#sport romance

[rosiesfables]

ooh this boy has it BAD BAD.

Scene inspired by CH. 19 from Icebreaker by Hannah Grace! We love #natestassie

Not a commission, just fanart for myself that took 15+ hours lol. I thought this scene would be super fun to see, so I drew it myself!

I loved this sports hockey romance, I’m not really a “sport” girl but I’m for sure a Nathan Hawkins girl (and Anastasia Allen girl). I’m not great at reviewing things, and I’m not trying to, I just wanted to do this being I enjoyed the book. :) 

ALSO, like I really want to do more of this stuff. There are so many books that would be amazing graphic novels. Like please authors do this! (And hire me!)

Song inspiration:

[lexxwithbooks]

📖: 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 (𝑂𝑓𝑓-𝐶𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑢𝑠 #2) 🎙🏒🔧

✍🏽: 𝐄𝐥𝐥𝐞 𝐊𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝𝐲

Get the book! 🌟

[x-lulu]

lu’s reading list in 2023 - coach by devney perry

millie was . . . the best. the best of the best. she deserved it from the people in her life because that was what she gave them.

she was my best friend. but damn, I wanted to kiss her. to say to hell with our friendship and see what we could make of this spark between us

[weirdowithluv]

Ryan & Indy sketch ! They are from the book The Right Move by Liz Tomforde

[checkoutmybookshelf]

...Someone Get Me Back on the Ice

Ok, for a lot of reasons, I was never a competetive athlete. That said...I am Canadian and I was probably 3 or 4 years old when my grandparents bought me my first pair of skates and my parents took me to the (manmade) kiddie rink in the park to teach me to skate. My middle sister and I had skating lessons for a few years, our parents took us skating pretty often growing up, and when we moved into the big house in Alaska, we had a pond out back that we skated (and burned christmas trees--yes, it was always awesome) on every winter until I left the state. And even when I moved back to Canada, I brought my skates with me and still use the arenas and outdoor town square rink in the winter. All this to say that while I'm never going to be an Olympian, I deeply love skating, so when there was a cozy college skating romance between a figure skater and a hockey team captain...it was not a hard sell. And then I was absolutely delighted by this cozy, fluffy, very skate-y book. Let's talk Icebreaker.

CONTENT WARNING: I'm not going to cover much of this here, but if anyone wants to pick up this book, please be aware that it does contain disordered eating, a super controlling/abusive relationship, and a near-death experience, so take care of you when choosing your books!

The very last thing Anastasia Allen wants to do right before sectionals is be forced to share her rink with a hockey team. Then she gets adopted by a bunch of overgrown man-children with hearts of gold who enjoy body-slamming other overgrown man-children into the boards over a puck. It is possibly the most adorable thing I have ever seen, and it is the best possible embodiment of the healthy, non-toxic version of "boys will be boys" insofar as the team just genuinely love and support each other and make space for Anastasia and Lola in that world with care, respect, and joy. I love it so, so much.

Of course, Anastasia is not here just to be adopted by a hockey team. She's also very much in danger of falling deeply in love with Nate Hawkins, captain of said hockey team. Nate and Anastasia are a genuinely darling, adorable couple, and watching them together was just FUN.

Particularly in contrast to Anastasia's relationship with her skating partner, Aaron. Who is--to put it mildly--the biggest most manipulative toxic douchebag I have ever seen. There's something about his and Anastasia's relationship that managed to embody everything that can go horribly toxic with athletic partnerships and how difficult it can be when your dream relies on someone who is actively trying to drag you down.

The super nice thing though, is that Aaron is absolutely the bad guy in this book. Neither Nate nor Ryan (the adorable himbo basketball player she begins the book in a friends-with-benefits arrangement with) descend to Aaron's level. They are there to support Anaastasia. That doesn't mean they don't get angry or jealous--they're human men in their late teens/early 20s, of COURSE they get angry and jealous--but they deal with those emotions pretty freaking healthily, and they don't descend into petty ego-based bullshit. Add that to Anastasia's therapy-honed communication skills, and the relationships in this book are just so well done. Sometimes relationships in romances can get weirdly toxic for drama, but that's not the case here, which made this cozy romance GENUINELY delightful to read.

The side characters are also super well-developed and full of personality, so everyone in this book feels well-rounded, real, and delightful. From Lola to Henry, Robbie, Russ, and JJ, you get to know an ensemble of strong secondary characters in the context of the main romantic relationship, and Anastasia and Henry's platonic love for each other might be the best platonic relationship I've seen in FOREVER. I would 100% read a spinoff novel about those two buddy-ing around.

Author Hannah Grace is a self-proclaimed "fluffy comfort book writer," and if Icebreaker is any example, then ACCURATE. And I cannot recommend this book enough, it was a delight to read from start to finish.

[laurenssapphicshelf]

Rep: Lesbian, Non-binary, bipoc

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Onside Play - Liz Rain

Pub: 23/7/23

Pages: 224

ASIN: B0CCPM1BGG

Publisher: YLVA

Blurb: Two soccer stars share a secret along with a rivalry that stretches halfway around the world in this light-hearted, second-chance lesbian romance.

Knockabout Australian Keeley McGee is living her childhood dream of playing soccer at the World Cup. The only thing that could kill her focus is coming up against the cool and dispassionate US team’s star striker.

Beautiful, brilliant Christine Delacourt was the college girlfriend who dumped Keeley out of the blue years before.

What will it be like reuniting under the stadium lights, especially since they know the other’s game—and each other—so intimately?

Despite a strict “no distractions” rule from her coach, Keeley finds herself drawn to Christine in a way that feels almost dangerous. Will Keeley be able to rekindle what she once shared with her now on-field enemy with the eyes of the world on them? Dare she even try?

⭐️ 4

🌶️ 3

[efexbe]

the right move by liz tomforde

[romancegirlies]

[poisindonottouch]

Queer reads: KD Casey

For day 28: To round out the romance section, and the month of queer reads, I bring you the subcategory of Gay Sports Romances. I think I picked up KD Casey because Cat Sebastian recommended Diamond Ring on instagram, and that was it for my and this rabbit hole. 

So, first off, I must state that I do not care for sports. Like, I don’t hate them, because that’d be way more feelings toward a thing I do not care about. But for any given sport event happening on the TV, I’d rather be in the other room reading a book. Ironically, it might be a sports romance.

KD Casey does not hate sports. In fact, they care about them greatly. All the baseball fanning, all the baseball knowledge. When I explained my new-found interest in sport romance novels to my coworkers (all of us high school English teachers), one of them said, “Oh, so you read sport romances like it’s sci fi.” To which, yes, except I know way more about space ships in the far flung future (or a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away) than I do about baseball. 

But these were fun. The series actually is called Unwritten Rules, and it starts with Unwritten Rules, but I think I read them Fire Season, Unwritten Rules, Diamond Ring, which is 2, 1, 3? Anyway, there’s some flashback stuff going on, so it wasn’t too far off. There’s lots of sporting happening in these books, but also very gorgeous men with lots of feelings and internalized homophobia. Actually half of the characters have no internalized homophobia, but that’s part of the angst. Sports, as we can imagine, whether we like sports or not, is not a world that’s super open for gay people of any stripe, and part of sports as the setting presents some built-in conflict for the characters. If you’d like your romances without homophobia, these probably aren’t for you, but I think I mentioned how much I like angst, and these deliver on that. 

KD Casey makes writes some great tension, steamy sex, and compelling characters who all have some serious baggage. There’s also stuff about recovery, injury, and physical disabilities (one of the MC in Unwritten Rules is hard of hearing, which is always present but isn’t actually part of the conflict of the story.) 

If you like sports, check these out. If you don’t like sports, but you think Cat Sebastian has some good recommendations (or you think I do), check these out. 

[vanona-camp]

“Listen to me closely. I don’t care if you toss your skates in the trash tomorrow, I don’t care what you choose to do for the rest of your life as long as you’re happy.”

“If you’d picked up a basketball all those years ago, I’d be courtside for the rest of my life with one of those big foam fingers. If you take up a paint brush, I’ll buy every piece that we have walls for. If you use that big brain of yours for engineering or law—I’ll do whatever I can to show I support you until my last breath.”

The award for best father goes to Maximillian fucking Koteskiy

[jillianamena]

Cover reveal

I’m so excited to show off my new book cover! My debut novel, June and Inobe’s Dating Game will be coming out soon!

[lexxwithbooks]

📖: 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒔𝒆 (𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑟 𝑈 #1) 🎮🏒🧵

✍🏽: 𝐄𝐥𝐥𝐞 𝐊𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝𝐲

Get the book! 🌟

[klein-17]

«I've always kept my memories of Canning to myself. Because they're mine. For six weeks every summer, he was mine.»

─Him by Elle Kennedy & Sarina Bowen.

[sognareleggiesogna]

REVIEW TOUR: Incrocio tra cuori di Cali Melle

Cari Sognatori. Rosanna ha letto il primo volume della serie sport romance Wyncote Wolves, scritta da Cali Melle e pubblicata da Kiss Publishing per la Queen Edizioni!!!!! SERIE:  Wyncote Wolves GENERE: Sport romance DATA DI PUBBLICAZIONE. 12 aprile 2024 Ebook / Cartaceo Affiliati Amazon Logan Sono passati due anni da quando sono partito per il college. Dall’ultima volta che ho visto Isla. Quando…

[novelstorian]

The One About An F1 Driver: On the Edge by K. Bromberg | Book Review

In the realm of literature, each book is a portal to uncharted territories, offering readers a passport to explore worlds that exist beyond the confines of our regular lives. Today, I extend an invitation to my fellow readers as we embark on a journey into the pages of On the Edge by K. Bromberg Beyond the captivating cover lies a narrative waiting to unfold and characters yearning to be…

[amunetstears]

last night, i finished "The Fake Out" by Stephanie Archer. It was the first sport romance i've read and i loved so much the main characters, sososo cute, it was beautiful😩