• ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Finding a Keeper by Nicole Pyland | ARC Review

    30th October 2020
    Cover of Finding a Keeper (Nicole Pyland)

    Finding a Keeper (Sports #4) by Nicole Pyland

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    Content warnings: death of parent, mention of conversion therapy, disowning

    This is my eighth Pyland novel, and I have learned by now to never start reading her books on a busy day because they are impossible to put down. Clear your schedule, and get ready for Sloan and Marley’s cute, slow-burn, best-friends-to-lovers romance.

    Sloan Rossi (18, 1/4-Black) has just moved back to the US from the UK to attend college for soccer. As a striker in U18 Premier League (stated as EPL Youth League in the book), she doesn’t want to be a goalie. But when her new friend junior goalie Marley Nichols (20, lesbian) injures her rotator cuff, Sloan becomes the backup goalkeeper. With their strengthening friendship over the course of a year as they both stay by each other’s side through difficulties in life, Sloan and Marley become virtually inseparable. When people start assuming they were dating, Marley could only wish they really were as Sloan reevaluates her own sexuality and what Marley truly means to her.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    The Unexpected Dream by Nicole Pyland | ARC Review

    5th September 2020
    Cover of The Unexpected Dream (Nicole Pyland)

    The Unexpected Dream (Sports #3) by Nicole Pyland

    Content warnings: divorce, biphobia

    The Unexpected Dream is a softball romance, which should totally be a trope.

    Mia Landis (30, bisexual) accidentally got pregnant and misses her chance of playing at Tokyo Olympics. Used to be a prodigy pitcher on the national team, her life now revolves around handling her divorce, caring for her two-year-old daughter Hazel, and coaching softball at her old high school. When a player mentions tryouts for a professional league, Mia decides to give it a try. Skylar Donahue (25, lesbian) also wanted to play at Tokyo but had injured her wrist weeks before the games. She ends up being the pitching coach when all she wants is to be a player. With her lingering injury, she cannot pitch but just might make the team in the new league as a catcher.

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  • Book Reviews,  Fiction

    A Shot at Gold by Nicole Pyland

    30th August 2020
    Cover of A Shot at Gold (Nicole Pyland)

    A Shot at Gold (Sports #2) by Nicole Pyland

    Content warnings: loss of father figure, loss of loved one, alcoholism, anxiety

    “You’re not a terrible coach. You were just not meant to be mine because you were meant to be so much more.”

    Madison

    A Shot at Gold was a very emotional read for me but I don’t know why. I have never lost anyone close, and yet I still felt every bit of the main characters’ lingering pain and understood all their insecurities stemming from their losses.

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