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The League #2
The Red Zone
Arrogant. Insufferable. Maddening. Downright repulsive.
According to Mae Garten, those were a few of the choice words she’d use to describe her long-standing sparing partner, October Calhoun.
For her, the only thing worse than him dropping back into her life after seven years was him showing up at her home and asking — scratch that — begging for a place to live.
Sure, she had a newly vacant pool house in her backyard she could offer him, but was doing so really worth losing her sanity over?
With tensions between the two of them as high as ever, it was only right for them to try and relieve some of their pent up energy between the sheets, right?
People have always said there was a thin line between love and hate, and it was only a matter of time before Mae and October found out how thin that line really was.
According to Mae Garten, those were a few of the choice words she’d use to describe her long-standing sparing partner, October Calhoun.
For her, the only thing worse than him dropping back into her life after seven years was him showing up at her home and asking — scratch that — begging for a place to live.
Sure, she had a newly vacant pool house in her backyard she could offer him, but was doing so really worth losing her sanity over?
With tensions between the two of them as high as ever, it was only right for them to try and relieve some of their pent up energy between the sheets, right?
People have always said there was a thin line between love and hate, and it was only a matter of time before Mae and October found out how thin that line really was.
303 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 4, 2023
898 people are currently reading
16701 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 629 reviews
January 10, 2023
It wasn’t bad and it wasn’t good.
January 2, 2023
Loved that there wasn’t third act breakup.
And the aftercare from October making sure she was fed and bath,so caring of him. He got tattoos too!
This scene reminded me of Connor Cobalt wiping Rose’s under eyes to clean the smudges 🥹 and the fact that Mae is businesswoman.
With a big sigh from her, she hopped up to her feet, and I followed suit. We stood face to face as I wiped the black smudge marks out from under her eyes with my thumbs, cupping her face in my hands.
And the aftercare from October making sure she was fed and bath,so caring of him. He got tattoos too!
This scene reminded me of Connor Cobalt wiping Rose’s under eyes to clean the smudges 🥹 and the fact that Mae is businesswoman.
With a big sigh from her, she hopped up to her feet, and I followed suit. We stood face to face as I wiped the black smudge marks out from under her eyes with my thumbs, cupping her face in my hands.
July 4, 2023
LOVED IT!!!! CUTE LITTLE ENEMIES TO LOVERS
January 15, 2023
this was a mess.
only reason i’m giving 2 stars is bc i rly loved the after care part & bc they’re pretty cute i guess.
otherwise i feel like it was too fast for like…..no reason. if not gonna lie i love fast paced books but there were just so many inconsistencies? it’s like the author has a list of things she wants to put inside this book & tried to squeeze every little bit of it which makes the plot come out weird.
idk if it’s on purpose to focus more on the romance aspect but they’re supposedly grown adults with actual careers but it almost always feels like they’re college kids. who skip class often. it genuinely feels like even from the beginning, their whole lives revolve around each other which just feels off to me bc there was no structured timeline & like i said, a whole mess.
i do love their relationship. october evidently cares for mae though she seems to be very very casual about their whole relationship up til she got pregnant. but their banter is cute & i loved how he took care of her.
only reason i’m giving 2 stars is bc i rly loved the after care part & bc they’re pretty cute i guess.
otherwise i feel like it was too fast for like…..no reason. if not gonna lie i love fast paced books but there were just so many inconsistencies? it’s like the author has a list of things she wants to put inside this book & tried to squeeze every little bit of it which makes the plot come out weird.
idk if it’s on purpose to focus more on the romance aspect but they’re supposedly grown adults with actual careers but it almost always feels like they’re college kids. who skip class often. it genuinely feels like even from the beginning, their whole lives revolve around each other which just feels off to me bc there was no structured timeline & like i said, a whole mess.
i do love their relationship. october evidently cares for mae though she seems to be very very casual about their whole relationship up til she got pregnant. but their banter is cute & i loved how he took care of her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 23, 2023
✨
3 STARS
✨
Mae Garten: She's a famous Model. She's confident, smart, and beautiful.
October Calhoun: He's a football player. He's sweet, cocky, and has nice humor. He's 1 year older than Mae.
Plot:
Mae met him when she was 5 years old and developed a crush on him, but due to a misunderstanding, they both started to hate each other, always competed with each other, and argued. After high school, they went on to build their careers and met 7 years later.
One would‘ve thought that after two decades of knowing each other, we’d have worked through our animosity toward one another by now.
They're still enemies and hate each other a lot. They had a lot of banter & loathed each other in the beginning. October spent the whole 7 years thinking of great comebacks & snarky lines for Mae 😂 Now, in need of a temporary place, he begged Mae to let him live in her pool house, and after a lot of convincing, she agreed.
What did I do that’s so bad that you can’t even look at me when I’m around, hmm?
Mae has been holding on to a grudge for too long. In 2nd grade, Molly (October's crush) made fun of Mae in front of others, hurting her badly & October just laughed without knowing that she had heard him. She knew it was childish but the words still stung her and made her cry. After a few chapters, she told him the whole story & he apologized to her for everything. ☺️
Who said I have to like you to fuck you?
After the apology, they stopped hating each other and settled for having a hate-fuck. It was enemies with benefits which soon turned into love. It wasn't an enemies-to-lovers book though. They had banter and hated each other, but it was all in the beginning. It became more like a sweet romance book.
You’re gorgeous, Mae. More gorgeous than my thoughts from the last seven years led me to believe.
October was caring, gentle, & attentive toward her. The aftercare scene was JUST SO CUTE. 🥺😩 Even though they hated each other, he never wanted to hurt her feelings. His dirty talking >>>
also, he does spend a lot of time thinking of smart comebacks for Mae. 😂
Other things:
I'm happy that Mae decided to study further & stop her business. She was banned from the industry because she outed her former boss for stealing money from underaged models for illegal activities, so he started spreading lies about her everywhere. She started her own company but it was going downhill. I'm happy that he went to jail. The epilogue was cute. ✨
It was a fast-paced book, more like a sweet romance book. It wasn't as boring as I thought it would be after reading the reviews. I don't usually read sweet romance books but I didn't mind. It was a type of book that can help you get out of your reading slump In my opinion. 🤡🤣
Also, everyone had really weird names.
Mae Garten: She's a famous Model. She's confident, smart, and beautiful.
October Calhoun: He's a football player. He's sweet, cocky, and has nice humor. He's 1 year older than Mae.
Plot:
Mae met him when she was 5 years old and developed a crush on him, but due to a misunderstanding, they both started to hate each other, always competed with each other, and argued. After high school, they went on to build their careers and met 7 years later.
One would‘ve thought that after two decades of knowing each other, we’d have worked through our animosity toward one another by now.
They're still enemies and hate each other a lot. They had a lot of banter & loathed each other in the beginning. October spent the whole 7 years thinking of great comebacks & snarky lines for Mae 😂 Now, in need of a temporary place, he begged Mae to let him live in her pool house, and after a lot of convincing, she agreed.
What did I do that’s so bad that you can’t even look at me when I’m around, hmm?
Mae has been holding on to a grudge for too long. In 2nd grade, Molly (October's crush) made fun of Mae in front of others, hurting her badly & October just laughed without knowing that she had heard him. She knew it was childish but the words still stung her and made her cry. After a few chapters, she told him the whole story & he apologized to her for everything. ☺️
Who said I have to like you to fuck you?
After the apology, they stopped hating each other and settled for having a hate-fuck. It was enemies with benefits which soon turned into love. It wasn't an enemies-to-lovers book though. They had banter and hated each other, but it was all in the beginning. It became more like a sweet romance book.
You’re gorgeous, Mae. More gorgeous than my thoughts from the last seven years led me to believe.
October was caring, gentle, & attentive toward her. The aftercare scene was JUST SO CUTE. 🥺😩 Even though they hated each other, he never wanted to hurt her feelings. His dirty talking >>>
also, he does spend a lot of time thinking of smart comebacks for Mae. 😂
Other things:
I'm happy that Mae decided to study further & stop her business. She was banned from the industry because she outed her former boss for stealing money from underaged models for illegal activities, so he started spreading lies about her everywhere. She started her own company but it was going downhill. I'm happy that he went to jail. The epilogue was cute. ✨
It was a fast-paced book, more like a sweet romance book. It wasn't as boring as I thought it would be after reading the reviews. I don't usually read sweet romance books but I didn't mind. It was a type of book that can help you get out of your reading slump In my opinion. 🤡🤣
Also, everyone had really weird names.
January 22, 2023
Sorry I couldn’t do so it. I thought it was amazing like the tiktoks made it out to be but no. I couldn’t get past the first half of the book
April 20, 2023
their “banter” sounded more like two nagging five year olds
January 13, 2023
The writing was so choppy it made me feel like I was having a stroke. The characters lack any sort of depth, the plot and the background don’t matter, the smut is subpar. The banter wasn’t even good. This was a really shallow read that I won’t be recommending to anyone.
June 5, 2024
way too cringe : slut-shaming, I’m not like other girls, adults acting like children
March 29, 2023
Boring, bland, rushed.
The characters lacked development and the hate was for no reason.
It's enemies to lovers dear authors, not 'I'm angry with you over a fucking misunderstanding' idk why authors confuse both these things!!!
And even so, Mae was clearly in love and October was too!! So like where is the f*****g hate???
The characters lacked development and the hate was for no reason.
It's enemies to lovers dear authors, not 'I'm angry with you over a fucking misunderstanding' idk why authors confuse both these things!!!
And even so, Mae was clearly in love and October was too!! So like where is the f*****g hate???
January 10, 2023
This was good. Not great but good. Kinda felt juvenile at times but some of their banter was funny. The smut was pretty good, loved the after care scene. The whole him getting hurt scene kinda felt forced and quick. Was definitely easily predictable with the "be safe" right before it happened. Then in one paragraph he goes from running to getting tackled. Also kinda mad about him saying I love you and then her responding with "likewise" (even tho he told her to say that, was still weird). Didn't really like the pregnancy announcement either like the way that he guessed it idk it lacked more emotion. The man sure can dirty talk tho I'll give him that. Overall another eh book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 3, 2024
the enemies to lovers felt so forced, just mentioned they were enemies and so they were, the writing was so wattpad-ish to the point it was almost cringe, literally would’ve given it 0 stars if i could’ve
January 16, 2023
Odd word choices, weird grammar, and weird pacing. Felt all over the place
March 17, 2023
“You’ve been eye fucking me since the day I moved in.” “You must be mistaken, because I’ve hated your guts the entire time.” “No, you haven’t. You just wished I was rearranging yours.”
This was one of the few books I found where the MC's are actually enemies and not just secretly in love with each other. It was so entertaining to see Mae & October throw jabs at each other even if their enemies dynamics lasted for a short while. I felt so bad for Mae when it was revealed that her business is not doing that well but nothing much about this topic was actually elaborated. I would've liked to see the working side of Mae. October on the other hand, said and did so many swoonworthy things that made Mae see a different side of him than she's accustomed to which made their relationship shift from being each others nemesis to somewhat friends. Overall, the plot and setting were good. And it was nice to get some Scarlett & Abel moments too. It was a 3.5 star read at it's best tbh.
This was one of the few books I found where the MC's are actually enemies and not just secretly in love with each other. It was so entertaining to see Mae & October throw jabs at each other even if their enemies dynamics lasted for a short while. I felt so bad for Mae when it was revealed that her business is not doing that well but nothing much about this topic was actually elaborated. I would've liked to see the working side of Mae. October on the other hand, said and did so many swoonworthy things that made Mae see a different side of him than she's accustomed to which made their relationship shift from being each others nemesis to somewhat friends. Overall, the plot and setting were good. And it was nice to get some Scarlett & Abel moments too. It was a 3.5 star read at it's best tbh.
March 31, 2023
Sorry not sorry but what on earth was this. Just by mentioning they have "tension" doesn't make the characters have that chemistry between them, their interactions and dialogues need to live up to that too. Honestly very disappointed with this one.
June 10, 2023
3⭐️
This book was short and sweet! This book was categorized as enemies-to-lovers book but I feel as the it was mainly that only for the very beginning. October and Mae have known each other since little kids and their rivalry sparked from there. October moves into Mae’s pool house and the tension between the two is high. October was so sweet when he found out what he did to Mae for their rivalry to start and did everything to make her feel better. I loved all the after care so freaking much, my heart melted every time. Overall it was short and sweet.
Favorite Quote:
“I can’t stop thinking about you. I never stop thinking about you. Even when we lived a thousand miles apart and I hadn’t seen you in seven years, you consumed my thoughts more than I’d like to admit. Don’t you get that?”
This book was short and sweet! This book was categorized as enemies-to-lovers book but I feel as the it was mainly that only for the very beginning. October and Mae have known each other since little kids and their rivalry sparked from there. October moves into Mae’s pool house and the tension between the two is high. October was so sweet when he found out what he did to Mae for their rivalry to start and did everything to make her feel better. I loved all the after care so freaking much, my heart melted every time. Overall it was short and sweet.
Favorite Quote:
“I can’t stop thinking about you. I never stop thinking about you. Even when we lived a thousand miles apart and I hadn’t seen you in seven years, you consumed my thoughts more than I’d like to admit. Don’t you get that?”
June 29, 2023
2.5/5
so we’re calling degrading women banter now? nice !
so we’re calling degrading women banter now? nice !
March 20, 2023
(kinda?) childhood friends to enemies to lovers?! SOLD
honestly what's not to like here? its cute, romantic, THE TENSION, it was funny AND spicy!
honestly what's not to like here? its cute, romantic, THE TENSION, it was funny AND spicy!
December 24, 2022
★ ★ ★ ★ (4.75/5)
i’ll be super honest, it’s hard to get a review above 3 stars from me if it’s a sports book that’s not about hockey, but damn did this book come through!
October was quite possibly one of the most kind, attentive, and thoughtful book boyfriends i’ve ever read about! and Mae was such an incredible person in general. i’m absolutely in love with Maetober!
the spice in this book— YOU GUYSS. the dirty talk, the aftercare, it was all perfect! 💋
do i recommend: YES! YES! DEFINITELY YES! The Red Zone will be available on KU on December 28th!
i’ll be super honest, it’s hard to get a review above 3 stars from me if it’s a sports book that’s not about hockey, but damn did this book come through!
October was quite possibly one of the most kind, attentive, and thoughtful book boyfriends i’ve ever read about! and Mae was such an incredible person in general. i’m absolutely in love with Maetober!
the spice in this book— YOU GUYSS. the dirty talk, the aftercare, it was all perfect! 💋
do i recommend: YES! YES! DEFINITELY YES! The Red Zone will be available on KU on December 28th!
January 11, 2023
Sooooooooooo. I was bored. And I didn’t care for the constant push away and the hate they have is for no reason and I didn’t like the FMC.
So.
It just wasn’t for me.
So.
It just wasn’t for me.
February 5, 2023
tbh this wasn’t my favorite enemies to lovers book. I finished it really fast, but I don’t know how to describe it, it just felt rushed? And had to skip a lot.
February 28, 2023
this series is so cute 🥰
March 23, 2023
✨“I love you.” He pulled back, whispering against my lips. “That’s a horrible decision on your part, really,” I countered, pulling back with a playful smile. October leaned in, kissing me gently before pulling back and giving me a weak smile that tugged at the corner of his lips. “Just say likewise.” “Likewise.”✨
When I first started this book I was honestly a little sad because I wasn’t loving it as much as I thought I would, but as I continued on, I liked it a lot more.. Mae & October are just so cute together and we all know I love some enemies to lovers 🤭
I’m so excited for Lea’s story and to see all the characters together as a big group🥲
Oh and also I loved seeing Scarlett & Abel more in this book, they’re just as cute as ever🫶🏻
(And I love the new friendship between october & Abel hahaha😂)
When I first started this book I was honestly a little sad because I wasn’t loving it as much as I thought I would, but as I continued on, I liked it a lot more.. Mae & October are just so cute together and we all know I love some enemies to lovers 🤭
I’m so excited for Lea’s story and to see all the characters together as a big group🥲
Oh and also I loved seeing Scarlett & Abel more in this book, they’re just as cute as ever🫶🏻
(And I love the new friendship between october & Abel hahaha😂)
June 19, 2023
Holding a grudge against someone for something they said when they were 7 is definitely a level of petty I admired but dear god someone get this woman an editor
June 30, 2023
”Don’t be smug. I’m allergic to assholes before 9 a.m.”
“Yeah, I don’t blame you. Most people aren’t into anal this early in the morning.”
Uhmmm yeah, ignore all of the above..
this was a really steamy enemies to lovers book. AND this was very good too! I liked their banter when they were enemies, the snarky responses, the hatred. I LOVED it all!
So I’ll recommend this book to YOU, who likes the trope enemies to lovers and smut😩
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
“Yeah, I don’t blame you. Most people aren’t into anal this early in the morning.”
Uhmmm yeah, ignore all of the above..
this was a really steamy enemies to lovers book. AND this was very good too! I liked their banter when they were enemies, the snarky responses, the hatred. I LOVED it all!
So I’ll recommend this book to YOU, who likes the trope enemies to lovers and smut😩
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
February 8, 2023
The pacing felt a tad weird and I know this is petty but for some reason “league bowl” “social gram” “tiny league” “ear pods” pulled me out of the story every time I read it. There are ways to say the same thing without it being so obvious a different version of a famous thing
January 27, 2023
My first review because this book made me really frustrated within the first 20 pages.
Tiktok made it look good but I just couldn’t do it. The constant sexual remarks from the guy and repeatedly calling her immature and a brat as if he’s literally not acting the same way towards her is just so annoying. I tried to get past it but it’s literally every 2 sentences. Mae, I don’t even know the context of why you hate him but I get it girl. He’s insufferable asf and I didn’t even get through 50 pages.
Tiktok made it look good but I just couldn’t do it. The constant sexual remarks from the guy and repeatedly calling her immature and a brat as if he’s literally not acting the same way towards her is just so annoying. I tried to get past it but it’s literally every 2 sentences. Mae, I don’t even know the context of why you hate him but I get it girl. He’s insufferable asf and I didn’t even get through 50 pages.
June 7, 2023
This is why i don’t read highschool romance anymore
July 3, 2023
Tiktok was once again awfully wrong
Displaying 1 - 30 of 629 reviews