Tag: athlete

Playing for Keeps (Hot Jocks Book 1) by Kendall Ryan

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I’ve never been so stupid in my entire life.

My teammate’s incredibly sweet and gorgeous younger sister should have been off-limits, but my hockey stick didn’t get that memo.

After our team won the championship, and plenty of alcohol, our flirting turned physical and I took her to bed.

Shame sent her running the next morning from our catastrophic mistake. She thinks I don’t remember that night—but every detail is burned into my brain so deeply, I’ll never forget. The feel of her in my arms, the soft whimpers of pleasure I coaxed from her perfect lips…

And now I’ve spent three months trying to get her out of my head. Which has been futile, because I’m starting to understand she’s the only girl I’ll ever want.

I have one shot to show her I can be exactly what she needs, but Elise won’t be easily convinced.

That’s okay, because I’m good under pressure, and this time, I’m playing for keeps.

Book: Playing for Keeps (Hot Jocks Book 1) by Kendall Ryan
Published: August 13, 2019 
Pages: 390
Genres: Romance, Athlete, Freebie on Amazon, Heroine loves siblings best friend
Format: Kindle
Date Read: January 21, 2021
Rating: 3 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔

Elise-
“I’ve always been enamored with him, from his quiet confidence, to his dedication and hard work on the ice, to his hard won smiles and casual attitude.”

Justin-
“My hear starts to beat faster as she grins up at me. Well damn, I didn’t know I still had one of those.”

Elise and Justin have clearly has more than pseudo-sibling feelings for each other for years but even after their one night stand, they still take quite a bit of time to admit their feelings, which I enjoyed. I liked that they didn’t fall into insta-love with each other.

I liked this book but I did not love it. I enjoyed the characters and read this book over the course of a day but there was something missing from this book and I don’t know what it is. I just feel like I needed more from it- more emotion, more realism from the characters, more everything. I liked the summary of the book and I think I just expected more from it overall.

I don’t think I will be reading the next book in this series but I would be more than happy to check out another one of this authors books!

Kulti by Mariana Zapata

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“Trust me, I’ve wanted to punch you in the face a time or five.”

When the man you worshipped as a kid becomes your coach, it’s supposed to be the greatest thing in the world. Keywords: supposed to.

It didn’t take a week for twenty-seven-year-old Sal Casillas to wonder what she’d seen in the international soccer icon—why she’d ever had his posters on her wall, or ever envisioned marrying him and having super-playing soccer babies.

Sal had long ago gotten over the worst non-break-up in the history of imaginary relationships with a man that hadn’t known she’d existed. So she isn’t prepared for this version of Reiner Kulti who shows up to her team’s season: a quiet, reclusive, shadow of the explosive, passionate man he’d once been.

Nothing could have prepared her for the man she got to know.

Or the murderous urges he brought out in her.

“Sal, please don’t make me visit you in jail. Orange isn’t your color.”

This was going to be the longest season of her life.

Book: Kulti by Mariana Zapata
Published: March 20, 2015
Pages: 570
Genres: Romance, Athlete
Format: Kindle
Date Read: September 15-25, 2017
Rating: 5 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔

I was sucked in from the first chapter of this book and I knew I was going to enjoy this read. I love the way the author tells the story and I so enjoy the main character, Sal’s commentary and sense of humor.

“It was the worst non-break-up ever in the history of imaginary relationships with a man who didn’t even know I existed.”

I love the character of Sal, she was so much fun to read about. And Kulti. Oh, how I love Kulti. This book was definitely a slow burn, super slow, but so worth it. The main characters had such chemistry and I enjoyed their banter so much.

“The German tilted his head up and cursed something low and long in German. “You were brought to this planet to give me an ulcer, weren’t you?””

I also loved Jenny and Harlow – its always nice to see TRUE friends are out there. And I loved any of the squad members that we’re backstabbing fakers.

“The second [voicemail} was from one of the defenders on the team that I wasn’t particularly close to, who laughed so hard she sounded like she was dying. “German Chocolate Cake! Oh my god, I thought I pissed my pants.””

I think everyone should live by the motto below, its so true.

“Once you reluctantly accepted that people were always going to judge you no matter what, it got a little easier to deal with having people dislike you.”

I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish and highly recommend it to everyone, even readers that aren’t huge fans of sports book. Read this book, you wont regret it!

Taste for Trouble (Blake Brothers Trilogy #1) by Susan Sey

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On the field, soccer star James Blake is pure poetry. Off the field? He’s pure trouble. When his fondness for fast women and bar brawls lands him a suspension from the game, he’s prepared to take his punishment like a man. But since when does a suspension come with a live-in nanny?

TV baking maven Belinda West is the epitome of home-made hospitality, on-screen and off. The personal is the professional when you’re selling the good life, after all. But when her wedding day implodes in front of a live studio audience, Bel’s career goes into a death spiral. She’ll do anything to save it, even take charge of soccer’s most famous bad boy.

To hell with the morals clause in his contract; James isn’t about to shape up for some knock-off Mary Poppins. But since when does Mary Poppins laugh like a naughty angel and smell like sugar cookies? He’s not looking for love but that kiss of hers is practically perfect in every way. And James has a powerful taste for trouble.

Book: Taste for Trouble (Blake Brothers Trilogy #1) by Susan Sey
Published: January 29th, 2013
Pages: 335
Genres: Romance, Athlete, Freebie On Amazon
Format: Kindle
Date Read: September 12-13, 2017
Rating: 5 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔

This book gets 5 glorious potato stars. Haha.

Where to begin with this review?

“You don’t have problems,” Drew said.
James considered the condition of his career and his unexpected predicament with Bel. “I don’t?”
“Yes,” Will said. “You do.” He glared at Drew. “He does.”
“He doesn’t,” Drew said to Will. He turned to James. “It’s not a problem,” he said, grinning. “It’s love.”
James stared at him while the ring of truth reverberated through his entire body. “Oh, Christ.”
Drew laughed. “This is awesome.”
Will smiled grimly. “Awesome. Right.”

I LOVED JAMES AND HIS BROTHERS! Yes, they could be annoying and self centered and sometimes made me want to reach into the book to slap them (more so Will than James and Drew) but I adored each one and I cannot wait to read their stories.

“It’s perfect.” He took that last step and caught her hands up in his. “You’re perfect.”
She laughed, his approval seeping into her bones like summer sunshine. “I’m hardly perfect.”
“Any more perfect and I’ll have to dig up a set of dueling pistols to defend your honor after some jerk tries to take liberties at that damn fountain.”

James and Bel were so perfect for each other that I was rooting for them as soon as she showed up at his house with her butter and eggs. This book was definitely a slow burn and I truly enjoyed reading it. It was refreshing to read about a couple that didn’t fall into insta-love and live happily every after within a hundred pages.

Brava to Susan Say for writing such a riveting book that I absolutely did not want to put down. I’m off to explore the rest of this series!

Winning Streak (The Beasts of Baseball #4) by Alice Ward

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Fake Girlfriend… Fake Fiancée… Real Altar

I have two passions in life — baseball and women.

But in four years, I’ll be forced to take over my family’s billion-dollar company, and they expect me to start acting like it. That means I’ll have to bring home a woman. Any woman.

What I didn’t count on was being blindsided by freckles, sunshine, and an ass so fine it makes me harder than my baseball bat.

Before I know it, Eliana Anderson goes from fake girlfriend, to fake fiancée, to an altar that’s all too real… I don’t even know how it happened. And all just to make my family happy!

She came into my world like a wrecking ball, but now I want to make her my home run.

I just never expected the virtual bomb that was about to go off and shatter our entire world.

Book: Winning Streak (The Beasts of Baseball #4) by Alice Ward
Published: March 4th, 2017
Pages: 370
Genres: Romance, Athlete, Erotica
Format: Kindle
Date Read: August 15 – September 11, 2017
Rating: 4 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔🥔

I loved this book, truly, and I enjoyed the main characters – Eliana and Kane. I thought they were so well suited for each other. And once I was able to sit down and have time to read and enjoy this book I did not want to put it down!

I like what Eliana and Kane were about and its nice to to see two very flawed characters come together and naturally fall in love. I hope the author references this couple in other books, I’d like to see what happens to them in the future!

My only reason for giving it 4 stars is that the book just abruptly ends. Things are coming to a head and we know something big is going to happen and then all of a sudden everything is wrapped up in a neat little bow and the book is finished so quickly it almost gave me whiplash. Everything was so perfectly paced and done so well and then everything just stops. I wish the end would have been fleshed out a lot more.

The Other Fish in the Sea (Grab Your Pole #2) by Jenn Cooksey

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In Shark Bait, readers everywhere met and fell in love with the new girl, Camie Ramsey, and swooned over her sure to be future husband, Tristan Daniels. Now, in The Other Fish in the Sea, the long awaited second installment of the Grab Your Pole series by Jenn Cooksey, Camie and Tristan are back, but so are their friends!

So, find a breathing apparatus and shimmy into your scuba gear, because it’s finally time to dive deeper into the lives of the GYP gang, but be warned, it’s a big world out there and an even bigger ocean where danger might be lurking around the next corner and realistically, anything could happen.

Book: The Other Fish in the Sea (Grab Your Pole #2) by Jenn Cooksey
Published: April 23rd, 2013
Pages: 381
Genres: Romantic Comedy, Athlete Hero, Tattoos/Piercings
Format: Kindle
Date Read: May 03 to 04, 2013
Rating: 5 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔

HOLY CLIFFHANGER BATMAN! All I have to say is Tristan has some major sucking up to do in the next book! And he darn well better do it! I’m currently crossing my fingers that book 3 will come out early and that there will be a HEA for Tristan and Camie!

*spoiler* I understand he was sexually frustrated at the end but the poor girl was clearly dizzy and drunk. I mean, she couldn’t even concentrate on him and he gets mad she told him to stop? Party fowl, Tristan, party fowl!!!

Bring on book 3, the book where Tristan better be on his knees groveling, even though I’m pretty sure he won’t be (at least at first)! 

Beautiful Disaster (Beautiful 1) by Jamie McGuire

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The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate number of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance from the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand.

Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby needs—and wants—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.

Book: Beautiful Disaster (Beautiful 1) by Jamie McGuire
Published: May 26th 2011
Pages: 319
Genres: Athlete Hero, Romance, Tattoos/Piercings, Sexy Alpha Male, Swoony Male
Format: Kindle
Date Read: September 26 to 27, 2011
Rating: 5 Potatoes! 🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔

Love love love! I laughed, I cried and I yelled with this story. So good.

So um, where can I get a Travis?

ETA 2016: I have re-read this book quite a few times since my original review and I love it more each time. It’s a book I rate all of my books against and I always end up coming back to it and thinking of different parts at any given moment. I’d give it a more than 5 star review if such a thing was possible! I love Travis and Abby… I don’t think I’ve ever loved a book more. Movie, please!!

This Sky by Autumn Doughton

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Gemma Sayers has spent the last six days rotting in a hotel room, wallowing in a noxious combination of gin, junk food and self-pity. She’s no stranger to disappointment but nothing could have prepared her for the chaos that unfolded when her celebrity boyfriend publicly humiliated her. Now the fairytale is officially over and Gemma is determined to put the past behind her and strike out to find a new dream. Just a few teeny-tiny details to work out: she’s currently broke, homeless and unemployed.

Landon Young has his own worries. Surfer by day and bartender by night, he doesn’t have the interest or the time to be anyone’s happily-ever-after. Weighed down by the memory of what happened two years ago, Landon can barely keep his head above water.

This Sky is the thoughtful and often funny story about broken trust, an unexpected love and the hopes we keep sewn in the linings of our pockets.

Book: This Sky by Autumn Doughton (Goodreads)
Published: August 12th, 2014
Pages: 334
Genres: Romance, Rom-Com, Athlete, New Adult, Freebie On Amazon
Format: Kindle
Date Read: March 23-25, 2016
Rating: 4 Potatoes! 🥔🥔🥔🥔

Can I just start of by saying how much I truly enjoyed the authors humor for this book? I loved Julie and her friendship with Gemma. Loved their discussions!

Landon and Gemma were absolutely perfect for each other. They each had their own demons but found a way to make things work for them. It was so refreshing to read a novel where the characters actually fell in love with each other over time! I’ve read so many novels where the characters meet and BOOM! they are happy and in love, yadda, yadda, yadda.

I really don’t have much to say about this one except that everyone needs to read it! Its has comedy, romance, drama. This book has it all and I truly enjoyed reading it. There was nothing that needed to be added or removed. The book didn’t dawdle at all and the characters were easy to envision in my mind.

I will definitely be reading other books by this author – she did an amazing job!

The Enforcer (NHL Scorpions #1) by Nikki Worrell

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Lacey Benoit is in need of a fresh start. Her best friend, Dr. Zoe Millis, has been begging her to make the move from Maine to California. Taking a leap of faith, Lacey does just that.

Living in San Diego definitely has its perks, such as, sunshine and beaches. The best part of moving to the west coast, however, is that Steven is still on the east coast. Catching your almost husband having sex with one of your bridesmaids on your wedding day would make even the strongest woman jaded. Therefore, Lacey has sworn off men for a while, especially men who travel a lot that have easy access to loose women.

When Lacey meets the new enforcer for the San Diego Scorpions, she thinks she might be in trouble. But she is determined to fight her attraction to the sexy NHL hunk. And she is successful…for about a day.

Book: The Enforcer (NHL Scorpions #1) by Nikki Worrell (Goodreads)
Published: March 7th, 2013
Pages: 320
Genres: Romance, Athlete, New Adult, Freebie On Amazon
Format: Kindle
Date Read: February 23-March 8, 2016
Rating: 3.5 Potatoes 🥔🥔🥔

I’m not really sure what to say about this one. I liked the book well enough but I certainly didn’t love it. I did love the character of Jody – he was wonderful in every way! He was sweet, funny, athletic, a true alpha male and handsome to boot! But, there was something about Lacey that got on my nerves. To be honest, she wasn’t very smart and I didn’t agree with a lot of her decisions. The whole Stephen thing was just ridiculous!

All in all, this book was okay but it needed more “meat”. She met Jody and eventually agreed to go on a date with him but then it was like boom – they’re together and in love and happy, blah, blah, blah.

I may check out Vlad’s story, he intrigued me a lot. Time will tell!

Power Play (Pilots Hockey #2) by Sophia Henry

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Beneath her innocent facade, Gabriella Bertucci has her reasons to be standoffish with guys. Especially guys like Landon Taylor, a star defenseman on the minor-league Detroit Pilots and the object of a serious crush since he first walked into her family’s market. But when Landon comes through for her in a moment of crisis, Gaby starts to wonder if there might be more to Landon than hard muscles and fast skates.

Landon isn’t afraid of telling Gaby that he’s got it for her bad. The problem is, she seems unwilling to believe it. And though Landon enjoys his reputation as a cool-headed athlete, he hates losing—both on the rink and off. It’s his competitiveness that makes him so damn good at what he does . . . but it also makes him just a little bit complicated.

One minute Gaby’s tempted to give in; the next, she’s getting cold feet. How can she trust a guy who’s destined for bigger and better things to stick around? Then again, when Landon pulls her close with those powerful arms, the only thing that matters is right now.

Book: Power Play (Pilots Hockey #2) by Sophia Henry (Goodreads)
Published: February 16th, 2016
Pages: 194
Genres: Romance, Hockey/Sports, Athlete, ARC (author released copy)
Format: PDF
Date Read: February 5-9, 2016
Rating: 2 Potatoes 🥔🥔

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I tried so hard to like this book more than I did. I really tried. But, the glaringly obvious spelling/grammar errors and storyline inconsistencies made that difficult.

Gaby and Landon have both had crushes on each other since they were kids and finally admit it after a tragedy happens within Gaby’s family. Okay, that type of storyline I can get on board with. And I was excited about the fact that Landon was a hockey player (LOVE THEM!). But, the Gaby/Landon storyline barely develops, they go on one date (maybe two) and they are just in love and happy (with each other, anyway), blah, blah, blah. The hockey storyline is rarely referenced, except for the great elephant in the room that the oh so great Landon hasn’t been called up to the NHL yet. I did like Landon (what I knew about him anyway), he seemed to really like Gaby but I needed more – more information about him, more moments between Gaby/Landon.

Gaby’s family really made me mad – they were terrible to Gaby (especially her dad) and her brother Joey was just straight up annoying. And the pesky little detail of Gaby’s rape? That whole situation alone was enough to make me give this book a 2 star rating. First of all, the whole arc of her rape came out of left field – there was nothing given away that would make you think it happened to her in the first place. And, if you are going to put something like that in a book, you need to expand a lot more on what happened – the reasons for peoples decisions in how its delt with and just provide more information in general.

And then, after all of the drama and horrible things that were done to Gaby, the end wraps up like a nice little bow. Where the heck did that happy ending come from?

I get that this was a novella, due to size, but I felt like the story could have been fleshed out so much more. It had so much potential from the summary and it seemed to be wasted. With proper editing and a more in-depth storyline this really could be a good book.

The Score (Off-Campus #3) by Elle Kennedy

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He knows how to score, on and off the ice.

Allie Hayes is in crisis mode. With graduation looming, she still doesn’t have the first clue about what she’s going to do after college. To make matters worse, she’s nursing a broken heart thanks to the end of her longtime relationship. Wild rebound sex is definitely not the solution to her problems, but gorgeous hockey star Dean Di-Laurentis is impossible to resist. Just once, though, because even if her future is uncertain, it sure as heck won’t include the king of one-night stands.

It’ll take more than flashy moves to win her over.

Dean always gets what he wants. Girls, grades, girls, recognition, girls…he’s a ladies man, all right, and he’s yet to meet a woman who’s immune to his charms. Until Allie. For one night, the feisty blonde rocked his entire world—and now she wants to be friends? Nope. It’s not over until he says it’s over. Dean is in full-on pursuit, but when life-rocking changes strike, he starts to wonder if maybe it’s time to stop focusing on scoring…and shoot for love.

Book: The Score (Off-Campus #3) by Elle Kennedy(Goodreads)
Published: January 11th, 2016
Pages: 354
Genres: Romance, New Adult, College, Sports, Athlete
Format: Kindle
Date Read: January 27-29, 2016
Rating: 5 Potatoes! 🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔

Dean, Dean, Dean. I felt like I had to wait FOREVER to read his book. I have been a fan of this series since the beginning. I read the first one not long after if came out and immediately put the next book on my pre-order list. I love all of the characters in this series, they just pull you in!

When I first saw the summary that Dean was going to be paired with Allie I was a little worried. Allie had always been linked with Sean in the first two books, they were meant for each other (or so I thought!).

Dean and Allie fit so well together. He was able to bring out the care-free side of Allie and she was able to curb his man-whore ways. I loved their playful banter and the way their characters truly were two halves of a whole. And of course the sex was amazing. Why wouldn’t it be, with all of the “practice” Dean has had? Haha.

One thing I love about Elle Kennedy is that she is always able to incorporate humor in her books and oh boy did this one have some doozies. The break in scene, anything that has to do with Winston and of course Summer! I really want to read Summer’s story, I hope that is something in the works. That girl is a hoot!!

Five stars for Elle Kennedy, another smash hit!