*2.75/5 stars*

“I smiled. That was Foster. Zip Lip Foster. Early-morning smoothies and the like, the great big giant pain in my ass, the brother I never knew I wanted. A page in the story of my life that I never could’ve anticipated.”

This was fun little contemporary book. I did really enjoy some aspects of it - mainly the MC's and Devon's (her cousin) growing relationship and the romance was also pretty great, it was also really fast book to read, but most of it felt quite flet to me.

It was really centered on sports (American football) which I don't care about at all (maybe one of the reaosons why I didn't like this one more), I felt like the heroine was ok, but uninteresting - though maybe intentionally written this way, but if it was intentional I wanted more character development from her.

The friendship aspect, which was one of the best things about her newer novel, was not as good here. I didn't like Devon's relationship with her childhood friend (unrequited love on her part), and didn't care for any of the side friendships much.

The romance was pretty great - I did really like the love interest - though I felt like the book ended too abruptly.

The parents of the heroine didn't play here as big a part as they did in This Adventure Ends either (where I adored the father of the MC).

The best relationship was definitely the one between Devon and her cousin Foster, the most promising character in this book. I really loved them together, I loved how Devon slowly got to know him and how she felt protective of him at times. And how, in the end, he felt almost like a younger brother to her.

“Are you drunk?” a voice said.
So it was only temporary peace.
I whipped around and ripped the shower curtain back. There sat Foster, fully clothed, in the empty bathtub.
“What the hell are you doing in here?”
There was a rubber duck balanced delicately on his head. It didn’t move as he spoke. “Just sitting.”
This was one of those moments. Those Foster moments. Early-morning smoothies and the like. I squeezed my eyes shut hard.”

This one had a bunch of characters appearing a few times that I was suppoesd to be interested in but wasn't (Emir, Lindsay), teen mom character issue that coul've been explored more, heroine who didn't know who she was and I guess was supposed to be finding herself in the book, sports, grief and Foster who was dealing with loss and abandonment

Spoiler

and his not present drug addicted mother (Who was I guess not dealing with her issues and instead sent him off. Like shouldn't his uncle or aunt - the heroine's parents - helped her somehow, to rehab center for example? Did they just ignore it?? If it was dealt with and she was in rehab, it was never even mentioned..)

I felt like maybe it felt on too much and didn't explore some of the things it cold have more to give them more depth.

“What is it about football?” Rachel regarded me through narrowed eyes. “I mean, what is it that’s so great about it anyway?”
“It’s … tradition?”
Rachel looked put off. “It’s a popularity contest disguised as violence disguised as recreational sport.” She began to type again. “You know, someone needs to do a story about high school football—not the team or the scores or anything, but the facts. It’s gotten so political.”
“Political?”
“The sport itself—tradition—is hardly the issue anymore. Kids play football in high school to get money to go to college. It’s just a numbers game.”

All in all, This book was definitely more romance centered than her newest book, I also really liked Foster. If you at all care abot American football you might like this one more.
This was definitely the weakest novel from the author for me. First and Then kind of missed the mark for me. Just an okay book for me.

“When you love something, you can’t be happy all the time, can you? Like, that’s why you love it. It makes you feel all kinds of things, not just happy. It can hurt, it can make you fucking mad, but…it makes you feel something, you know?”