Book Review: Mile High by Liz Tomforde

What a book. This has been sitting on my list forever and I am SO glad that I picked this up. It’s been talked about all over Booktok and Bookstagram and known as one of Booktok’s most beloved sports romances. But oh my. Booktok undersold this book because I love it so much.

Synopsis:

ZANDERS

Chicago hockey isn't complete without me - everyone's favourite player to hate. I know my role, and I play it well. In fact, I thoroughly enjoy spending the majority of my game time in the penalty box before leaving the arena with a new girl on my arm each night.

What I don't like is the new flight attendant on our team's private plane. She works for me, not the other way around. But I'll be sure to remind her of that, and I can guarantee, by the end of the season, she'll be begging to quit her job.

But every road trip blurs the lines, and I can't quite figure out if I keep pushing that flight attendant call button in order to push her buttons, or if it's more than that.

STEVIE

I've been a flight attendant for years. I thought I'd seen it all, but when my new job lands me onboard working for the most egotistical and self-righteous diva in the NHL, I start to second guess everything. Including the promise I made to myself of never hooking up with an athlete again . . . no matter how annoyingly tempting he may be.

Evan Zanders is unfiltered, unapologetic, and too attractive for his own good. He loves his image, but I hate everything about it.

Everything but him.

My Review:

Where do I begin? While I only give it four stars, I love the characters. Stevie had this strength about her that I loved. While her insecurities around her body and being someone’s ‘first choice’ was a main flaw of hers throughout the book, I really loved her strength and determination to fight for herself. Not only did she fight to truly love herself, but she found herself fighting to prove herself to other people, to prove that she is worth it to others. Throughout the book, the lesson she learned was that she doesn’t have to fight — she shouldn’t have to fight to be loved or someone’s first choice. And she discovered the people that have always loved her along the way.

Speaking of the people who have always loved her…

Evan Zanders. Come to the front. All six feet of you (I actually don’t know his actual height, just spit ballin here). I love Evan Zanders. I love him with my whole heart. He is everything to me. His growth, his character development, his journey made me cry. Made me sob. Made me laugh, even. He surprised me in so many ways. I fell in love with him throughout the book, so I get you, Stevie. The way he loves. He loves and cares for his inner circle around him so much. I loved seeing those moments with Maddison’s family — especially Zanders with his niece and nephew. It was a sweet moment that showed Zanders’s humanity and heart without even including Stevie in the scene. His character development was great.

The book was almost 500 pages. I honestly don’t think romance books need to be anything longer than 400 pages. How much do you really need to put in a romance book? Every time a conflict would arise (and there were multiple), I’d think, surely there would be a resolution and that would be it? But no! I looked down at the percentage (on my Kindle) and it would read 48%, 52%, 60%. (All random percentages, don’t go looking at those parts to fact check me.) The book itself is already twisty. So, did this book need to be almost 500 pages? No. But like a Sarah J. Maas book, the ending made those 480 (I think) pages worth it. Every conflict, every problem that arose led to small resolutions that eventually built up to the main conflict between Stevie and Zanders. And yeah, the third act breakup was devastating and kept me on the edge of my seat and glued to my Kindle. But again, the ending was sweet — and spicy, too, but that’s expected.

Overall, I’d definitely recommend. It was a great sports romance. It covered topics like body image and insecurity, mental health and panic attacks, parent neglect (in the past), and not feeling enough or like you’re someone’s first choice. I loved every page. Every single page.

I’m excited to read the second book, featuring Ryan and Indy! A best friend’s brother and fake dating romance. I’m there.

Rating: 4.5/5

Buy on Amazon, Bookshop.org.