Simply the Best by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Looking for a very fun time? Here you go! Simply The Best combines a sexy romance, a perplexing murder mystery and loads of humor. It’s the latest book in the Chicago Stars series and my favorite of the series so far.
Rory wakes up from a one night stand to find $500 laying on a desk in her hotel room and realizes the handsome man she met at her half-brother, Clint’s birthday party, has mistaken her for an escort. Brett Rivers aka ‘The River’, a popular sports agent, does NOT think it’s funny when he realizes he accidentally slept with his biggest client’s sister – his client being Clint, the quarterback of the Chicago Stars. Brett’s on thin ice with Clint who has been moping around since his girlfriend, Ashley, dumped him and Clint blames Brett for the breakup: Brett thought she was just after Clint’s money and, in a move he now regrets, told Clint his concerns. If Clint finds out Bret slept with Rory, well, Brett thinks it could be disastrous. Things get even messier when Ashley’s found murdered at Clint’s home and Clint vanishes. And when Clint becomes the number one suspect, Brett and Rory realize they have to work together to find Clint before the police do as well as work to clear his name by discovering who really murdered Ashley.
Phillips has often written fabulous characters and, in Simply The Best, she is on fire. Just about everyone who matters in the book is wonderfully portrayed, especially the two leads. Rory is a struggling chocolatier trying to make a living selling specialty chocolates from her food truck, The Royal Palace of Sweets. Brett is a successful sports agent and likes to make money. His goal is to become senior vice president and take over Champion Sports Management, when Heath Champion (Match Me if You Can) retires. Rory is fun and quirky while Brett is charming and tenacious and their forbidden romance is hot.
There were a number of possible suspects and the mystery kept me guessing. It’s ingenious when Rory and Brett use samples of her chocolates to get suspects talking and the banter between them had me laughing. It’s so satisfying when they finally realize how perfect they are for each other. I also enjoyed the secondary romance with Rory’s step-mom, Kristin as she made some life changes.
You don’t need to read any of the previous books in the series to be able to follow the story. If you want to get a bit more out of the book, read Match Me if You Can. It got an A review here and Heath and Annabel both make appearances in Simply the Best.
Simply the Best is a gem – it’s hilarious, heartwarming and hot. I recommend it to those who enjoy fast paced, zany romcoms with mysteries.
Recent Comments
I just finished this one tonight and I absolutely loved it!
I’m happy to hear you loved it too! Thanks for sharing.
On my TBR, though my thoughts on SEP’s work remains mixed.
Glad to hear people are enjoying this. SEP was a favorite author for a number of years but she seemed to lose her way when she moved on from the Stars books – at least for me. I know that some of her characters’ behavior doesn’t work for some readers, but I was sorry to lose interest in her work.
Me too, I was sad that I could not enjoy her anymore for a time. But she has a few books where I could really not accept the heroine‘s choices (nobody‘s baby but mine, this heart of mine,…) and where the heroines suffered for them, but did not actually change their mind, so they were not redeemed for me. No, rape is never ok, and stealing a man‘s sperm is never ok.
And she repeated some features, like some big gesture humiliation scenes in front of friends and family, that I hated in her books.
And some stuff is simply dated, I accepted men‘s behavior then that I cannot tolerate now, same with books.
And a few books that just plain did not work for me, like Dance away with me.
So having two books that I enjoyed in a row, this one a bit more but When Stars Collide as well, it is like becoming comfortable with an old friend again, because her writing, her humor and her skillful telling, pacing, whatever (not a writer myself, so idk) – she is just very good at all that, so reading a story by her and not being able to like it is somehow worse than reading a less well written book I cannot like.
Loved the book. Loved both leads and the straightforward way they dealt with each other – no stupid „ I know best“ or „you do not deserve my honesty „ stuff. The humor worked for me, the balance of crime and romance, and life, as well, I read it pretty much in one sitting all day today.
It is unmistakable as SEP, and yet is fresh and does not have the dated feel some of her books had.
Detail: I like how her men have found a tone of chivalry that rings well, protective but not condescending- I felt that she struggled a little in the past, her men are naturally protective and came across as arrogant and disrespectful to me, once my own views got more modern. Well done!
Yes, I am also afraid to reread some old favorites- it might spoil their old magic…
I agree, this felt fresh and funny! I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed it.
While I haven’t adored every book in this series, I do, overall, love it. This one was very fun.
My favorites are Dream A Little Dream and Natural Born Charmer.
I enjoyed most of SEP’s Chicago Stars books on audio back in the day. Anna Fields’ narration was a big draw. I tried to go back and listen to my favorite Natural Born Charmer in 2020, and found I couldn’t stand Dean or the lying, meddling Blue. I decided then not to revisit the rest because except for maybe This Heart of Mine, I have good memories associated with them. I think SEP is a superb wordsmith and writes great dialog, but some of her plot decisions don’t work for me now. I’m curious if her newer books are less problematic in terms of alph-hole male leads and manipulative heroines?
In Simply the Best, Ashley (the character that is murdered) is the manipulitive one and while Brett is laser focused on making money and doing his job well, I didn’t think he was an alph-hole,