Love those Chicago Stars! First Star I See Tonight by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Reading a SEP book is like meeting up with an old friend. You know that when you are done, you are going to feel warm and fuzzy and glad you spent the time with them. In this new book, Piper Dove has bought out her deceased father's detective agency and has her first big client. The job requires investigating former Stars QB Cooper Graham. Unfortunately for Piper, Cooper makes her and she gets fired. The upside is that Cooper hires her to work at his new club after she exposes some shady dealings going on at the site. Since the job includes a free apartment, she agrees and they begin spending a lot of time together. Piper makes some pretty crazy decisions while at the same time giving Cooper some great advice. However, when things get more serious, she can't get over her concern about their different lives.
This is a fun romance with SEP's trademark humor and snarkiness between the couple. The supporting characters are fun too and move the story along. Piper is the feisty chick we wish we could be sometimes and Cooper is that dream guy- gorgeous body but with a nice heart to go with it.
Besides the wonderful main love story, one of my favorite things about a Stars book is seeing older characters pop up in the storyline. This always makes me remember their story and how much I enjoyed it. I especially liked seeing Heath "the Python" Campion in this book. He and Annabelle were one of my favorite couples. The mix of old and new characters was perfect in this book. I hated to get to the end.

Blindsided by Jami Davenport

Emma Maxwell has lived most of her adult life in unrequited love with Tanner Wolfe. Emma is the odd duck in her family, being the only singleton in the group and the only one who secretly wants to follow her famous parents and become a professional singer. Her sisters have fallen for famous hockey players and one, Avery, happens to be engaged to Tanner's estranged brother.  Estranged is a mild description for how Tanner feels about Isaac (hero of Melting Ice). Tanner and Isaac have been apart since Isaac left their abusive father's home for junior hockey.

Tanner is a deeply troubled man with a "good ole boy" facade. Unfortunately for him, his love'em and leave'em  lifestyle has angered the new owners of his struggling football team and he needs to appear to clean up his act. When he discovers Emma singing karaoke at a casino, it leads to them pretending to date and then ultimately getting married.

Emma loves Tanner but she isn't sure she wants to give up her dreams.  Tanner likes Emma and the
faux family life she provides but his demons still haunt him. When they finally get together physically it's super hot but not enough to keep them together without some honesty on both sides. Tanner is afraid to reveal his past and Emma is afraid to reveal her hopes for the future. In Emma's case, she has two possible futures and she isn't sure which one is the one she really wants.

I enjoyed both of these characters.  Emma is a bit meek but she's definitely got a feisty side to her. Tanner is a mess but he knows that he can't keep going on as he has without losing everything.   This story has it all, unrequited love, fake marriage, hot hunky athlete with mild mannered woman, family conflicts and even a sort of villainess in Emma's sister Bella. I couldn't read it fast enough!