This was a very sweet NA M/M story. Secrets and hurt feelings cause plenty of angst for the two main characters Grant and Darryn. It’s a very PG read in terms of heat but it touches on some very serious subjects in a heartfelt way.

I enjoyed the side characters a lot and thought the parents of both boys were fantastic. I enjoyed this one.

Overall - ⭐⭐
Heat - 🔥🔥

Rough and Tumble is the new MM novel by Shae Connor about two best friends that share a secret that neither of them know the other is keeping. Grant’s been harboring a crush on his friend Darryn for a while which is difficult because he’s pretty sure Darryn is straight. But when he catches Darryn with another guy, could there be more between them than just friendship?

The blurb and cover of this book really drew me in, but it really failed to live up to the potential once I started reading. The author claims she writes “sweet and hot” books, and I gotta say this was neither. It felt like an immature melodrama for much of the book. The romance between the two guys didn't feel like the primary focus of the book, so I got pretty bored. Save your pennies on this one friends.

A young adult love story with a lesson for any person that has ever been in a relationship. Grant and Darren are friends, teammates and college roommates. They are on the cusp of doing great things with their lives. Getting there will see them navigating some tough issues but the one thing that will get them through is their friendship. They are also lucky to have supportive family, and teammates who are not afraid to love them through their choices. The author did well with the issues and made this a beautiful love story.

New adult can sometimes be dicey for me - but not this book! These very very new adults (like 19 year olds) were fun to read about and were dealing with some very real, serious issues. This book tackles coming out and intimate partner abuse - so even though it is through the lens of pretty young people - the issues are very real.

Grant and Darryn are sophmores, roomates, and members of the mens gymnastics team at the University of Atlanta. Grant has been in love with Darryn since they met - but thought that Darryn was straight. It turns out Darryn didn't realize, until he started falling for Grant, that he was bisexual. Grant finds out about this when he walks in on Darryn and another guy having sex in their dorm room. This puts a big wedge between the two friends as they try to figure out how to move forward as friends in the face of the changes and revelations between them.

This is a true college aged book - so there is a lot of college life going on here. There are also barriers like - Grant and Darryn being friends and kids - that don't exist in books that deal with fully formed adults. But - Darryn and Grant don't come across as childish or immature - just still growing and figuring themselves out. I really loved how this book handled the big issues and am really interested in reading more about some of the other characters that popped onto the pages.

Overall - if this genre is your jam - highly recommend!

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, but these opinions are all my own.

This was an enjoyable book and I read it in one sitting. The plot was interesting, and characters were pretty strong, although the villain seemed a little one dimensional at times. I loved the MCs and their dynamic. They were sweet and they had a lot of chemistry, but we didn't get a lot of time with them together. While the relationship development was believable, it was a very slow burn, and I would have liked to see more of them as a couple. Most of their interactions revolved around the abusive relationship one of them was going through, the aftermath, and the recovery. I must admit it was realistic but it wasn't what I expected so I was left wanting more. I thought the writing was very good, even if I'm not a fan of the first person present tense, and I honestly skimmed through a lot of the gymnastics scenes. There were a couple of secondary characters that intrigued me, and I hope there's a story for them too. It's a 3.5 for me but I'm rounding up because I really liked the characters, it was well written, and I would love to read more from this author.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Okay so I’m going to be very honest and may spoil things because the book didn’t make sense to me. First off Grant wasn’t out to many people and he had a crush on his roommate/teammate. From his prospective he thought his roommate was straight. The awkward part was finding out he wasn’t but what I didn’t understand was the anger of his roommate. Communication would have been important in their relationship. I didn’t care for the roommate Darryn. Especially when he was in a relationship, he should have been a nicer person to Grant. His apologies was too late in my opinion. There were other characters like Pace and Kenny that I would have liked Grant to be with. Grant, I thought was great, just felt bad for him. I also needed more from the two leads to make this work for me. Overall, it was an okay book.

I received this ARC from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

This is going to be spoilery, because I need to explain. From the beginning, the story felt off. The walkin surprise, the declaration from Darryn, it was sll uncomfortable. I wasn't feeling it. The connection between them seemed more like friends to be honest, if even that.

It was told in Grant's POV and at times it felt like I was reading a highschool novel. The Pride Festival felt thrown in there for filler. As did 50% of the book as we went through all the gymnastics.

And Pace? What was he? A potential friend for Grant? A potential love interest?

The timing seemed off and the whole kidnapping/abduction seemed over the top. And in all the explanation before the Coach showed up that officer didn't ask what Rich was driving? I'm all gor Darryn saving himself, but they knew where Rich lived, why didn't the police look there first? Oh and in both incidents, it was told Rich accidentally hurt him.

I honestly wanted Grant to get with Pace. His character seemed much more interesting than Darryns.

Rough and Tumble by Shae Connor is a sweet book about Grant and Darryn, two college students, roommates and best friends. They share everything with each other…at least they thought they did, until secrets are told and their relationship changes…not initially for the better. The story shows Grant and Darryn trying to repair their friendship when both of them are hurt. We definitely see more of what Grant is thinking and feeling, not only about coming out in general (and how hard that is for those of us that have gone through that), but also about dealing with changes in a friendship, especially when the friend is in a toxic relationship that you don’t agree with.

This is a slow burn romance with very little sexy scenes, but heavy on the angst. We see through the eyes of both Grant and Darryn and how they are both afraid: to be together, to be alone, to come out, to be gay, all of which is complex and doesn’t happen overnight. The characters were actually young adults who didn’t have everything together, got things wrong, mis-communicated and hurt each other….stuff which normal, everyday people do. I also liked that we saw into what it was like to be a male gymnast as most sporty type books focus on football, baseball of hockey, and the hours of training that goes into being an elite athlete.

What I especially liked about the book was the family dynamic that both characters had. Grant with his sister and Darryn with his father. And although it didn’t tick all my boxes for a steamy read, it was still a cute LGBTQ+ read with some heavy themes throughout it.

ARC received for a fair, honest and sometimes long review. All opinions are my own. 😊

More of my reviews can be found on my blog: http://thehotmesslibrary.blogspot.com

Connor's novel is told through the lens of Grant Clark, a college sophomore and student-athlete. The reader is quickly thrown into the surprise he experiences when he finds out his roommate and fellow gymnast is gay. The issue with this news is not that Grant has any issue with Darryn being gay, his issue is that Grant thought he was secretly in love/crushing on his supposed straight roommate. It's quickly evident how afraid Grant is to come out and express his feelings, beyond a fear of rejection. The reader follows Grant's journey to accepting his feelings on a variety of fronts. Darryn is fairly self-assured and in a toxic relationship that he entered, thinking that Grant was unwilling/uninterested to ever come out (to him or anyone). He is the story's protagonist in many ways, prompting Grant to make decisions and choices about the state of their nascent relationship.

There's a bit of drama and a bit of romance in the story to engage most readers. The plotting of events and dialogue could have been stronger. There was a lot of telling the reader about what's going on, when there could have been some more showing. Events were conveyed, yet it was done in heavy summaries at times. It's a good idea and I wish the execution had been a bit more developed.

Meh. I wanted to like this and it had potential but it fell very flat for me. The romance wasn’t til the very end of the book and tbh the characters were not very developed or like able.
Thank you to netgalley for this ARC.

Meh, this was not a winner for me. There was very little romance. And honestly very little friendship. What there was a lot of was preaching and telling instead of showing. I skimmed a lot but I did make it through, so for that, 2 stars.

4 stars

I honestly wasn't expecting how much i ended up loving this book.
The journey our main characters went through, the pain, the struggles but mostly the friendship that was shown in this was absolutely beautiful.
I love how friends to lovers books don't dismiss the "friends" element as soon as the characters become a couple and this book did it perfectly! You can see that beyond any romantic relationship these two have, the friendship is still there and honestly that what you (i) want in a true loving relationship..
It was wonderful. I fully recommend this book.

TW: abusive relationship, violence (mild) towards one of the main characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received this free ebook in exchange for an honest review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The cover and description of this book was the first thing that caught me. And within the first few pages of the first chapter I was hooked.

What I loved: I loved the insight into college gymnastics. Its not something that I have experienced - so I cannot comment on the accuracy. However, I really enjoyed stepping into that world. I loved the side characters - I really wanted more from Mo and pace!. The family aspects were heartwarming, and I did like that this book covered domestic violence from a MM point of view.

However, I felt that there could have been a bit more back-story about the slow-burn friends-to-lovers aspect with Grant and Darryn. I felt like that story started in the middle - so that angst factor was missing and I didn't quiet feel the level of friendship or tension, which I think was needed to understand and feel the longing and angst Grant experienced for most of the book. This would have made the romance at the end more believable. It felt like a piece of the puzzle was missing.

Overall I did enjoy this book and it kept me reading and wanting more.

Trigger warning: Domestic Violence

If you're into NA sports romance this is one you wont' want to miss. I've always wanted to read a gymnastics romance and this ticked all the boxes.

Gymnastics, first loves, and being able to finally tell the one person you love ... all the things.

From the moment I turned the first page I couldn't put it down.

I can't wait to read more from Shae Connor!

Note: trigger content - abusive relationship.

The cover of the book was eye catching and the blurb had me wanting to read this story. I wish I could say that I loved this story but that just wasn't the case. The characters in the story were okay. Grant and Darryn are best friends who shared almost everything but a huge secret they have been hiding. When the secret is revealed and words are said their friendship completely changes. I wish that instead of the author just letting readers know that their friendship was strong, she instead gave readers some scenes to let us see the closeness between Grant and Darryn. After everything exploded they didn't act like they were friends for years at all. Grant throws a pity party more than half of the story and I was more than over it. Darryn was no better in the way he acted. They argued and disagreed so much that when it came to them falling in love it was unbelievable. I just didn't and couldn't make myself believe in the love they claim to have for each other. The story has secrets, revelations, abuse, a stalker, good friends and more but it just wasn't one that I fell it love with. I didn't love it but it wasn't completely terrible and it is a one time read for me.

I received this free ebook in exchange for an honest review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Overall I liked the book though it was a bit light on the romance for me. Because of the focus on Darryn's abusive relationship that works for the storyline though.
For me there was on thing that bothered me the whole book. Apparently Darryn knew for some time that Grant was gay and in turn knew for a while that he himself was bisexual and had a crush on Grant. It also seemed like Darryn knew that Grant had a crush on him. But why didn't Darryn approach Grant then? I was very confused by this because the only reason they aren't together from the start seems to be that Grant didn't know Darryn was even into men. I don't know why this bothered me so much but I couldn't get over it enough to fully enjoy the book.
Otherwise I can say it's a good sporty college romance though I do recommend checking in with yourself about abusive relationships. If this could trigger you at all maybe skip this one. It is a prominent theme.