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A review by shahittosarmat
Rookie Move by Neve Wilder
3.0
*Actual Rating: 3.5/5 Stars*
A sports football romance from Hart and Wilder that is the start of a new series (and my first book from either author) the story focuses on a fictional NFL team (the Denver Rush) and on two characters - Garrett, the new rookie on the team and the younger brother of Houston who used to be the Wide Receiver before his career ending injury, and Ramsey who is the team quarterback and the best friend of Houston. While Ramsey has always had a light interest in Garrett, the younger McRae had a hero worship crush on Ramsey, and that is how Garrett figured out he was bi. Ramsey, in contrast, had told Houston that he was bi, but had never acted on it.
Once Garrett joins the team and Houston engages in the romance trope of “keep an eye on my younger sibling” Ramsey and Garrett are on a collision course of attraction (as are the assigned room sharing assignment at away games also help their temptation). Ramsey admits that he wants to get some experience, but has trouble finding someone that he can trust, and Garrett, using any excuse as an out bi player, tells Ramsey that they can engage in FWB situation and not catch feelings for each other.
What was interesting about this “forbidden relationship” was the fact that they are both teammates. Hart has a loose universe of interconnected novels that talk about characters from her other books (her characters from The Endgame and the End Zone Atlanta Lightning duology, and the interconnected Franklin University series) so in this world there are out queer players in the NFL - but none of them had been engaged in a relationship with their teammate. Not to mention, the league was still adapting, and with Ramsey not publicly out, it seems to work for the two and for the course of the novel. The main angst stemmed from the two of them giving into the attraction, and not admitting their feelings while balancing being teammates.
It wasn’t a bad read - I felt similar veins from this book that resembled Wesmie series from Kennedy and Bowen in the pairing and their banter, and I appreciated that the unique forbidden aspect was interesting to see play out among team leadership, teammates, and the team PR department. My negatives (as per usual was the usage of baby, the non-synchronized time jumps between POVs, the abruptness of the ending of the novel, how a good 25% of the novel is also used to set up the new series for future books from the duo, and also how there is a slight imbalance between Garrett and Ramsey - Ramsey is the QB, and even Garrett mentions that with the team formed around him, there are different stakes at play if the relationship comes out and the team has to decide on who stays and who goes. While both players did take it seriously, their individual reactions were…varied.
I liked the coordination between Wilder and Hart (could not tell when one author started and the other ended, though I have never read either of their works before) and I might continue this series down the road (and potentially check out their backlists)
A sports football romance from Hart and Wilder that is the start of a new series (and my first book from either author) the story focuses on a fictional NFL team (the Denver Rush) and on two characters - Garrett, the new rookie on the team and the younger brother of Houston who used to be the Wide Receiver before his career ending injury, and Ramsey who is the team quarterback and the best friend of Houston. While Ramsey has always had a light interest in Garrett, the younger McRae had a hero worship crush on Ramsey, and that is how Garrett figured out he was bi. Ramsey, in contrast, had told Houston that he was bi, but had never acted on it.
Once Garrett joins the team and Houston engages in the romance trope of “keep an eye on my younger sibling” Ramsey and Garrett are on a collision course of attraction (as are the assigned room sharing assignment at away games also help their temptation). Ramsey admits that he wants to get some experience, but has trouble finding someone that he can trust, and Garrett, using any excuse as an out bi player, tells Ramsey that they can engage in FWB situation and not catch feelings for each other.
What was interesting about this “forbidden relationship” was the fact that they are both teammates. Hart has a loose universe of interconnected novels that talk about characters from her other books (her characters from The Endgame and the End Zone Atlanta Lightning duology, and the interconnected Franklin University series) so in this world there are out queer players in the NFL - but none of them had been engaged in a relationship with their teammate. Not to mention, the league was still adapting, and with Ramsey not publicly out, it seems to work for the two and for the course of the novel. The main angst stemmed from the two of them giving into the attraction, and not admitting their feelings while balancing being teammates.
It wasn’t a bad read - I felt similar veins from this book that resembled Wesmie series from Kennedy and Bowen in the pairing and their banter, and I appreciated that the unique forbidden aspect was interesting to see play out among team leadership, teammates, and the team PR department. My negatives (as per usual was the usage of baby, the non-synchronized time jumps between POVs, the abruptness of the ending of the novel, how a good 25% of the novel is also used to set up the new series for future books from the duo, and also how there is a slight imbalance between Garrett and Ramsey - Ramsey is the QB, and even Garrett mentions that with the team formed around him, there are different stakes at play if the relationship comes out and the team has to decide on who stays and who goes. While both players did take it seriously, their individual reactions were…varied.
I liked the coordination between Wilder and Hart (could not tell when one author started and the other ended, though I have never read either of their works before) and I might continue this series down the road (and potentially check out their backlists)