Book Review: Hands Down by Mariana Zapata

January 6, 2024August 17, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 550 pages
Author: Mariana Zapata
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: July 2nd, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Before he was Big Texas, he was Zac the Snack Pack.

Bianca Brannen knows time–mostly–heals all wounds. Including those your once loved ones might have unintentionally given you. (Those just take longer.)

She thinks she’s ready when a call has her walking back into her old friend’s life. Or at least as prepared as possible to see the starting quarterback in the National Football Organization. Before the lights, the fans, and the millions, he’d been a skinny kid with a heart of gold.

Waltzing out of Zac Travis’s life should be easy. Just as easy as he walked out of hers.

BLESS YOUR HEART.

There was a lot to love about this, but one bone I need to pick.

Bianca.

I just struggled with her for way longer than I wanted. I’m always initially cool with who the character is in the beginning because GROWTH. But oh my gosh, I was just so tired of hearing I don’t want to be a burden on repeat that I lost focus. Zac is the SWEETEST. And I wanted more of them being together vs. them constantly apologizing to each other.

The friends to lovers is overall fine, even if not my favorite in this context. There were a LOT of nicknames. I actually didn’t mind all of them but one (kiddo). The ending is really sweet and I loved getting the little epilogue too. I even liked seeing a different side to Trevor too. There’s plenty of good nuggets in here at least. And the TWO cameos are without a doubt the best part.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance
Language: some strong
Romance: 1 open door
Violence: low
Trigger/Content Warnings: brief mentions of parental abandonment, cheating recounted, death of a love one recounted

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ARC Book Review: Why Trey Let Me Get Away (Famously in Love #1) by Kortney Keisel

April 21, 2023April 14, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Sports Romance
Length: 320 pages
Author: Kortney Keisel
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: April 28th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Second chances are relationship Hail Marys. I’ll either win Whitney’s love or go home brokenhearted.

Trey:

Whitney Savittieri is the one that got away, and I’ll do anything—including strategizing with my teammates—to get her back.

Never mind that she’s giving me the stiff arm and wants nothing to do with me. We’re going head to head, and I’m playing for keeps.

I’ve been in a lot of pressure-packed games, but the stakes are higher this time—my heart and my happiness are on the line.

Whitney:

I’m avoiding my ex like the plague—like a really, really handsome plague.

While Trey’s risen to fame in the NFL, my life has gone so far off track I’ve derailed and am careening into a ditch.

So I promised myself I’d never love again. It’s too risky—a woman can only take so much disappointment.

Giving us another chance is a mistake my future and my heart can’t afford.

Thank you to the author for an eARC.

ALL THE STARS FOR TREY.

This book was a good time and the lighter escapism read I was hoping for when it landed on my kindle. I LOVE sports romances and was ecstatic a closed door author I adore wrote one.

For the football aspects, I thought there was a perfect blend of Trey’s life and practices, games and such, but never so much to take over the point of the story, the romance. Easily one of the highlightable features of the plot. I have been missing football and this helped quench that!

I LOVED TREY. He was the shining beacon throughout the entire book. I loved how nervous he got trying to talk to Whitney. I loved how hard he worked for their relationship and the truly genuine good soul he has. He’s got that big golden retriever energy that never gets old to me. I want to soak up that optimism he holds on to so well.

Whitney was where I ran into issues. I was surprised at her reasoning for breaking up with Trey and how poorly it came off for her character growth. I understand some of her side of the story but I wish Whitney herself had put more effort into the relationship or at least apologizing in general.

In the end though, I loved this book. I needed something quick and enjoyable that made me laugh and grin and OH EM GEE I FORGOT TO MENTION THE KISSING SCENES. Absolutely the hottest thing about this book. Perfectly executed closed door romance kisses are my kryptonite and I was begging for them to kiss and THEY SURE DANG DID.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Sports Romance
Language: very little
Romance: kisses
Trigger/Content Warnings: absent parents, divorce (mentioned)

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Book Review: The Cheat Sheet by Sarah Adams

October 19, 2021August 18, 2021 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 300 pages
Author: Sarah Adams
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: August 17th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Is it ever too late to leave the friend-zone?

Hi, my name is Bree Camden, and I’m hopelessly in love with my best friend and star quarterback Nathan Donelson (so is half of America, judging by the tabloids and how much the guy dates). The first step is admitting, right? Except, I can never admit it to him because he clearly doesn’t see me that way, and the last thing I want is for things to get weird between us.

Nothing but good old-fashioned, no-touching-the-sexiest-man-alive, platonic friendship for us! Everything is exactly how I like it! Yes. Good. (I’m not crying, I’m just peeling an onion.)

Our friendship is going swimmingly until I accidentally spill my beans to a reporter over too much tequila, and now the world seems to think me and Nathan belong together. Oh, and did I mention we have to date publicly for three weeks until after the Super Bowl because we signed a contract with…oops, forgot I can’t tell anyone about that!

Bottom line is, now my best friend is smudging all the lines and acting very un-platonic, and I’m just trying to keep my body from bursting into flames every time he touches me.

How am I going to make it through three weeks of fake dating Nathan without anything changing between us? Especially when it almost-sort-a-kinda seems like he’s fighting for a completely different outcome?

Send help.
XO Bree

ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE.

Y’all.

Sarah Adams has done it again. WHAT A GEM OF ADORABLE CUTENESS OVERLOAD.

Nathan was *everything*. I was in love with that cinnamon roll of a man and did not hate for a second that he was a NFL quarterback. All of the sweet things he did for Bree to show he cared. And WOW do I love a group of friends coming together to help and support each other. I loved all of his teammates and I found myself laughing multiple times because of all of the antics.

Bree was great too! I really liked her as the heroine and found her feisty and utterly loyal companion. Someone with so much strength and still filled with a soft heart. Watching both of these two dance around each other brought out all of the angst. Bree occasionally annoyed me because I felt like she was resisting Nathan too much, but it didn’t detract from my overall impressions.

Everything flowed beautifully. The writing, as always, amazing. The pace moved well, I’m pretty sure after the first two chapters I was already shouting KISS ALREADY. And that’s the kind of feelings I was all over for Nathan and Bree’s story.

I can’t leave this review without telling you THAT ENDING WAS PEFECT. The impeccable way that that rolled out. I sat there smiling at my book with tears in my eyes because I didn’t even know I needed that kind of movie-like closing. Every book of Adams becomes my new favorite.

Overall audience notes: