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4.3 AVERAGE
4.3 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
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:
Yes
Once more with feeling: I love sports anime!
I thought this was a very enjoyable read. I'll admit, out of habit I got a little nervous when we reached around the 30% mark and the main couple was already getting involved with each other--I'm too used to third-act breakups--but I'm pleased to say that my nerves were for nothing. Although there are real stakes for our main characters, there's also good enough communication to get them through it. Things get tense for various reasons but never quite bad enough to actually tear them apart, which I appreciate as someone for whom "tiny misunderstanding gets blown up and breaks up the couple just for them to finally talk it out 20 pages before the end" is a least-favorite romance trope.
One thing I will say is that the "Note to Reader" page should have been more explicit that there would be mention of CSA, even if none is ever shown on page. Referring to it as "past childhood trauma" isn't quite explicit enough in my opinion. There should also be a warning for terminal illness as this can be quite triggering to some.
However, those things stated, this was overall a really enjoyable read to me, with good pacing and fun dialogue, plus convincing intimacy between some pretty adventurous young dudes.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!
I thought this was a very enjoyable read. I'll admit, out of habit I got a little nervous when we reached around the 30% mark and the main couple was already getting involved with each other--I'm too used to third-act breakups--but I'm pleased to say that my nerves were for nothing. Although there are real stakes for our main characters, there's also good enough communication to get them through it. Things get tense for various reasons but never quite bad enough to actually tear them apart, which I appreciate as someone for whom "tiny misunderstanding gets blown up and breaks up the couple just for them to finally talk it out 20 pages before the end" is a least-favorite romance trope.
One thing I will say is that the "Note to Reader" page should have been more explicit that there would be mention of CSA, even if none is ever shown on page. Referring to it as "past childhood trauma" isn't quite explicit enough in my opinion. There should also be a warning for terminal illness as this can be quite triggering to some.
However, those things stated, this was overall a really enjoyable read to me, with good pacing and fun dialogue, plus convincing intimacy between some pretty adventurous young dudes.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Homophobia, Pedophilia
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt
Minor: Bullying
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book broke my heart... and then gently stitched it back together with love, grief, healing, and heat so scorching it could melt goalposts. A powerful blend of trauma and tenderness, this is the kind of hurt/comfort romance that stays with you long after the final page.
Tommy is drowning in family expectations and self discovery, getting back on the soccer pitch with Rowan is the lifeline he didn’t know he needed.
Rowan, on the other hand, is hiding behind walls built from years of pain. Soccer is his everything, his purpose, his armour, until Tommy crashes into his life with a fist to the face and rewrites the rules.
Jonah Yorke has crafted an emotionally rich, fiercely protective love story that’s equal parts heartache and healing. I cried. I laughed. I rooted for these two broken boys as they found something solid in each other. Their love is passionate, raw, and utterly unforgettable, you don’t just read this book, you feel it.
Tommy is drowning in family expectations and self discovery, getting back on the soccer pitch with Rowan is the lifeline he didn’t know he needed.
Rowan, on the other hand, is hiding behind walls built from years of pain. Soccer is his everything, his purpose, his armour, until Tommy crashes into his life with a fist to the face and rewrites the rules.
Jonah Yorke has crafted an emotionally rich, fiercely protective love story that’s equal parts heartache and healing. I cried. I laughed. I rooted for these two broken boys as they found something solid in each other. Their love is passionate, raw, and utterly unforgettable, you don’t just read this book, you feel it.
Rating: 3.5/5 stars.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Okay, I know this may contradict the more average rating I gave it. But my goodness, these two made me feel so many tender things.
That being said, let me lay out the two things that lowered my rating before getting on with what I enjoyed.
Firstly, when I tell you the first 2/3 of this book was 80% sex and 20% plot, I'm being so serious. 😅 I legitimately lost count of how many times they got off in the first 40% of the book. Luckily, it was layered with either coming to terms with queerness or sweetness and tenderness that it gave it a little extra oomph. But it was so much and so often that it got repetitive and I got bored with it.
SECONDLY (and more specifically the reason for lowering the rating), the blatant misogyny. Every single female character their age were reduced to being a "slut." Literally every one of them was slutshamed. And in the LGBTQ+ college group, all of the characters in that group were men or enby individuals. Not a single lesbian, bi woman, etc was shown. It was really not cool and a piss poor decision.
ALL THAT BEING SAID. I reeaaallly enjoyed the progression of Tommy and Rowan's relationship, as well as the story, once it started to be told in the second half. Those two guys were so sweet together once we got past the internalized homophobia (which was part of the plot and I thought handled pretty well), and they were so good to each other and for each other. Also, some of the points made in the writing about being a part of the queer community really it close to home.
If we could have gotten rid of 100 pages of the sex (there still would have been PLENTY left, I'm not even joking 😅😅), and completely erased the misogyny entirely, this probably would have been close to a 5 star read for me.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Okay, I know this may contradict the more average rating I gave it. But my goodness, these two made me feel so many tender things.
That being said, let me lay out the two things that lowered my rating before getting on with what I enjoyed.
Firstly, when I tell you the first 2/3 of this book was 80% sex and 20% plot, I'm being so serious. 😅 I legitimately lost count of how many times they got off in the first 40% of the book. Luckily, it was layered with either coming to terms with queerness or sweetness and tenderness that it gave it a little extra oomph. But it was so much and so often that it got repetitive and I got bored with it.
SECONDLY (and more specifically the reason for lowering the rating), the blatant misogyny. Every single female character their age were reduced to being a "slut." Literally every one of them was slutshamed. And in the LGBTQ+ college group, all of the characters in that group were men or enby individuals. Not a single lesbian, bi woman, etc was shown. It was really not cool and a piss poor decision.
ALL THAT BEING SAID. I reeaaallly enjoyed the progression of Tommy and Rowan's relationship, as well as the story, once it started to be told in the second half. Those two guys were so sweet together once we got past the internalized homophobia (which was part of the plot and I thought handled pretty well), and they were so good to each other and for each other. Also, some of the points made in the writing about being a part of the queer community really it close to home.
If we could have gotten rid of 100 pages of the sex (there still would have been PLENTY left, I'm not even joking 😅😅), and completely erased the misogyny entirely, this probably would have been close to a 5 star read for me.
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Sweat | Jonah Yorke
What to expect:
⚽️ Football Player MCs
MM Romance
💕Emotional
Training Togther
🩺Grief & Illness
Homophobia
On the Same Team
❤️🩹Healing
Happily Ever After
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Whatever way you want me, I want that to.”
Sweat is a deeply emotional m/m romance debut that has been incredibly well-written; I never would have guessed this was the author’s first published work. The complex characters woven through these pages, with their feelings, hopes, dreams, and pasts, are written with such depth and filled with a deep well of emotion that pulled me into this story with ease.
I knew from the first chapter that I was going to enjoy this book, that I would be hooked until I read that last page, and it didn't disappoint. The relationship that Tommy and Rowan built was beautiful, full of trust and understanding, honesty and space for them to grow not only as a couple but as individuals as well.
What’s also exciting is that Sweat is going to be part of an ongoing interconnect series, and the synopsis for the next book, Salt, has me hooked already.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-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
Review for NetGalley.
My god. Reading this book as a gay man actually causes heartbreak, some of the experiences mentioned in the book were very relatable and so relating to these characters was easy but at the same time incredibly hard emotionally.
I loved every second of this book, Rowan & Tommy coming the terms with their identities and the patience Tommy continued to hold for Rowan while he struggled with his past. And of course, Tommy with Erica.
The author has written in very real experiences that happen and keep it all very in touch with the real world, I think it was written perfectly & beautifully.
My god. Reading this book as a gay man actually causes heartbreak, some of the experiences mentioned in the book were very relatable and so relating to these characters was easy but at the same time incredibly hard emotionally.
I loved every second of this book, Rowan & Tommy coming the terms with their identities and the patience Tommy continued to hold for Rowan while he struggled with his past. And of course, Tommy with Erica.
The author has written in very real experiences that happen and keep it all very in touch with the real world, I think it was written perfectly & beautifully.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Outing
Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Grief, Abandonment
Minor: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Wow, just wow.
For a debut novel this knocked it right out the park. Nothing felt rushed just a delicious slow true romance between two fantastic loveable characters who both had their own emotional traumas to deal with but managed to find their person with each other. I'm very much looking forward to the next book with how good a first try this was.
For a debut novel this knocked it right out the park. Nothing felt rushed just a delicious slow true romance between two fantastic loveable characters who both had their own emotional traumas to deal with but managed to find their person with each other. I'm very much looking forward to the next book with how good a first try this was.
REVIEW: ⟫ There is very little about this story that makes it seem like a debut novel – I am extremely impressed with this.
Tommy doesn’t have the best life – his sister is struggling from cancer, his Mother is stoic and blunt, and college isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. And don’t even get him started on his long-term girlfriend who has cheated on him – again! But this time she’s cheated with someone Tommy knows – and hates.
Rowan honestly broke my heart. I thought all of my sympathies would be with Tommy, but the more into the book I got, the more I just wanted to give Rowan a huge hug and tell him that he wasn’t alone. He felt his only worth was in how he played soccer – finding love wasn’t on the cards for him.
Until Tommy barrels back into his life with a punch, somehow pushing all of Rowan’s buttons and making him face things about himself that he had managed to keep relatively pushed down. Perhaps the story could have been edited to be a bit shorter – we get a lot of training and football, and for a little while I wondered where the story was going. The relationship between Tommy and Rowan was actually really beautiful – the way that their broken edges fit together so well, how they grew to understand each other – was masterfully handled. There was a scene after a soccer match where I literally gasped out loud and clutched my pearls, terrified for what it meant for our boys.
The angst was handled so well – Erica deserves a special mention for making the decision to handle things on her own terms – and the characters were all ‘real’ people. There were no caricatures, obvious ‘bad’ guys or anything like that. The team mates were funny, entertaining and ultimately supportive and I enjoyed the banter and felt it was realistic. I will definitely keep an eye out for the next book in the series and am so pleased that I picked this up.
I received an ARC from BookSirens.
✨ARC Review from NetGalley ✨
“Whatever way you want me, I want that to.”
“Whatever way you want me, I want that to.”
Knowing this is a debut novel honestly feels surreal. The writing, the emotional depth, and the way the story handles such heavy and complex topics, it feels so assured and emotionally grounded.
This is not an easy story. Some moments weigh on you, asking you to sit with the same raw, unfiltered pain the characters endure. You watch Tommy and Rowan face things that could break anyone, but the beauty lies in how they begin to rebuild, piece by piece, with each other.
What moved me the most was the slow, tender way the story shows healing. It’s not instant. It’s messy and uneven, full of silence, fear, anger, and doubt. But it’s also full of care. Step by step, we see them grow—not only as a couple, but as individuals trying to make sense of themselves. Fears are faced, and in some cases, transformed. Self-hate starts to soften into self-compassion. What begins in survival turns into something steady and strong.
This book doesn’t pretend love fixes everything, but it does show how love, when safe and honest, can help people find their way back to themselves.
Knowing there’s a second book on the way, and that this story is the beginning of a full series is incredible. Even though the next book follows different characters, I’m so excited to stay in this world and see how it expands. If the emotional depth and care continue, this series is going to be something truly special.
“You’re my dream, Rowan.”