Book Review: Caught Up (Windy City #3) by Liz Tomforde

July 14, 2025June 8, 2024 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Sports Romance
Length: 400 pages
Author: Liz Tomforde
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Release Date: October 10th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Kai.
I’m a single dad and starting pitcher for Chicago’s MLB team.I’m stretched too thin, but I don’t want help raising my son.Each of his previous nannies only lasted a few weeks before I let them go.Now, my coach is putting his foot down by hiring the one person I can’t fire—his daughter.Miller Montgomery is the last woman I should fall for. Too wild, too young, and too unattached. Chicago is just a quick stop for her. I thought I’d be counting down the days until she left, but summer feels too short when I start thinking about forever.
Miller.
As a high-end pastry chef who recently won the most prestigious award in my industry, I’m desperate to prove I deserve it. But with a new title comes new pressure, and I can’t create a fresh and inspiring dessert to save my life.With only two months to get back on track, I should be focusing in the kitchen, but instead, I let my dad talk me into using my time off to nanny for his star player’s kid.Kai Rhodes forgot how to have fun, and I’m eager to jog his memory. But when he and his son start to feel like home, I have to remind us both that my time in Chicago ends with the summer.Besides, I’ve always been a runner, and the last thing I want is to get caught.

GOOD.

This is the first baseball romance I can recollect recently reading and genuinely enjoying. I loved Kai so dang much and he was the sweetest Dad. I loved the level of baseball content throughout and getting to see teammates and Isiah. All of the friendships were some of my favorite aspects. I love seeing strong bonds. Oh!! And Miller and Monty’s relationship made my heat squeeze multiple times. They had a special bond I was endeared to from the beginning.

I enjoyed most of the romance. I didn’t love the summer fling aspects as it came to be a fairly repetitive dynamic, especially for Miller. After a medium-ish burn and some good angst I thought the needed relationship conversations would happen and I felt like those kept getting dragged out. I was tired of Miller repeating herself.

So while not my favorite of the series (The Right Move maintains all supremacy), I am still liking this series plenty. There were some fantastic scenes in here and I found the spice to be pretty easy to skip. Looking forward to book four!!

Overall audience notes:

Sports Romance
Language: high
Romance: 3-4 open door
Violence: low
Content Warnings: parental abandonment mentioned, sexual assault (on-page), death of a parent mentioned

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Book Review: Rewind it Back (Windy City #5) by Liz Tomforde

June 7, 2025May 26, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Sports Romance
Length: 491 pages
Author: Liz Tomforde
Publisher: Entangled/Self Published
Release Date: May 20th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

HALLIE

When I was eleven, my family moved next door to his.
When I was thirteen, he was my first crush.
When I was sixteen, we fell for each other.

And when I was nineteen, we broke each other’s hearts.

Six years later, I’ve landed an internship with a big-name interior designer in a new city. Unfortunately, that city just so happens to be the one he plays hockey for.

I thought Chicago was big enough to avoid him, until I get the surprise of a lifetime and unknowingly move in right next door. Even worse? The renovation project I’m assigned to in hopes of turning that internship into my full-time dream job…

It’s his house.

But how am I supposed to update his bachelor pad into a family home when we can’t even stand to be in the same room?

I may have loved Rio DeLuca once, but I’m not that same girl anymore.

RIO

I never thought I’d be the only single one left in my friend group. But after years of trying to find love, I’ve concluded it may not exist for me anymore.

That is, until I accidentally hire Hallie Hart to renovate my house and our jaded history has me rewinding memories I’ve kept secret for years.

You see, there’s something that my friends don’t know.

That connection I’ve been looking for since I moved to Chicago, that one person some search their entire lives to find . . . I had already found her when I was twelve years old.

And now the only girl I’ve ever loved is moving into the house next door.

Again.

Rewind It Back is the fifth and FINAL book in the sensational Windy City series which has gripped over a million readers across the world. But don’t worry if you’re new round here, you’ll still love it as a standalone!

MY LOVE KNOWS NO BOUNDS.

This book was everything I could have hoped for AND MORE. I love that we got Rio’s book and that he got one of the most romantic second chance stories ever. And childhood friends to lovers? ELITE.

One of my favorite subtle things was about Rio’s character. There were some nuanced aspects to him that I was obsessed with and would love to see in more romances too. He’s one of the most down bad men I’ve ever read and I am here for it all.

And another moment I loved with my whole being was the COMMUNICATION. Hallie hit it out of the park and I could not be more in love with her character. There were some key scenes that had me cheering. This is how you write romance. Swoony, relatable, and with actual adult conversation.

The banter and heat was amazing. I loved the soft slow burn between Hallie and Rio. They are the definition of soul mates and the flashback chapters only added to that charm. I’m not usually a fan of flashbacks so I loved how these played a part. There were important and nuanced scenes that only added to my love for these two.

Absolutely in my feels over seeing all ten of these characters together one last time. The family scenes were everything and I will miss everyone so dang much.

BRB gotta go reread and highlight my book [again].

Overall audience notes:

Hockey Romance
Language: moderate
Romance: 3-4 open door
Violence: low
Content warnings: infidelity (side characters), a parent with cancer (does not die)

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Book Review: Mile High (Windy City #1) by Liz Tomforde

September 13, 2024July 29, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Sports Romance
Length: 603 pages
Author: Liz Tomforde
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: June 7th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Zanders

Chicago hockey isn’t complete without me—everyone’s favorite player to hate. I know my role, and I play it well. In fact, I thoroughly enjoy spending the majority of my game time in the penalty box before leaving the arena with a new girl on my arm each night.

What I don’t like is the new flight attendant on our team’s private plane. She works for me, not the other way around. But I’ll be sure to remind her of that, and I can guarantee, by the end of the season, she’ll be begging to quit her job.

But every road trip blurs the lines, and I can’t quite figure out if I keep pushing that flight attendant call button in order to push her buttons or if it’s more than that.

Stevie

I’ve been a flight attendant for years. I thought I’d see it all, but when my new job lands me onboard working for the most egotistical and self-righteous diva in the NHL, I start to second guess everything. Including the promise I made to myself of never hooking up with an athlete again…no matter how annoyingly tempting he may be.

Evan Zanders is unfiltered, unapologetic, and too attractive for his own good. He loves his image, but I hate everything about it.

Everything but him.

TOOK ME BY SURPRISED.

Here I am, reading every sports romance I can get my hands on. I’ve been holding off on picking this one up because of the spice, BUT I will say, why spicy (and I did skip a lot), the plot did outweigh that for me. I really loved the core of this story and the character growth throughout.

I am obsessed when the guy falls first, and the guy falls HARD. Enter Zanders who absolutely could not leave Stevie alone. Love that for him. I loved his bad boy, but actually a sweetheart persona and I loved that Stevie would take no crap from him, but also worked through her personal body issues.

I didn’t love that this had a one night stand trope *shrugs*. That’s a me thing but I stand by it. I did love the mental health conversations, all of the shelter dog content and of course, the hockey games too. I loved the audio and look forward to book two!

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Sports Romance
Language: some strong
Romance: 5+ open; high explicit
Violence: low
Trigger/Content Warnings: many conversations surrounding body image/weight issues, parental abandonment, mentions of anxiety/panic attacks, psychologically manipulative mother

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Book Review: The Right Move (Windy City #2) by Liz Tomforde

December 19, 2023October 22, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Sports Romance
Length: 544 pages
Author: Liz Tomforde
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: January 1st, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

RYAN

She’s a distraction, that’s what she is.

I’m the newest Captain of the Devils, Chicago’s NBA team, and the last thing I needed this year was for Indy Ivers, my sister’s best friend, to move into my apartment. She’s messy, emotional, and way too tempting.

But when the team’s General Manager vocalizes his blatant disapproval of my promotion to Captain, referring to me as an unapproachable lone wolf with no work-life balance, I can’t think of a better way to convince him otherwise than pretending to date my outgoing roommate.

The only problem? Faking it feels far too natural.

Having a fake girlfriend wasn’t supposed to be messy but having Indy under my roof and in my bed is complicated, especially when she wants all the romantic parts of life that I could never give her.

INDY

I never imagined I’d be living with my best friend’s brother, NBA superstar Ryan Shay. Even more unbelievable? He needs me to act as his loving girlfriend who’s suddenly changed him into a friendly and approachable guy.

Because, well…he’s not. He’s controlling of his space and untrusting of others.

Our arrangement isn’t one-sided, though. I’m in a wedding coming up, one where every one of my childhood friends, including my ex-boyfriend, will be in attendance, and there’s no better date than my ex’s celebrity hero.

Blurred lines make it almost impossible to separate real from fake. Falling for my roommate was never part of the deal, especially when Ryan is quick to remind me that he doesn’t believe in love.

I’m a romantic and can’t help fantasizing that he’ll change, but soon enough, I find myself questioning if sharing a roof with my best friend’s brother was the right move after all

STOP IT RIGHT NOW.

Y’all. I had zero plans to binge this book in basically a day and I COULD NOT STOP LISTENING. I absolutely get the hype around Ryan Shay now and he’s officially a new favorite.

I loved that the whole vibe of this book was quiet love is the loudest. Those kind of moments are my favorite when reading a romance book and Ryan and Indy both did so many things for each other that were quiet and without fanfare that showed just how much love was between them. I was SMITTEN. And could honestly sit here and list moment after moment that was beautifully tender and heartfelt and melted me into a puddle (but also the protective and jealous moments SENT ME). I have not recovered.

I loved seeing the characters from Mile High and I love the friendships and sibling relationships. They are strong and caring and only add to how much this book sings. It’s a new sports romance favorite of mine.

Overall audience notes: