Risky Play by Rachel Van Dyken Blog Tour

Even one-night stands deserve a second chance in New York Times bestselling author Rachel Van Dyken’s novel of sporting desire.

What else can a virgin do when she’s ditched at the altar? Seattle heiress Mackenzie Dupont is treating herself to a single-girl honeymoon in Mexico and a desire to relinquish her innocence to a gorgeous one-night stand. Fake names. True pleasure. But when she wakes up alone, Mackenzie realizes just how much anger is left in her broken heart.

Suffering a tragic personal loss, pro soccer player Slade Rodriguez has his reasons for vanishing without a goodbye. Right or wrong, he’s blaming the beautiful and infuriating stranger he never wants to see again. They’re both in for a shock when Mackenzie shows up as his new personal assistant. And they both have a lot to learn about each other. Because they share more than they could possibly know, including a common enemy who’s playing his own games. And he’s not afraid to get dirty.

Now there’s only one way Mackenzie and Slade can win: to trust in each other and to stop hiding from the lies they’ve told, the secrets they’ve kept, the mistakes they’ve made, and the attraction that still burns between them.

Book 1
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Why Sports Heroes Make the Best Book Boyfriends

Hey everyone! I’m Rachel Van Dyken, author of over eighty (holy crap) books in multiple genres, one of my favorites being, sports romance! My latest book, Risky Play, is about two broken main characters who find themselves on a last minute holiday to Puerto Vallarta.

Pro Soccer player Slade Rodriguez is trying to lay low after finding out his girlfriend and his ex teammate hooked up behind his back, for over a year. Licking his wounds he changes teams and moves to Seattle, but isn’t ready to settle down yet. Needing time to himself, he gets on the first jet out. He sits next to Mackenzie Dupont on a plane and is immediately intrigued, especially since a few hours into the plane ride, they have single engine failure. She asks him what one thing he would do different. And they kiss. Once the plane safely lands, to protect his own identity, he gives her a fake name, Hugo. What he doesn’t realize is she’s famous in her own right, so she does the same thing. After all, she’s running away from a broken engagement. What follows is a whole lot of steaminess and taking chances with a complete stranger assuming that it’s just that, a one night stand, a two night stand. Whatever it is, Mackenzie's obsessed with "Hugo's" intense golden gaze, the eight pack helps, and the fact that he seems genuinely interested in everything she says. He promises the universe he’s going to keep her, but sometimes the universe is against us. Tragedy strikes and they go their separate ways only to meet again in Seattle, this time, sparks fly and not the good kind The "I want to kiss you, then strangle you, then kiss you again" kind.

I love writing sports romances because I think it adds this extra layer of pressure from the press to act a certain way. Not only does Slade have to deal with paparazzi but he has pressure to perform, to lead his team to the championships after training with another team. I think it brings in so many details from behind the scenes that we never think about when watching sports on TV. I’m fully dedicated to interviewing real athletes (and my last sports romance I interviewed NFL players). This time I wanted to focus on a sport that isn’t as huge here as it is internationally and really do it justice. These athletes eat, sleep, and breathe their sport, there isn’t a lot of time for a personal life and if you do have one, the balance is always going to be a struggle (not to mention the fact that Slade is still mourning). In this book, I wanted to introduce a really strong female character that wouldn’t let Slade project all those feelings and basically Mackenzie is the type of girl that doesn’t put up with his crap. I think it's important to have strong female characters that women can look up to. I love that during the entire journey my heroine doesn’t give up. She knows her worth and demands that Slade recognize it too.

All in all it was such a fun book to write, I can’t wait for everyone to read it!

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Avid Reader – ☆☆☆☆
M/F Romance

Mackenzie was jilted at the altar. She knows that she never should have agreed to the marriage, but what makes it worse is that she will need to see her ex-fiancé a lot, because he still works for her father. When Mackenzie takes a trip for herself, the last thing she expects is for her to meet a guy.

Slade is wanting to have some alone time. Despite his personal life being in shambles, he hopes that this trip will help him get his head on straight before starting his new job – playing soccer in Seattle. When tragedy strikes his family, despite meeting an amazing woman, he has to hustle home.

Communication errors, lies, and deflection are wildly available in this book. Despite the relationship issues, I did love how Slade and Mackenzie sparred. Mackenzie is a strong woman who will stand on her own again. Slade will learn that loving someone doesn't necessarily mean forgetting someone else. Together, they will fight for their lives and their love. I really hope Jagger gets his own story, as he was hilarious in this one. The only issue was that I felt the issues revolving around Alton were unsolved.


Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This is the start of a new series and I am definitely looking out for the second book already. There are plenty of interesting characters who need to get their happily ever after, Jagger for a start!

The premise for this story sets up the potential for romance, but wow, there are some twists which make it far more fun and cuter than I had expected. I loved that they gave themselves different names, and both behaved totally out of character – as when they met again, they had to completely revise their view of each other. In fact, Slade has to keep reviewing his opinion of Mack as she was certainly not the person he thought she was.

The scenes with Alton, Mack's ex, were very effective at giving us an insight into her position in her family, and also just how honourable Slade is at his core – finally shaming her father into action. The dynamics there were slightly odd and made more sense of why she had stepped away from the family business. Her ability to analyse wine and her descriptions were fun, and did have me wanting to find a glass and indulge myself.

If you like sports romance, and a good second-chance, post-wedding disaster romance, then I am sure you will enjoy this one.

Rachel Van Dyken is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and #1 New York Times bestselling author known for regency romances, contemporary romances, and her love of coffee and Swedish fish. Rachel’s also recently inked a deal for her Wingmen Inc. series—The Matchmaker’s Playbook and The Matchmaker’s Replacement—to be made into movies.

A fan of The Bachelor and the Seattle Seahawks (not necessarily in that order), Rachel lives in Idaho with her husband, a super cute toddler son who keeps her on her toes, and two boxers. She loves to hear from readers!

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Risky Play (Red Card #1) by Rachel Van Dyken to read and review for this tour.