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A review by lmrivas54
Playing Hard to Get by Monica Murphy
4.0
Super excited to be reading Knox Maguire’s book, Owen’s boy! The Callahan/Maguire sports romances are my favorite series by this author, starting with Drew and Fable, then Owen and Chelsea and then on to the next generation with their kids. It feels like long standing friends!
Knox is a sweetie! He’s big and muscular and focused, a wide receiver, and with great chances of getting into the NFL. There’s a brief mention of knee problems but it’s wiped away with a spot of PT. He meets Joanna in the campus bookstore and from there they meet several times.
Joanna is recovering from a breakup and she’s still in the moping stage. But her roommate Natalie is good at pushing her to go out and have fun and this is when Knox sees her and sort of sets his sight on her.
The story develops swimmingly, once Joanna internalizes that she’s worthy. She usually feels like she looks horrible and is not interesting enough, especially for a campus football idol like Knox Maguire. He’s wonderful in that he brings up her esteem and makes her feel beautiful and desired.
This couple is super cute and what I loved the most is that they repeat history. Joanna starts tutoring Knox in English since he’s dyslexic and struggling in class. His parents had the same story: his mother was his father’s tutor in university. I loved that they’re always so true with each other, open with their feelings and thoughts, even when they feeling insecure about the other. They are a lovely couple!
There were parts of the story that I didn’t like, for example, in the beginning there was too much character rumination instead of interaction. I loved that it was a slow burn romance, but initially the pace felt way too slow. Once Knox and Joanna started to date, then the plot took speed and most of it was dedicated to sexy times. I expected to see more of Knox’s parents and was disappointed to see so little of them. There’s a little side plot between Camden and Blair, Knox’s sister, so I’m hoping this will be the next book. I liked Cam!
Knox is a sweetie! He’s big and muscular and focused, a wide receiver, and with great chances of getting into the NFL. There’s a brief mention of knee problems but it’s wiped away with a spot of PT. He meets Joanna in the campus bookstore and from there they meet several times.
Joanna is recovering from a breakup and she’s still in the moping stage. But her roommate Natalie is good at pushing her to go out and have fun and this is when Knox sees her and sort of sets his sight on her.
The story develops swimmingly, once Joanna internalizes that she’s worthy. She usually feels like she looks horrible and is not interesting enough, especially for a campus football idol like Knox Maguire. He’s wonderful in that he brings up her esteem and makes her feel beautiful and desired.
This couple is super cute and what I loved the most is that they repeat history. Joanna starts tutoring Knox in English since he’s dyslexic and struggling in class. His parents had the same story: his mother was his father’s tutor in university. I loved that they’re always so true with each other, open with their feelings and thoughts, even when they feeling insecure about the other. They are a lovely couple!
There were parts of the story that I didn’t like, for example, in the beginning there was too much character rumination instead of interaction. I loved that it was a slow burn romance, but initially the pace felt way too slow. Once Knox and Joanna started to date, then the plot took speed and most of it was dedicated to sexy times. I expected to see more of Knox’s parents and was disappointed to see so little of them. There’s a little side plot between Camden and Blair, Knox’s sister, so I’m hoping this will be the next book. I liked Cam!