This is the second book in E.M. Lindsey’s baseball romance series, and hey! I still don’t care about baseball, but luckily the skillful way the author handles relationships makes me willing to pretend I understand the difference between various pitches. Pietro’s best friend James is one of the main characters in this book, and as I really liked him in that one, I was very excited to see him again in this slow burn romance between a single dad and a wealthy baseball pitcher. James had a rough childhood and a stint in prison, traumas that still haunt him evenRead the Post
Review: Switch-Hitter – E.M. Lindsey
Look, I couldn’t care less about baseball, and let’s be honest, when it got to the point where it turned out that one main character literally punched the other’s teeth out? I normally would’ve DNF’d the book so quickly! But I trust E.M. Lindsey so I kept going. I’m glad I did, as the way their relationship formed was handled thoughtfully and completely won me over. “We’re both in a complicated position. I work for you,” he said, and Pietro bit back a groan because he hated the reminder. “You’re in the middle of your season, and I know theRead the Post
Review: In the Penalty Box – Lynn Rush & Kelly Anne Blount
Content warnings: After being injured, Willow’s back home from her Olympic training program to finish her rehab as quickly as possible, even if that means sometimes sharing ice with the local high school hockey puckheads. When a goalie injury – and a stray puck – bring her to the hockey team captain’s attention, Willow suddenly finds herself spending time with Brodie and agreeing to act as his team’s goalie – just until she recovers enough to go back to training, of course. But as she spends more time with the team, and especially Brodie, she starts to love hockey, and,Read the Post
Ho-Ho-Holiday Mini-Reviews
I’ve been reading a ton of holiday novellas for the JingleBooks bingo, and while I don’t feel like doing full reviews for each of them, I figured a few small reviews would be helpful for anyone looking for some post-Christmas reading – or for me next year! So here’s seven quick reviews! As a sidenote, all of the authors are Black, and the majority of the main characters (excepting Talia Hibbert’s book) are also Black. For three years, best friends Brianna and Carson have pretended to be in a relationship every Christmas in order to get his matchmaking mama offRead the Post
Review: Off the Ice – Avon Gale & Piper Vaughn
I’m a hockey fan, so of course I jumped on the chance to review this reissued m/m hockey romance. This is billed as a “hot for teacher” romance, but that’s not quite the whole story. “As you know, it’s a subject near to my own academic interests, but it might be a little off from the scope of the course.” Tristan nodded, leaning forward eagerly. “I thought about that, yeah. I really wanted to do this topic, though, so I was hoping maybe there was a way you could help me figure out how to, uh, apply the idea toRead the Post
Review: A Season to Celebrate anthology
Look, I’m going to be 100% honest with you. I completely picked this up for Priscilla Oliveras’ story, because all the other authors are completely new to me. Also, while the cover is cute, it’s usually indicative of the kind of romance I don’t particularly enjoy, so I had pretty low expectations going in. Luckily, most of the stories were quite good and I got to add a few new authors to my TBR! “Before I left, I was just going through the motions, living from one day to the next, not fully realizing what I had and what IRead the Post
Review: Game Changer – Rachel Reid
Goodness, this book is simply adorable! From the meet-cute to the grand finale, everything is delightfully fluffy and low angst, and it stars a hot hockey player. Sold! Kip is biding his time working at a smoothie shop while trying to figure out what to do with his life. He’s graduated from college with a history degree, but is struggling to find a job in his field, so he still lives with his parents. It feels like all of his friends are getting promotions and moving on to bigger and better things. Enter Scott, the star hockey player for theRead the Post
Review: Intercepted – Alexa Martin
Trigger warnings: gas lighting, racism I’m probably the last person you’d want reviewing a football romance, since my knowledge of the sport is pretty much zip, despite (perhaps because of) sitting through a relative’s endless high school football games as a kid. However, the cover was just so gorgeous that I couldn’t resist, and I’m glad I didn’t! This is a delightfully snarky debut romance, and one where you don’t really need to know much about football to enjoy. He might’ve been a good guy today, but I’ve been around this life for too long to be tricked. No moreRead the Post
Review: Love You – Stacy Finz
This is the third – and last – book in the Garner Brothers series, and I was looking forward to finishing out the series. There was a pretty large chunk about this book’s hero, Win, in the second Garner Brothers book, Want You, that mostly dealt with his relationship with Brittany. I was annoyed by him in that book, but I attributed it to the fact that I didn’t like how much his subplot was taking away from Deb and TJ’s story. Turns out, I just really don’t like Win! After his last relationship took a turn for the worseRead the Post
Review: Playing Dirty – Amy Andrews
Trigger warnings: I’ve been following Ms. Andrews’ Sydney Smoke series since the second book, and I’ve been waiting for the resolution of the troubled relationship between Griff, the rugby team’s gruff and unemotional coach, and his daughter, Val. So, yes, while this is also the story of Val’s HEA with new-to-the-team Kyle, a pretty large part of the story is about Val and Griff repairing their relationship. “The sudden thought that her father would not be impressed by this fraternisation with one of his players made it feel even better. Defiant. Illicit.” Val is drinking away her 24th birthday whenRead the Post