susan elizabeth phillips it had to be you

I loved the relationship between Phoebe and Dan. The story was funny at times but the pain that Phoebe feels was so visceral that I cringed at her reactions. Of course, the two are soon striking sparks off of one another. While Dan is attracted to Phoebe, he knows that this maneater is not for him. After a divorce, Dan is looking for a sweet, motherly type to marry and have children.

Phoebe’s father disagreed with her life choices, but Phoebe is running from a rape as a young woman and has constructed a shield of an aggressive sexual woman to hide her pain.ĭan Calebow is the coach of the Chicago Stars. Her father attempts to manipulate her from the grave by making the condition that Phoebe has to take over control of the team and have the team win the AFC Championship - an almost impossible task for the team. It is the story of Phoebe Somerville, who inherits the Chicago Stars football team from her father. This book is pretty much one big slap in the feminist face.IT HAD TO BE YOU is the first book in the Chicago Stars series.

Even after he’s discovered her sensitive side and learnt of her abusive past sexual history, Dan still refers to Phoebe as “his sweet, smart, gutsy little bimbo”.

I really didn’t appreciate his treatment of Phoebe, for one thing. Phillips tried hard to let readers know Dan wasn’t the typical football jock, but failed dismally. Okay, so the good news is the books leading man isn’t actually a pedophilic slime-bag – the bad news is, Phillips introduction of Dan Calebow is so grotesque that it colors his character for the rest of the book. It’s actually his ex-wife, Valerie, who he divorced last year but still engages in these sexual fantasies with while the two are between partners. And then it’s revealed that this girl isn’t actually 16, or a stranger to Dan. I continued to feel queasy as Dan proceeded to have sex with this sixteen-year-old girl, and Phillips details the encounter for three pages or so…. At this point I was feeling pretty much sick to my stomach. At this gas station is a 16-year-old girl wearing a short skirt and football jersey – she comes on pretty hard to the infamous Dan Calebow and he agrees to follow her home, since her parents are away. We first meet Dan on his way home from a black-tie event, as he stops in at a gas station. Phillips has written what is quite possibly the worst introduction of a romantic hero in the history of contemporary romance.

Susan elizabeth phillips it had to be you