About the Book

From USA TODAY bestselling author Emily McIntire comes an angsty, best friend's brother, second chance romance.

Elliot Carson left Sugarlake and has never looked back. Revered as the next big thing in basketball, Eli’s a star until an injury ends his career, sending him spiraling with no direction.

But he won’t go home.

He can’t.

Instead, he accepts a coaching gig at Florida Coast University, determined to leave his past behind. But fate has other plans when Becca, his sister’s best friend, shows up as a student and, even worse, becomes the new team manager.

Rebecca Sanger is the preacher’s daughter and the town's disappointment. When she ignores her family’s demands to come home, she’s cut off and needs a job so she can stay enrolled at FCU. She thought she had everything figured out until Eli Carson—the person she hates more than anything in the world—ends up being her new boss.

Forced together, Becca and Eli’s hatred turns to heat, and they start an affair. But disaster quickly strikes, ripping them apart.

Years pass, and Becca’s back home, under her parent’s thumb, and living a mundane life. When Eli shows up out of the blue with a fiancée in tow, Becca is tasked with planning their wedding.

There’s only one problem.

Becca still loves Eli.

And he hates her.

For the second time in their lives, they’re forced together, and they’ll find out just how thin the line is between hate... and a love that lasts a lifetime.

Review

My overall satisfaction with Beneath the Stands was going to depend on the treatment of Eli’s fiancé. Often authors have gotten into a habit of introducing another female love interest and making her seem “obsessive” and “awful” as a way to push the MMC back to the FMC.

I enjoyed the early years of Eli and Becca. I felt they worked well together, and I think their transition from dislike to like felt natural. I felt Becca’s departure to be lacking; however, I was still rooting for them. I did not want my enjoyment of them to be taunted because of the introduction of Sarah (Eli’s fiancé) in the flashforward. Fortunately, the author didn’t portray Sarah in a negative light. Therefore, Eli and Becca were able to keep their spark and embark on an angsty journey.

One of the things that I loved most about them was that they were almost similar. They both had family issues and for a time avoided their hometown. For me, Eli’s family drama packed a bigger punch, and it was heartbreaking to see him and his sister at all. I’m happy they reconnected. Becca’s family drama gave me whiplash. It’s great that she went to therapy because her parents were terrible people.

Final Thoughts

Beneath the Stands was a solid second-chance romance. I found myself enjoying Eli and Becca and how similar they were. There were a few things that I was concerned about regarding their reunion; however, the author silenced those fears.

Buy on Amazon Kindle | Audiobook | Paperback | Bookshop.org