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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
Whewwwww buddy. I was not prepared. I felt all the emotions listening to this one. It does cover heavy subjects, including some major triggers like self harm and S. Assault, so make sure you check the full content warning list before diving in. These two main characters had my heart. The trauma both of them went through and the broken pieces they weren’t hiding very well were so evident in the writing. The way these two were drawn to each other and the feelings they had were palpable. I was not in any way shape or form prepared for the ending, and I am so glad I have the second one queued up and ready to go, because in not done with these two yet.
❤️ Tropes ❤️
💋who hurt you?
💋 touch her and ☠️
💋 soccer player MMC
💋 previous cheerleader FMC
Gabe only knew her as the girl he discovered bleeding out in the locker room, but now thanks to his teammate he knows her name. Cece, he calls her. But she corrects him to Cecelia and she walks away. Something isn’t right there, and his teammate’s story isn’t matching her actions. When he sees her in the pool, he realizes she is going to try again. And he isn’t going to let her. He might not have been able to save his twin, but he is going to save Cecelia.
Thank you to Hambright PR for the copy of the audiobook, all thoughts are my own.
❤️ Tropes ❤️
💋who hurt you?
💋 touch her and ☠️
💋 soccer player MMC
💋 previous cheerleader FMC
Gabe only knew her as the girl he discovered bleeding out in the locker room, but now thanks to his teammate he knows her name. Cece, he calls her. But she corrects him to Cecelia and she walks away. Something isn’t right there, and his teammate’s story isn’t matching her actions. When he sees her in the pool, he realizes she is going to try again. And he isn’t going to let her. He might not have been able to save his twin, but he is going to save Cecelia.
Thank you to Hambright PR for the copy of the audiobook, all thoughts are my own.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I knew this was going to be a challenging book with themes of trauma and bullying. Despite the difficult topics, I love the idea of healing and found family in the story. Gabriel finds Cecilia unconscious and is determined to by her side after that. My heart broke for both characters and what happened to them. I love how Gabriel uplifted her and his soccer teammates accepted her. Their chemistry was great and I love how gentle and patient he was with her. This story does end with a cliffhanger which always drives me bonkers.
Ramona Master and Noah B. Perez did a great job with the narration and bringing all the feelings to life.
Thank you @hambright_pr for a copy of the audiobook.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Sexual assault
⚽ MMC Soccer player
🏊🏻♀️ FMC swimmer
⚽ College
🏊🏻♀️ Trauma bonding
⚽ Heavy topics
🏊🏻♀️ Who did this to you?
⚽ He falls first
🏊🏻♀️ Book 1, cliffhanger
⚠️ Check triggers many on page events and off page topics
Cecilia and Gabe
Alright I loved this one buttttt oh my goodness did it have some heavy triggers!! Please check them or at least read the blurb.
"Maybe we can be broken together? It might make the pain hurt a little less."
He is her savior, rescues the damsel in distress. But she didn't want to be saved and she keeps on pushing against his attempts to help her.
I can't saw too much a lot of it is spoilers but I LOVED the audio and can't wait for book 2!
Thank you for this ALC @hambright_pr and @authordanielaromero
🏊🏻♀️ FMC swimmer
⚽ College
🏊🏻♀️ Trauma bonding
⚽ Heavy topics
🏊🏻♀️ Who did this to you?
⚽ He falls first
🏊🏻♀️ Book 1, cliffhanger
⚠️ Check triggers many on page events and off page topics
Cecilia and Gabe
Alright I loved this one buttttt oh my goodness did it have some heavy triggers!! Please check them or at least read the blurb.
"Maybe we can be broken together? It might make the pain hurt a little less."
He is her savior, rescues the damsel in distress. But she didn't want to be saved and she keeps on pushing against his attempts to help her.
I can't saw too much a lot of it is spoilers but I LOVED the audio and can't wait for book 2!
Thank you for this ALC @hambright_pr and @authordanielaromero
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book won’t be for everybody, but it sure was for me! I luvvvvvvved every minute of this book and did not want it to stop!
This was a very well written, heavier themed, slow burn, college sports romance which had me glued to my couch for most of the day yesterday. Those dishes had to wait, I was not putting this down!
The story follows the FMC, Cecilia and the MMC, Gabriel (yes like the angel ). Cecilia is an SA survivor who attempted self harm after a failed attempt to report her assault during her freshman year in college. Gabriel is a college athlete battling his own struggles with grief. He was the person who found Cecilia and took her to receive medical care.
Featured Themes:
🔥 Found Family ⚽️ Trauma Bonding 🔥 Who Did This to You? ⚽️ Protective Hero 🔥 He Falls First ⚽️ Sports Romance (Soccer) 🔥 Parental Issues
🩶I appreciated the featured traumas, mental health representation, discussions, emotions, and conversations included within this storyline. I appreciated the inclusion of relationship development, trust, and intimacy in the aftermath of assault .
🖤While the story was at times painful, frustrating, and imperfectly human, it was was also addicting and swooney. Case in point, “I see the hurt inside of you and it reminds me of my own. I can’t just walk away from that.”😍
🤍I personally connected to the mental health themes and felt that they were realistically portrayed. I connected to the main and supporting characters. I luved the dual pov where we get to see the inner thoughts and motives of the main characters. I also enjoyed the friendship and support between Cecilia and Gabriel, and Gabriel’s best friends Felix and Julio.
🖤 I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the narration. The storyline was well paced and the emotions of the characters were well narrated by the narrators.
⚠️Please go into this knowing that it does feature characters affected by SA, SI with attempt, grief and mental health representation. I’ve read a few reviews where readers were disgruntled by this. You have been warned, so proceed with caution.⚠️
🩶Anywho, I wasn’t ready for the cliffhanger…. Gimme more gimme more! I’ll be impatiently awaiting the audio for books 2 and 3. I’m invested in this storyline. Overall, loved this read! This was a heartbreaking, swoony, sports romance with left me thirsty for more.
🤍P.S. I need a book for Julio please. 🙏🏾 I liked Gabriel but I luved Julio. He gave grown man energy the entire time, more of him please ! 😍
This was a very well written, heavier themed, slow burn, college sports romance which had me glued to my couch for most of the day yesterday. Those dishes had to wait, I was not putting this down!
The story follows the FMC, Cecilia and the MMC, Gabriel (yes like the angel ). Cecilia is an SA survivor who attempted self harm after a failed attempt to report her assault during her freshman year in college. Gabriel is a college athlete battling his own struggles with grief. He was the person who found Cecilia and took her to receive medical care.
Featured Themes:
🔥 Found Family ⚽️ Trauma Bonding 🔥 Who Did This to You? ⚽️ Protective Hero 🔥 He Falls First ⚽️ Sports Romance (Soccer) 🔥 Parental Issues
🩶I appreciated the featured traumas, mental health representation, discussions, emotions, and conversations included within this storyline. I appreciated the inclusion of relationship development, trust, and intimacy in the aftermath of assault .
🖤While the story was at times painful, frustrating, and imperfectly human, it was was also addicting and swooney. Case in point, “I see the hurt inside of you and it reminds me of my own. I can’t just walk away from that.”😍
🤍I personally connected to the mental health themes and felt that they were realistically portrayed. I connected to the main and supporting characters. I luved the dual pov where we get to see the inner thoughts and motives of the main characters. I also enjoyed the friendship and support between Cecilia and Gabriel, and Gabriel’s best friends Felix and Julio.
🖤 I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the narration. The storyline was well paced and the emotions of the characters were well narrated by the narrators.
⚠️Please go into this knowing that it does feature characters affected by SA, SI with attempt, grief and mental health representation. I’ve read a few reviews where readers were disgruntled by this. You have been warned, so proceed with caution.⚠️
🩶Anywho, I wasn’t ready for the cliffhanger…. Gimme more gimme more! I’ll be impatiently awaiting the audio for books 2 and 3. I’m invested in this storyline. Overall, loved this read! This was a heartbreaking, swoony, sports romance with left me thirsty for more.
🤍P.S. I need a book for Julio please. 🙏🏾 I liked Gabriel but I luved Julio. He gave grown man energy the entire time, more of him please ! 😍
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Savage is book 1 in the Boys of Richland series. Right from the start, this story took us on quite an emotional ride and you could feel the anguish of the characters as the story progressed.
This is Gabriel and Cecilia emotional journey and the author did a fantastic job conveying the characters emotions. They both carried scars of past traumatic events which makes their connection so much deeper as Gabriel took one look at Cecilia and knew he needed to help her battle her trauma.
The story dealt with sensitive topics and has triggers so do check the warning. It gives us heartbreak, drama, angst, and shows the impact a person's actions can have on others lives. While the story dealt with heavy topics, the author did try to add some hope and humor to the tale.The story ends in a cliff-hanger and I can't wait for book 2 to see what happens next.
🎧🎧
I listened to the Audiobook which was narrated by Romana Master and Noah B. Perez who brought the characters to life. They added an extra emotional layer to the story portraying the vulnerability, strength and determination of the characters. They were well suited for the roles giving each character their own personality. It was a pleasure listening to them narrate this novel.
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
There is so much tragedy in this book, I don’t know where to begin. Cecelia has been through every female college student’s worst nightmare, and Gabriel has lost his biological family, some physically and some mentally. These two come together in a found family situation that made my heart happy. In a way, I felt that the physical part of the romance was a bit too fast considering everything they’d been through, but trauma also presents in different ways. I loved these characters and I plan on reading the second book ASAP because I need to know what happens next. The villain of the story needs to get his!
This is the biggest surprise of the year for me so far. I am absolutely blown away- this was incredible.
I was super skeptical going in, I can’t lie, I’ve never read a “soccer romance” and I have the smallest sliver of knowledge regarding the sport but this is so much more than that.
It’s been awhile since I’ve reading a romance that was also unbelievably devastating and rips your heart out.
The sweet, broken angel that Gabriel is 🥺 there’s a little bit of him in me- we both couldn’t save someone we loved. I know what it’s like to fight tooth and nail to feel at peace with your soul once more. He deserves all the love and more.
And Cecelia- what an incredible character leading the most heartbreaking life. I can’t wait to continue this series and hopefully watch her claw her way back to peace and healing herself.
I love this friend group, I hope we get more of Allie in the next book. I want Julio & Felix’s story too 🥹. I love the way they immediately brought Cecelia into their fold and safe space.
I was NOT prepared for this to end in a cliffhanger, I feel like romances hardly do that anymore- even though it was devastating it was kind of a refreshing switch up from the usual perfect, happy ending followed up with a gushy epilogue.
⚠️ this is NOT a light and fluffy sports romance. PLEASE check the content warnings if you feel you need to and keep yourself safe when reading, always. ⚠️
I was super skeptical going in, I can’t lie, I’ve never read a “soccer romance” and I have the smallest sliver of knowledge regarding the sport but this is so much more than that.
It’s been awhile since I’ve reading a romance that was also unbelievably devastating and rips your heart out.
The sweet, broken angel that Gabriel is 🥺 there’s a little bit of him in me- we both couldn’t save someone we loved. I know what it’s like to fight tooth and nail to feel at peace with your soul once more. He deserves all the love and more.
And Cecelia- what an incredible character leading the most heartbreaking life. I can’t wait to continue this series and hopefully watch her claw her way back to peace and healing herself.
I love this friend group, I hope we get more of Allie in the next book. I want Julio & Felix’s story too 🥹. I love the way they immediately brought Cecelia into their fold and safe space.
I was NOT prepared for this to end in a cliffhanger, I feel like romances hardly do that anymore- even though it was devastating it was kind of a refreshing switch up from the usual perfect, happy ending followed up with a gushy epilogue.
⚠️ this is NOT a light and fluffy sports romance. PLEASE check the content warnings if you feel you need to and keep yourself safe when reading, always. ⚠️
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Drug use, Suicide, Blood, Toxic friendship, Classism
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
First things first: Really check trigger warnings before getting into this one because it isn't just mentions of stuff that could be disturbing, the whole plot revolves around it.
READ IF YOU LIKE:
Found Family
Trauma Bonding
Protective Hero
He Falls First
Soccer Romance
I really enjoyed my reading, it was impossible not to love those two broken characters right away. They were well written and it kinda broke me too, getting to know their stories. To say that this one deals with darker things is an understatement, it will get you through all the emotions, but even with all that darkness, there was still a softer side and a big found family aspect that was comforting.
I loved Gabriel's persistence and how he was determined on doing what felt right to him. The way our two characters got close was really nice to follow, full of tension and Cecilia surely didn't make it easy for Gabe but he was ready to fight back. I also loved how all of Gabe's friends felt protective of Cecilia. But then, I don't think I ever hated a character as much as I did in that book... (Joffrey Baratheon level of disgusting, he better suffer or imma be mad, haha).
My main disappointment with the book was that it isn't a standalone (my bad). I am not a fan of contemporary romances that are stretched on multiple books. I'm a slow burn lover for a reason: I don't want to go through separations and all the drama of the "after they got together" so I really hate not getting my HEA. That being said though, I can be okay with it in certain situations BUT it has to feel like we really needed multiple books to get there because some eventful thing happened. In this series, it feels, so far, as if the main character needs to work on herself before getting into a relationship, which is fine and understandable, but it isn't new, she's been this way from the start, so stretching this on multiple books for me might not work. The push and pull will surely kill me, especially since I pretty much always fall for the guy harder so if the FMC is pushing the MMC away for too long I get really annoyed :D , but it's a me thing.
I'm really curious to see where the story will go after that ending because I was not okay *insert tears here*. I went through this one quite fast honestly, I was definitely pulled in by this touching story and I want to see our characters get their HEA because they so deserve it.
The audiobook was super nice, loved the narrators, they did a great job and made me want to get back to this audiobook as soon as possible every time I had to stop.
Thanks to Daniela Romero and Hambright PR for the ALC. All opinions are my own.
READ IF YOU LIKE:
Found Family
Trauma Bonding
Protective Hero
He Falls First
Soccer Romance
I really enjoyed my reading, it was impossible not to love those two broken characters right away. They were well written and it kinda broke me too, getting to know their stories. To say that this one deals with darker things is an understatement, it will get you through all the emotions, but even with all that darkness, there was still a softer side and a big found family aspect that was comforting.
I loved Gabriel's persistence and how he was determined on doing what felt right to him. The way our two characters got close was really nice to follow, full of tension and Cecilia surely didn't make it easy for Gabe but he was ready to fight back. I also loved how all of Gabe's friends felt protective of Cecilia. But then, I don't think I ever hated a character as much as I did in that book... (Joffrey Baratheon level of disgusting, he better suffer or imma be mad, haha).
My main disappointment with the book was that it isn't a standalone (my bad). I am not a fan of contemporary romances that are stretched on multiple books. I'm a slow burn lover for a reason: I don't want to go through separations and all the drama of the "after they got together" so I really hate not getting my HEA. That being said though, I can be okay with it in certain situations BUT it has to feel like we really needed multiple books to get there because some eventful thing happened. In this series, it feels, so far, as if the main character needs to work on herself before getting into a relationship, which is fine and understandable, but it isn't new, she's been this way from the start, so stretching this on multiple books for me might not work. The push and pull will surely kill me, especially since I pretty much always fall for the guy harder so if the FMC is pushing the MMC away for too long I get really annoyed :D , but it's a me thing.
I'm really curious to see where the story will go after that ending because I was not okay *insert tears here*. I went through this one quite fast honestly, I was definitely pulled in by this touching story and I want to see our characters get their HEA because they so deserve it.
The audiobook was super nice, loved the narrators, they did a great job and made me want to get back to this audiobook as soon as possible every time I had to stop.
Thanks to Daniela Romero and Hambright PR for the ALC. All opinions are my own.