Pretending to be in love with my best friend was supposed to be easy—until I realized pretending isn’t enough …
I’m what most people would call exceptional. For my skills on the ice, for my massive and muscle-clad frame, and, of course, for my suave British accent that makes all the American girls swoon.
And now, I have an exceptional problem. Thanks to a visa screw-up, I need to convince an immigration officer I’m engaged to an American if I want to stay in the country.
My best friend Abby, a brilliant artist with the most luscious curves I’ve ever laid eyes on, is the natural choice.
She’d do anything for me. I know I can trust her.
But as we spend every day together, as I struggle to keep my eyes from lingering on her, as I get used to waking up with her body warming our bed, as her laughter bouncing off the walls of our crappy apartment becomes my daily soundtrack … I’m not sure I can trust myself—not to fall in love, for real.
Trick Shot is a full-length, 70k-word standalone sports romance novel featuring two life-long best friends who become so much more, lots of drama, comedy, hijinks, a lovable cast of characters, and a guaranteed happy ever after!
This is a story of Grant (a Hot Shot) hockey player and Abby, his best friend. They have been friends since middle school. Grant is a British citizen and is told he is being deported in 24 hours due to a mess up with his Visa. He asks Abby to pretend to be his fake fiancée so he can stay in the country.
I really wanted to like this book. The premise was interesting. The writing was decent. But I just couldn’t get into the book. I couldn’t connect with any of the main characters, and they really didn’t have a ton of chemistry together. Everything was happening at once and yet it felt like nothing was happening – a weird process. The whole immigration thing seemed melodramatic (not the visa or deportation, but Agent Melly). USCIS agents aren’t really like social services. They don’t do house calls or find you an apartment and insist you live together. And Abby’s reason for breaking up with him felt silly considering she had known him so long. I just found it a slog to get through the book. This is the second book in the Hot Shots, and I haven’t read the first one. I am sure many would still enjoy this book. It just did not do it for me.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This is a best friend's to lovers romance between Abby and Grant. They've been best friends since middle school so it's only natural they would work together to prevent him from being deported. So they fake an engagement. But along the way they discover their true feelings for one another. It's well written with descriptive scenes,moves fluidly and is an entertaining story.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own and freely given.
I wanted to love this one..Don’t get me wrong. The dynamic between Grant & Abby was always so sweet, caring & fun.. It’s just the whole being closed off miscommunication part of it that I didn’t necessarily like cause in their situation it seemed avoidable, but it is what it is.
Abby and Grant for the win. These two best friends took forever to figure out what they really were to each other. It took a little incident with a student VISA to make them look at each other differently, and once they did, whew. They were hot together.
Abby and Grant Hamilton have been friends since they were twelve. Everyone thinks there is no way they can be best friends. Because men and women are not programmed, that way. But, they both insist it's true, they are just friends, however, you will never hear them utter, they are like siblings. Which should have been, the first clue, right? Grant is always there when, Abby needs a knight, to save her. Like after a real doozy of, a date. Yeah, this winner has her pick him up, now he ends up being a little older than his pics on the app, he also tells her he can’t drive, because his mommy didn't want, to drive them.
He suggests they go bowling, and she is open, to it because she hadn't been since she was a kid. But, ends up she was taking him, to his bowling night. Now, some women would have left him there, but Abby is, too nice she waits, to drive him home. On the way back, she gets a flat. The guy doesn't offer, to fix it instead, he asks her if she would mind if, he took the bus home. There will, be one coming, and he needs, to be home by nine o'clock. So, she calls the only one she can, Grant. When Grant gets home, to The Ice Box, Tristan tells him that a guy stopped by, in a suit carrying a notepad.
And that the man, asked for him. Tristan said, it was around noon, and he told him, Grant is in class, and the guy just walked away. Now, all the guys are speculating as, to who it can be, Grant has no clue. Meanwhile, Abby is having a time of it. She teaches art on the side at the community center, and she hires models, and well the one that is present tonight is quite the character. She just needs him to strike a pose and hold it. But, no he wants more of, a dramatic effect. Poor Grant having someone seeking him out is worrying him. So, he meets Abby after her bazaar class. When asked if anyone has been looking for him she blurts, “Oh, God, Grant, did you get a girl pregnant?”
Coach gives the guys another grueling day of practice. Once Grant is finished showering, and ready, to head out for lunch, the coach calls him into his office. Student services contact him. Someone from the foreign student department. There’s a meeting scheduled with immigration services tomorrow. He learns it, can’t be fixed, you're going home in twenty-four hours. His life in the states is, flashing before him. But, most of all his life with, Abby. While out to the last dinner with the team. When he reads, his fortune cookie with the guys then it, hits him. Abby is the only one, who can help him.
Feelings are a slippery slope. When it comes, to wanting, to take the next step with, a friend. How many times, does this happen, to girls every day? But, they never tell their friend that, at some point, they did have a bit of a crush, or others a full-on crush. The characters felt like real, and true friends who became awkward once, sexual feelings tangled them up.
It's February and I'm from the north, so of course a hockey romance is going to snag my interest. And the premise of this one, a British boy possibly getting deported just when his team needs him the most was intriguing. And I do enjoy friends to lovers romance, even if I tend to roll my eyes at the fake fiancée trope (they always blow up in the very worst ways).
I really liked both Grant and Abby. As individuals, they both still felt real, like college kids doing what they needed to prepare for the next phase of their lives. And their friendship felt genuine and deep. Even the way they each hid their true feelings, their attraction to each other, from each other in order to preserve a friendship that felt more important. All of it felt very real. Honestly, this book is worth checking out for all of that.
The reason I did not give this more stars was the total lack of communication AFTER Grant and Abby got together. After 9 years of friendship, where it's said multiple times that they told each other everything, suddenly they don't talk to each other when it's absolutely necessary. I feel like the story could have been so much more, stronger, if the real threat came from outside their relationship, or if the book was just about their shift from friendship to lovers to being in love. But tossing in miscommunications as was done here weakened the story for me. To my mind, they really weren't necessary.
All that said, this was a decent story, and the characters were compelling. Not just Grant and Abby, either. Several of the guys on the Hot Shots team intrigued me. I want to read Blaze's story, and Tristan's especially.
Grant is a college ice hockey player whose passport is British. He's lived in the USA since he was twelve and has no other home but now the immigration office informs him that there is a problem with his student visa and he is in danger of getting deported. His best friend Abby promises to help him fake an engagement so he could get a spousal visa. There is a zealous immigration agent assigned to their case who arranges a one-bedroom apartment for them to move in together (does immigration really do that? help people find housing?). They find her spying on them on more than one occasion so they have to keep up the pretense and act like they're in love in public. Living in such close proximity keeps them both as a state of heightened physical awareness and a kiss they staged for some girl's camera at a party really amps it up. The relationship turns real but Abby struggles with body image issues as Grant had a lot of one-night-stands with gorgeous girls and some of the puck bunnies are quite vicious about Abby's perceived imperfections, saying Grant deserves better. In the mean time, Grant has hockey games to win, and Abby is competing for a place in an art contest. I liked the characters, the writing style was pleasant and the story flows well. Steam level: They're the loud couple in the building.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Grant is the hot friendly British hockey player who's in a fix over his immigration status its back to England for him if he cant figure something out in 24 hours. Well he has a solution his bestfriend Abby they've always been there for each other hes sure she will be able to pretend to be his fiance they already know everything about each other or they think they do.
Abby and art student would do anything for her bestfriend hes always there for her but fake fiance gets complicated when your immigration case officer practically stocks you trying to find a lie about your relationship and also its gotten complicated by all those feelings she's suppressed about Grant for so long how much tension can she take while living in close courters there apartment is about to turn into a love shack.
I liked this book it was cute what I didn't care for was Abby and herself doubt about Grant when it was obvious how he felt about her also the pretext for getting them together was cute officer Melle was just a little strange. So im giving it 4 1/2 half stars.
I was allowed to read and advance copy of this book via Booksprout and this is my honest review.
This is book number 2 of the Hot Shots series and focuses on Grant and Abby. They have been best friends since middle school and as close as can be. Grant is originally from the UK so he is in the US on a visa while he tries to make his dream of playing professional hockey a reality. When there is a mix up with his visa and he is facing deportation, he has to think fast and come up with a solution. He decides to ask Abby to be his fake fiancée since she is the only one he could trust to save him from being deported. They have to go all in with their lie and end up having to live together while going through the ruse. While living together, real feelings definitely come into play and things get very interesting for the pair. I absolutely loved Grant and Abby together! This was such a great addition to this series. I loved reading about Blaze and Kay in book one but I think this book was even better. I was hooked from the very beginning and the story kept my interest until the very last page.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I wasn’t feeling this book at all, from the cover ( supposed college guy looking like he’s in his 40s,) to the chem of the character, to the story itself. Not gonna lie, I was being generous with this 3 stars. There were parts of the story I enjoyed. However there were parts that I didn’t get and others that were unrealistic and unnecessary. This doesn’t motivate me to read book 3 so I may take a break and reset
Some things that were off: 1. Blaze still being at school when I thought he was a senior when him and Kay met. 2. It seems as if Abby cooked something for the first time for Grant when he had the omelette but if they are super besties and he even lived with her and her fam in the past, I find that hard to believe. ( I don’t recall them saying it was the first time but that’s how he acted)
Abby still doesn’t have a back bone and it’s mad annoying. Her sister and Anna has to step in. Girl grow up. Abby was just too insecure. Grant was an ok character. These two been friends since middle but I didn’t feel the connection between them.
Grant is a UK citizen who has lived in America since he was in sixth grade. He never became a citizen and has remained on a student visa. But when the paperwork gets messed up, he is in jeopardy of being deported, destroying his dreams of playing professional hockey. Their initial way of quickly handling this is for Grant to have a fake fiancée, and his long-time best friend Abby is the first one he thinks of. If immigration knows he is marrying a US citizen, they will let him stay. Abby doesn’t hesitate to agree to help him with this.
Living together begins to get “real” and Grant is having trouble not giving in to his feelings. Abby is warming his bed and bringing laughter into his life. How will he ever be able to give her up?
Grant and Abby are best friends. They haven't gone a day without talking in years, they have each other's backs. So when there is a mishap with Grants visa he knows that Abby will help him out. A fake engagement later and all is well. But they have a eagle eyed woman following they around ready to cancel his visa at the first sign that their relationship is fake. They soon realised that their relationship is so far from fake, but Abby let's her insecurities get the best of her. But Grant soon proves that nothing is more important than her.
It is a short book but the premise is good. A British boy who needs his childhood friend's help, then realizes he is actually in love with her. Both characters are also great, really compatible with each other. But my downside was I didn't feel connected with them, maybe because I used to read longer books so I feel like there are still an area where the tension can be build up more, or maybe just because I didn't read the first book(? I'm not sure). The found family is my fav thing from this book and can be the reason to keep reading the rest of the series.
Abby and Grant has been best friends for a long time, and seen each other through many ups and downs of life. Now Grant needs Abby to help him out, in a way that will test their friendship, as his fake fiancée. Will lines be crossed? I loved this beautiful story, it gave me plenty of laughs, and I adored their friendship and the sparks they have between them.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This was my first read by this author and I can't wait to read more. Grant and Abby are best friends, have been for years, and have wonderful chemistry. Due to circumstances, their friendship changes and things getter even better from there. Some low key drama, loads of steam and some laughs leave you turning the pages.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Aside from.the whole immigration process and agent situation, which a bit of research could have fixed, the story is cute. Though I wish instead of going on and on about eachother's feelings for the other in the past there was more of developing dept to the characters or their relationship with friends or family. Over all it's a cute, unbelievable, college sports romance. And the fact that it includes a plus size FMC is a plus for me.
Other than have a few too many sex scenes without the right amount of plot scenes to balance them I don't really have any complaints about this one.
Though the length of the visa does seem like a stretch, like as in it presses believability he could live here that long without citizenship even on a visa. So okay I have 2 complaints.
Overall though it was good story I really enjoyed.
Grant relies a lot on the stars to create his destiny but they didn't prepare him for visa issues. Now he has to ask Abby, his best friend from their tween years. to help him by being engaged so they look like they are in love in they eyes of the US government. It was a nice read but I wish there were moments that Abby loved herself or Grant helping her how to love herself. Grant's big gesture at the end definitely was swoon worthy!!
It's an okay book, I guess. I mean, it was well-written, and the story is cute since it's best friends to lovers, but it didn't make me giggle while kicking my feet, and I feel like their "talk" after they broke up should be more dramatic and heart-to-heart, but that didn't happen because he was off to his championship game. So yeah, I'm still looking forward to the other books in the series.
*spoilers* Two best friends of 12 years, a visa cancellation, a faked engagement and a whole host of hidden feelings. Immigration officials aside; a mess up magically resolved and housing them? the plot of this is great. There is a good build up to action and the doubts are realistic.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
We're definitely making progress with the books, but it became kind of the opposite the beginning was great, the beginning of the end of the book was kind of a drag and I'm feeling neutral about the ending, it was very predictable what was going to happen but I'm currently a slut for all best friends to lovers books so I'm good with it :)
An awesome friends to lovers romance. This series is absolutely fantastic and gave me all the feels.. the highs and the lows! Dang not make books can do that to me!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This was a cute fake engagement between childhood best friends. It was sweet…maybe could have used a bit more action at certain points because it got a bit too slow & descriptive but overall it was an enjoyable read
I liked both main characters but the storyline was a bit boring imo. Just not much going on, wanted more from them. Book just dragged on and on. I did finish it so I went with 3 stars, but more like 2.5.