Inside Game by Collette WestGenre: Adult, Contemporary Romance
Expected Publication: July 10th, 2015
Third baseman Drake Schultz is the undisputed bad boy of the New York Kings. So it's no surprise when Major League Baseball suspends him for taking performance-enhancing drugs. Furious with their superstar, the front office issues an ultimatum: either work with their sober companion or kiss the rest of his quarter-billion-dollar contract goodbye. Cocky and arrogant, Drake resists being saddled with a live-in babysitter—even one he's insanely attracted to.
Drake is Eva Sloane's first celebrity client as a substance abuse counselor, and she knows she's in trouble when he starts tempting her at every turn. The way he looks at her is as hot as sin, but she refuses to become his new drug of choice. Slowly, she helps him realize he has to face the demons from his past and heal his tortured spirit before he can even think about satisfying any craving he has for her.
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Playlist
1. Everybody Hurts, R.E.M.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijZRCIrTgQc
When you're sure you've had enough
Of this life, well hang on
Don't let yourself go
'Cause everybody cries
And everybody hurts sometimes
There’s
a moment in Chapter 8 when Drake is experiencing a dark night of the soul and
in order to ease his anguish Eva reveals a painful secret about her past. He
soon comes to realize that they’re not so very different after all, and it
becomes a major turning point in their relationship.
2. Another Day, Rent soundtrack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oidzfBu-cJY
Little girl, hey, the door is that way
You better go you know the fire's out anyway
Take your powder, take your candle
Your sweet whisper, I just can't handle
Well take your hair in the moonlight
Your brown eyes, goodbye, goodnight
This
is a playful duet on some very serious subject matter. And in Chapter 5, Drake
thinks by making light of his troubles (in a highly *provocative* way), he can get Eva to leave him alone. But it
doesn’t quite work out that way.
3. Every Breath You Take, Sting and The
Police
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMOGaugKpzs
Every game you play
Every night you stay
I'll be watching you
O can't you see
You belong to me
How my poor heart aches with every step you
take
In
Chapter 3, it’s revealed that Drake met Eva before—eight years ago. It was only
a brief encounter, but he kept the attraction alive by keeping an eye on
her…without her knowing it.
4. The A Team, Ed Sheeran
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAWcs5H-qgQ
Go mad for a couple grams
And we don't want to go outside tonight
And in a pipe we fly to the Motherland
The
imagery evoked in these lyrics paints quite a mental picture. Eva has been down
this road before, watching addicts waste away to nothing, leaving her powerless
to help them (as mentioned in Chapter 6). Yet this time around, she’s
determined not to let Drake meet the same fate.
5. Thank U, Alanis Morissette
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOgpT5rEKIU
Thank you terror
Thank you disillusionment
Thank you frailty
Thank you consequence
Thank you thank you silence
How bout me not blaming you for everything
How bout me enjoying the moment for once
How bout how good it feels to finally
forgive you
How bout grieving it all one at a time
”Thank
you.”
When
Drake says these two, simple words to Eva at the end of the book (Chapter 38),
it’s quite an emotional moment. It serves as a beautiful reminder of just how
far they’ve come as a couple.
It’s
also a nice tie-in to Chapter 34 (a reader favorite) that features a touching
scene between Drake and the rest of the guys on the team.
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About the Author
Collette West grew up as somewhat of a jock-nerd hybrid. Entering the world three weeks premature, her dad nearly missed her birth because he had seats behind the dugout for a sold-out, highly-anticipated match-up between two of baseball's biggest rivals. Not to be outdone, her book-loving mom taught her how to read by the time she was three. A love of the game coupled with an appreciation for the written word were instilled in Collette's impressionable brain from a young age. No wonder her characters believe in the philosophy: sports + romance = a little slice of heaven.
Splitting her time between the Pocono Mountains and Manhattan, Collette indulges her inner fangirl by going to as many games as she can from hockey to baseball and downloading every sports romance novel in existence onto her iPad. When she's not clicking away on her laptop, she enjoys walking her dog in Central Park, satisfying her caffeine craving at the Starbucks on Broadway and keeping an eye out for Mr. Right. But above all, she loves dishing with her readers. Email her at collette_west@yahoo.com.
She is the author of NIGHT GAMES, GAME CHANGER and GAME ON.
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