I’ve been rested and not stressed and right away I’ve finished multiple books! So I thought it would be nice to do some reviews. I don’t have a ton to say about most of the books I’ve read, so I figured it was time for a couple of mini reviews again. Today I picked two sports romances, hopefully you’ll enjoy these mini reviews. Let’s get into it!

Pole Position – Rebecca J. Caffery

Red, White and Royal Blue meets Formula 1!

Kian Walker has always been the golden boy of motor sport. The four-time Championship winner has racing in his DNA – his father was a legend on the track, just don’t let him catch you comparing the two. As reckless and unreliable at home as he was behind the wheel, there’s nothing Kian wants less than to be just like his dad.

Enter Harper James. This year’s rookie called up to compete with the big boys – and Kian’s new teammate. Cocky, hot-headed and with a reputation for breaking as many hearts as he does new track records, Harper’s the opposite of Kian in every way. But when the season starts, there’s no getting away from him.

This might be one of the most dangerous sports in the world, so why then does Kian’s heart feel safer flying around the track at 220mph than when he’s anywhere near his teammate?

As you might know, I’m a massive Formula 1 fan. So when I came across this F1 sports romance I was intrigued right away! The cover is just gorgeous and I was so curious to see if this book was an accurate representation of the sport. We have two main characters and we read the story from both of their POV’s. There’s Kian and Harper. I really enjoyed both of them, each had their own issues and they had two very distinct personalities. Kian has to deal with his mom’s Parkinson’s (something very personal to me!) and Harper seems to have some attachment issues.

I enjoyed the romance part of the book so much, but I would say the main issue for the love interests was miscommunication. Usually I really dislike that, but I will admit it fit the story this time. It made sense that Harper wouldn’t open up that easily and I loved how he wanted to make a big gesture and planned it all with his best friend. The Formula 1 part of the book was a lot of fun, but there were some things that were just wrong haha. I get that some things worked better for the story and other things change from season to season so that might’ve been true at some point. But the driver that’s in first place doesn’t have ‘pole position’ during the race, that’s just for qualifying. It was little things like that, that annoyed me and I wondered if there was an editor who knows Formula 1 involved.

Overall I enjoyed the story and I will be reading the second book (Johannes’ story). It wasn’t the best book ever and not all the Formula 1 stuff was correct. But the romance was really cute and I liked the characters a lot. I even shed a tear or two ;).

The Deal – Elle Kennedy

She’s about to make a deal with the college bad boy . . .

Hannah Wells has finally found someone who turns her on. But while she might be confident in every other area of her life, she’s carting around a full set of baggage when it comes to sex and seduction. If she wants to get her crush’s attention, she’ll have to step out of her comfort zone and make him take notice . . . even if it means tutoring the annoying, childish, cocky captain of the hockey team in exchange for a pretend date

. . . and it’s going to be oh so good

All Garrett Graham has ever wanted is to play professional hockey after graduation, but his plummeting GPA is threatening everything he’s worked so hard for. If helping a sarcastic brunette make another guy jealous will help him secure his position on the team, he’s all for it. But when one unexpected kiss leads to the wildest sex of both their lives, it doesn’t take long for Garrett to realize that pretend isn’t going to cut it.

Now he just has to convince Hannah that the man she wants looks a lot like him.

I saw a teaser for the upcoming TV show for the Off-Campus series and I decided it was finally time to jump in. This one has been on my TBR for years and my friends have been telling me how much they love this series. I read The Deal through Kindle Unlimited, it’s so nice to be able to try out books you’re not sure about through KU.

While this is a sports romance, there was very little sports involved. I expected there to be much more time on the ice, especially with a cover like this. And I’m really curious to see if there are more scenes surrounding the sport in the next books in the series.

I ended up really enjoying this one, even though it has some serious issues. When Hannah’s backstory was introduced it felt a bit off, it felt like it was thrown in there just to create a backstory. But later on in the story I thought it actually made a lot of sense and it seemed like it was well done. The other issue I had was the ‘not like other girls’ trope, it’s just annoying and makes the main character seem like not a girl’s girl to be honest. Garrett also made some really inappropriate comments that bothered me unfortunately. But when putting those things aside, I did still like the book a lot. I read it in one day and I was for sure giggling and kicking my feet haha. The story is very predictable, but it still managed to surprise me with a couple of the storylines. I will probably dive into the rest of the series as well and I will for sure check out the TV show once it’s released!

These were my mini reviews of the day. I ended up really liking these sports romances and I would love to read more like them. So if you have any recommendations, I would love to hear from you! I would also love to hear your thoughts on either of these books!