Tailgates and First Dates by Haley Rhoades

Tailgates & First Dates is the third book in The Locals series, and I think this is Haley Rhoades’ best book of them all, which is really something! I have loved this wonderful series from the very first book, immediately rooting for Madison and her friends.

Madison is such a brave, kind and wonderful person you just want the best for. But as you know, if you have read the first two books in the series, her life hasn’t exactly turned out as planned… In this third book, Madison has settled down and started to really build a life for herself alone with her big secret, while Hamilton continues his baseball career. Their cute distance love relationship is evolving in the right direction though and is getting stronger by the day.

Then a mis-step shakes the home Madison has come to cherish with the lovely elderly Alma and of course, we all know that when it rains it pours… so shortly thereafter another major event happens, forcing Madison to return to her old home in Athens. And once again Madison’s life is forever changed.

“With one fall, one accident, my entire world shifted.”

I don’t want to make any spoilers, but I am so happy with the developments in this book. So very happy! Yes, there are some major heartbreaks in this book too, but my biggest wish from the second book came true and I am forever grateful to Haley Rhoades for that. The writing in this book is simply brilliant. Haley Rhoades did such an amazing job to tie it all together while keeping the suspense. I was on the edge the whole book worrying about what returning to Athens would do to Madison. Would she be able to keep her big secret or how would her friends react if they found out? And what about Hamilton, could she ever face him with her secret without losing him for good?

But you know, sometimes something lovely comes from weeks of despair, and that is certainly the case here. Now I just worry about what Haley Rhoades has in store for my beloved characters in the fourth and final book in this enchanting series…

​Find out more about the book and the author here: Haley Rhoades