Tag: football romance

Book Review: First Down and Forever to Go by (River Foxes #1) by Leah Dobrinska

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Football Romance
Length: 285 pages
Author: Leah Dobrinska
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: January 20th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Can a pair of opposites come together to heal from past wounds, lay their secrets bare, and pave the way for a future full of laughter and love? Or is this Cinderella story destined for an unhappily ever after?

TJ Wilson, the outgoing star running back for the Green Bay River Foxes, swears he’ll never fall in love again…not after losing his college girlfriend. He’s content with a life of football and carefree dating. Nothing serious. No strings. No matter how much his teammates rib him for it. When a stunning, secretive woman all but begs him to show her a good time at his team’s charity ball, he’s the man for the job. If the shoe fits, after all.

One heart-to-heart and an almost-kiss later, TJ finds himself enamored with the bashful but brazen mystery Cinderella, and, against his better judgement, longing for more than the one night she’s offered him.

One night. Lucy Dupree, a secret author and media personality-turned-social pariah, promises her literary agent she’ll come out of hiding for one night. Just long enough to get inspired, overcome her writer’s block, and finish her manuscript by the deadline. With the help of her fairy-godmother landlord and a vintage wedding gown, Lucy attends the Green Bay River Foxes Gala where she meets TJ, a walking, talking prince charming.

The masquerade theme allows Lucy to conceal her identity, and TJ provides her with enough content to write ten romance novels. A win-win. She got what she came for, and that’s enough. It has to be. Because when the clock strikes midnight, the fairytale ends. Or is it just beginning?

First Down and Forever To Go is a soft and sweet closed door romance with kissing only and no implied intimacy, perfect for fans of the opposites attract and friends to more tropes. This is the first book in the River Foxes Football Romance series. All titles can be read as standalones.

SWEET START.

I’m a big fan of Leah Dobrinska’s sports romances. They hit the spot and she rights some of the best closed door kissing scenes around. Even the *almost* scenes had my kindle heating up. I looooove it.

And this was such a good story. I adored TJ’s cocky nature with a soft cinnamon roll interior. The amount of times he just *adored* upon Lucy were some of the sweetest and I couldn’t get enough. I really liked the dynamic between them and the chemistry they couldn’t deny.

I did like Lucy for the most part. I understood the struggle and the time it takes to step back out, but I did get a bit frustrated with how the third act was handled. Some of it was fine? But for the most part I had hoped her growth had hit its climax before that point.

But a genuinely great start to the series and I’m looking forward to seeing the romances for the other players on the team!!

Overall audience notes:

  • Sports romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: low
  • Content warnings: loss of a partner (recounted)

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ARC/ALC Book Review: First and Forever by Lynn Painter

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Sports Romance
Length: 320 pages
Author: Lynn Painter
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: May 12th, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A football star and a diehard fan entangled in a PR stunt—that only one side knows is fake—might be the right play in this new romantic comedy by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lynn Painter.

Duffy Distefano loves three things: her dad, the family cat, and Minneapolis Coyotes football. So when she gets booed out of a game and becomes the internet’s villain, she is distraught—and disgruntled. All she did was shove Coyote Carl away when he made a move on her, but everyone else just saw a woman attacking their team’s beloved mascot. Eager to clear the air, Duffy agrees to an interview on a hit morning show. She doesn’t expect a co-guest to join her—especially not the Coyotes’ star tight end.

When MVP Connor Cunningham gets tasked with damage control to help his team out of their PR nightmare, he thought that meant saying a few words on the team’s behalf. Instead, he finds himself in a highly amusing verbal sparring match with a recently wronged fan on live TV. Duffy pelts him with fiery jabs but is also clearly diehard about the Coyotes—color him intrigued…and attracted.

The interview instantly goes viral, and the public is obsessed with them. A strong push from the Coyotes’ PR team to ride the wave results in Connor asking Duffy out. Despite his distaste for PR stunts, he’s surprised to discover being with Duffy is much easier than he thought, and somehow it doesn’t feel fake to him. Harboring this secret can only blow up, but all he knows is that if he messes things up with Duffy, it’ll be the greatest fumble of his life.

Thank you to PRH Audio for the audiobook and Berkley for the eARC (gifted).

WORKED FOR ME!

I devoured this book in a few hours the other evening because I needed a pick me up and Lynn Painter always delivers on that front. I love her romances and the brighter feeling they always leave me.

This was one of her softer, low angst/tension romances. Connor and Duffy just work. They have an awkward meet cute that leads to them falling in love. These little moments throughout added up to such a sweet story. I loved the way Connor showed up for Duffy in the most meaningful ways. And how Duffy returned those sentiments too.

There was enough football content for me to say that it counts as a sports romance (my fav) and I think it would be so fun to see more books with Duffy’s brothers?? One can hope. I even found myself a little teary eyed during a few scenes too. This hit all the notes I was hoping for when I picked it up. Is it perfect? No, but I love the joy of the right book finding you at the right time.

Overall audience notes:

  • Sports romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: fade to black
  • Violence: low
  • Content warnings: loss of a parent(s), grief depiction, a grandfather with dementia

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

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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

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

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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

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