Opera diva Olivia Shore and Chicago Stars quarterback Thaddeus Walker Bowman Owens embark on a nationwide tour promoting a luxury watch brand and must find a way to get along when they are plagued by a series of dangerous encounters with an overzealous fan. - (Baker & Taylor)

Opera diva Olivia Shore and Chicago Stars quarterback Thaddeus Walker Bowman Owens embark on a nationwide tour promoting a luxury watch brand and must find a way to get along when they are plagued by a series of dangerous encounters with an overzealous fan. 150,000 first printing. - (Baker & Taylor)

#1 New York Times bestseller Susan Elizabeth Phillips returns to her beloved Chicago Stars series with a romance between a Chicago Stars quarterback and one of the world's greatest opera singers'and a major diva.

're-entering the world of the Chicago Stars is like a beloved friend come to call.' ' #1 New York Times bestselling author Robyn Carr

Thaddeus Walker Bowman Owens, the backup quarterback for the Chicago Stars, is a team player, talented sideline coach, occasional male underwear model, and a man with a low tolerance for Divas.

Olivia Shore, international opera superstar, is a driven diva with a passion for perfection, a craving for justice, too many secrets'and a monumental grudge against the egotistical, lowbrow jock she's been stuck with.

It's Mozart meets Monday Night Football as the temperamental soprano and stubborn jock embark on a nationwide tour promoting a luxury watch brand. Along the way, the combatants will engage in soul-searching and trash talk, backstage drama and, for sure, a quarterback pass. But they'll also face trouble as threatening letters, haunting photographs, and a series of dangerous encounters complicate their lives. Is it the work of an overzealous fan or something more sinister?

This is the emotional journey of a brilliant woman whose career is everything and a talented man who'll never be happy with second place.  Tender and funny, passionate and insightful, this irresistible romantic adventure proves that anything can happen'when two superstars collide.

#1 New York Times bestseller Susan Elizabeth Phillips returns to her beloved Chicago Stars series with a romance between a Chicago Stars quarterback and one of the world’s greatest opera singers—and a major diva.

“Re-entering the world of the Chicago Stars is like a beloved friend come to call.” — #1 New York Times bestselling author Robyn Carr

Thaddeus Walker Bowman Owens, the backup quarterback for the Chicago Stars, is a team player, talented sideline coach, occasional male underwear model, and a man with a low tolerance for Divas.

Olivia Shore, international opera superstar, is a driven diva with a passion for perfection, a craving for justice, too many secrets—and a monumental grudge against the egotistical, lowbrow jock she’s been stuck with.

It’s Mozart meets Monday Night Football as the temperamental soprano and stubborn jock embark on a nationwide tour promoting a luxury watch brand. Along the way, the combatants will engage in soul-searching and trash talk, backstage drama and, for sure, a quarterback pass. But they’ll also face trouble as threatening letters, haunting photographs, and a series of dangerous encounters complicate their lives. Is it the work of an overzealous fan or something more sinister?

This is the emotional journey of a brilliant woman whose career is everything and a talented man who’ll never be happy with second place.  Tender and funny, passionate and insightful, this irresistible romantic adventure proves that anything can happen…when two superstars collide.

Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* Given what she knows about him, the last person on earth mezzo-soprano opera star Olivia Shore wants to be stuck with for four weeks is the Chicago Stars quarterback, Thaddeus Owens. Unfortunately, Olivia signed a contract with Marchand Timepieces, and now she and Thad will be touring the U.S. as brand ambassadors for the company's new luxury watches. Since he has never met Olivia, Thad isn't sure what he's done to earn her thinly disguised contempt, and to be honest, he doesn't really care, until he discovers the secret Olivia has been hiding, and diva and quarterback realize just how much they have in common and just how attracted they are to each other. RITA Award-winning and best-selling romance author Phillips' latest virtuoso literary performance and new addition to her outstanding Chicago Stars series delivers a full score of irresistible delights. From savvy characterization, sassy humor, and sparkling dialogue to a smartly composed plot, in which Phillips deftly weaves a thread of chilling danger, to moments of smoldering sensuality and pure passion, this brilliantly conceived contemporary romance will have readers shouting, Brava! Copyright 2021 Booklist Reviews.

Library Journal Reviews

In this new addition to the Regency-set "Westcott" series, recently widowed Lydia Tavernor wants Someone To Cherish but would rather have a lover than a husband after the numbing servitude of marriage to Rev. Isaiah Tavernor. In Brenner's Blush, college senior Sadie Bailey discovers that straitlaced Grandma Vivian once ran a book club devoted to scandalous women's fiction. To find respite from griefover her grandfather's death, Marisa Rosso travels to a seaside Cornish village, where she helps locals save their beloved bakery (well known to Colgan's fans) in Sunrise by the Sea (100,000-copy paperback and 30,000-copy hardcover first printing). On the Terminal Ward at the Glasgow Princess Royal Hospital, life-hungry 17-year-old Lenni joins forces with 83-year-old rebel Margot in debuter Cronin's The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot (150,000-copy paperback and 25,000-copy hardcover first printing). With The Paper Palace, Heller, HBO head of drama, turns in a first novel about a woman who makes a momentous and long-overdue decision one bright Cape Cod morning. Diagnosed with a terminal illness, newly married Lauren decides to leave her husband 12 letters to guide him through the first year without her in Higgins's Pack Up the Moon. Killed in a hit-and-run in Nantucket, novelist Vivi is given heavenly permission to spend a year watching over her children, her best friend, and her ex-husband in Hilderbrand's Golden Girl (750,000-copy first printing). In Phillips's When Stars Collide, opera diva Olivia Shore and Thaddeus Walker Bowman Owens, backup quarterback for the Chicago Stars, are paired on a nationwide tour promoting a luxury watch brand with tumultuous results (150,000-copy first printing). Debuter Ray's The Missing Treasures of Amy Ashton features a once-aspiring artist now running from a tragedy in her life by simply collecting beautiful objects—until the collection-conscious little boy whose family moves in next door makes her rethink things (100,000-copy first printing).

Publishers Weekly Reviews

Phillips's captivating ninth Chicago Stars romance (after First Star I See Tonight) explores the surprising compatibility between an athlete and an opera singer in the midst of a twisty mystery. Olivia Shore, a famed soprano, and Thad Owens, the backup quarterback for the Chicago Stars, are paired together on a monthlong promotional tour for a luxury watch brand. Olivia initially sees Thad as a "brainless, overpaid jock" while Thad views Olivia as a stuck-up diva—but the ambitious, career-driven pair soon discover they're more alike than they thought. When Thad learns Olivia has been receiving threatening messages, he makes it his mission to help her. Impossibly, the threats seem to come from Olivia's ex-fiancé, who recently died by suicide, and Olivia's fear and guilt has caused her to lose her voice. As she and Thad fight, flirt, and investigate, their attraction becomes undeniable, but both worry about what a future together would mean for their careers. The thrilling suspense plot and intoxicating chemistry will hook new readers and returning fans alike. This is a page-turner.Agent: Steven Axelrod, the Axelrod Agency. (June)