Rating: 3.5 Stars

Format: Audiobook

Genre: Romance

I decided to read this book to see what all the hype and hysteria was about after ANOTHER round of people attacking romance readers and crying about the smut in a book written by an adult for other adults. I had this whole long rant about the “discourse” that surrounds this book, but I decided that I don’t care enough to give those puritanical weirdos my time. 

Y’all are being a bit too dramatic for my taste about this book. It was fine! It’s cute, the main characters were likeable (to me) and I thought the progression of their relationship was relatively realistic. I also enjoyed the side characters that gave a sense of place and that the main couple were real people who had relationships outside of each other. The discussions of mental health struggles, ED representation, and consensual sex that had communication AND discussions of protection and STD testing were all factors that made me enjoy the relationship dynamic and the respect and care they had for themselves and each other. 

I do think this book struggled with its pacing and it definitely didn’t need to be as long as it was. I’ve seen lots of people say they DNF’d it and I get why. There were major moments that dragged. Also sometimes the writing of the smut was a lil cringe, but that was mostly a me-thing, I think. DEFINITELY was not the worst smut I’ve ever read.

What have we learned here today folks? Well, the reality is that the hate this book is getting for being some evil den of sin that is using its cute cartoony cover to lure in and corrupt your children is nonsense. Not liking this book is totally fine. Nothing wrong with having criticisms or just not feeling connected to the characters or the writing or whatever. But maybe just leave romance readers alone and let them live and read their smutty lil sports romances in peace.