e-ALC, 09:37:30
Narrated by: Matt Sykes & Stella Hunter
Release Date: August 12, 2025
Published by: Hachette Audio
Read from: August 13-15, 2025
Prescott University, #1
Source: Netgalley (I received a free e-ALC from the Netgalley and the publisher. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Sexual Content, Cursing, Death of a Parent, Grief, Bullying, Drug Use, Drug Abuse, Violence, Alcohol
For Readers Interested In: Adult, Audio, Contemp Romance, Most Anticipated, Realistic Fiction, Romance, SportsShe’s All That meets She’s the Man in this New Adult sports romance about a British bad boy rugby player who’s forced to start over in America and finds an unlikely ally in the coach’s daughter when she offers him a deal he can’t resist.
Leaving it all on the field is one thing. Giving his all to love? Terrifying.
British bad boy Cillian “Kill” Cairney is ruthless on the rugby pitch. After getting a permanent red card from his team in London, the only team that will have him is an Ivy League school in New Hampshire. But the guys hate him, his coach doesn’t trust him, and worst of all? His starting position is in the hands of his coach’s fiery, rugby-obsessed, very off-limits daughter. Not only does he have to earn his coach’s respect, but Kill has to earn Rory’s—and nothing has ever seemed more difficult. That is, until she approaches him with a proposition that could benefit them both . . .
Rory St. James has spent all her life immersed in rugby. Which is . . . part of the problem. She’s tired of being friend-zoned. She wants to get the guy, and to do that, she needs the frustratingly charming Cillian to teach her. But the more time they spend together, the more lines begin to blur. In a game where trust and loyalty are tested, who will be the winner? Or will love be the final red card?
*MY THOUGHTS*
This was a bit of a surprise. It was more spicy than I was expecting (for a trad pub) and it was less about rugby than I wanted, but all in all I thought it was cute. This wasn’t my first book on rugby, so I guess that’s why I was expecting more. But that was in a self pubbed (where they can make their own decisions) and I wonder if it was just an unfortunate product of the editing.
Ok so the romance was cute. But I don’t feel like it was “real.” I liked the way he was teaching her, but the all of a sudden switch and then suddenly being jealous was weird. I just didn’t feel like it was as smooth as it could have been. And I thought the relationship suffered because of that. He didn’t feel any different than the other dudes that were her friends. She on the other hand couldn’t leave him alone. I just didn’t feel like it was reciprocated? Maybe its a me thing? I’m not sure. The spice tho, was something that I wasn’t expecting. It wasn’t super spicy, just…. Weird because it escalated quickly lol It truly went from 0 to 60 lol
As a sports girlie I was expecting more sports lol I wanted to see some games or something. But it was like one practice and then the rest of the time they were arguing about him being on the team. I thought that was hella childish too. Like what was the reason? She did sit and watch a practice for them, but that was basically it. I wanted to see more of them on the pitch. More of them in the middle of a game, and more. The author spoke about all the rules and things she learned in her research and on TikTok, but it didn’t stand out to me. It felt very much basic. And I get it, it’s probably a me thing. I watch women’s rugby so I probably was looking for more than just a little bit, but still. I think if we’re going to call it sports, make it sporty!
The entire thing at the end was a little random. I thought it was odd that they went that way. That whole situation escalated so fast. I don’t think enough was being done to them tho. That could have seriously harmed that person. Over something that was childish af! I got so mad I had to put my Kindle down for a bit. Because wtf do you mean?
Putting all of this into words made me realize that it was the pacing that was off. It was here, there, and all over the place. It went from 0 to 100 to 50 to 60 to 100 again. It was hard to figure out the transition periods. It really roughed up the flow of the story. And again, I know this might be a me thing, but it just felt weird to read. Especially with me reading it as an audio and on 2.00x’s lol It just felt like it was moving so weirdly fast lol
Regardless of some of my hang ups, I still enjoyed this. I don’t think it was a bad book by any means, I just think it had more potential to be a bit more smoother? Idk how to explain it. But it does say this is a series, so I’d love to see who and what comes next for this university. I think it would be weird to continue on with this couple, so I keep trying to think who would be next? Will it be another sport? I have so many questions and I hate that I’m going to have to wait about a year for them to be answered lol
Overall, I give this
