Luke made it very hard to like him at times but Jesse had my whole heart. Enjoyed this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️

3.5 stars.
This is Keira's debut book, which was recently republished. No revisions were done to the book.

I loved:
- Both characters.
Luke was hot and possessive and enamored with Jesse
Jesse was sweet and a bit damaged an a bit naïve.

- The tennis backdrop and how it brought them together.
- The tiny bit of breakup angst and how they couldn't stay away from each other.
- The supportive parents.
- The Steam: Keira can write some hot sex scenes lemme tell you.
- The epilogue: short and too the point, with a glimpse to the future.
- The Bonus epilogue which was swoony and sexy.


Niggles:
I really do think the book needed a bit if revision and tightening up. It would have made it a much more entertaining read. especially with Jesse's teenage year-trauma.
There were some things that were too abrupt for my liking and needed a bit more focus.

I received an ARC from GRR and this is my honest review.

This was so good but I'm not surprised, because I love Keira Andrews writing. Luke and Jesse were so sweet and so hot together. I also loved all the tennis talk, I find I like reading about it.

What a delight! I wish this had been longer, I was so invested in Jesse and Luke. I'm glad they both got their happy ending <3

This was a really enjoyable read and exactly the kind of cute story I had hoped for when I started it. The characters were interesting and the story developed nicely, even if it was a bit predictable in places. I'd have liked perhaps a little bit more of a build-up to Luke and Jesse's relationship at the start, but nevertheless I still loved their romance and I particularly enjoyed the wonderful end. It was just the perfect way to finish - it was really sweet and put a big smile on my face.

I had specifically looked for m/m romance novels based around tennis players and this was one of two that was recommended to me. I'm a huge tennis fan and the sport is full of beautiful men, so I'd really love to see more tennis players in my m/m novels ;)

I think this would have been better in 2006

3.5

An enjoyable sports romance with some really nice steam. I get the hesitation to keep a secret as well as the frustration of feeling like a lie is the only safe way to move forward in sports. I loved the chemistry with the two men.

A lot has changed since this book was written but a lot hasn’t answered it’s got to be frustrating for queer professional sports athletes.

⭐︎3.5 stars rounded up!⭐︎

This author, who I absolutely adore, shows a good, solid first (or one of the first) book written and released.

Released in 2006, it shows just how different things were even in 2006. I don't fault the book at all for how closeted Luke is for the majority of this, because yeah, there really isn't one out male professional tennis player as of today. At least their are other out players in some other major league sports. It's still slow going, though.

Luke's extreme caution and fear of being outed felt very realistic. So did Jesse being the younger one, a little less closeted and afraid to come out. 11 years Luke's junior, even with what he's been through, he doesn't want to stay closeted for long.

I think my problems with this book how long Luke maintained his "stay very closeted" stance, and caring what everyone thought of him, and then just at the very end getting over all that baggage and being ready to be out to the world, and in such a public way. It was great and very Hollywood movie-esque, but I wish the change from his extreme closeted-ness had been handled a little more smoothly and gradually.

I do also think the chemistry between these two was just okay. We got scenes with them aplenty, but I still didn't feel like we were getting enough, which to me means I wasn't getting enough in their scenes together, chemistry wise. This book would have greatly benefited from Jesse's POV. I really like the trend that most romance books do now of doing both POV's. One POV just takes a lot to make work in a romance.

While I liked these two, especially near the end, it was slow going for me on feeling much between these two, and by the end they were just likable. I didn't love them.

This slightly less than 200 page book took me a bit to finish, which says something. It didn't have enough really interesting scene until near the end, which made me round up instead of down on this, because I did gain back some interest near the end with the coming out drama.

So overall, this gets a solid 3.5 stars, it showed the potential of this author really well, there were just obvious kinks to work out that, having read this author's later works, she did work out later on.

She said in the AN at the beginning that she revisited this last year and she felt she didn't have to make extensive edits and for the time, it can stand as is, and for the most part I agree - it felt very realistic, how horribly some people reacted when things started to come out - but I do think some things, like the transition from looking going extremely closeted to out could have been included, and maybe including at least a few Jesse POV scenes. I think that would have greatly improved this.

So as is, it was entertaining for the most part overall, it just needed more to really bring this home as a great one. Glad I read this oldie - it served to remind me how different things were just 16 years ago. Oh how time flies. I was just starting my freshman year in high school when this came out haha. Wild.

Onto the next!

*** 4.75 Stars ***

Just finished Love Match and - aptly - LOVED it! I loved the characters, the realistic build of the relationship, and that actions - and inaction - had consequences. ...and of course I also loved the big, sappy, hearts and flowers Hollywood ending. I loved it all!