3.5⭐️
This book was absolutely adorable.
I enjoyed this book from beginning to end. The banter between Ryan and Sloane had me laughing out loud at some points, and the character development was well done.
The two main characters also had stories that ran parallel to each other, even if they didn’t realize it was both what they wanted until the end.
I also really liked how neither of them had to give up everything for the other, instead made a compromise so they could both be happy.
Overall a very cute read!

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

3.5 stars (rounded to 4)

Oh, I liked this one! My first Stefanie London book, but certainly not my last!

I enjoyed London's writing style, her characters were well written and engaging.

Yes it was another book where the MFC was tiny/petite and the MMC was tall, dark and handsome, but I didn't care. I liked Sloane and all her sass and Ryan with all his unexpected depth.

It's a lovely, easy to read story about love, heartbreak, timing, a dirty book club, dinosaurs, working out what you want in life and good sex.

Highly recommend you give it a read!

Thanks Stefanie London, NetGalley and Entagled Publishing for the ARC
#KissingGames #NetGalley

Ryan is a star MLB pitcher back home in the small town of Kissing Creek to nurse a torn ACL. He has enough reasons for staying awake but never though the sound of his parents making love would be one of them. And that is because of a steamy novel recommended by the town librarian.
Sloane grew up constantly moving thanks to her Moms work. Her dream is to settle down in a cute small town and Kissing Creek fits her needs, well everything except the town golden boy Ryan.
Kissing Games is an adorable, cute, romantic read with some amazing chemistry. I really enjoyed the banter between Ryan and Sloane, left me with a smile. The author has also touched upon some very relevant topics like making friends as an adult and finding a balance between professional and personal life in a very nice way.
This is a standalone book, even though I have not read the previous book in the series, I enjoyed Kissing games and can happily recommend it.

This book was ok. I ended up skimming it because it was a Halloween centric book and I was actually surprised to find that out.

It did finally pick up though a little.

It was a two star rating because it was hard to get into and stay interested. Thank you Netgalley and publishers for allowing chance to read and review.

This was a sweet and light rom-com. I was nervous I wouldn’t like it because I actually found book 1 to be a little corny at times but I did enjoy this one more! This book even had me laughing at certain parts.

I loved that there was instant chemistry between the two main characters — Sloane and Ryan!

This book was really refreshing and I enjoyed it!

This is a classic small town romance. Sloane Rickman grew up constantly moving before her parents finally divorced as she went off to college. Her dream is to find the perfect small town and have deep roots. She’s been the librarian in Kissing Creek three years. She loves the town and her job although she could use some friends. Sloane loves dressing quirkily, preferably with a dinosaur print and is excitedly in charge of the town Halloween Parade. Ryan Bower is the town golden boy. At 35 he is a major league picture in Toronto. He’s is home recovering from a torn ACL that ended this baseball season. But he is driven to recover so he can return to the game that means everything to him.

Of course there is a meet-cute and a funny on going bit about the steamy book that Sloane chose for this months book club selection. Sloane and Ryan get to know each other better while building a float for the town parade. There is more depth to them being together than either expects. But of course their end goals are polar opposite. This book contains a lot of flirting and banter. But truths come out too, from talking and a silly game of truth or dare. There is also the right amount of steaminess. The minimal angst moment didn’t do me in nearly as much as the disappointment with father. And I honestly didn’t get how her second conversation with him changed anything for her. (That’s me being picky.) But I know love will find a way for this cute couple to be together.

This is a second in a series but easily read as a stand alone. The female MC from the first book, Kissing Lessons, has a brief appearance at her work place. A nice contemporary romance to occupy a few hours. Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing, LLC for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A Winning Five-star read. This is number two in the Kissing Creek series, and they can be read as stand-alone as they feature a different couple from Kissing Creek, you do see the others, but they complement the story rather than take it over and leave you lost if you don’t know their story. Ryan is at his lowest low, he has a bad knee and is out of the game, that could be a big win for his team, he’s back to a hometown he liked but moved away from for bigger and better things. Now he is stuck there and having to listen to his folks do things that no child ever should. Then he meets a woman who throws everything into the mix, including Dinosaurs, steamy reads and amazing taste in coffee as well as sublime snack skills. But Sloane also brings a lot more to Ryan, things he didn’t even know he needed. This is a sweet story and one that will warm even the coldest of hearts, and warm other places especially when you get to Chapter Twenty-One.

Having already read and enjoyed the first book in this series (Kissing Lessons), I was more than happy to return to the small town of Kissing Creek. Ryan is the home town boy made good, a baseball star whose injury has robbed him of potential glory, and he's returned home to distance himself from the team (and maybe sulk a little) while he recovers. Sloane, meanwhile, has made herself a home in the town and is trying, desperately, to find the type of friendships and belonging she's never had. When the two of them first encounter each other in the library where Sloane works... SPARKS.

The best thing about this book for me is the banter. Both leads are strong, intelligent people and the chemistry between them is instant and irresistible: it initially feels like a case of opposites attract, but in fact they are perfect together. Both are lonely in their own way, and both are authentic in their issues and emotions. The author deals with some very valid struggles - making friends as an adult, the balance between family and career - sensitively and realistically, and has an excellent way with description, dialogue and detail. All that, plus a llama with a taste for muffins (yes, really), makes for a fun, absorbing read.

- 4.75/5 ⭐️
- NA/A
- third person POV
- small town romance
- baseball player x librarian
- grumpysunshine
- tight friend/family group
- cute banters
- strangers to friends to lovers
- second book of a series of standalones

Overview:

Ryan is a thirty-five year old well-known baseball player with zero intentions of becoming a family man unlike his brother. After an injury, he decided to head back home to Kissing Creek for a well-deserved break, and not expecting to bump into the town’s sweetheart of a librarian, Sloane, who he then found out was the culprit of the adult book club in the town’s local library who had picked a… very interesting book for the book club that month. He keeps on teasing her about the choice of dirty book she had picked out and ended up wanting to find more about the book for himself. For the town’s Halloween celebration, Sloane and Ryan has to work together to build a float for the local parade. As time flew by, they grew not only emotionally attached to each other, but physically too, but Ryan had set his mind way before he came home that he was to return back to Toronto to continue his dream in the baseball field. Sloane too, would not let anyone change her mind to move away from Kissing Creek as all her life was a constant move following her mother’s packed and busy job life. But the more they spend time with each other, the more they realise that maybe what they truly need is a home in a person rather a home in a location.

Review:

Thank you NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for sending me an e-arc of this amazing book! Just a disclaimer that I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Phewh, where to begin… I am a sucker for small town romances, the same as most of my friends are too. The chemistry between the characters, the love they have for each other, how tight their circle can be, it all brings me joy, and all that can be found in this very light, bubbly, funny, and cute book. The banter the two main characters had at first brought me to tears as I found myself loving it so, so much. The tension they had between them, especially when discussing about certain themes of the book club’s book of the month (if you know what I’m saying) was what kept me going. This was written in a way that is easy to understand, yet is telling so much if you were to dig more into the words written, which is very important to understand the moral of the story.

Sloane reminds me so much of the girl in Me Before You— with the questionable yet very interesting choice of clothes, the bubbly and fun attitude, the charisma she has, which explains why she’s the town’s sweetheart. Knowing what she went through, with her mom constantly causing her and her dad to be on the move, to her dad re-marrying and settling down with another woman with kids of his own, and her choosing Kissing Creek to settle down to build a home, gave me a sense of courage that nothing can stop us from doing what we want to do, unless it is for the people we love. She found a family living in Kissing Creek, and most important of all, she found her true love.

Ryan is your favourite grumpy, golden boy. Loved by many, and loves hard. The instant he met Sloane, he knew she was it for him. He rather drop everything including his baseball career to be with her and build a family together. His relationship with his family is so beautiful, especially with his brother, Mark, who Ryan would always turn to to seek advices from.

Ryan and Sloane’s relationship and the way it was built-up from the beginning of the book through the end, with their constant banters, jokes, cute domestic scenes, and love scenes, are the reason why I fell in love with them and will never stop. The spice, the connection between the characters, the raw communication, I loved every inch of it. The epilogue makes it or breaks it for me, and in this case, IT MADE IT!

I am so, so happy that I got to read and review this before it is released. Will get into the first book now that I know how much I enjoyed the second one!

A lighthearted, easy read, Kissing Games is about a small town librarian and an injured baseball player who clash ... and then fall in love.

The story isn't anything particularly revolutionary, but it doesn't need to be! With sweet, feisty characters and a charming setting, Kissing Games is a light and fun romance.

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my god, Stefanie London has done it again! Kissing Lessons was an AMAZING book, so I knew that Kissing Games was going to be great. London has such a wonderful way of adding little details to her books that are so relatable. She really understands the little quirks that make falling in love such a wonderful thing.

Sloane and Ryan are PERFECTION. There's no other way to put it. Who would've thought a baseball star and a small-town librarian would be so good together?! So Sloane is a small-town librarian who is happy to finally be settled in a place for once. She moved around a lot as a child, so, at 27 years old, is so happy to be in Kissing Creek. Ryan, on the other hand, couldn't wait to get out of Kissing Creek (he was raised there). He became a baseball star, and, at 35, just had a bad injury that has forced him off the field. Instead of licking his wounds in his penthouse apartment in Toronto, he goes home to stay with his parents for a bit. A romance novel (of all things!) brings Sloane and Ryan together in the most hilarious way. The two are so perfect for each other, but you'd never know that on paper. It's one of those situations where is just works, you know? The compliment each other in the best ways. Here are the things I loved about this book:

1. Sloane is obsessed with dinosaurs and loves books. How can you not like that?
2. She is obsessed with making friends, but she doesn't have any close ones, despite having lived in Kissing Creek for 3 years. It is SO relatable to see her struggle to make friends as an adult. I love that Ms. London wrote such a relatable storyline.
3. I adore Sloane's sassiness. Some female main characters in romance novels come across in such a negative way, either too prudish or too outlandish. Sloane is such a refreshing heroine to root for. She's intelligent and can hold her own against Ryan.
4. Ryan is GOALS. He is the perfect grump to Sloane's bright sunshine, and I love their dynamic.
5. Ryan is struggling with wondering if his knee injury is going to end his career. He has real emotions and real issues that come along with being a man in today's society that praises men for being these super macho guys.
6. Ms. London can 1000% write a love scene. Whew! She does an excellent job with two people being physical with each other. The sex isn't outlandish; once again, it's very real and down-to-earth.
7. I love reading a love story that has a family in it. It gives the story so much gravitas, AND it's usually pretty funny to watch them get up to hijinks.
8. The ending is PERFECTION. Absolute perfection. I won't spoil it except to say this: Ms. London does an incredible job with writing two characters who love each so much that they are willing to change their lives for the other person. The cool thing is, though: It's always a compromise. Love isn't one-sided. It takes two people to make a relationship work, and the author does an excellent job showing this.

So as you can see, I loved this book. Head over heels. If you love a sexy, small-town romance with extremely relatable situations and issues, this book is for you. Ms. London writes a small-town romance like nobody I've ever read. It's a true gift.

Who knew a steamy book club pick would be a great meet cue for sexy baseball pitcher Ryan and quirky dinosaur loving Sloane. When Ryan comes home to his family home to recoup after an injury and finds his parents have taken his moms new book club read to the bedroom…..he goes on hunt for the person who picked the club book……who knew he would find banter with her so much fun……

This is a cute and easy read having everything a romcom needs to keep you entertained……I loved the dynamics between Sloane and Ryan . It’s a sweet romance about learning to open up and learn what is really important to each other and how that fits into each of their lives.

I received a free copy from NetGalley and all opinions are my own.

I would definitely recommend this book to to my friends and book club, or any other book by Stefanie London

Thanks so Entangled publishing the author and Netgalley for an ARC of this book. I have not been compensated for this review and am leaving it voluntarily.

The premise of this book is really good. A major league baseball player comes home ostensibly to recover from an injury, but in truth, to take stock of his career and maybe get an ego boost from his loved ones. Kidding Creek's librarian, Sloane. is a tempting distraction and while they don't hit it off at first, sparks start to fly - especially when he starts reading her book club book which happens to be an erotic romance. Sloane has been in the town for 3 years but still feels new. She hasn't built any strong friendships with anyone and really wants to belong somewhere, to not just be liked but to be known.

It starts of really well, the meet cute is funny and the banter between the two main characters is engaging. But then I lost the vein of the story a bit. Ryan's egotistical remarks grated at me a bit, even though I understand that he's an athlete and inflated ego might be a given, I found it a little off-putting. When Sloane decides she wants to make Ryan Bower a test run for how to make friends. For a seemingly intelligent woman, this sounds like a stretch. She's attracted to the guy - platonic friendship is not where this was going. Also, he's leaving town to go back to work so not really guarding herself against heartbreak by trying to build a friendship with this guy. The logic is off, but we all lie to ourselves when we're in love, so I went with it.

I'm glad kept with the story because it picked up when they both let their defences down. The other characters are funny and likeable and I started to become invested in these two crazy kids.

It's set during my favourite time of year and culminates with a Halloween Parade which I really wish I could attend. Actually the atmospheric descriptions of the town during this season are really lovely.

In the end this grumpy meets sunshine romance stole my heart. It took a while to get going but I'm so glad I stuck with Ryan and Sloane's story as they allow themselves to be vulnerable around each other and fall in love.

Thank you to Entangled Publishing and Netgalley for an e-ARC of this book. This was technically the second book in a series that can be read as standalones. I had an absolute joy of a time reading this book. I loved the quirks that made each character unique and I thought Ryan and Sloane's banter was everything! I also enjoyed the idea of found family for Sloane as she wanted to create a stable place in her life. Kissing Games made me laugh out loud as well as feel the emotions the characters were going through. I also adore sports romance and we had baseball here. The book club moments were hilarious and heartwarming and overall this was a really cute book.

I finished this book in a single day. To say I enjoyed this book would be an understatement, it had a fun enemies to lovers plot point set in a small town (think Gilmore Girls) with a librarian looking for a place to belong and a star pitcher rancour home recovering from surgery. Kissing games had a very unique meet cute that will force your hand in following in love with these two , as they try to find their new dreams.

First off, thank you NETGALLEY and Entangled publishing for an eArc of this book!

I did not expect to love this book as much as I did! It was captivating from the beginning. Told in a dual POV with Ryan Bower, professional baseball player, and Sloane, Kissing Creek’s favorite librarian, their love blossoms from the very start. It was beautiful watching them open up and learn as they progress together. Everything about them was AWESOME!

So where do I begin? This was a super cute rom com and I loved the witty banter and general light-heartedness. I fell in love with the way London writes, I don't think the book would have been as great as it was if it wasn't so well written.

It was easy to read and enjoy, leaving me smiling throughout. I loved to see the character development and how we saw both Ryan and Sloane and the slow build-up of their relationship. It didn't feel like too much at once.

I also loved the fact that this was a book about books. Something about it always makes the story that little bit extra special.

Overall, I would definitely recommend reading this book and I'm super excited to get my hands on more by Stefanie London.

The publisher kindly provided ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

So a llama walks into a library... sounds like the start of a funny joke right? Well it was how this novel started and did I find it funny? More like hilarious!

Sloane is a librarian (Can we say dream job?) who has created a life for herself in Kissing Creek. A life that is all about setting down roots and nurturing relationships, something she didn't have growing up.

Ryan is a major league baseball player, out of the season due to injury. His family lives in Kissing Creek and he is using them as a distraction instead of wallowing in self pity. He is incredibly driven and his job is everything.

These two bond over a scandalous steamy book, of all things and their relationship grows from there. This read was really cute and I had a smile plastered on my face the entire time!

What's to like:
❣Sunshine/Grumpy
❣Slight nods to a sports romance
❣Small town romance
❣Some spice
❣ Happily Ever after (what more could you want?)

Apparently this is a series, but I read it as a standalone and I didn't feel like I had missed anything major in the previous book. This was my first Stefanie London book and id be happy to go back for more.

This review will be posted on my Instagram account the week of publication.

"Sloane had always made herself memorable with her clothes and her bubbly personality and her quirkiness. But he mentioned the other, truer things that were below the surface. Which meant he’d been looking closely."

This book was very entertaining! Lighthearted with full of laughter and some very amazing side characters residing in a small town where everyone knows everyone. I loved Ryan & Sloane together. Their banters never failed to make me smile! Sloane was so easy to like and relate with. She was such a sweet young lady hoping to find a family amongst the people in town, trying to fit in but miserably failing. I felt really bad for her when people always cancelled on spending time with her but luckily, Ryan was the one person she could rely upon. He even introduced her to one of his friends and was there for her whenever she needed his help. Their chemistry was adorable and I loved their friends to lovers story! Though him & Sloane started off a friends, they can't deny the irresistible chemistry but Ryan is here only until the next season starts, what happens when he has to go back? Will he leave or will his relationship with Solane finally make him realise what he's been missing? You have to read it to find out!

Thank you Netgalley & Entangled Publishing for providing me with the ARC

4.5 stars!

It all started with Chapter 21, if you know, you know (;

It starts with our golden boy Ryan, a recovering baseball player and Sloane, a quirky librarian with an unhealthy obsession with dinosaurs. Both get on a rocky start but soon their conversations turn into bantering or should I say flirting??? A.K.A SEXUAL TENSION!!! Please if this book gave anything, it was the chemistry between these two characters. I would scream and squeal whenever they started bantering which would shift to flirting, sorry for the repetition but this shit had me on a chokehold. This book definitely had some of the grumpy x sunshine trope and I can honestly say that I enjoyed this book to the very end.

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