fan tries to talk him out of it. But once he opens his eyes and sees that his struggles are nothing compared to the sweet girl who was always there for him rooting him on he makes a plan to fight back to the top of her craft again for her. If he can convince her to be his caddy maybe he could get his groove back while also helping her out financially after a natural disaster took out her family's pro shop. But the problem is that the more he gets to know his adoring fan the more he struggles to see her as a would-be employee and not as the woman of his dreams.

Josephine was a fan of Wells Whitaker's from the moment he set foot on the green. She went to each golf tournament she could that he played in to show her support. But when he quit in front of her while abandoning his clubs and ripping her 'Wells Belle' sign she thought that was the end of things. Then her family's pro shop was destroyed in the aftermath of a hurricane. She had already had to drop her health insurance for her diabetes to pay the rent on the shop and lost the insurance money as well. What was she to do? There was no way out but to accept Wells' offer to become his caddy. But what she didn't know was that she was going to learn a lot more about what made the grumpy asshole tick and the adoration would only grow into something a lot more. Can she manage to keep things professional?

I didn't think I would like this book because I figured out of all the sports that Tessa Bailey could have chosen golf was the dullest. I know nothing about golf other than the fact its what older men do after they retire that makes their wives annoyed to pieces. How can you make a sport meant for old men hot? Well it seems you let Tessa Bailey get ahold of it and miracles can be realized. Wells and Josephine melted off the pages with the amount of heat they had between them. There were even some parts in the books that made me clutch my pearls. I had never seen something of that sort in even the darkest of romance books I have read. Brava, Ms. Bailey. 

Aside from the heat of the characters I found myself not entirely put off by the fact that the sport in the book was golf. There was not a lot of wordy description to try to explain the sport to the readers. It was light enough that even the most novice of golf enthusiasts could understand it. And by novice I mean, 'I've played putt putt before' sort of novice. It made me a bit interested to really understand how physically demanding the game might be for a professional golfer. That doesn't mean you're going to see me out on the course with my pink golf clubs (why wouldn't they be pink?). 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It wasn't my favorite of Tessa Bailey's books, but it was still really well written with enjoyable characters. I also felt that it was a little too easy of a romance. There were really no obstacles to cause some push and pull between the characters. The love for the womanizing male lead was a bit too quick for me as well so the believable nature of the book was a little lost. But other than that, I still enjoyed the book.