First Down

by Rae Lynn Blaise

Tara is the kind of bookish girl who has followed her wildest dreams: she owns a bookstore and celebrates her favorite holiday of the year, Harry Potter’s birthday, in grand style. 

Zach’s idea of dreams fulfillment is a little different…he’s a professional football player. 

When the two meet at the bookstore’s annual escapade, the real magic appears. There’s just one little thing...Tara’s a virgin and Zach’s definitely an all-around player. 

Can a nerd girl and a jock win this game?

WARNING: includes steamy good times, lots of wizard jokes, some serious football action and (obviously!) an HEA.

Genres: Sports, Sports Romance, Romance, Ebooks

149 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 27, 2016

About the author

Tattooed connoisseur of smut. Compulsive writer of any sexy idea that drifts through my mind. Hurricanes and hot guys always welcome

Reviews

[Tink Magoo is bad at reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little over the top at times and definitely insta-love, but fuck it, I enjoyed it.

[Melluvsbooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars! I was surprised I ended up liking this! I didn’t have high hopes. Once we got past the super insta connection and their first hook up and all the excessive Harry Potter talk, I ended up way more entertained than I thought I’d be. I picked this up because a a book with a an aggressive possessive pro athlete Hero and a virgin heroine is a freaking UNICORN…. And then to have it not be overly horny (for me) or fetishy… 😍 I was very happy. I might have given it more leeway than I usually do for those reasons.

The main drawbacks were that I needed her to use her dual POVs more strategically. We failed to get vital development using the POVs… which made their reconciliation feel rushed. Also I needed more scaffolding for why the heroine was so dead set on not dating an athlete. I understood why mostly, it just felt like it needed more substance to justify the angst/drama it caused.

Anyway… I will be trying more by this author. It’s not perfect, but I found it readable and the author included the kind of themes and angst I like. 👍🏻👍🏻

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was super cute and awesome! I love a nerdy jock and you don't see those hardly ever! I loved that both h/h were big readers and she was a total Harry Potter fan, and he was too even though he was a big pro football star. It was a shorter story, but I felt like it had all the essentials. The only thing I'd have liked more was if the ending had a little more to it, or if there was an epilogue. It ended a little abruptly for me. It was still a great read with lots of chemistry and steam between our leading characters, great dialogue, a lil drama to force them to accept their feelings for each other. All in all, I loved it!

[N. JEFFERSON · Rating 1 out of 5]

Slow Read

To be frank this was a huge let down!!!! I was having a hard time believing in the attraction The Lead Tara and Zach had no chemistry what so ever. Tara was a pain in the ass and gosh was she whiny. Zach was just horny it seems until he finds out she's a virgin and then BOOM he's in love and can't live without her. The End

[Alex ♈ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
As not a fan of Harry Potter (I didn’t read any book) I couldn’t quite connect to funny jokes and HP references.
But the concept of the book – hero athlete and heroine nerd, who didn’t like sport at all – was not bad. I liked that the h held back and the H chased her. Overall it was a good safe read.
Epilogue is totally missing!!!

[Rebecca A. Bamford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute, sexy, romantic

Loved this story, it was fun and sweet and sexy. The football star and nerdy girl. But together they make an awesome couple. It only took me one day to read it, so a short read if your not looking for something too long or complicated. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. And recommend it.

[ME · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the Premise but not the Story

This had a great synopsis that just doesn't follow through. Tara is a 24 year old book store owner and a Harry Potter aficionado when she meets Zach. Things get steamy but never followed through because he's a jock but you never really get why she doesn't like athletes. He's a player but she's changing all that. The ending felt rushed from her breaking off their relationship to he's at her store practically begging her to reconsider. Enjoyed the premise of the book but not the overall story.

[Katie Rios · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. This book was OK. I love these kinds of stories, so I was immediately drawn to this book because geek meets jock AND a ton of Harry Potter references? What's not to like? I'm a huge HP fan and a huge football fan, so this seemed like a perfect fit for me. It wasn't really.

I'm giving this book 3 stars and not 2 because I adored the main MMC. He was sweet and a footballer that loves reading? WTF isn't there to like? What I didn't like, and why this got 3 stars for me was I HATED the FMC. I liked her at first, really thought she was super cute but the...

SPOILERS AHEAD:







But her COMPLETE dismissal of Zach simply because he said he was a football player at the beginning was STUPID to me. I get it, jocks can be jerks, but he showed her NOTHING but complete adoration from the moment they meet. He followed her around, asked her questions, came back to just hang out with her and for her to just be like, FOOTBALL PLAYER OH HELL NO, was just soooooooooooo dumb. I get it, she hates football, a lot of girls don't, but her complete disregard for his feelings about the sport once they do settle shit annoys the complete shit out of me. I might be biased here, because I am in fact a HUGE football fan, but I'm getting SO tired of girls hating on the sport their guys play. 95% of sports romance has a MFC that either hates the sport all together, or knows NOTHING about it. I get it, it makes for a great story line, but can we please have ONE LEADING LADY that enjoys the sport even just a little? It annoys me to no end.

Now, that was a rant that wasn't 100% about this novel, but it was present here too. It moved too quick for me, I think I would have enjoyed it more if she explained WHY she hated football, because it wasn't just "I don't like it because I know nothing about it" it was straight up "I HATE THE SPORT BECAUSE THEY MAKE TOO MUCH MONEY." I mean, I get what she's saying but, geez. And the climax part at the end, with this seemingly RANDOM girl that just pops up and starts weird drama annoyed me. I don't mind it most of the time, but for the love of Peyton Manning himself WHY DIDNT SHE JUST LET HIM EXPLAIN, HE WAS LITERALLY IN A HOSPITAL BED AND COULDN'T DO SHIT.

Anyway, it was OK, but Tara REALLY annoyed me.

[Porch Swing Pages · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a short but HOT read and oh so good. Tara and Zach are completely adorable. The way they banter back and forth is sweet and cute and had me laughing. And I seriously LOVED the Harry Potter references throughout this book. I do wish the book had been a little longer, so we could learn more about Tara and Zach's characters, but I was still able to enjoy this short portion of their story.

[Romance and YA Book Reviews · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the concept of this book. That being said it fell short for me. The Harry Potter references became a bit too much (and I am obsessed with HP). The book was okay as far as content went and I liked the general basis of it, but I wasn't impressed with where the story line went and the abrupt ending...oh well better luck next time.

[suzanne menees · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good.

I came across this book through a discussion on a readers group. It was a short read, with good characters. The Harry Potter references were pretty heavy, but if you're a fan, then you'll get it.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like part of this book is missing. He talks about telling her about his family and then boom it's over. Definitely doesn't feel finished.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was super cute. It's perfect for Harry Potter fans.

[Rashida · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 Stars.

[Lorena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hermosa. Me encantó.