“What was better than a big, muscly guy who loved books?”

Pinterest Board: Find a sneak peek into this book: https://pin.it/56jOHnK

Review: If you haven’t laid hands on the book yet, here’s your clue to stop reading. This review has spoilers.

When I finished the book and finally marked it as read on my Goodreads, I was thinking of how I’d justify the rating. I clicked on 5-star, then hesitated. Was I overrating the book? I gave it a four and was about to press submit when I wondered, what made me hit four? Was it the plot? No. The characters? No. The setting? No. The ending? No. It was just a petty fear of overrating. I say, screw it!

I adore Sloane and Ryan, but there’s some part of me that wants to know Mark and Mandy’s story too. Anyway, the task at hand, the book is incredible! Sloane is a strong, independent woman and even with no skill of making friends, she doesn’t let on how lonely she is. I understand, being a person of the same sort, that it’s bad for you in the long run if you can’t communicate and feel restless when sharing your feelings, but it takes a lot of courage to put on the cheery front, especially for someone with so much baggage.

Ryan, I believe, is a strong candidate too. A part of me was proud and elated when he realized his coach was giving up on something too important and learned his lesson to go back, but there was a stronger part that wished he’d told all that to his coach. He probably would’ve ignored him, or maybe paid heed, but people tend to wonder about observations other people make about them, and Ryan could’ve been a saving grace for his coach’s marriage.

When Sloane’s father uninvited her, a part of me thought it was a dick move, yet another part of me resonated with Sloane. Not with my parents but about the sense of belonging. Am I sure I feel like I belong? No, I’m sure I feel like I can never belong and more than anything else, my personal experiences made me love Sloane the most. We aren’t very similar circumstance-wise, but we’re similar in ways more than I can describe.

I haven’t read the first book in the series yet, but I’m sure I’m going to read it very soon!

Ryan is looking for the menace that’s got the town reading *steamy* romance books and he’s not expecting to find Sloane as the one responsible.
Sloane just wants to make some friends in her new(ish) town, and we all now how hard that can be.
After their explosive meeting, Sloane sets her sights on getting the towns super star athlete to be her practice friend… but love was never supposed to be part of the equation.

You guys this book! These two had me hooked from the get go! Everything about this book was hilarious, wholesome, heartwarming and just what I needed. I mean come on there was a llama within the first 2 chapters, a hilarious reaction to a steamy romance novel, muffins being thrown, dinosaur dresses, inflatable dinosaur costumes, it was the most chaotic thing I have ever read in the best possible way and I loved every minute of it.

Sloane was the best female MC, she was quirky and absolutely owned it, she had no shame and I loved it so much. Although she was a little socially awkward the way she bit back at Ryan when they first met had me in fits of giggles with her quick come backs. She was such a loveable and relatable character and deserves all do the love and happy endings.

Ryan, the cocky ‘jack the lad’ athlete but an actual cinnamon roll when you got to know him was adorable! I loved his character development. His parents were hilarious and such fun side characters and Pat the librarian was the OG.

Shout out to Trudy, the best friend we all deserve and Mark the younger brother teaching his older brother the valuable life lessons.

These two genuinely had the sweetest relationship pretty much from the get go. They had such great chemistry which you don’t always get a good balance of in romance novels and they actually fit so well together, they both definitely got more than they bargained for but it was the most wholesome thing.

If you’re looking for a easy, sweet heartwarming and hilariously funny read then this one’s for you, I promise you won’t regret it!

Thank you Netgalley, Stefanie London and publisher for an ARC of this book.

Let me just start off by saying absolutely loved this book! I’m a huge baseball fan and love romance books so this was perfect for me. This was a quick and fun read for me. I loved the storyline between Sloan and Ryan. Sloan is a librarian in a small town she moved to several years ago. Ryan returns back to his hometown after a baseball injury and stays with his parents. Ryan makes a discovery that is mother just read a steamy romance book that was part of her book club at the local library run by Sloan. Ryan becomes traumatized when he finds out his parents are re-enacting scenes from the book and decides to confront the librarian. Once he does sparks fly and they land up working together on a Halloween float for the local parade and Sloan challenges him to read the book. As the book goes on they start having feelings for each other. The big question towards the end of the book do they sacrifice what they have built? Sloan wants to remain in town and Ryan has to decide if he wants to return to baseball.

Again. I absolutely loved this book and the character development. It was fun to see them both step out if their comfort zone and take a chance on each other!

He is back in his hometown to recover from his injury and come back to play baseball. She has found her place to finally settle and build the life she’s always dreamed. In their plans it doesn’t fit to fall in love because it may mean Ryan and Sloane have to change their goals. But can you fight love when it finds you? A really great story.

Kissing Games is a delightful story about Ryan and Sloane and how they discover that what they think they want isn't always what they need.

Ryan is back in his home town of Kissing Creek while he recovers from an injury and as soon as he can, he wants to be back with his team playing baseball. He comes across the town librarian, sassy Sloane who is a breath of fresh air and can't help but lock horns with her. Sloane has settled in Kissing Creek and wants to make it her forever home and getting involved with a man who's made it clear that he can't wait to move on is something she should avoid like the plague, except she can't help but keeping going for more when it comes to Ryan.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's got some signature Stefanie London sass and perfect small town vibes with characters who go on an emotional rollercoaster and give you all the feels along the way.

This book starts off so funny and doesn't stop. Ryan is a star MLB pitcher home in the small town of Kissing Creek to nurse a torn ACL. He's staying with his parents and hears a ruckus in their room. He storms out to the library when he discovers it was caused by a book. Sloane is a feisty librarian new to town and ready to shake things up, starting with a steamy romance book club. She wears adorable dinosaur patterned dresses and volunteers in her spare time. They end up working together on a parade float. They’ve got nothing in common but everything to lose. Ryan is going to heal and leave town again, right?

I loved this book so much. They are in the mid thirties, which is great. Most romance books seem to be about early 20 year olds. Their chemistry is so good. The banter is perfectly witty and flirty. They pulled me in and I couldn't put the book down.

Short and sweet:
Small town
Friends to lovers
Jock but not rude MC
Nerdy sexy librarian
Steamy scenes

This is my first read by Stefanie London. I will absolutely be reading more. Highly recommend!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the author Stefanie London, and Entangled Publishing for the ARC!

Ryan is back in his hometown to hide away. The town is the place he couldn't wait to leave, but for Sloane it is a place to belong and put down roots, so do they have a chance at being together when they want such different things?

A great read. Love Ryan's family.

Looking forward to more books in this series.

I enjoyed this fun, romantic read. Sloane is a young librarian who runs book club. This book selection is a little on the steamy side of things. Everyone is enjoying the book, especially injured baseball player Ryans parents. Ryan is almost certain that the town’s adorably quirky and troublemaking librarian, Sloane, is responsible.

This book is the second in the kissing creek series. I did not read the first one and had no problem reading this as a stand alone novel. The characters of Sloane and Ryan are very well written. I really enjoyed their chemistry between the two characters. The storyline is well written and I really enjoyed it.

This was a great quick read. I read it on a snowy day in one sitting. I look forward to reading more from this author.

This is my first Kissing Creek book and I really enjoyed it. I love books that talk about books lol so I really liked that a library book was a catalyst to the main characters’ relationship. The flirting was just so cute. Sloane and Ryan both found what they needed in each other. And let me tell you, the characters in this book are hilarious. I have so many highlighted quotes of just jokes. Overall, this was a great lighthearted read. Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for this ARC.

Reading this has made me question why I have not made Stefanie Londons books more of a priority. This is only the 2nd one of hers I've read and I absolutely adored it! I was laughing and smiling from the get go and I just didn't want to put it down. I loved how quirky Sloane was and all she wanted was to put down some roots, make friends and be included and to feel important and needed/wanted which really struck a chord with me. I loved how the relationship with Ryan developed from a bit of the hate vibe which became friends and went from there. It flowed really well and I loved the chemistry and the banter they had. Ryan has got book boyfriend material written all over him he was a delight and very swoony. The story line around the book club was brilliant especially with the town and there chapter 21 escapades. I just adored this one from start to finish and didn't want it to end. I hope we are going back to Kissing Creek I need more of it in my life

This was a light, funny and fast read book. I was actually laughing out loud while reading the banters between Sloane and Ryan. At first I was going to give this only four stars, it was a bit cheesy in my opinion but the build-up towards the end moved my heart.

Truly, giving up one's career for someone else is a big sacrifice to make. With Sloane wanting to have a family and settling down in a small town while being a librarian and Ryan prioritizing his baseball career, these two didn't want to give up what they love. I really loved how they resolved this on their own. And the words they exchanged while talking things through went through my heart because this is part of life, choosing the path you take and what future you want to have.

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

Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing, LLC for this ARC!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

This book was a sweet, low angst, easy read about a baseball player and a quirky librarian.

It was cute enough to get through and enjoy, but I wasn’t gripped (I found it easy to put down and stagger my way through, when usually I’d read a romance in one sitting). I think a little more tension may have worked for me, but I can absolutely see how something this charming would appeal to readers who total HEA escapism.

I wanted more of the book club book woven into the text! That was a really fun part of the story.

I particularly enjoyed the storyline about Sloane’s parents, and how her assumptions about their relationship (that she applies to her own life) weren’t always right. Some nice personal growth!

In short: a quality easy read romance.

This was such a cute read! This is the first book I’ve read by this author but it definitely won’t be the last.

I really liked the main characters. Sloane was smart, independent, and feisty. Ryan was caring and funny. Together they were 🔥.

I felt so bad for Sloane because her family was the worst. However, I liked seeing that Sloane didn’t spend the entire time feeling sorry for herself.

This is a great option if you like:

✔️ enemies to lovers
✔️ small town romance
✔️ flirty banter
✔️ athlete as a main character
✔️dinosaurs

“Maybe you should ask her if she knows about chapter twenty-one”
“But no one criticised her book club picks and got away with it”
“This five-foot-nothing, dinosaur-wearing, ponytail-flipping librarian was giving him shit about his sex life?”
I absolutely loved this book!!!
I needed a good romance and it just delivered perfectly !!!
A romance between a former baseball player, temporarily retired for injury, and a librarian who runs an adult book club, with a very spicy suggestion for the October month ???
Loved it!!! Absolutely !!! Couldn’t even stop reading it !!!
There is enemies to lovers, forced proximity, banter, a lot of sexual tension and even the grumpy sunshine trope !!!
Sloane and Ryan meet every request and I’m so glad I had the chance to read their story !!!
But it’s not just about their spicy relationship !!!!
This book is also about commitment, about priorities and about discovering one’s self.
This story is about creating a life that both meets your goals and the ones of the person you want to share that same life with.
Our main characters both started from different points and they were miraculously pushed together by fate or destiny or simply because at the end they both needed that same one thing … affection, being open and vulnerable with someone else.
It is the second book in a series but there’s no need to read the first one before!!!
Even though you absolutely should because this stories are great !!!!!
“If Sloane Rickman wanted a challenge, then a challenge he was going to bring her”
“She was a force. A tiny rainbow hurricane who’d mow down everything in her path”
“He’d had a taste of Sloane, and now he wanted more”

This story started up with a bang!! And quite funny., Ryan is home, recovering from an injury, he is living at his parent's house and learns, hears, his parent's reviews of the latest book club choice. Sloane is the lead of the reading group. Their meet-cute story involves a Llama and a host of interesting characters. Unfortunately, the story drags a bit and did not keep my interest.

"𝑨 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔"

I loved this book so much! I'm a sucker for an opposites attract, small town romance and this was perfect. This book had me laughing and"aww"ing. I loved the dual POVs between Ryan's and Sloan and I loved the side characters too. Especially Lily.... #iykyk

Sloane was quirky, witty and caring. I could definitely relate her! She loved reading, bookclubs, snacks and of course, dinosaurs. I loved the parts about how hard it is to make friends as an adult and the other tips scattered throughout the story

Ryan was a sweetheart! Though he may appear hard and tough on the outside, he was soft and squishy underneath. I loved the chapters with his POV and he had amazing character development.

Ryan and Sloane's witty banter was absolute p•e•r•f•e•t•i•o•n, I loved listening to them go back and forth! And their chemistry was undeniable from the start.

Overall, I loved this fun, lighthearted romance and I definitely recommend it. Now I want to go back and read the previous book! Thank you @ for the gifted copy.

𝙍𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙: Yes! ✅
𝙋𝙪𝙗 𝘿𝙖𝙮: March 22, 2022
𝙍𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5
𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪: Entangled Publishing for this gifted copy! All opinions are my own.

This review has already been posted to my Instagram, and will be shared to other sites on publication day!

This story begins with an introduction to the leading male, Ryan, who has to return to his small hometown of Kissing Creek to heal after a knee injury playing major league baseball. He is prompted to go to the local library where he has a (not so) meet-cute with one of the librarians, Sloane. They don’t hit it off right away but are forced to work with each other on a float for the town’s upcoming Halloween parade. Banter, self-discovery and romance ensue, but when Ryan is called back to the big leagues, their relationship is tested.

It took me a few chapters to get into this story. I personally found the writing style and especially the dialogue at the beginning of the book to be very juvenile and stilted but it evolved throughout the book (or I just got used to it) and it wasn’t as noticeable by the end. This was a very easy and lighthearted read for me and I finished the book in a day. I truly did enjoy the storyline and was rooting for Ryan and Sloane to make it through. There are definitely some steamy moments within this book as well! This wasn’t just a romance novel though, it also dealt with themes around making difficult career choices, family dynamics, friendship, loneliness, and acceptance.

I did find there to be a lack of detail for some elements. The storyline would skip over a few days or weeks and we, as readers, were filled in afterwards but only high-level. I think there could have been some added depth to some of the backgrounds and character development had there been more detail. I also found an inconsistency with Sloane’s absolute love for Halloween, yet she had never been trick-or-treating? I actually went back to the beginning of the book to see where I missed that and couldn’t seem to find the original mention of that. There were a few other seemingly random things thrown in here like Lily the Llama, and I also did not understand the rationale for Sloane’s love of dinosaurs (another thing that we never got the detail on).

Overall, I did enjoy this book but I think I just wanted a bit more from the storyline and the characters. This is a solid three stars for me!

Great book.
I loved the story and characters, and whilst it was funny at times it was sad at others.

Hope there will be more books in this series.

This book was very sweet and loving. You really felt like you you were apart of the town and all the people that lived in it. Such a good time

Sloane and Ryan are so lovely !! And this book is so funny and steamy at the same time. I loved it !

Truth be told, I had HUGE expectations about chapter 21 as the twenty-first chapter of the bookclub romance is the key for Sloane and Ryan's meeting. I really thought Stefanie London, the author, would have made it really hot for her characters... Actually it's the saddest chapter of the book. Was it intentional ? Maybe !

Kissing Games is the second book of a series but I haven't read the first instalment, had no idea it wasn't a stand alone, and wasn't bothered at all :)

As a French person I may have missed some hints but I found out the story wasn't taking place in Canada but in the USA very late (82.7% of the story !). It wasn't a big issue, it was just very surprising.

4.5 stars ! I highly recommend this book if you like cute reads with a real depth about what's important in life.

Thank you to Netgalley and Entangled Publishing for providing an eARC in exchange of an honest review.