I wasn't the biggest fan of this football romance. I felt like everything was rushed and It made it hard to believe that the characters were falling for each other. I wish we got more moments between Hawk and Becca that showed them falling for each other. It all seemed like insta love to me. I also just wasn't the biggest fan of the conflict in this. I thought it was weak and it could've been more flushed out and expanded on.

I am a sucker for a good sports romance and I do get a kick out of the football ones, mostly cause I love to see what team names authors come up with. In this book I was not disappointed in the romance nor the team names.

This is the story of Becca and Hawk, former tutor and tutee, current journalist and professional quarterback, who reconnect as adults. Bonus, this is the first of a book series and who doesn't love a book series.

What I Loved:
- Hawk's family, he is close with his cousin and her family and they bring out different aspects of Hawk
- Grace, Becca's best friend is her partner in crime and brings not only humor but support when Becca needs it most
- Avengers references, if you know me you understand why I love this
- professional team names, the Commanders is a pretty good name but the name of the team they play in the book is worth the read
- prom, this is an important event in both their young and adult lives

Overall this was a quick sports romance that was fun to read, had a good amount of spice and such a great world that I cannot wait to continue to read this series. All of my sports romance lovers should check this out, and you will not be disappointed.

This was a flop with a lot of typos. It had potential but the characters were just annoying and meh.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book received from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I love sports romances and this one was a lot of fun. It was hilarious and I loved all of the characters.

Thank You to Netgalley for providing an arc in an exchange for a honest review.

Hawk Florence has always been the football star, the guy that can make any girl fall in love with him- and then break their heart. And that’s exactly what he did to me way back in high school. Now I’ve been assigned to do a puff piece on him for a national sports journal, and I’m more than ready to get my revenge.

The plan is simple. First, sit him down and flatter the shit out of him. Laugh at his crappy jokes. Touch his arm, let it linger. When he asks me out, I’ll flutter my eyelashes and shyly accept. Then, make him fall in love. And devour him. I’m ready. I won’t fail. But there’s one thing that I didn’t plan for: he doesn’t ask me out. Instead, he calls me out on my BS. He’s not wrong, but that’s just one of the ways that my plan has already gone terribly wrong before it even begins.

When he does finally ask me out, it isn’t much of a date. Instead, it’s a few agonizing hours of going back and forth about why we hate each other. But there is one interesting thing that came out of our brief time together: the bet that Hawk makes with me- that he will make me fall in love in 3 weeks, in love for real. If he fails, he’ll give me every exclusive for the season. Of course, I accept. Why wouldn’t I? This will help my career, and it’s not like he has a prayer anyway. This jerk broke my heart in high school, and there’s no way that I will fall for the same trick twice. Or will I?

All bets are off when it comes to the heart. Fumbled is a standalone sports romcom that will make you wonder what to do when love- and football- gives you a second chance….

I love me a good friends- enemies- lovers romance. This fell slightly short for my liking, the chemistry and the spice in the book however was top tier. I just don't think the authors writing style is for me.

Fumbled by Lizzi Stone

Q.O.T.D: do you have a favorite sport to read about in your books?

I’m a huge hockey fan so this is my first pick but I also love football.

📚 Book Review 📚

I really wanted to love this book. I tend to enjoy sport romances but fumbled left me longing for a touch down that never happened.

I knew going into this book that it was a short story but the story line was to rushed. I believe had the story had time to build both storyline and character depth it could have been so much more.

What the reader is given is steam and likable characters. I’ll definitely look into picking up the other books in the series.

Thank you netgalley for a copy of this book for my honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶🌶🌶

#netgalley #2022readingchallenge
#FumbledAFootballRomCom #sportsromancebooks #contemporarybooks

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I unfortunately was not a fan of this book at all. Becca and Conrad were both whiny, annoying and boring. The only characters that were fun to read about were the Conrad's family and the guys on his football team and Grace, who was Becca's friend.

There's a lot in this book that seems to come out of nowhere. Like the fact that Becca randomly had a blog that she'd never mentioned until a pivotal point. I also could not get over that both Becca and Conrad had to keep rehashing that Becca looked better without makeup and not needing it at all over and over throughout the book.

I wanted to like this book, but it was not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book!

I thought that this was a really good story with an enjoyable plot!

It was a good all round book with some great characters.

It was a book that had honesty, yearning and doing the right thing

I thoroughly enjoyed this one - it had great attention to detail too.

It is 4 stars from me for this one - highly recommended!!

Received this arc for an honest review

This is an enemy to lovers' books. Connard Hawk who was the star quarterback in high school is now the pro quarterback. Becca who was the girl with braces, glasses, and got tossed is now a stunning beauty yet still has those memories from high school and being turned down and laughed at when she asked him to the prom. Now she has been assigned to write a piece for her magazine and she expects Connard to not remember her. Yet he does and then asks her to dinner from there he makes a bet with her that he can get or make her fall in love with him in three weeks she accepts.
I know it is just a story but there were times when I just did not connect with either character and sometimes the story as well. Maybe just me. I was hoping for more.

Fumbled: A Football RomCom is the first in a new series. I thought it was going to be a full length book but it was more of a novella with under 200 pages. What I liked about this book: Quick read, set up for the side characters and some funny moments. What I didn't like: Casual racism, body image issues, slight misogyny and many grammatical errors. There's even a part towards the end of the book that has the character Becca, who is a journalist, makes sure that she triple checks her writing to make sure it has no errors. Since this is the first in a series, and I did enjoy some of it, I might continue on to the next books. Thank you Netgalley and Dragon Realm Press for a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.


I really wanted to enjoy this book, but unfortunately it fell very flat. The characters seem to lack real personality, the writing style was not my favorite, and there was a fair amount of grammatical. And spelling errors. It felt like more of a chore to read than an enjoyment.

This is my first book from the author and there is real promise in her work, I just feel it needs some fine tuning.

Fumbled is book one in Lizzy Stone’s Chesapeake Commanders and a fun, easy to read and enjoyable story of opposites attract and their rocky road to a HEA. A well-written storyline with humour, angst, and sexual magnetism, and characters who bring reality to their rollercoaster journey. I’m looking forward to the next in the series.

It is with a heavy heart I unfortunately leave a negative review and some serious notes for consideration about this book. I truly hate to “rate” the creative, artistic and heartfelt work of authors because I can’t begin to imagine the time, effort and heart it takes to create characters and share their story, but this book contained excessive grammar and spelling errors alongside some deeply problematic and unnecessary discourse surrounding body image and race.

I did enjoy:
1. Punchy and cheeky humour sprinkled throughout the book which served to develop character personalities really well:

- “The microwave was my third best friend, after Grace and my vibrator.” / “‘I’m obsessed with good pasta,’" — these read like she was whispering jokes to me as her friend and I loved that!
- "'And we all wore them to the Christmas party,' Hawk said with a wistful smile. 'Even though she used the ugliest wool she could find. Except Ollie Parker's. His was navy blue. I think she had—has, a soft spot for him.’” — This quote was a huge standout for me because it shows the reader who someone is rather than telling them. I love how much personality is developed here.

2. Insightful comparison and meaningful allusion
- “‘The point of Shakespeare is how well he understood human nature,’ I reminded him. ‘Yeah.’ Hawk gave me a regretful look. ‘High school me failed at that too, remember? But I have three weeks to prove I've changed.’” — this was really clever to include as it spoke to their past, made for sharp banter and natural conversation


Problematic elements:
1. Body image

“I worked out enough that I didn’t have to live on salads to keep myself looking trim.” (Chapter 1)

“…wondered how much I’d have to work out to live on ice cream.” (Chapter 1)

These and other similar quotes perpetuate unhealthy body image and problematic discourse surrounding healthy eating and body positivity. These felt unnecessary and did not sit well with me; I expect more from authors — let alone female authors — in 2022.


2. Racism, harmful stereotypes

“‘Yes, yes.’ He nodded so hard I thought his turban might fall off. He probably had a degree in medicine, from his native country. That might be a good story to cover. It certainly seemed to be common enough. If I wasn't with Grace, I would have asked him a bunch of questions. Since she'd tell me off for working while on holiday, I took note of his name and the name of the cab company. I wouldn't be much of a reporter if I couldn't find him later.”

I was truly shocked to read this.

The inclusion of this felt wholly unnecessary as it did nothing to further character development nor the plot and actually interrupted the flow of the final scenes in this book.


3. Other Notes:
Grammar, spelling/typos and continuity errors

“‘That’s exactly what I’m hoping,’ I replied. ‘That’s what I’m hoping.’” (Chapter 1) — this felt like accidental duplication, not a character repeating themselves for emphasis

“obnoxious” (Chapter 9)

“Las Angeles” (Chapter 9)

“hem of my skirt” (Chapter 9) — previously stated she dressed in a t-shirt and shorts before going to the mall

“‘Hey, I’m a great cook,’ Hawk protested. ‘No, maybe,’ Vera said, ‘But back then—‘“ (Chapter 11) — think this is supposed to be: “Now, maybe”

“peek” (Chapter 18) — should be “peak”

“All my ideas lately seemed to fumbled catches.” (Chapter 19) — missing “be”

“women” (Chapter 21) — should be “woman”

I would typically consider a few typos forgivable in an ARC but this contained many — a few of which I noted above — that disrupts the reading experience and indicates a lack of care.


4. Blatant foreshadowing
Chapter 5 & Chapter 7 — far too obvious


Final thoughts:
I want to reiterate that it is really hard for me to give a poor rating as I empathize with the authors who collaborated to invest time and energy into this novel, but the combination of problematic discourse, typos, predictability and sub par writing resulted in this one really missing the mark for me and actually not sit well with me. I hope there is an opportunity for these things to be addressed because with more polished and thoughtful execution on the creative storyline and clever characters would make for a charming quick read.

Fumbled is the first book I have read by Lizzi Stone. Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for this review. I did enjoy this story and liked both Becca and Hawk. I do think Becca held onto her anger at Hawk from high school for way too long. He really did just act like a teenage boy, unfortunately. I did feel like I knew both characters pretty well, but wish the entire book had been fleshed out a bit more. It reminded me of several other similar books I've read, some of them done better than this. It just wasn't as good as I was hoping from the blurb. 3.25 stars.

This book had so much promise. As a fan of the friends-to-enemies-to-lovers trope and sports romances, this should have been a slam dunk for me. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into it.

The writing style and grammar/spelling errors did not sit well with me. It became confusing to read at times because of this.

I also felt the characters didn't have much personality or much chemistry. The instalove in this book was so surface-level, even for instalove. It was not believable and not engaging.

I'm giving 2 stars because there was a lot of promise and I like worlds created that have the potential for spinoffs. Hoping this duo was just getting past their awkward phase with this novel and the next will be better.

I received a copy of this book from the publishers and NetGalley in exchange for my honest feedback.

Becca is a journalist, and Hawk is a football player she is to interview. They have a history, and decide to make a bet. Quick to jump into bed, considering she has been mad at him for over a decade. Also, the story-line of misunderstanding and being mad for something not actually done made me skim a bit to the HEA. Not a bad story, but could have been better. Would recommend if you want a quick easy read.

Fumbled has all of the requisite parts for a sports romance novel. An independent woman, a standoffish athlete and something to throw them together, tear them apart, and bring them back together.

Although formulaic, the book does set out the opportunity for future novels and characters to be developed. It would be interesting to see the characters of Becca and Hawk as side characters going forward.

The characters are likable for the most part. I wish that Becca was not someone who saw chocolate and turned it down because it would "add 5 pounds to her waistline". I think that the book has strong potential, but the sequence of falling in love happened so quickly and past wrongs were just forgotten that it was hard to cheer them on.

The ending, however, was very cute. I admit I was expecting it to be a proposal but I was pleasantly surprised.

Fumbled by Lizzi stone. This romance book did not give me that lovin feeling. Like always this male footballer was supposed to be this whorehound jerk But he never changed my mind ,he was always going to be that guy who would d- - - A. Chick. If it made him look big with the guys. The female figure made me so mad. She had been hurt by this jerk in high school and was stil.l dwelling on it twelve years later🤦‍♀️ So when she would she let him jump her like a horny buck you were like have some pride girl. This is definitely not a book to read if you have ever had your heart broke

4 Stars for this quick sweet romance!

Hawk has always been a football star and now Becca is a journalist, but back in high school she was a nerd who tutored Hawk. Becca was in love with Hawk and when she asked him to prom ... he laughed at her. Years later, Becca is determined to break Hawk's heart ... just like he broke her heart in high school. She's going to make him fall in love with her and then she's going to dump him. But Hawk isn't anything like she though he was. So let the games begin!

At first, I found the story to be kinda slow ... but after a couple chapters it picked up and I ended up really enjoying it. Hawk and Becca are just perfect for each other and I was cheering for them to have a happily-ever-after. This book made me laugh and swoon ... and the intimate scenes were HOT!

I received an early copy courtesy of Dragon Realm Press through NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

This book was a super cute, funny, and great read. The characters were all amazing, had me laughing, heartbroken, and wanting each one to have their own stories. In this story we have Becca who is set to interview the one guy that broke her heart years ago in high school, Conrad Hawk Florence. Becca was the shy nerdy type who was tutoring Conrad so he could play football, so when she the nerd asks the hot jock to prom he laughs at her, humiliating her. She wants to seek some form of revenge by having him ask her out for her to laugh at him but what she wasn’t planning was for him to remember her and catch on to her plan. Hawk decides to make a bet that he can get her to stop hating him for his past and make her fall again, but what he doesn’t see coming is him falling for her. These two banter back and forth with so much ease that they fall back into an easy friendship of sorts but now the tension is stacked high will they be able to fight it and give this a chance or is the pain of rejection still hanging around? Can Conrad let Becca in and trust her with his personal life or will she still be out for revenge and tear him apart in the media? I loved this story because it was fun and their friends were so supportive. Hawk knows he messed up a few times and when he gets his head in a better place he knows he has to prove his feelings for Becca. I hope we see more from Grace and the other football players next.