The Right Move is for readers who want a fake relationship that lives under one roof: a guarded NBA captain, his sister’s best friend and two separate reasons to pretend. Liz Tomforde’s basketball romance asks very little sports knowledge up front, because the stated problem is a general manager’s doubt and a wedding invitation, not a game score.
Ryan’s reason: a captain who is hard to approach
Liz Tomforde’s official page gives Ryan Shay the first half. He is the newest captain of the Devils, Chicago’s NBA team, and the last thing he wanted this year was for Indy Ivers, his sister’s best friend, to move into his apartment. When the team’s general manager voices disapproval of his promotion, calling him an unapproachable lone wolf with no work-life balance, Ryan decides the best way to change that impression is to pretend to date his outgoing roommate. The only problem, he says, is that faking it feels far too natural.
The version of the blurb on Hachette UK’s page adds that having Indy under his roof and in his bed is complicated, because she wants the romantic parts of life he believes he could never give her. His motive is professional, which makes his fake relationship a performance for his workplace as much as for anyone else.
Indy’s reason: a wedding and an ex
Indy tells it differently. She never imagined living with her best friend’s brother, NBA star Ryan Shay, or being asked to play his loving girlfriend and make him look friendly and approachable, which he is not. She finds him controlling of his space and distrustful of others. But the deal is not one-sided: she has a wedding coming up where all her childhood friends, including her ex-boyfriend, will be present, and there is no better date, she reasons, than her ex’s celebrity hero.
So the symmetry is deliberate. He needs to seem warmer; she needs to seem happy. Each of them has a reason to keep performing, and the blurb makes clear that the performance blurs: Indy says falling for her roommate was never part of the deal, especially since Ryan reminds her that he does not believe in love. She is a romantic who cannot help fantasizing that he will change.
Is this a good first basketball romance?
On the advertised evidence, yes, for a specific reason. The sport enters the story through Ryan’s captaincy and public reputation, not through a chain of games you need to follow. His problem is how his management perceives him, which is an easy workplace situation to understand even if you have never watched a game. The setting is Chicago and the team is the Devils, but the sources do not describe any game-by-game plot, so how much on-court action appears is not described.
What the premise does demand is interest in the roommate and fake-dating combination. Living together means the performance does not stay confined to public events, and Ryan’s own words in the blurb call the arrangement messier than he expected. If you are new to the sport but love the trope, the setup should be accessible. If you are looking mainly for basketball detail, notice how much of the sport you actually get in the opening chapters.
Two different attitudes to romance
The publisher lists roommates, NBA player, fake dating, best friend’s brother, forced proximity, grumpy x sunshine and opposites attract among the tropes, and dual POV. The author’s blurb is split into a Ryan section and an Indy section, which fits that listing. The contrast between his guardedness and her romanticism is the emotional core: the question is not only whether they will fall for each other, but whether one can ask the other to believe in something.
Tomforde says on her About page that she writes healthy relationships with witty banter, found family and plenty of steam, so she positions her books as warm and banter-driven.
Series position and edition
The Right Move is the second book in the Windy City series, after Mile High, which follows an NHL player and a flight attendant. Hachette UK tells newcomers they can read it as a standalone. The UK page lists a new paperback reissue on sale 6 November 2025, with a bonus chapter, illustrations and updated cover and text design. The author’s site lists ebook, deluxe, special and male editions, so check which edition you are buying. The UK page carries a cover line from a fellow romance author calling the book funny, heart-warming and full of chemistry, which is promotional praise rather than an assessment, and the author’s site links a Spotify playlist for the book and free Windy City bonus content for readers who want more time with the characters afterward.
What readers praise about Ryan and Indy
Readers on major book-review sites most often praise the slow-burn chemistry, the playful teasing and the fake-dating setup, and many say the couple talks through feelings and misunderstandings maturely. Several highlight Ryan’s quiet devotion, shown through small, consistent acts, and the way both leads are flawed, realistic people who grow through past hurts. Some find the treatment of heartbreak, trauma and infertility thoughtful and affecting, and many call the epilogue a moving, satisfying payoff.
Several describe Indy as a relatable heroine whose warmth and love of romance novels resonate with them, and some enjoy the book’s humor. Taken together, the comments paint the book as an emotionally warm, communication-minded take on the roommate and fake-dating trope.
Content notes
Tomforde’s page lists these content warnings for The Right Move: explicit sex scenes, mentions of infertility, mentions of anxiety and depression, and mentions of cheating that happens off the page, with a note that there is no cheating between the main characters. Those are the author’s published notes. Consult her full notes for how these topics are handled if they shape your choice.
Who this roommate bargain suits
The Right Move should appeal to readers who like fake dating that turns real, a grumpy hero and an optimistic heroine, and a close-quarters home setting. It may not suit you if you prefer the leads to meet as strangers, if you dislike a hero who states he does not believe in love, or if infertility and cheating mentions are limits. As you start, watch for these:
- The apartment: does the shared-space tension feel believable and specific?
- The GM subplot: does Ryan’s workplace problem add pressure or just serve as an excuse?
- Indy’s wedding: does the ex-boyfriend plot give her more than a prop role?
- The performance: do you enjoy watching them act like a couple, and can you see where it stops being acting?
Reading alongside
Elle Kennedy’s The Deal is another bargain-based romance with an athlete, but Kennedy’s page puts it on a college campus, with a tutor exchanged for a pretend date. Lauren Asher’s Terms and Conditions goes further than fake dating, as Hachette UK describes an assistant who volunteers to marry her boss so he can meet an inheritance condition. Tomforde’s version is the shared-home variant, with a wedding date and a workplace image as the reasons.
Football and an older unfinished relationship
Ruthless Quarterback by Alisson Bento follows Andrea as a rehabilitation business faces foreclosure and an old relationship remains unresolved. It connects through the collision of sporting ambition and private needs, but its second-chance football premise differs from Ryan and Indy’s new basketball-roommate bargain. Browse the sports romance shelf to compare.
A free second chance off the field is Room for Purple, which reunites Lena Cho and former footballer Arturo Ruiz around a family-day event. This original adult M/F couple appears before Scoring the Nanny, not Ruthless Quarterback, and the notes describe closed-door intimacy. Start in the browser and use email access for the later chapters.
Sources checked 20–21 October 2026. Reading suggestions compare advertised premises; they do not promise matching heat, consent dynamics, relationship structures, content or endings.
