SIDELINED

A new series installment about a love affair that follows the terms of a literal contract.

Years ago, football player Shane Smith broke an engagement to be with Carice Charles, mistakenly thinking that she was the one for him. Now, years later, he thinks that he’s learned the error of his ways. Bryn Charles, he now believes, is everything he wants and needs in a partner, but Carice is still in his life as the mother of his child. However, Bryn has a plan, thinking that if Carice can come up with an arrangement to keep Shane in line, then so can she. So Bryn presents Shane with a contract detailing what needs to happen for them to stay together—and if he follows it, line by line, there are some particularly juicy guarantees that he can look forward to at the end of its term. But not everything goes according to Bryn’s plan; Carice, and the vagaries of life itself, find ways to make things go sideways. This third and final installment of Williams’ Sidelined series, following The Draft (2017) and The Penalty (2018), is part romance and part inspirational women’s fiction. The book takes off like a shot with Shane narrating the story from prison, and it doesn’t stop or give the reader any breaks; instead, it moves from one hit to another at a brisk pace. Although it can be read as a stand-alone work, readers would do well to tackle the previous installments first. Those who are new to the series will find the characters to be instantly likable, but they may find it difficult to figure out the various relationships without a more thorough grounding in the story. This novel may not provide the ending that some readers may hope for, but the journey to get there is still uplifting and exhilarating.

An offbeat romance that will leave readers guessing until the very end.