Book Review: The Check Down (Lacey Bros #1) by Brandy Pelletier

February 13, 2026February 1, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: Football Romance
Length: 346 pages
Author: Brandy Pelletier
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: November 8th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

He’s the superstar tight end staging a comeback. She’s the hit he never saw coming.

For ten-year NFL veteran Griffin Lacey, football is life. Months after being released from his team due to a season-ending injury, he’s given an unexpected opportunity—a one-year contract to play for his hometown team. His game plan is clear: play to win, no distractions. But a fender bender on the way to the first home game changes everything.

College literature instructor Brynn Nelson is thirty and not thriving. Trapped in a dead-end relationship and stuck in a city that has never felt like hers, every day seems to blur into the next. When she accidentally rear ends a sports superstar, the chance encounter makes her long to break free from the rut she’s in. He offers to show her the magic of her adopted city, and through their adventures, she reclaims her spark.

As Griffin and Brynn’s connection deepens, they discover magic of a different sort—that love happens when you least expect it.

A sexy, swoony football romance and a love letter to one of America’s most iconic cities, The Check Down is the first book in the Lacey Bros series.

A BIT GOOD. A BIT NOT SO GOOD.

Alright, after finishing this I am still very much undecided if I will continue the series. This book was not bad by any means, when you’re looking at the core of the story and the characters. There were a lot of truly sweet moments and I thought the relationship showed plenty of chemistry and a willingness to do new things and communicate and work together to get to the future they wanted.

What didn’t work for me was the high level of innuendo that started off the bat. I can generally handle some spice but when that’s combined with a bunch of innuendo (if I saw the word tits one more time…) it turns me off from the heat of the story. To me it often comes off as trying too hard to convey a certain passion when it can be accomplished it another way.

I fear if that’s the same case with book two I would be frustrated again (even if I would probably love the characters like I did here).

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary football romance
Language: very strong
Romance: 4+ open door; high innuendo
Violence: low

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Book Review: All the Pieces (The Seddledowne #3) by Susan Henshaw

January 19, 2026January 10, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: NA Sports Romance
Length: 324 pages
Author: Susan Henshaw
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: August 24th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A closed-door, high school sweethearts, second chance, football romance from Amazon bestselling author Susan Henshaw.

Millions watch him play. Except the one who matters most.

Blue

I made the worst mistake of my life when I let my dad move me across the country after my sophomore year of high school. Had my football career taken off? Yes. But I’d lost the best thing that ever happened to me because of it. Anna Dupree was the only girl who ever loved me as a person and not for my athletic talent. Who cares if I can run the forty in 4.2 seconds, or if beautiful women sneak into my hotel room at away games? Without Anna, I’m a man slogging through the desert, desperate for a drink.

Anna

My gorgeous ex wasn’t supposed to know I came to his game. But when my meddling, country pop-star uncle calls me to the fifty-yard line to perform a pre-game duet in front of one hundred thousand screaming fans, that secret’s shot to pieces. Somehow, I make it through the song. All I have to do is get off this field and I’m outta here. Forget the game. But then I look up and who happens to be jogging toward me in his tight football pants, wearing that adorable, cocky grin I fell in love with all those years ago? Yeah, the one guy I’ve spent the last four years trying to forget. My uncle is so dead when we get off this field.

All To Pieces is book three in the interconnected Seddledowne Series and can be read as a standalone.

UNREALISTIC CHAOS.

These books are so hard to review because they are very frustrating YET I am hooked on reading. The pacing is really great and draws you in and even when you’re shaking your kindle you are still trying to flip pages to see what’s going to pop up next.

There were some aspects to the football plot line that were just unrealistic to me. And combined that with an issue involving the FMC, I just…can’t. It was drawn out and there was way too much effort involved.

Now I did enjoy a lot of the scenes. There’s some good swoon and I am always down for sports romances. I liked seeing the whole family again and getting those small town vibes too.

So, there’s plenty of good, but also not, but also I already have book four downloaded. WHY AM I LIKE THIS.

Overall audience notes:

NA Sports Romance
Language: low
Romance: heated make-outs
Violence: low
Content Warnings: mentions of loss of a loved one (recounted), an emotionally manipulative father

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Book Review: Let You Love Me (Boys of Riverside #5) by Gracie Graham

January 14, 2026January 7, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Sports Romance
Length: 601 pages
Author: Gracie Graham
Publisher: Self Publishing
Release Date: June 30th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The first time I met Lane Turner was a stroke of fate.
The second time was a slap in the face. Turns out, she’s my coach’s daughter, completely off-limits. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting her.

Falling for Lane will be easy. Crashing through her walls, not as simple. When I find out she has a daughter? Complicated. But I’m anything if not determined, intent on dismantling the carefully constructed armor around her heart. Proving to her I’m more than just a college athlete is my number one mission in life. Showing her she’s worth it is a close second.

But everyone has their limits, the scars that bind them. Broaching the topic of her daughter’s father is a hard no. Lying is mine. So when her past comes knocking on my door in the form of retribution, I start asking questions. I’m ready to fight for us, but is she?

I FINISHED THE SERIES!

And this was a great book to end everything too. I adore Teagan and loved getting his story. I loved the college setting and all of the football content too. This book had me cheering on a love at first sight play that I wasn’t mad about one bit.

There’s the usual level of drama and chaos I’ve come to expect from this series and I loved the tangled web it wove. I was glued to my kindle waiting for that last shoe to drop and see everything hit the fan before being smoothed over. I will say that Lane frustrated me over one aspect where I thought her secrets were being held on to a little too long.

I enjoyed the swoon and heat from the romance and all of the really sweet moments with Sophie. I loved so many scenes and how they impacted the story and characters. It was fun getting to hear from the previous characters too and I will definitely be reading whatever Gracie Graham writes next.

Overall audience notes:

NA Sports Romance
Language: high (way too high, there were hundreds of f-bombs)
Romance: vague open door
Violence: mild
Content Warnings: teen pregnancy (recounted), hazing, physical altercations

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Book Review: Love at Second Down (Boys of Ann Arbor #2) by Gracie Graham

October 11, 2025September 23, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★.5
Audience: NA Sports Romance
Length: 433 pages
Author: Gracie Graham
Publisher: Self published
Release Date: June 24th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Three years ago, Avery Astor ruined me. Now she’s back to finish the job.

I had the girl.

The scholarship.

The future.

They say quarterbacks have short memories.

But I remember everything.

Every promise. Every plan. Every damn kiss.

Avery Astor was supposed to follow me to college. Instead, she broke me in half and left me to rebuild my life from scratch.

That was nearly three years ago.

Now I’m in my junior year of college in the Big Ten, laser-focused, and headed to the national championships. I’m completely off-limits.

Until she shows up. At my school. And at the worst possible time.

She says she’s here to win me back and there are reasons she left that I don’t know, and she can’t tell me.

The problem is . . . I’m not the guy she left behind.

And I don’t want to be won.

A NEW FAV.

This is easily going in to one of my top books from Gracie Graham. I was glued to my phone y’all. A unique second chance romance you should read too!

I didn’t know how I would feel about Avery being the chaser/wanting the MMC back (because I feel like it’s often the other way around). As the book progressed I started to enjoy it all the more. I wish Avery had stopped saying I can’t tell you yet, but overall she was an FMC to admire and I liked her tenancity.

I was very much obsessed with Damon too. There’s something about a man eternally down bad that works so beautifully when written well. And GG 1000% achieved that nuance. I loved seeing this group of friends again and really appreciate that both Damon and Avery have strong support groups that banter and love them well.

The classic dash of drama/suspense that Graham likes to add in was present here too. I thought it was intriguing and watching it unfold kept those pages flying. I can’t wait for the next book!!

Overall audience notes: