Sports Romance Recs (Open Door) with Author Sarah Blair

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Thanks to author Sarah Blair for joining me to talk about open door sport's romance. Find her books here. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome back to when I Left Off a bookish podcast.
Today I am talking all thingssports romance with author Sarah
Blair, and you may have heardof her before.
She has written the Tides ofDarkness series and she's
currently working on her ownromance novel.
Thank you for joining me today,sarah.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hello, hello, happy to be here.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
You're like my unofficial co-host.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
I am excited that you have honored me enough to have
me back so many times and toconsider me a honorary co-host.
I'm always here for chatting,books and hanging out with you.
It's a blast.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
I know I have so much fun in our chats Speaking of
books.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
I know I don't think everybody knows that we like
Marco Polo just about everyother day.
Oh, we do, and you're like thisis what I'm reading now and I
just put on your polo and makemy coffee and sit there and it's
like my own personal bookrecommendation mini podcast and
it's delightful.

(01:14):
I love it so much.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
I was going to say I give you more recommendations
than you can ever probably read,but it works.
I feel like sometimes it's justevery five seconds.
Hey, have you read this book?
Have?

Speaker 2 (01:29):
you read this and I thought I read fast oh man, I
try it, we'll see.
I read Harriet's book and Ijust blew through it and you're
like wait, wait for me you'resupposed to do a buddy read and
that I just completely failedthe buddy read I did not wait
for you.

(01:49):
I'm so sorry it's too good.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Well, speaking of Harriet's book, um, one of my
friends was alpha reading it Ithink, yeah, or maybe she's a
beta reader, one of those and uh, she said that it was really
really good.
So now it made.
So now it made me even moreexcited to.
I'm so excited One day we'llget our hands on it and we'll
get to read it.
Yeah, well, you're writing yourbook Love Creek.

(02:13):
Yay, romance novel.
How is that going?

Speaker 2 (02:19):
It's going.
What is the saying?
Slow and steady wins the race.
Oh, I totally agree with that.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
I totally agree, it's going slow and steady, wins the
race.
Oh, I totally agree with that.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
I totally agree.
It's going slow and steady.
I've been working on it forabout a year now, so it's it's
hit the one year mark since Ihad the idea and first started
thinking about it and startingto write on it.
So I'm like I hit.
I kind of hit a wall at 50,000words, but 50,000, like that's

(02:47):
huge, that's a lot.
Yeah, I mean like it's a realbook.
It's a real book and I don'thave that much left.
But it's getting into the mushyfeeling part where they have to
talk about their feelings andI'm just like oh, oh, feelings.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
I don't want to have to write that part, like I was
gonna say, especially with whatyou're used to writing, feelings
or not- no, my, my charactersin Tides of Darkness do not like
talking about their feelings.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
You know this.
That's a touchy subject forthem, so maybe I need to just
talk to my therapist about it.
But um, I did mention to herthat I was struggling with
writing uh Love Creek and I waslike I just can't get into the
headspace.
I don't know what's going on.
She's like, well, maybe rightnow it's good to maybe try

(03:38):
writing Tides of Darkness again,just to like be in a familiar,
comfortable headspace where youlike know the characters really
well and just like accessingthat easier.
And I was like, oh, that's goodadvice.
And then, like a few minutesafter we hung up on our call, I
was like, wait a second, doesshe just want me to finish this
series?

(03:58):
Yep, like, I think that's like60% of it.
I'm like that was smooth, thatwas smooth that was.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
But you have a lot of really good ideas.
Every time you hit me with anew idea, I'm like, no, you need
to work on what you're workingon.
But then you throw it out thereand you talk about it and it
just sounds so good that I'mlike, okay, I give up.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
You could do any of this, I know right and I spent
this week working on the Santamovie that I want to do.
Oh nice, I did get a little bitof writing done.
I'm developing that and tryingto figure out the plot.
And it's weird because normallyI'm very much a discovery
writer and a pantser and I justwant to dive right in.

(04:43):
Writer and a pantser and I justlike, want to dive right in.
But with the Santa movie that Iwant to do, like approaching it
as a script and a screenplayinstead of a novel is very
different.
It's like I need to knoweverything that happens before I
get started, which is a verystrange thing for me.
But I think every project isdifferent and I'm just trying to

(05:05):
roll with it yeah, and it'ssuch a visual medium.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
So it's really hard to just completely convert it
from, yeah, having to use all ofthe costuming and you know,
stage direction and all thatother stuff to tell what you
can't just have the characters,like say, in their own train of
thought.
That's why?

Speaker 2 (05:26):
that's why I started writing novels originally,
because I tried to writescreenplays and I kept
describing too much and I waslike well, if I'm describing too
much, maybe I should just writea book.
And that's what I did, like thepast 20 years is just write
books because it was so mucheasier, but I like the challenge
.
I think I'm finally up for thechallenge of writing a

(05:49):
screenplay but you're stillgonna work on Love Creek kind of
at the same time.
Yeah, yeah, and the Lumberjacksseries and Tides of Darkness and
and and it's like my writingagenda is like you're reading
tbr agenda, like you'relistening to a book, reading a

(06:11):
novella.
You know reading a mystery anda cozy romance and all these
different things at once andthat's what I'm working on.
But I think it's good for mybrain because if I have multiple
projects going on, I can.
I can mood right, and whateverI'm in the mood for I can just
work on that and I'm stillmaking forward progress and

(06:34):
eventually it'll all get done.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
So whenever you have like all that character
development and stuff, how doyou kind of tap into each
different book with differentcharacters, like in different
places?

Speaker 2 (06:47):
That's a really good question and, honestly, for me I
think it's music.
Whenever I'm listening to musicin the car and there's a song
that hits me and I'm like, ooh,like my characters will just
jump out and I'm like, oh,that's a vibe, and so I'll save
that song and add it to whateverthe project playlist is, and so

(07:10):
whenever I need to like be inthat mood, or whenever I listen
to those songs, it brings itright back for me and I can just
instantly like get in the mood.
It's really smart, so it reallyhelps a lot.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah, that's a good way to think about it.
I've never thought of doingsmart.
So it really helps a lot.
Yeah, that's a good way tothink about it.
I've never thought of doingthat.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
So yeah, you just gave me an idea.
Thank you, book playlists, forthe win.

Speaker 1 (07:32):
But I will say that, oh my gosh, love Creek, whatever
, I'll gush for five seconds andthen we can talk about sports.
But oh my gosh, every time Iread Love Creek it just makes me
so happy.
It's just like I just laughedso much and it's like the pacing
of it just keeps everythinggoing, like there isn't a dull
moment, no matter what, andespecially when it's something

(07:54):
like, you know, a small townfarm, like there is the
propensity for it to be reallyslow and it to just be like
milking a cow or you know, verylike boring.
But but the way that the pacingis and like the dialogue and
how the characters interact,like they kind of breathe life

(08:15):
in it.
So anyway, I can't wait to readit when it's finalized.
I need to read the rest of whatyou sent me anyway, but I will
get there um, I'm waiting foryou to get to where the spice
hits, okay.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
Okay, because I need to know if you can make it
through.
Is it too much?
Yeah, I don't know.
Um, I was talking with mywriting partner the other day
about how I might just need towrite this current version and I
think it'll help me finishbecause I, if I just write it

(08:53):
the way I want to read it andjust go all out on the spice and
just write the book that I wantto read and then when I revise,
like tone it down and write thebook for like mainstream,
that's smart.
I think that would work andjust, you know, have two
versions and one can just be forme, like my writing, my closest
writing friends that like it'sspicy, you know, like, but I

(09:16):
might just like go over it,because I think sometimes I feel
like I really need to push thelines to find out where I want
to land, like if I go over thetop and like push the limits,
and then I can rein myself backin and revisions.
But if I don't do that to beginwith, I feel like I'm always

(09:38):
going to wonder and be reallydissatisfied with it.

Speaker 1 (09:40):
I feel like there's less rewriting if you're toning
it down because you know whatthe characters are doing, you're
just like taking maybe a coupledetailed words here and there,
versus if it's not enough, thenyou're gonna have to rewrite it,
rethink about it, refigure outwhere body parts are located and
all that stuff, and then you'regonna have to re like

(10:01):
completely kind of re-block it,re-block it.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
There we go re-block it from scratch.
That makes sense.
Yeah, it's much easier to doless than to try to expand and
do more in a revision and I'lltell you what I think, because
you know that I'm kind of a wimpyou're not a wimp, you are who
you are and I love you for it.
And like that's the thing that Ilove about romance is that

(10:26):
there's all levels for alldifferent kind of people and
there's so many romance books tomatch.
Whatever your preference is,there's something out there for
you.
And like I don't I don't likepeople on either side of it.
Like you know, if you like itspicy, don't feel bad for liking

(10:46):
it spicy.
If you like it less spicy,don't feel bad for liking it
less spicy.
Like it's just who you are.
And like that's cool.
Like romance is out there foreverybody and that's what makes
it so exciting and so special.
You're not a wimp, you just.
You just like what you like andthat's okay.
That is true.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
As I have a Tessa Bailey behind me, that's going
to push my limit.
But, like I said, I'm meetingher.
Did I tell you I am meeting her?
Exciting, yeah.
And my friend was like, okay,now that you're meeting her, I'm
going to tell you which booksof hers you have to read.
So now I'm reading a lot of herbacklist.
I'm like, okay, do it, I'mdoing this for you we'll see.

Speaker 2 (11:30):
We do have a Tessa Bailey book to talk about today,
so I'm very excited yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:35):
I, I included it, I included it.
We both read it.
I couldn't not, okay.
So, um, I'll go ahead and giveyou one suggestion and then we
can just ping pong back andforth.
My first one, this one Okay, sosports, for open door sports
romance.
And I forgot to say I will havea closed door sports romance
episode.

(11:56):
So if you only read closed door, you can still get sports
romance.
Just wait for that episode.
But for this open door sportsromance episode, almost all of
the books that I picked are someof the spiciest books that I
have ever read.
I didn't realize that some ofthe spiciest books I've ever
read are all sports romance.
So when I say spicy in thisepisode, I mean extremely,

(12:18):
almost to where I don't want toread it, and I read it because
it was so good anyway.
So I feel like I have to putthat caveat in front of it.
Like if you read it and go,whoa, you read that, and I'm
like, yeah, I mean, I did, butit was sports just like, just to
like caveat this like yourlevel of spice is like a two

(12:42):
spice for me and like my.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
I mean, like I read Anne Rice sleeping beauty books,
like that was one of the veryfirst romance books I ever read.
So like I have an extremelyhigh bar, like I hit high and
never came down from that.
So like you know, and I loveall kind, all levels of spice,

(13:11):
like if the book is good and thecharacters are good and the
voice is good, like I'm in itand that's cool exactly banter
and plot.

Speaker 1 (13:19):
If I have banter and plotting good characters, I
don't well, I don't care.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
To an extent, yeah, if I can handle it it's, it's
like very subjective though, butyeah, like your, your spice
level and you, you did, I like,specifically told you not to
read some of these books becauseI know where your level is at,
like like, some of them wereeven a little much for me.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
It's like okay, which is exactly why I brought you on
, because I was like, you know,someone may read my level of
spice and go, oh okay, thatreally wasn't anything.
But I was like, but then theycan graduate up to Sarah's or if
they, you know, already read asspicy as you do, then they'll
have, like actualrecommendations that they can
take away.
So yes, I asked you on purposeit's so funny.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
Yeah, well, it's funny because when I was writing
my first Tides of Darkness book, I was very I was less
experienced in writing romanceand like the spicy scenes and
like for me I was like those areso spicy, like I can't let any
of the girls at church read thisor I can't tell anybody at

(14:24):
preschool where I teach that Iwrite spicy books, and I was
shocked to get a review.
It was like the sex was vanillaand I was like what, how is
that vanilla?
Like I described body parts andthings and I was like I
couldn't understand and then Ifound monster romance.

(14:46):
Yeah, okay, so that's vanilla.
Like okay, fair, fair points, ohman so you know it's, it's just
, it's all.

Speaker 1 (14:58):
It's a scale, it's subjective and depending on what
you enjoy again oh, this is notthe spiciest, but this is
probably up towards the spicierof the recommendations I'm going
to give today.
So the first one is face off bychelsea curto and oh my gosh.
So I think this book is likealmost 500 pages, but you would

(15:21):
think it's a 200 page book withthe way you will just tear
through it.
I originally read it on mykindle and I think I read this
in like a day and a half.
It was that just there's somuch action going on the whole
time, like you get a lot ofactually like in the games, in
the practices.
When you say sports romance,this is actually sports romance,

(15:46):
what I would classify what'sthe sport that they play in this
one?
so this is hockey, and theyactually both.
They're both hockey players, um, and they're both in the nhl,
and so she is the first femalehockey player in the nhl in this
book.
They Nice, they had sent himlike footage.
I'm pretty sure he's thecaptain.
If I remember correctly, hisname's Maverick, and so Mav

(16:09):
didn't look at the footage, hethought he was above it, and
then also her name is Emerson.
So I think they kept sayinglike Emerson.
So again, it just wasn't superclear and so he literally didn't
look at the footage.
She walks in, he, and so heliterally didn't look at the
footage.
She walks in, he thinks she's agroupie, he starts hitting on
her, she hands his butt back tohim, and then it starts this

(16:35):
whole thing of the coach and allthe players are like you didn't
watch the footage and he's like, oh, I didn't watch the game,
yeah, so that's kind of how theystart out and meet.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
Yeah, that sounds fun .
Book bunny I did not know thatterm until I started reading a
few hockey romance books oh likeyeah, yeah, hook bunny is a
thing, apparently, at least inhockey.
Roman I I have to admit I don'twatch hockey and I know the
bare minimum about hockey.

(17:01):
I I know all about everything Ilearned about hockey I learned
from mystery Alaska.
I was obsessed with that moviewhen I went through my Russell
Crowe phase in like 2000, whengladiator came out and he was my
everything that I obsessed overfor like a couple years.
Um, yeah, that's all I knowabout hockey.

(17:24):
There's a goalie and a puck andthey fight a lot, and that's
that's about the extent.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
Now, puck bunnies, I know from reading hockey romance
, yes, so all the terms, yeah,yeah, this one it's like it
explains it, but it is very muchinto hockey.
So if you are a hockey fan,you're gonna enjoy this, because
they're both they're literallyboth hockey players and it's
very much.
I say rivals to lovers.

(17:51):
I don't know, it's kind ofborderline enemies.
It might actually be like trulyenemies to lovers because she
does not like him, because,again, when you start out like
that, that's you know.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
When you start out like that, that's you know.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
Yeah, exactly.
So he really, and also one ofher teammates had warned her
about him and his reputationbecause he's kind of a playboy
and so she is just not off to agreat start with him.
And and yeah, and Chelsea evensaid you know the fact that
she's the first female hockeyplayer in the NHL.

(18:26):
So technically, you know, thiscan't happen in real life, most
likely because now there's awomen's hockey league.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
Oh, ok, that's cool.

Speaker 1 (18:37):
That started up.
So yeah, and I mean, in thepast there has been a woman that
has come in and been a goaliein the NHL, but other than that,
like in real life, and she says, I don't care that this is a
fictional scenario, that can'treally happen, because I wanted
to write this book and I wantedto write it this way.
So if any hockey fans are like,well, this wouldn't happen, she

(19:00):
knows it's fiction, sheliterally wrote it this way.
It's so fun.
If it wasn't written this way,it would be a completely
different book.
And I love it because of howshe did it, cause she really
balances like the trials shewould actually face, like in the
guy's locker room, and she hasthis little like supply closet
that she has to get ready in andstill be game ready, just like

(19:22):
all the guys that get theirfancy lockers and you know all
that kind of stuff.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
So it's very indicative of what it would
actually be like for, you know,a female to be truly in the NHL
and I love it like it's fiction,like, if you're gonna be that
nitpicky about it, like, listen,suspension of disbelief is a
thing, just go with it.
And if you, if you can't, thenjust don't read that book.
It's fine.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
Exactly, if you can read about dragons, you can read
about this.
It's fine.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
I mean seriously.
Also, did you hear they'resupposed to be starting a
women's baseball league?

Speaker 1 (20:01):
No, I didn't hear that Really.
That's amazing, for reals.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
Yeah, hey, I'm so excited it's gonna be like a
league of their own.
My kid, my sweet, preciouslittle daughter, who loves
baseball, could like actuallyplay baseball.
Amazing, like soft, obviously,like softball exists.
Like this is gonna be like thewomen's version of the major
league baseball team.

(20:27):
Like it's gonna be major leaguethat's I know.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
I was just thinking of like, oh my gosh, they're
gonna pitch different and wow,that'll be so different, okay,
anyway.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
I know, I know, so exciting.
I love baseball.
I'm a big baseball fan.

Speaker 1 (20:39):
I do have one baseball book on here so excited
, can't wait to hear about butyeah, so this one is fantastic,
like the banter, the nicknamesthey call each other um.
So his name's maverick and theycall him mav, and then her
name's emerson and he calls heremmy and he calls her emmy girl,
and it's so, it's so cute.

(21:00):
Yeah, I need to read that all.
And the second book just cameout.
It's called Power Play.
Stacey warned me that it is sospicy.
It's really spicy, and Ithought that this was really
spicy.
And she's like I don't know ifyou can read this book.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
No, I need to read them both so I can let you know.
No, I need to read them both soI can let you know.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
Yeah, I'm probably going to give it a try, but I
may be I don't know, I may betraumatized.

Speaker 2 (21:30):
It's okay, like, just like skim, exactly.
Yeah, don't worry about it,that's what I tend to do anyway.

Speaker 1 (21:35):
Well, that's what I used to do before I had to write
by scenes.

Speaker 2 (21:42):
Staple those pages together.

Speaker 1 (21:44):
That's a genius idea, yeah, so anyway, you have to
read this one.
You have to read it face off.
My first pick what is your pick?

Speaker 2 (21:52):
excellent.
Okay, I am gonna start with anovella.
Um yeah, it's called hearttrick and it's by kristin
granada and it's a fake dating,hockey romance, fake dating and
hockey.
Okay, yes, about Gulley TrentonWard and romance author Cassidy

(22:15):
Quinn.
So she's a romance author andshe is having some trouble
writing her next book becauseher fiance not fiance, I don't
remember.
Honestly, I'm sorry, I read thisbook like two days ago, but
things have happened between nowand then, like I did other

(22:38):
things in the world.
So, kristen, I'm Kristenisten,granada, I'm so sorry for
botching this, but so she endedup breaking up with her person
because he was a cheater.
And then trenton ward ended uphaving his best friend, who was

(22:59):
on his team, cheat with hisfiancee oh, and then?
he's the one that got kicked offthe team because he was caught
like it was too much trouble.
So he and he's like on a newteam.
He's a goalie and he is kind oflike an older player, so he
really wants to like prove thathe still has what it takes to be

(23:21):
this goalie, not just get, youknow, cuckolded by this younger
best friend player, but like hejust got like whammied from
every angle.

Speaker 1 (23:33):
This poor guy it was so sad, his whole life changed
and his grandma has alzheimer's,so he like just piling it on.

Speaker 2 (23:46):
Yeah, and he ends up moving across the hall and the
girl next door is Cassidy andshe she literally the girl next
door and she is having troublewriting this book, her next
romance novel, because she feltyou know, dissed and like had

(24:08):
this problem with her guy andshe's like I just don't know if
I can write romance when I justfeel like you know what happens
is they kind of start off likein trouble because she sings
really loud and he lets theheavy door slam and that makes
her mad and she sings in theshower and he wakes up listening

(24:31):
to her sing terribly in theshower and so they like don't
like each other and she has noclue who he is, she doesn't do
hockey, and so basically what itboils down to is they need to
fake date because her boyfriendwants her back and tried to like
get her back and say he was youknow bad and like it was.

(24:53):
He was like super toxic andgross, but he Ward defended her
in the parking garage from herex and someone like the
paparazzi or something tookpictures.
So then it got published onlineand the whole time she's like
doing tiktoks about thisannoying guy next door and she

(25:16):
has no idea this hockey wasfamous, famous hockey player.
And so basically they come upwith a deal that he wants to
show everybody that he's likestill got it and everything's
fine.
He's moved on, he's found a newgirlfriend, so he wants her, the
publicist wants her to, youknow, fake date for this person.

(25:40):
You know this thing, you knowthis thing.
And then what she gets out ofit is that she gets to like
pretend to be the girlfriend andpractice things with him for
her book, to like help her gether writing groove back.
Um, so it's spicy, got it andfor a short novella, like, it

(26:01):
was really well done.
That sounds like a lot of plot.
Yeah, there's a lot and thecharacters were fun.
The banter is like amazing.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
It was a fun, fun, quick read I want to add it to
my tbr now.

Speaker 2 (26:15):
And yeah, and there wasn't a lot of hockey in it.
It was mostly that he is justlike a famous hockey player,
like I feel like sometimes withhockey romance it's like, yeah,
this is a hockey romance, butyou know, in name only we're
just gonna like some of thoseget the parts where they
actually do the hockey, but Imean they did.

(26:37):
There were a couple of sceneswhere he was either in practice
or, you know, on the ice, andthere were a couple of game
scenes where she went to hisgame, and one major one at the
end, which is really all youneed for a novella, like I
wasn't.
Yeah, I think if there was toomuch more, I would have been

(26:57):
like we don't need this muchhockey, this hockey romance.
We don't need it to actually beabout hockey.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
Let's get to the spicy scenes oh, it was just her
singing in the shower.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
Yeah, it was so funny and, yeah, their banter was
really hilarious.
I had a good time with thatreading that.
So yeah, it was.
It was a great setup, I think,for the rest of the series,
because I think the other twobooks in the series are full
length.
I want to say that's right.

Speaker 1 (27:30):
So is this like the first one, or are they just yeah
, this is the first Okay.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
Yeah, so Odd man Rush is the second one and Puck Pact
, I think, is the third one.
No, no is it?
I might have got them switched.
Sorry, but those are the next.
Hard to keep up.
It is hard and they're not.
I'm looking at the.
Oh, here we go.

(27:55):
Yeah, odd man rushes book twoand book three is puck packed.
Check those out.
I haven't read those other twoyet, but I want to well, I'm
adding those.

Speaker 1 (28:07):
I feel like that's um the eternal reader.
Readers struggle.
I haven't read that yet, but Ireally want to yeah, get in line
.
Okay, up next I.
I have one more.
Yeah, I think this is my lasthockey, I just had to go all in
with hockey.
So, okay, unsteady by PeytonCorrine.

(28:29):
So I just finished this one,like I just finished it.
It was recommended to me by, uh,rachel Lewis and, oh, okay, it
is so good, it's definitely.
It's one of thoseheart-wrenching books.
Like it is.
There's a lot of emotional workgoing on, um, a lot of it does

(28:51):
take place at the rink, butshe's a figure figure skater.
So, okay, sadie, the maincharacter, she's a figure skater
and she has a really dark past.
She's actually the caretakerfor her two younger brothers and
so she has a lot going onherself and she's trying to
impress her figure skating coachand she has a lot of pressure

(29:14):
on her.
Then Reese, which it's spelledr-h-y-s and it's Reese, which I
haven't seen that before, so ittook me a second.
That's Welsh, isn't it?
I think it is.
Yeah, so now I know for all,for all future.
But so Reese, he's a hockeyplayer and he actually has PTSD
pretty much at the beginning ofthe book.

(29:35):
So he had this really intensehead injury that just they
described it and you're like, ohman, but anyway, he had this
really intense head injury.
So he has PTSD every time hegets on the ice or like even
really tries to get on the ice.
And so they both have like thisearly skate time and they end up
meeting each other there andshe walks him through a panic

(29:57):
attack, like she's walkedherself and her younger brothers
through.
So they kind of start out onthat emotional level.
She knows he's a hockey playerbut doesn't really know like how
popular and famous and stuff heis, because she's just kind of
had like her nose to thegrindstone, you know, like
focusing on school and skating,and so anyway, they have this
whole relationship and basicallyhe's like a shell of himself.

(30:20):
She is exhausted and grumpy andhas a lot going on, and so they
both kind of try to healthemselves themselves, but they
also heal each other in theprocess and it's just really
really sweet.
But it is very emotional.
She is very closed off.
He's the one that's like reallytrying to romance her and she

(30:42):
is just not having it for a lotof the book and so, um, he is
just really really trying withher more than he has with anyone
else.
So it's like the banter, yeah.
So anyway, she has like a lot ofreally snappy mean.
She's just kind of mean, but,like you understand why.
She's had a lot that's made herthat way.
So she has a really gruffexterior and he is really a

(31:05):
total shell of himself, really atotal shell of himself.
So if you want just an absolutelike gut wrenching, heart
wrenching, emotional book thatis so entertaining and so I hate
to say fun to read, it's notfun, but it's like it keeps you
turning the page.
It's a page turner for sure.
Nice, then you will like this.

(31:32):
And he's he is college, so it'scollege hockey, and he's, um,
he is college, so it's collegehockey, and he's like finding
his way back.
So a lot of it takes place on arink, but there isn't really
like true game or locker playscenes till a little bit later
where they're actually likeother players involved, because
it's kind of like before theseason leading up to it.
But yeah, so this is my hockey.
And the next book actually justcame out as well, unloved.
I didn't get to that yet, butI'm definitely going to, because

(31:53):
now I'm going to read likeeverything Peyton Corrine writes
after reading this one.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
That's what happened with me and SJ Tilly.

Speaker 1 (32:01):
I read her hockey books and that was it for me,
addicted to everything shewrites, yeah because you talk
about SJ Tilly a lot and I stillhaven't read her because I'm a
little bit scared.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
Oh my gosh.
No, listen, don't be scared.
The thing about SJ Tilly'sSpice is that it is very hot,
but it's also, it is fun, likeit's.
You know, the spice is spicingbut it's not like, not in a
scary way, it's not intimidating, like she does a good job with

(32:38):
it, I think, but it's explicit,but not in a gross way.
Okay, I don't think.
Okay, I don't think.
You might feel differently, butto me it's the kind of spice
that is perfectly suited to mytaste.

Speaker 1 (32:55):
How did you find her in the first place?
Instagram?

Speaker 2 (32:59):
Oh nice, I was scrolling and I saw one of her
books and then I think actuallyI'm friends with Romantically
Inclined Podcast and Michaelaand Kate on there, I think, did
one of her books or like,mentioned her books or something

(33:21):
.
I was like, oh, that sounds fun.
And they kept talking about herand I kept seeing her on my
Instagram, so I followed her andthen finally it was winter
break this was like two yearsago two years ago, yeah and over
Christmas break and I didn'thave to, like my kids were taken
care of, you know, like wedidn't have to get up, I didn't

(33:43):
have to do car line, I didn'thave to pack lunches, we didn't
have to do homework, none ofthat.
It was Christmas break and thehouse was sorted, and so I just
literally sat down and read herentire sleep series in like four
days.
I just like pounded one outevery day, so asleep.
The hockey series, yes, thesleep series.

(34:05):
But she recently wrote the lastone in that series this year, I
think.
So there was only like two orthree, I think there's three,
and then the last one.
I want to say four.
So okay, um, yeah.
So there's four books, yeah, um.

(34:28):
So I think that actually I waswrong.
The first book that I read fromSJ Tilly was her second Bites
book, because it just came outand it was a novella and so it
was like a holiday novella abouta cooking show and I was like,
oh, it was really good.
And I was like I really likethis author, so what's next?

(34:48):
I was like hockey is verywintry.
I could get into that and I hadnever read hockey before that
Literally my first hockeyromance was Sleet Kitten so fun.
And then Sleet Sugar is thesecond one and Sleet Banshee is
the third one and Sleet Princessis the fourth one.
Banshee is the third one andSleet Princess is the fourth one

(35:10):
.
So each one Kitten, sugar,banshee and Princess are all
nicknames that the main malecharacters have for their main
female love interest oh okay,that makes sense.
So it's all there and so thename of the hockey team is the

(35:31):
minnesota sleet.
They're all really fun.
They're.
The banter is hilarious andjust like the crazy situations
they all get into are so funny.
And I really love how she does.
She sets up each different storyso well with like the

(35:54):
characters and like she coversall the tropes and it's just a
really fun series and there'splenty of hockey playing and
hockey in it.
But it's never boring, it'snever too sportsy and it's like

(36:15):
this found family that comestogether because all the, all
the female love interests areget to be good friends and they
have like this sunday brunchthat they all get together for
and they like talk about theguys and then the guys are all
the hockey players on the team,so they like talk about the
girls in the locker room andthey're just like this one big
group and there's one scene andI think it's actually the same

(36:39):
scene happens over like twodifferent books, because you get
it from a different point ofview in the other book, or they
at least refer to it and liketalk about it and they all go to
a haunted house.
I love that for halloween.
So it's like this group of likehockey players and their girls
going through this haunted houseand it's the funniest thing

(37:02):
you're adding to my tbr.
It sounds really good.
Yeah, in the in the first book,my fate, one of my favorite
scenes that like really hookedit for me was she ends up

(37:22):
falling asleep on the couch athis house and they just snuggle
and like that.
There's like no innuendo oranything.
She just like falls asleep onhim and it's the sweetest,
cutest thing and he's just likewell, you fell asleep, so like I
didn't want to move and botheryou and it's just like it's the
best you have me at found family.

Speaker 1 (37:42):
I really liked that portion of it and I think that's
definitely where that mayactually be why I really tend to
like sports romances justbecause I feel like you have a
lot of opportunities with thelocker room in general, like all
all of the good sports bookshave a lot of locker room scenes
, because it's just like youhave that time where they can
unabashedly just chat and I feellike, especially with guy

(38:06):
groups other books like therearen't that many opportunities
unless there's like some kind ofcookout or something for them
to really like get together andchat versus in a locker room.
You you have all this time inbetween games and practices and
stuff.
So I don't know, I think thatthat really adds a lot to it.

Speaker 2 (38:25):
The more locker room scenes, the better for me right,
exactly, it's so much fun tojust like watch them be real
together.
The banter between the guys isso fun, you know, and even like
between the girls when they getall sassy and it's yeah, it's a
good time.

Speaker 1 (38:44):
I love all that stuff yeah, yeah, my next pick is
football, american football.
I feel like I do have to saythat, and I read the first book,
which was Intercepted.
I don't know why I cannot.

(39:16):
So it's like Intercepted,Fumbled, Blitzed.
And there's another one thatI'm kind of blanking on, but
this is by Alexa Martin.
Alexa Martin is one of myfavorite authors.
She wrote Next Door Nemesis,which I talk about.
I feel like a lot and I'veprobably thrown your way.
Sarah like 15 times, and thenshe also wrote Better Than

(39:36):
Fiction and I'm trying to thinkof what else.
Now I'm blanking on all of herbooks, but anyway, this is one
of her.
This is her only series so farand it is all tied around
football.
But the interesting thing withthis is that, okay, so alexa was
actually an nfl wife and herhusband is derrick martin and he

(40:00):
was a safety for the ravens andso anyway, you can just tell
that she knows what she'stalking about.
On a deeper level, like, forexample, all of the women have
ESPN alerts on their phones.
So sometimes the alertshappening while they're in
practice and they find somethingout before they've had a chance
to talk to their husband,because you know, like news is

(40:20):
always breaking and stuff.
And then also there's thiswhole big thing with kind of
like the cattiness between someof the football wives and they
have like very distinguished thefootball wives and the football
girlfriends, and so there'slike this whole thing with that
and like charity events thatthey do and everything that it
kind of takes to be an NFL wife.

(40:42):
So anyway, that's like a wholeside part of the book and they
all kind of gang up on the maincharacter in the first one, and
so there's a really interestingback, and they all kind of gang
up on the main character in thefirst one, and so there's a
really interesting back andforth between all of them.
In addition to you still get alot of the actual football
scenes and all of that and theum, they actually talk about

(41:02):
games.
so you'll see like games, andeven just the way that they'll
like talk about positions andstuff and like positions related
to their personalities.
You can just tell that she haslike a real understanding of
football.
So if you want like reallyfootball, you're going to get
that here.

(41:22):
Oh, it even talks about likepregame rituals, like the wives
help them with their pregamerituals and stuff.
So anyway, it is just veryin-depth.
But it is pretty spicy.
It is very in-depth and there'sa lot of like best friend stuff
too and you have teammates andanyway it was really good.
But I will warn you, in thefirst book the third act breakup

(41:46):
is a doozy.
I don't know that I've ever hada third act breakup.
That was that much of a doozy.
But it makes sense for thecharacters.
You understand why.
I really don't think it couldhave happened any other way.
It it is what it is for areason.
But yeah, the way that Alexawrites is just really punchy,

(42:06):
really bantery, really sarcastic, really funny, and she um uses
a lot of like pop culturereferences and stuff.
So it kind of feels like ithonestly feels like you're
watching a tv episode of this,like this could be the real
housewives of football,basically yeah, right, yeah, I
need to.

Speaker 2 (42:23):
I need to read that one because I'm interested to
know, because my husband workedwith the NFL but he wasn't a
player, so I was like NFLadjacent yeah, I guess still.
I was still there at the gamesand like in the family room, but
it was kind of like a quietobservation because like I was
sort of just on the, I was onthe sidelines of like the wives

(42:45):
and girlfriends stuff, um.
So that was a reallyinteresting experience to have
because I got to just sort ofwatch and learn about stuff and
just like save it up for maybeanother series.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (43:00):
So yeah, that sounds really good.
I would definitely read this.
I think you would like AlexaMartin style a lot.
It's really really sounds like.
Yeah, it's really smart.
She's a genius.
Um oh man nice yeah, I woulddefinitely recommend it.
Okay, what is your next pick?

Speaker 2 (43:21):
I will go to my football rec because I I feel
like if I talk about em Rath andfucking around like that is
like so beyond spicy.
I don't know if this is likegood for this.

Speaker 1 (43:35):
Okay, yeah.

Speaker 2 (43:36):
But that's fair.
Okay, so I have a footballrecommendation, and this is by
the author who wrote Lights Outout, which is a dark romance,
and I don't think you've readthat one yet.
No, have you read like?
I loved it.

(43:57):
I read it and I'm listening tothe audiobook.

Speaker 1 (44:00):
um I have heard so many things about the audiobook
and my hoopla has it.
They have butcher and blackbird, they have lights out.
I'm like they must be reallycatering to, like there must be
a dark romance audience that isrequesting stuff on Hoopla
because my library has it all.

Speaker 2 (44:15):
Well, okay, I'll tell you, Lights Out.
I feel like is way less thanButcher and Blackbird.
Okay, like if you survivedButcher and Blackbird you could
definitely handle Lights Out out.
but you have to know that, like,at the beginning it's very,

(44:39):
you're very like okay, like thisis weird and I don't get it yet
, but like, if you give it timeit's slowly.
I love how she like slowly likeworked things out, is it like?
And then there was one partwhere I was laughing so hard I

(45:03):
couldn't breathe.
It was like amazing and yeah,so it goes from like what you
think you're getting is likethis dark, creepy stalker
romance and you're just like, oh, my, like I don't know about
this.
But then you like keep readingand it slowly, like he inches

(45:27):
his way into like her heart andshe and she's just like it just
keeps pushing the line untilyou're just like okay, so this
is happening.
I guess it's like I'm reallyenjoying it.
You're like I don't know how Icould enjoy a soccer romance.
But here we are, I'm having fun, okay, and there's a cat.

(45:48):
That just is amazing.
So, like I highly recommend itjust because it's so fun.
But she also wrote a footballromance before she got to dark
romance and it's not quite asit's not like that, like it's a
genuine romance, like it is afootball.
I'm categorizing it as afootball romance, even though

(46:12):
he's retired.
But there's just like so muchfootball talk in it and like so
much like he talks about becausehe he might have this, uh, the
disease that you get from toomany concussions, and it's a big
, long word yes, I'm totallyblanking.

Speaker 1 (46:30):
Yeah, but I know exactly what you're talking
about.

Speaker 2 (46:32):
Yeah so it's kind of it's it's not alzheimer's, but
it's a little bit like it.
So he has to like the wholebook is centered around him
being afraid that he has it andnot wanting to get the test
because he's too scared to findout and so like there's a lot of
football stuff in it, but ithe's retired and like no,

(46:55):
nothing on the field.
Basically he goes to maine tohide out and like be alone, and
his neighbor is ella and sheknows who he is but pretends not
to know because she's like ohmy gosh, if this guy is like all

(47:16):
the way out here, he must notwant people to know who he is.
Oh, that's amazing.
So she like tries to likepretend that she doesn't know
and like be really cool about it, even though she does know.
He's like there's a reallyfamous football player and then
they have this mutual friend.
He's like an older guy and healso is like I don't know, like

(47:37):
he just he plays it cool too.
And she's like wait, you knew.
This whole time he's like whodoesn't know this guy?
And they're so funny.
Um, but it's a really sweet lovestory because he tries the
whole time to say like well, Ican't be with anybody, because I
don't know if I have thesissies and I don't know how

(47:58):
long I have to be me and it'sreally touching and like really
sweet that she like is just likeI am going to be here because
I'm into you and that's it, likeit's really good and it's just
like I'm gonna be here becauseI'm into you and that's it.
That's it like it's it's reallygood and it's really sweet and
it's I would say it's likemedium spice.

(48:18):
It might be right up your alley, actually on the spice level,
okay, but it's been a minutesince I read it perfect.

Speaker 1 (48:25):
I know I was gonna say it sounds interesting, it
sounds really good.
Well, okay, so on lights out,slightly switching for a second
back to that, so what I wasgonna say was that I think in
dark romance so far, what Idon't love, okay.
So, hear me, I liked Butcherand Blackbird, I liked their

(48:47):
banter.
I had fun, had fun with it.
Like, even though there were alot of parts that were a lot, I
genuinely had fun with the book.
So I was still able to have funwith it.
Um, but I've been reading like alot of technically dark romance
, fantasy and, yeah, cool.
Um, it feels like things arejust done for shock factor.

(49:07):
I think that's what I don'tlike on dark romance, like when
things are just piled on for thesake of being like he's morally
gray, like I get it he'smorally gray.
I mean I've read, you know,like YA romancy where they're
morally gray but it's more intheir actions and their banter
and stuff like that, instead oflike an adult dark romanticy.

(49:29):
It's very much like, how muchcan we shock you with?
So the fact that you're sayingthat lights out is not, you know
, like it has some.
I've heard that it has somekind of humor in there, like it
is dark, but it acknowledgesthat it's dark, right exactly?
Instead of just like throwingit in your face, like I feel
like I've just had a lot ofthose where it's been thrown in

(49:51):
my face and I'm like, okay, nowI just feel like you're just
literally adding this for thesake of, like you know, stock
factor right.

Speaker 2 (49:57):
Yeah, lifestyle doesn't have that vibe at all,
and that's what I love so muchabout it is because it's just
like it's very self-aware andthe whole time and that's what
makes it so funny to me is likethe characters are just like I
can't believe this is happening.
Like what am I doing?
How is this a thing that ishappening right now?
And a lot of it is.

(50:19):
I don't want to say slapstickhumor, but it's very situational
comedy, just like thesituations that they find
themselves in are very funny tome, and the spice is spicy, but
there's honestly not that manyspicy scenes that I remember.
For, like what you get, it's apretty long book.

(50:44):
So, like what you get theamount of spice to like the rest
of its plot is Okay.
Get the amount of spice to likethe rest of its plot is okay.
Yeah, so like the, the thespice to plot ratios.

Speaker 1 (50:57):
You know it's relative it's good, okay, and
that's really interesting onwhat she did with the football
romance, like that's a reallyunique angle to take with it.

Speaker 2 (51:07):
I haven't heard of anything like that at all yeah,
it's really good and the funpart is is like it's in Maine,
so there's a lot of snow andlike there's a lot of like you
know close proximity and gettingsnowed in and like snuggling
and and that kind of thing andand they have.
Um, she's got dogs and they'reso cute.

(51:29):
I love that.
She does in Lights Out andSnowed In there's animals and
she does animals really well,Like I tried to put a cat in
Tides of Darkness and I was justlike I can't, I don't have the
energy for this Like.
I can't keep up with this animal, like I just we're not doing

(51:49):
the cats, but she, like, reallyincludes the animals in a fun
way and you can tell she's a biganimal lover, so it's really
fun, yeah, so give it, givelights out a chance.
I will.

Speaker 1 (52:05):
I actually will, I will.
I was debating, I was, I don'tknow why I didn't even think to
ask you if you've read it.
Duh, you'd probably read it.
I was like if I could just findsomeone that's read it, that
can just confirm that it's notgonna traumatize me, because,
you know, even with Butcher andBlackbird, everyone's like it.

Speaker 2 (52:19):
They made it seem so mild oh no, it's not mild at all
.
I would not call Butcher andBlackbird mild, like they made
it seem so mild, yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:28):
And then I read the trigger warnings and I was like,
oh wow, so that was kind of myfault.
The first time I read it was Iwent into it having
recommendations that were like,yeah, it's a little bit much,
but you'll be fine, notrealizing that.
Like oh no, it's like you justhave to be ready for it.
You just have to know whatyou're reading.

(52:48):
That's why I was able to readit, I think, the second time,
because I knew.
Knew what I was going intoversus not yeah and.

Speaker 2 (52:56):
But yeah, if you got through butcher and blackbird
like lights out is way way lessyeah it's like baby, baby, dark
romance.
They're really like baby yeahbaby steps, baby steps to the
elevator.
Just you know, and I thinkhonestly like if you get through

(53:18):
lights out and you're cool withit, um, and you want to in,
you're in the move.
Sj tilly has the sin series andit's it's like mafia adjacent.
He is like the main characterin the first book is ex-mafia,
so like his family was in themafia but he like worked really

(53:42):
hard to get legit and go legaland like make everything above
board but like he still has somedark friends and like
acquaintances.
So it's kind of like adjacentand there's like a lot of stuff
that happens.
It's like mafia ish, but that'sa fun series to like dip your

(54:04):
toes into the dark romancebecause it's like it's not quite
, you know, to the level that alot of mafia romance is.
And then she's got the allianceseries which is heavier on the
mafia stuff.
But they're also like just theway she writes is so funny and

(54:29):
entertaining that you don't evencare I think you could be on
her pr team.

Speaker 1 (54:40):
She needs to hire me.
She does need to hire you.
It's okay, like katherinecenter can hire me, sj tilly can
hire you.

Speaker 2 (54:47):
We can, just we can vamp up, let's be their hype
girl cheerleaders yeah, they'refun yeah okay, I am going, I'm
going with baseball next.

Speaker 1 (54:59):
so, okay, this one, um it, it is, but there's a lot
centered around baseball.
Okay, it's called the Art ofCatching Feelings by Alicia
Thompson, and this was my firstAlicia Thompson book.
She's really incredible.
I'm obviously going to readmore of her books after this.
She wrote Love in the Time ofSerial Killers and With Love

(55:24):
from Cold World yeah, that oneI've heard a lot about.
And then, uh, love in the timeof serial killers, and then, of
course, she has a bunch of otherbooks as well.
Oh no, looks like she has agymnastic series.
Hey, the things you learn, yeah.
So, anyway, so with her, okay,it's kind of funny, okay, so
with alicia thompson, I'venoticed that she's a lot of my

(55:44):
favorite author's favoriteauthor, if that makes sense.
Like all of them that I love toread their words and I feel
like they just write pure goldon the page.
They all love her.
So I was kind of saving up herbooks to try out, you know, when
I could really savor them.
And this one did not disappoint.

(56:06):
Like I said, it's called theArt of Catching Feelings, it's
baseball.
And so, daphne, she getsdivorced, she decides to go to a
baseball game because herex-husband and her had tickets
and she wanted to take them fromhim, so he couldn't go.
So, she takes her best friendand they go to a baseball game.

(56:27):
Does she know anything aboutbaseball?
Absolutely not, uh, but she'sjust excited to be there.
She gets really caught up inthe atmosphere and she gets
super drunk also, and so sheends up heckling a player and
she makes him cry.
Oh no, and my first thing waswell, now I have to read this

(56:54):
book, because I want to knowwhat she said to make him cry.

Speaker 2 (56:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (56:57):
And I'm not going to spoil it, but it's actually.
It's ridiculous.
But it hits something.
You'll find out why it hit anerve for a specific reason.
So it's completely outlandishand absolutely ridiculous what
she ended up saying.
That made him cry, but anyway,so so she makes him cry.

Speaker 2 (57:15):
That sounds like so much fun.
Seriously, it really is.

Speaker 1 (57:18):
It was so much fun.
So she makes him cry and thenshe slides into his DMs to like
apologize later because she isjust feeling horrible.
As she sobers up, she realizesthat she forgot to say who she
was, so he thinks that she'sjust like a concerned fan.
And so they end up forming anonline relationship and she
never says who she is, thatshe's yeah.

(57:41):
So the whole thing centersbasically on this
miscommunication.
And then her sister is asideline reporter for the team
and she goes on bed rest and soDaphne has to fill in, and so
Daphne is simultaneously DMinghim, and then also a new
sideline reporter for the teamand she travels with the team

(58:04):
and he doesn't know it's her.
He does not know it's her hedoesn't know it's her.
He does not know it's her, hedoes not know it's her.

Speaker 2 (58:08):
So he thinks he's basically talking to two
different women plus the heckler, so she's like three versions
of the same person.

Speaker 1 (58:18):
That's amazing yeah, she is yes, yes, yes oh my gosh.
Yeah, so the whole thing centerson miscommunication.
Um, and yeah and that's.
I can't give you any more thanthat.
That's really all I can tellyou.
But the majority of the bookobviously takes place either on
the fields or in the stadiumsomewhere, and so they'll talk

(58:39):
about, like you know, pre-gameand post-game interviews, where
she gets to interview him, soshe has to interview him and all
that kind of stuff and liketheir chit-chat before.
But then you actually have alot of like the actual games and
so you get a lot of baseball.
This is very heavily baseballinfluence, but yeah, it's really
fun, the miscommunication.

(59:01):
There's a point at the end where, when it all falls apart, you
just feel like it's a slight,like it's a little bit
ridiculous, but the whole plot'sridiculous in itself, like in
the best way.
So it might be slightlyfrustrating.
I personally really don't likethe miscommunication trope, but
I just had so much fun readingthis book that I don't know that

(59:22):
I really cared, like eventhough I could see technically
some of the issues that somepeople would have with it.
I just don't, I just don't knowthat I really cared, like even
though I could see technicallysome of the issues that some
people would have with it.
I just don't, I just don't care, it was just so fun.
I talked to someone else thatwere like, yeah, the
miscommunication bugged me, butI also didn't care because it
was just so fun to read.
So it is just really, really fun, like it'll make you laugh, it
is so fun.

Speaker 2 (59:42):
Miscommunication is great when it's hilarious and
you don't care.

Speaker 1 (59:47):
Yeah yeah, it's like so ridiculous that it's not
pretending like it's somethingthat could actually happen.
And that's what bugs me more islike if it were realistic.
And then you're like they couldjust have a conversation.
Well, this one, they clearlyjust can't have a conversation,
otherwise they would have donethat 200 pages ago right.

Speaker 2 (01:00:07):
Yeah, I think for me, when it's a trope that I'm not
into or whatever, I think 90% ofthe time if it's self-aware and
like they hang a lantern on it,it's like, yeah, we know we
could do this, but like just gowith it, like I'm so on board
for that, like it doesn't botherme at all anymore, as long as

(01:00:30):
it's just like yeah, we, we,wink, wink, we know you know
that's a good way to put it,yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, I will
definitely be reading more ofher books, but this one was
really fun um that sounds fun,like you're I.
If people don't get on thispodcast, they're just like oh,

(01:00:52):
you're killing everybody's TBRs.
I know.

Speaker 1 (01:00:54):
We're both killing everyone's TBRs.
How dare you.
They're just going to have 20new books.

Speaker 2 (01:00:59):
I know, maybe just change the podcast name to
Killing my TBR.

Speaker 1 (01:01:08):
One recommendation at a time.
Oh man, anyone who loves sportsromance, maybe they shouldn't
listen to this episode, becausethen they'll be like, okay, this
is insane.

Speaker 2 (01:01:18):
I know right.
Well, okay, speaking ofbaseball, so my baseball recs
are so fun.
So my baseball recs are so fun.
This is um.
Kelly reynolds is the author ofthe rose, I feel like.
I've heard of her books beforeyou might have.
Yeah, she's pretty popular, um,and she's an indie author.

(01:01:38):
So she wrote the rose cityroasters series.
The first one is called hit itand quit it and the second one
is called pitches, be crazy.
And those are the two that cameout, all right.
So the first one came out, Iwant to say, last year or

(01:02:01):
earlier this year, and then thesecond one came out recently,
ish, like september-ish.
I want to say what I love aboutthis series is again found
family.
Yay, the baseball team is justridiculous and hilarious.
The guys are just so goofy andsome of the best team banter.

(01:02:26):
It's like in in these books.
They're just hilarious and theythey get together and they have
movie night with each like.
I love that it's, it's sowholesome and precious and I
just love that.
It's like very, um, whateverthe opposite of toxic

(01:02:46):
masculinity is is like theseguys and it's so refreshing and
so delightful to experience thatthey're just like really good
friends.
They like hold space for alltheir feelings.
They like, you know, it's justit's good fun and so like.
That's one of my favoritethings about these series.

(01:03:06):
And then the two other thingsis the locations.
So the first one is like thisum, like an old-fashioned, like
1950s, um, like rv park, that'slike where you can like go and
rent an rv and like live thereand the way she described it.

(01:03:31):
It's so quirky and it takesplace in oregon and um, it's
just so quirky and cute and itsounds like a place and I think
she based it on a real placethat you can actually go to and
she like goes there to write socool which is so funny because,
like I think, if you scrollthrough her Instagram, you might
find like some pictures and, um, then the second place that I

(01:03:58):
really want to be a real placeis the Roasters, like baseball
stadium and it they're calledthe roasters because of coffee.
They have like a whole coffeetheme.
That's amazing For theirstadium and there's like a

(01:04:18):
coffee bar in their stadium andthey get like really good coffee
when they go to work and I'mjust like, oh my God, it sounds
so yummy and just so much fun.
It's like kind of like redwoodsand coffee is like the vibe you
get and it's just delightful.

(01:04:39):
Just like I need that to be areal stadium and I wish it.
That's really unique.

Speaker 1 (01:04:44):
That's a really unique way to structure a team.
Um, yeah, like that.

Speaker 2 (01:04:49):
Yeah, it's really cool.
Yeah, it's a fun idea.
It's a fun two book series andI think she's gonna do a third
one and the spice is spicy.
Okay, but like for like for meI would say like for me it's
like two, yeah, two and halfpeppers, but that would be for
you like a three at least, okay.

Speaker 1 (01:05:13):
Got it.
Well, now, I, now I want you toread, like some of the books
that I said were spicy, just soyou can tell me, like that was
nothing or okay, okay, that wasmaybe like a little bit.
Yeah, yeah, oh, okay, nothing,or okay, okay, that was maybe
like a little bit.
Yeah, yeah, oh, okay.
Last we're talking about, well,last that we're really getting

(01:05:33):
into, and then I'll just throwout some recommendations,
because, again, you know whywouldn't I want to kill your tbr
just a little bit for fun.
Um, the last recommendation iswell, I say recommendation.
We both have mixed feelingsabout this book we both read it
together we read it.
No, I read it first and then youread it separately.
But you sent me a bunch ofvoice memos about it and we had

(01:05:55):
a cool conversation, a giftconversation, if you will, um,
and yeah, yeah, it well fangirldown by tessa bailey.
Uh, so it is golf, it's golf um, it's very golfy because golf
heavy, golfy, golf heavy becausewells you know, what?
why not?

(01:06:15):
Tessa bailey just threw me offalready just talking about her
books, threw me out.
It's golfy.
We're getting golfy today.
It's a new term.
It just stayed up just now.
Okay, so it's very golf heavybecause and I know absolutely
nothing about golf and againit's kind of like if an author

(01:06:37):
can make me care about golf,then I feel like they win,
because you know, like hockeyand football and baseball and
basketball, I feel like justnaturally, maybe a little bit
more entertaining than golf.
So you know, props to Tessa forbeing able to entertain me with
the book centered around golf.

(01:06:57):
But anyway, so Wells is aprofessional.
He's kind of having like an offseason, off couple of seasons,
wasn't it like a couple?
I feel like a couple years thathe's had that.

Speaker 2 (01:07:09):
he just really, yeah, downswing yeah, he's like, he's
like on the down, down.
What can we use a golf termlike the downstroke, downswing?

Speaker 1 (01:07:20):
yeah, yeah yeah, I like that.
What do you mean?
Golf he has?

Speaker 2 (01:07:26):
how many golf tons we can include in this section.

Speaker 1 (01:07:29):
Exactly.
She works at a pro shop and shebecomes his caddy and she plays
golf too, so it is very golfcentered.
This one is going to feel likea sports sportsy romance.
So, Sarah, do you want to sayreal quick what were your
thoughts on this?

Speaker 2 (01:07:44):
one.
Well, that's the thing is.
Like I really enjoyed overall,like I enjoyed the writing, I
was super invested in it.
I had fun reading it.
Um, it was great until thethird act and like the breakup
stuff just didn't hit.

(01:08:05):
For me it was a yeah, it wentinto the sand trap, it was a
birdie, it was a what do youcall it, I don't know.
It went into the weeds a littlebit, but I would say like 90 of
it I really enjoyed and and Iliked.
I liked the whole setup, Iliked how they were put together

(01:08:31):
, I liked how Much she was acheerleader for him and like
really believed in him when hedidn't believe in himself.
That was a really great Strongpoint.
But at the end I feel like itkind of I feel like the
characters were completely outof character, like it didn't

(01:08:52):
match up with everything I hadread so far.

Speaker 1 (01:08:55):
Yep, personality change.
Yeah, I felt like that too yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:08:58):
Yeah, Personality shift that didn't line up in my
brain to where I feltcomfortable with their decisions
, I agree, but it was such a itwas.

Speaker 1 (01:09:12):
It was a really minor thing and you know we just blew
it up out of proportion becauseit bugged us so bad, it bugged
me so bad yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:09:22):
I know, I know, I think, well see, I think I
wonder if it's just because weboth enjoyed it so much, yeah,
that it was just like oh no, whydid they do that?
And then so I think we're justlike so invested, which is a
really good thing, and you knowit, they were really spicy

(01:09:45):
together, like their chemistrywas really good together.
I felt like they worked reallywell together.
It's just that one littlecharacter moment, it's just like
oh no.
But I mean I would stillrecommend it though, because
there was so much good in itthat I really did enjoy.

(01:10:07):
I wouldn't say that that partruined anything for me, it was
just really disappointing.

Speaker 1 (01:10:13):
It kind of ruined it for me.
But, yeah, I feel like a.
I've heard so many people sayhow much they love this book and
I get it, I completely get it.
So I felt like it would besilly, just because the back
half didn't end up, the backhalf didn't live up to the front
half of the book, I didn't wantto, like you know, exclude it,

(01:10:35):
but yeah, the back half, just Ifelt like from there they
couldn't well, yeah, it wasn'teven the half, though Like it
was like the last 10%, For memaybe a little bit more.
there was kind of like 80% yeahyeah, okay, I'll go with that.

(01:10:56):
Yeah, like the last 20 somewherearound in there, the last like
20%, it was kind of I feel likeit just a lot got lost and I
felt like they really didn't getit back like they did, but it
just didn't, I don't know.
Then after that it like itmarred it for me and it didn't
hit quite right.
But, to be fair, I was pickyand that was my thing that I

(01:11:20):
latched on to and you may readit and not latch on to that at
all.
And yeah, I, I really liked thebanter in the beginning and, of
course, like you said, it wasjust the way that they had the
forced proximity.
Where they're on the course,they now have to talk to each
other.
They really don't like eachother at first, they're just
like barely tolerating eachother, but they have to work

(01:11:40):
together.
I don't know, I think that'skind of like my favorite
favorite part Whenever there'ssome kind of like common goal or
something like that, wherethey're literally right there,
they're together for a largemajority and, of course,
whenever she, she's the onlyfemale caddy.
So again, the guys give her ahard time and I felt like that
was also realistic, even thoughshe was just as good, she was

(01:12:04):
amazing she as well as was, ifnot better.
Like he said, you're better thanme.

Speaker 2 (01:12:09):
Basically, yeah she's so that's one thing that I can
really say that I really enjoyedabout is that she's so smart
and she like really knows whatshe's talking about, like she is
a pro and her family she hasthis family legacy to live up to
and like she tries so hard tolike keep it together and and

(01:12:33):
all that.
So I yeah, that's one of thethings that was like a real part
that I liked same here.

Speaker 1 (01:12:40):
Yeah, same here.
So we trepidatiously recommendfangirl down.
No, I, I mean, I liked.
I liked it enough to pick upthe next book behind me from the
library.
So there you go, I'm, I'mreading it, I'm getting there
and this was my first tessabailey, by the way, so I've not

(01:13:01):
read you.
Okay, I was gonna say I haven'tread any of her other books yet
so I have absolutely no idea.
Like this may just be kind ofhow she does plot and stuff.
I have no clue.
I don't have any frame ofreference.
So that's that's our feelingson fangirl.
Down, it was really good, likeit, you're gonna enjoy it.
If you're looking for a sportsromance, if you're having a bad

(01:13:24):
day, if you like want to get outof your head, you know it's a
fun ride yeah, and the bonus isthat, like it's golf, so like
it's not, it wasn't as familiarto me.

Speaker 2 (01:13:35):
So I felt, felt like I could really get lost in it,
whereas, you know, football I'mpretty familiar with and
baseball I'm pretty familiarwith.
So I have kind of like setexpectations of to like what I
want from it.
So I think those are kind ofyou know, it's a little bit
different vibe.

Speaker 1 (01:13:56):
So, like with golf, I was just like all right, I have
no idea what this is about andI'm like super here for whatever
you have to offer you know nowthat say that I just realized I
actually mainly read sportsromance books about sports that
I don't know a whole lot about,like hockey and golf and stuff.
I haven't read that many likefootball or baseball or
basketball that I would actuallyunderstand.

(01:14:17):
I don't know why I do that, butapparently I do Good to know I
haven't read any basketball ones.
Oh, okay, so I'll throw abasketball one out there real
quick, um, okay, okay.
So this one I would classify asit's barely a sports romance,
because he's always coming backfrom practice, like the entire,

(01:14:46):
the entire thing takes place inlike a library, a coffee shop
and a bookstore, and he isalways coming back from practice
and, yeah, and even whenthere's a game, like she works
in the library so she has ashift and so she's listening to
the radio of his game.
Is this college?
Yes, this is college.
Sorry, I did not explain that.

(01:15:06):
Okay, so it's called nightshift by annie crown.
I think I read this like a yearand a half or two years ago,
but I just I was.
This was when I was reading,like sarah adams and katherine
center, though so it seems likevery, it was sandwiched in
between them and I think it waslike right before I went into
Allie Hazelwood.
So I was just like what am Ireading right now?

(01:15:28):
So, yeah, that was, that waskind of my own fault.
But yes, if you, if you want alot of description, if you want
to be able to draw a diagram,that that could be this book.
That is how, how descriptive itis.
Okay.
So what happens in this?
Can I remember the character'snames?
Nope, so I'm just gonna go forit, okay.

(01:15:50):
So basically, um, the mmc.
He's a division one basketballplayer and she really doesn't
know who he is.
Of course, she works in thelibrary and he comes up and gets
a textbook from the library andso she thinks that he's just
like a dumb jock, basicallybecause he's wearing like his
sweats or his jersey orsomething, some identifier,

(01:16:13):
maybe his like Nike backpack,whatever it is.
Anyway, she realizes that he'san athlete but knows literally
nothing about him.
So she goes to help him checkout, like this very specific
book that he wants and they haveto go up to the stacks.
How convenient, it's dark andit's secluded, and it's secluded
and he's like flirting with herthe entire time and she's just

(01:16:35):
like trying to do her studentlike student work, job, you know
, student campus job, and soanyway, they end up basically
like making out in the librarywithin like five seconds of
meeting each other, apparently,as you do according to this book
and he like no, that's going tospoil it, so I can't say that,

(01:16:57):
never mind.
Well, anyway he keeps comingback and eventually she agrees
to be his tutor because he'salmost failing English, and so
she's tutoring him, and so youknow, like some of his teammates
walk by whenever they're insome of their tutoring sessions
and stuff, so you do get likesome teammate banter and that's

(01:17:17):
about it.
Everything else is he's justcoming back from practice and
like they talk about the factthat he's a jock a lot, but they
don't actually talk aboutbasketball, basketball.
So if you were looking for abasketball book, this is not
that um, it is just like he'sholding a basketball on the
cover and he's always comingback from practice and that's
and it's a lot of smut.
So well, there you go, that'swhat you want.

(01:17:39):
I mean it was reallyentertaining, like really
entertaining.
I flew through it because itjust there's like a lot of like
poetry in it, because he'stutoring her.
She's tutoring him in English,so they like talk about
Shakespeare and classic worksand stuff, but it's really
interesting.
You're like trying not to laugh.
It's really interesting, butit's not very basketball related

(01:18:01):
.
Um, that's, that's my, that'smy basketball.
And then my other fewrecommendations I'm just
throwing out rapid fire.
Uh, the campus diary series byl kennedy.
L kennedy is at the top of whatI can handle at this moment, so
she is the tip top.
And, uh, the gram effect wasreally spicy, but I think this

(01:18:23):
one was my favorite so far.
And then the Dixon rule was thesecond book which I think.
Butcher and Blackbird is thespiciest book I've ever read,
but the Dixon rule is probablythe second spiciest book I've
ever read, I believe.

Speaker 2 (01:18:41):
I tried to start that one because you said it was so
spicy and I just like as a moodreader.
I didn't hit the mood for me soI wasn't able to get very far
in.
But like I'm not counting itout, it's just like I need to.

Speaker 1 (01:18:55):
Well, it takes a while, like it gets really spicy
, but it takes a long time forthem to get there.
But it's an interconnectedstandalone.
Yeah, I think it just wouldn'thit as yeah okay.

Speaker 2 (01:19:09):
I think that might be why, because I yeah, okay.

Speaker 1 (01:19:15):
So maybe I need to start with the first one for
context the gram effect had aplot twist that I did not see
coming and in a romance likewait a minute, there's a plot
twist in there that I did notsee coming.
Yeah, I know, I rated the gramroll five stars.
I can't remember what I ratedthe dixon roll, but it was close
.
But yeah, they're those and Ilistened to them both on

(01:19:36):
audiobook and, uh, that wasinteresting was the dixon roll
more spicy than the first one?

Speaker 2 (01:19:45):
yes, but it's still both spicy.

Speaker 1 (01:19:49):
They're still both very spicy, okay, they're kind
of like so, okay, I haven't readthe full thing, but the
icebreaker but icebreaker.
I dnf'd it, fyi, but it wasjust constant smut.
That's pretty much what this islike.
If you liked icebreaker but youwant a slightly more adult,

(01:20:10):
grown-up version where they justseem like like an icebreaker,
they seem like freshmen and inthis one they seem like seniors.
So it's a little like it's theway that l kennedy does it,
because she'll put in a lot ofdepth with her spice.
Yeah, I like that.

(01:20:30):
Okay, so I think that's my thingis, if I have a lot of spice, I
need to have a lot of depth,and I think that's why I can
handle her.
But I couldn't handleIcebreaker, because these books
in general have a lot of depthand there's a lot going on and,

(01:20:51):
like I said, there's this plottwist that I did not see coming
at all and I've heard from otherpeople they didn't either.
So, yeah, I think the grameffect was my favorite, but the
dixon roll there's one thing inthere that makes it spicier.
But as far as like book tospice ratio, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:21:10):
Okay, they're probably kind of equivalent,
just on a side note.
So yeah, I'm really interestedto know what you think of the
blonde identity because it isvery acutely closed door but
it's like the spiciest closeddoor I've ever read and I really

(01:21:30):
want to know what you thinkreally for being a closed door.

Speaker 1 (01:21:35):
Okay, it's on my hoopla so I need to listen to it
.
Okay, that's really interestingbecause I just read the most
wonderful crime of the year andit was not that way I mean, it
was truly closed door there, butokay oh yeah, I think I started
it.

Speaker 2 (01:21:50):
You need to put on my kindle.
I don't know, I know I startedit, but I was really confused
about like books that throw alot of names at you.
At the beginning I'm just likeI can't oh, yeah, yeah, no, no,
I'm interested.

Speaker 1 (01:22:08):
I'll have to read the blonde identity because the
most wonderful crime of the year.
So good, so good, so good, thebest, not sports related, but
it's really good.
Oh, and one more random sportsone check and mate by Ali
Hazelwood.
I think it's technically YA.
I'm almost positive.
I don't think it was New Adult.
I'm pretty sure they classifiedit as YA.

(01:22:28):
Yeah, I would say it's opendoor.
I can't remember if sheclassifies it as closed door,
but it's pretty.
I would say it's more open doorand it's about chess and it's
one of my favorite books thatAllie's written.
That and the Love Hypothesisare probably my two favorites,
but it's all about chess and shemade chess interesting, like

(01:22:51):
super interesting, and I knowabsolutely nothing about chess.
Like I said, apparently I liketo read books about sports that
I just do not know.
And yes, chess is technically asport.
I looked it up, it counts.
It does yeah for sure, I had noidea, I really didn't know, and
then I looked it up counts it is, it does.
Yeah for sure, I had no idea, Ireally didn't know, and then I

(01:23:12):
looked it up but I'm like, ohokay, I mean that makes sense, I
can see the intensity of it,like I can see why it's a sport.
But yeah, chess is a sport,that's why it's in this episode.
But check and mate by AliHazelwood man.
I devoured that book inprobably a day.

Speaker 2 (01:23:26):
It is really really good, yeah I know these are
supposed to be spicyrecommendations, but I have a ya
that I just thought of, that Ijust love it and it's a it's.
I mean, it's not spicy becauseit's ya, but it's called throw
like a girl by sarah henning,and live is the main character

(01:23:51):
and she loses her softballscholarship because she punches
somebody in the most like themain, like for a good reason,
like it's a yeah, it's a goodreason.
But then she goes to a public,she like plays for a private
school, so she gets likeexpelled and off the team and

(01:24:11):
she has to go to public schooland she ends up making the uh,
the football team as the replay.
Temporary replacementquarterback.

Speaker 1 (01:24:25):
Wow, wow, okay, so from softball to quarterback.

Speaker 2 (01:24:29):
Got it Because she's got an arm.
You know she can throw, yeah.
So that's a really cute, fun YAstory and there's like romance
in it between her and thequarterback Gray and it's a
sweet, good, fun book.
So, so not spicy, but it's why,so we could throw out anything.

Speaker 1 (01:24:56):
This is our episode.
There you go, there's kissing.
Oh well, thank you for joiningme.
Did you have any otherrecommendations that you wanted
to throw out there?
No, no, we've pretty much givenyou everything we could
possibly give you.
Yeah, that was a lot, a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:25:16):
That was a lot.
I think people are going tohave plenty of spicy sports ball
recs to deal with for a littlewhile.
It's going to last you a littlewhile.

Speaker 1 (01:25:27):
Exactly and you can tell us like that was not spicy
at all, what are you doing?
Or like that was way too, spicy.
Why did you recommend that tome?
Yeah, so don't forget, you canclick the send us a text button
on the podcast and you canactually text the podcast.
So if you have thoughts on thespicy books that we recommended
and if you think you knowthey're super spicy or not spicy

(01:25:48):
enough, let us know.
Absolutely, I'll share it withsarah.

Speaker 2 (01:25:53):
We know where your, your spicy, scale falls exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:26:00):
Okay, that's it for this episode.
Uh, you can purchase sarah'sbooks in the links in the show
notes and I would recommendgiving her books a try, because
I love the Tides of Darknessseries, and one day we will have
Love Creek and we'll get toexperience a Sarah Blair romance
.
So thank you for listening andsee you next time.
Thank you.