The romance was a great mix of fluffy and spicy. It was hot and sweet and genuine. The third act conflict was believable and I was happy with how everything resolved. It felt like the characters actually worked through things and didn’t just gloss over it. Bex and James were a perfect fit. I fell in love with this series from the moment I started it, and I was SO excited for Stealing Home. I also had a feeling this book would be my favorite… AND I WAS RIGHT 🤭 Now the spice, ain’t nothing sweet about that (well a little)🥵 The scene after the restaurant is off the charts and the song ‘My Heart Has Teeth’ is now on repeat on my Spotify 😏 As a bisexual woman, I love all different types of bisexual representation. What I don’t like, is when an author’s ONLY bisexual female main character in the series (and possibly in the author’s entire body of work) is a walking hypersexual trope that will have sex with everyone and still has sex with anybody and everybody under the sun AFTER starting something with their destined partner (the MMC in this case). Also, it’s a problem when (if I remember correctly) the only hypersexual, commitment-phobe, female main character from the author is bisexual.

Sparkling prose and delicious tension . . . Grace Reilly is the queen of sports romance!’ STEPHANIE ARCHER Early morning: Some people find that reading in the morning helps them start their day with a positive and productive mindset. Us bisexual women face harmful stigma because of this trope and the stereotypes that it perpetuates. This book just perpetuates biphobia penny, on the other hand, was just as charming as cooper. i personally loved everything about her. she was sassy, determined, funny, creative, and utterly romantic. every part of the relationship she had with cooper was unbelievably and undeniably cute. their ability to bond with each other as friends and lovers was so admirable. i loved how vulnerable penny allowed herself to be, there was still pieces of her that were broken from a previous relationship (and some other things in her life) and she decided it was right to take care of herself, to try to make herself bigger and better than before. penny's therapist had my whole entire heart, she was the best <3 Cooper was just such a lovable character. So sweet, patient and understanding. The best dirty talker, and he was just such a lovable dork. Penny was also such a fiery fmc, loved how she handled her path to recovery from her past, and she was both funny and supportive.Full disclosure: I DNF’d this book before I could find out if the FMC was going to be held accountable for treating the MMC terribly. Based on this influx of books of MMCs being treated like garbage and FMCs never being held accountable for terrible behavior, I sincerely doubt it. She’s my coach’s daughter, but from the moment she grabs me on the ice rink, she’s the only thing on my mind. She wants me to introduce her to all the things she’s been dying to experience in the bedroom. If I say yes, I’ll be relaxed on the ice again – but if her dad finds out, I can kiss any chance of being captain goodbye.

The boy fell hard and don’t we love it. Seb is now my fave of the Callahan. Behind his positive and goofy character, is such a broken soul and his vulnerability throughout the book was so raw. But also this book was so so so sweet. As much as Mia is the definition of a grump, Seb sees through her hard exterior and is determined to help her understand her worth and support her. Their relationship was so realistic to me..their journey wasn’t easy, but they fought for it. The trust they developed with each other was everything. I should be focusing on my game–not on falling for my gorgeous, grumpy roommate… especially since she’s already left me once. Breakaway: A Coach’s Daughter College Sports Romance (Beyond the Play Book 2) by Grace Reilly – eBook Details

Customer reviews

I appreciated that they were still young enough to be making plenty of mistakes in trying to work out who they are and what they want from life, but they were old enough (maybe 22ish?) to have their new relationship feel like it could definitely stand the test of time if they were committed enough and communicated appropriately—which I think they were doing well by the stories end.

I hated the FMC before I found out she was bisexual, but when I found out she was bisexual, I hated the author. I also hate it when in romance books a person breaks up with the other because they think the other person deserves better. Maybe let the other person decide and make the decision for the themself? Or be better yourself? Sparkling prose and delicious tension . . . Grace Reilly is the queen of sports romance!' STEPHANIE ARCHER seb and mia were friends with bennies but he wanted to take things to a more serious level and had just gotten her to agree to a date when his brother walked in on them *together* and she got spooked. when they’re both at school for the summer and her dorm gets flooded, seb offers her a place to stay and the forced proximity re-ignites old feelings. Together they were just pure perfection 🥹 they help each other find their own courage and they both went through such growth, individually and as a couple. I just wanna wrap them both up in bubble wrap and keep them protected from the world, sweet babies.when i originally read first down, i loved cooper and sebastian (maybe even a little more so than i even loved james.) they both had these winner personalities and were incredibly funny each and every time they were mentioned in the book (as well as post-grad: the extended epilogue) cooper, specifically, has such a charming personality. he was caring, funny, flirtatious, nerdy, and knew his boundaries. that man had a heart of gold. his energy matches penny's incredibly well. cooper was very passionate about everything: including penny (and lord of the rings, but mostly penny) the way cooper was completely on board with sharing her interests and taking a deep dive crash course into penelope ryder was absolutely heartwarming. I cannot tell you how much I appreciated that the conflict at the end was not a third act breakup and really, that there was no breakup at all. Our characters were pretty mature and whenever I thought we were reaching a situation that would normally result in some kind of relationship ending miscommunication, they handled it extremely well and not at all how I normally expect them to. It was refreshing and still kept the story interesting and compelling despite not having that unnecessary drama.