Reviews with content warning for Violence - First Down

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

First Down by Grace Reilly

12 reviews

hereiskyra's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

Ya know what? I had a great time.

That being said, there isn’t anything particularly special about this plot (just like every other sports romance) or the characters (regular ole college students) but it was all loveable and I enjoyed it! There was some depth to the story and I liked the way things turned out. And we love an MMC who encourages his woman’s dreams!

I’m not sure how James’ siblings could possibly top him but I’m definitely looking forward to the next book in the series.

Tropes:
Fake-Dating
College Football Romance
Protective MMC

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

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dianaschmidty's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I think I read this at the most perfect moment. I mean, this book has a girl spending time with her football player boyfriend’s family in a stadium box while wearing his jersey. Who does that sound like? If you wanted Taylor x Travis vibes, that’s this book!

Taylor’s Team aside, James and Bex were really cute! I thought their progression from friends to fwb to official dating was both sweet and realistic. I loved how they were so supportive of each other. I also loved how the book demonstrated that giving a partner support doesn’t have to mean giving up something. I think James’ journey to realizing that is an important lesson for people to learn.

I wish there had been a little more fake dating and parts of the book felt a little rushed (mainly their progression from friends to lovers, which felt like it happened in a day when it was supposed to be months), but I’m kind of hoping since the rereleased copy is supposed to be longer that some of that is fixed.

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njh_books's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Since I haven't been able to watch much of football season, this was a nice taste of it--minus all the mid game advertisements haha.

It's a fun book--3.5 stars cause it's fun but I'll probably never read it again.

Fake Dating to I Love You. Throwing the National Championship to prove a point.

Really enjoyed Beckett as a female character's name. Reminded me of being down South and the naming practices (wouldn't have expected it for a NY born and raised character).

The Callahan family is fun minus the dad Richard. Love Sandra the mom, she knows what's up.

Darryl was an ass. Hope he got expelled or suspended.

Interested to see how much more of Bex and James we'll see in the rest of the series.

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avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

This was a deeper new adult romance than I'm used to. There was more backstory to the main characters and they had more baggage than many new adult romances, which I liked. It tackled a lot of mental health and abusive ex-partner issues.
However, James wasn't completely likable and had anger issues. As well as a kind of obsessive attachment thing going on with his partners, where it was ALL about them and nothing else in his life. Making even the main relationship not completely healthy.
The male narrator wasn't great the female narrator was good. She did a great job with different tones for different characters.
Overall it was a good book with a lot of emotional depth. I do plan to continue the series.

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