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Boys of the Zodiac #9
Sagittarius: Mr. November
Patton Cooper won three national championships as the starting quarterback for the Los Angeles Marauders, but that didn’t stop them from trading him to Phoenix without so much as a warning. At thirty-two, he finds himself weighed down by old injuries and forced to start over again as a backup quarterback for an untried rookie. Deeply hurt by the betrayal of both his team and his ex-lover, Patton keeps to himself and takes what solace he can in football.
Cornerback DeShawn Jones has loved two things in his life—football and Patton Cooper. It seems like his dreams have come true when he’s drafted to play for the Phoenix Wildcats, until he realizes the coach has no intention of letting him start, and his childhood hero is a withdrawn, wary man. But DeShawn refuses to give up on his dreams of playing, or his hope of reaching Patton.
A tentative connection forms between the two men, but the pressures of the game may be too much for the relationship to withstand. Especially when DeShawn is given the chance of a lifetime while Patton struggles not to relive the mistakes from his past...
Cornerback DeShawn Jones has loved two things in his life—football and Patton Cooper. It seems like his dreams have come true when he’s drafted to play for the Phoenix Wildcats, until he realizes the coach has no intention of letting him start, and his childhood hero is a withdrawn, wary man. But DeShawn refuses to give up on his dreams of playing, or his hope of reaching Patton.
A tentative connection forms between the two men, but the pressures of the game may be too much for the relationship to withstand. Especially when DeShawn is given the chance of a lifetime while Patton struggles not to relive the mistakes from his past...
164 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 27, 2010
123 people want to read
About the author
Pepper Espinoza
83 books87 followersPepper Espinoza has published several books with Liquid Silver Books, including The Zebra Wore Fishnets and The Zebra Wore Red Stockings, Amber Quill Press, Whiskey Creek Press, and Samhain Publishing. She currently lives in Utah with her husband and two cats. She hopes to complete her Masters degree in Literature in May, 2008.
Ms. Espinoza also collaborates with Vivien Dean, and they publish as Jamie Craig. Together they have Amber Quill Press bestseller The Master Chronicles, and The Silver Series with Juno Books
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
Ms. Espinoza also collaborates with Vivien Dean, and they publish as Jamie Craig. Together they have Amber Quill Press bestseller The Master Chronicles, and The Silver Series with Juno Books
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 25, 2011
The good: - There aren't nearly enough pro football books in this genre! This one really showed and talked about the game a lot, too. Made me excited for football season. Yeah, I'm a football fan, and I am guessing Pepper Espinoza is as well. - Multiracial in a very natural way. It felt like football players would relate to each other like this since they have been playing together forever. I wish they had both guys on the cover. - DeShawn is a high energy, fun guy, and smart and very good at his job too. It is fun seeing him meet and become friends with his childhood hero.
The not so good: - Patton's feelings and attitudes about being injured, past his prime and dumped by his team were probably pretty realistic, but they certainly went on and on. I was 40% into the book before there was any relief from the sulking and emoting and gloom. And he wasn't Mr. Cheerful after that. I wish we had more of DeShawn's POV and less of Patton's. - The oddest epilog I've ever read. The ending is HFN and unsettled, so I was looking forward to the epilog to find out how the gays are doing, and it was some commentary about a game. We learn that DeShawn is still playing and Patton isn't. That's it. Nothing about their relationship at all.
The story is a pretty standard sports-with-romance tale. Whether you like it will depend on whether you like the sport and whether you like the guys. The writing was fine, but I found some of the choices about what to cover in detail and what to skip over with a sentence a bit awkward.
The not so good: - Patton's feelings and attitudes about being injured, past his prime and dumped by his team were probably pretty realistic, but they certainly went on and on. I was 40% into the book before there was any relief from the sulking and emoting and gloom. And he wasn't Mr. Cheerful after that. I wish we had more of DeShawn's POV and less of Patton's. - The oddest epilog I've ever read. The ending is HFN and unsettled, so I was looking forward to the epilog to find out how the gays are doing, and it was some commentary about a game. We learn that DeShawn is still playing and Patton isn't. That's it. Nothing about their relationship at all.
The story is a pretty standard sports-with-romance tale. Whether you like it will depend on whether you like the sport and whether you like the guys. The writing was fine, but I found some of the choices about what to cover in detail and what to skip over with a sentence a bit awkward.
January 3, 2013
Very nice, feel good romance novel.
Energetic and confident rookie plays on one team with his idol, a veteran quarterback (just recovering from injury and betrayal) and they fall in love.
Not outstanding or especially amazing, but well written with a solid storyline, without insta-love or too many cliches. I liked both characters and the fact how they conneted though in very different places in their life.
A good, comfy read for a rainy day, especially if one likes American Football and understands a bit about the game.
Energetic and confident rookie plays on one team with his idol, a veteran quarterback (just recovering from injury and betrayal) and they fall in love.
Not outstanding or especially amazing, but well written with a solid storyline, without insta-love or too many cliches. I liked both characters and the fact how they conneted though in very different places in their life.
A good, comfy read for a rainy day, especially if one likes American Football and understands a bit about the game.
September 12, 2014
It's MEH for me because I don't understand the whole football games. I'm from a country where football means soccer. So I just can't picture all those scenes and what all the jargons / terms means -- I understand off side or goal but not the procedure of touchdown or the weird scoring system -- which unfortunately is quite a lot. I also don't really connect with the two guys and somehow struggle to finish the book. Again, probably has to do with the football factor.
July 19, 2015
3.5 stars. This story ended up going in a bit of a different direction than I expected – I think I was hoping for the big on field connection between Patton and DeShawn as much as I was rooting for an off field connection. I haven’t seen lots of stories featuring the challenges with being gay in professional sports and even fewer featuring men of mixed race, so I enjoyed the rarity of those elements in this book.
November 29, 2010
I love sport stories. And this story was great read. I liked both main characters, Patton and DeShawn, both had that toughness and manliness on them, but then I love guys in sport spirit. Anyway for me it as great love story and nice sport touch.
LOVED IT!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
LOVED IT!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
June 4, 2014
I don’t have a lengthly review for this one. I’ve read the majority of the books in the pepper espinoza/vivien dean/jamie craig “Boys of the Zodiac” series and this one has been on my to-read-wishlist for a long time. So I thought, why not?
I like interracial and sports romances, so I was looking forward to reading this. I’m also a fan of Pepper’s work; she’s one of the first m/m authors I started reading when I got into the genre. Plus, I’m a sagittarius and had to get it, mostly for that ;)
Ummmmmmm
This was a solid read. My only complaints is that I wish there had been more relationship development between DeShawn and Patton. And I would’ve liked more of DeShawn’s POV. From the blurb, you’d expect a relatively equal alternating POV, but it was mostly just Patton contemplating his life as an aging athlete. I would’ve like less of the technical mumbo-jumbo about the american football games they played, which would be lost on anyone who wasn’t extremely familiar with the sport. I just continued reading pretending like I knew what was going on, like I mostly do when I attempt to watch sports. Live or on TV. The pages were scrolling away and they were still playing football at the 15% mark and I was nervous nothing was going to be resolved. The MCs were two closeted athletes, that alone could’ve created the drama that the football games lacked. I know it’s not always about the drama, but I’m sure it’d be more exciting that reading about a football game.
Their story ended on a such happy-for-now note (and it feels like nothing was really resolved), that I’d like to read more about them again.
3 stars.
I like interracial and sports romances, so I was looking forward to reading this. I’m also a fan of Pepper’s work; she’s one of the first m/m authors I started reading when I got into the genre. Plus, I’m a sagittarius and had to get it, mostly for that ;)
Ummmmmmm
This was a solid read. My only complaints is that I wish there had been more relationship development between DeShawn and Patton. And I would’ve liked more of DeShawn’s POV. From the blurb, you’d expect a relatively equal alternating POV, but it was mostly just Patton contemplating his life as an aging athlete. I would’ve like less of the technical mumbo-jumbo about the american football games they played, which would be lost on anyone who wasn’t extremely familiar with the sport. I just continued reading pretending like I knew what was going on, like I mostly do when I attempt to watch sports. Live or on TV. The pages were scrolling away and they were still playing football at the 15% mark and I was nervous nothing was going to be resolved. The MCs were two closeted athletes, that alone could’ve created the drama that the football games lacked. I know it’s not always about the drama, but I’m sure it’d be more exciting that reading about a football game.
Their story ended on a such happy-for-now note (and it feels like nothing was really resolved), that I’d like to read more about them again.
3 stars.
September 12, 2011
3.5 Stars This story is about two football players, the aging (32) recently traded QB Patton Cooper & young hotshot rookie cornerback DeShawn Jones. There's a lot of football (American) details in this book so if you're unfamiliar with it, this may affect how much you enjoy this book. I happen to really like football & sports books in general, so I really liked this aspect. I liked the story & the writing. There was an ending that implied that it was all very HEA. However, considering they were still 2 closeted football players that were very high profile, I couldn't picture how this wouldn't come out somehow, so in my head I'd qualify this more as a HFN ending.
January 6, 2011
3.5 stars. I read it because I love the song "Mr. November" by the National, but it's actually a good (if rather heavy on the dreary football details) m/m romance about an older quarterback who's been traded to a new team under mysterious circumstances.
May 16, 2011
3,5 stars
There isn't football (only soccer) in my country, so I didn't understand most of the sport terminology. But DeShawn was very likeable. On the other side I wanted to slap Cooper most of the time, especially when he ended their relationship.
There isn't football (only soccer) in my country, so I didn't understand most of the sport terminology. But DeShawn was very likeable. On the other side I wanted to slap Cooper most of the time, especially when he ended their relationship.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 25, 2011
3.5 stars
The story was good however I admit that it was a bit heavy on football details. That's not necessarily a bad thing but since I know very little about the sport I felt like I needed football for dummies most of the time. Aside from that I enjoyed the book and liked the author's writting.
The story was good however I admit that it was a bit heavy on football details. That's not necessarily a bad thing but since I know very little about the sport I felt like I needed football for dummies most of the time. Aside from that I enjoyed the book and liked the author's writting.
April 29, 2012
3 stars. I liked it, enough to keep reading until the end despite starting near bedtime. And yet...I felt disappointed by the ending, somehow. I've been trying to figure out how better to articulate that, but that seems to be the best I can do.
May 8, 2014
Oh this story was just fabulous. I loved the arrogant, brash young rookie DeShawn and the tired, experienced and selfless Patton. The way their relationship was slowly built and the interactions between the pair is everything that a good M/M story should be but rarely is.
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April 17, 2011to-read
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews