Sports romance will always be one of my favorite books and this one delivered. I know this is a book that came from wattpad and that is quite obvious in the writing but it was still addicting. There is a lot of drama and a lot of smut. If those aren’t your thing then this book is not for you. Unfortunately I’m not obsessed with those things as well which is why it is not a 5 star for me. If you are a fan of Ice Breaker, Night Shift, Say You Swear or the Summer I Turned pretty then check this book out.

Similar titles such as books by Hannah Grace have done well at my library, so this will probably also be popular. This book wasn't particularly memorable, but still a fun way to spend a few hours.

Oh my god where do I start!?

Firstly, I just want to start off by saying thank you so much to Deanna, NetGalley & wattpad WEBTOON for adding me to your DRC list I’m so grateful to have been chosen ! 🩷

Now this book right here was the cutest love story & the spice was on point 🤌🏼 ! The plot was super captivating right from the start! It had the perfect amount of romance & plot + the main characters were super likeable. This made it super easy to get wrapped up into the story!

I also loved how we got different POVs from both Maddie & Cameron. This allowed me to gain a more emotional connection to the characters which I loved! It made the story feel more real

I also want to mention that the chapters weren’t long so it made it super easy to binge read!

Tropes

- Brothers bestfriend
- Sports romance - (Football / NFL )
- Friends to lovers

Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Spice 🌶️🌶️.5 /5

OH I LOVE MADDIE AND CAMERON SO MUCH😭 this book was so freaking cute and spicy and i could not put it down!! such an incredible read and i highly recommend it!!

I have had such a hard time reading this books because of the formatting. With this formatting being so terrible it took away from the book I was trying to read. I love the premise of the book and I think it could be great if formatting and spelling were checked.

What a great book!
I loved Cameron and Maddie. They had such an amazing and intense connection. I truly enjoyed seeing their relationship develop throughout the book. The story and characters were well-developed making this book an enjoyable read.

This book is great for fans of the brother's best friend trope!

🏈brothers best friend
🏈childhood crush
🏈second chance
🏈football player
🏈secret relationship

this book was exactly what I wanted to read and I ate it up! it was a fun sports romance and the brother’s best friend aspect added just the right amount of tension 🤌🏼

I didn’t love that they kept their relationship a secret for as long as they did, but I understand that after their history it wasn’t easy to just say ‘oh yeah we’re in love now’.

Cameron has a very complicated relationship with grief and I really respect the author for diving into such a touch topic. he gave a really genuine perspective and it was sad yet healing to go along with him on his grief journey 💞

I loved this book. It was the perfect balance of cute/fun and emotional. This was a super entertaining read with really enjoyable characters. I do wish we got to see more of Maddie's parents though, they seem amazing. The book ended to soon, I want to keep reading about Maddie and Cameron. And hopefully Maya and Ethan too!

Great spice! I love the sibling relationship portrayed. The brother's best friend trope is a favorite. Faison did so well with this story. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Four stars.

This book follows two young adults as they reconnect (mainly sexually) after a conflict from 6 years ago. I was unfortunately only able to get through 50% of this book for many reasons.

The first is the formatting. This book has a lot of flashbacks and there is no clear distinction between flashbacks and present day so the current time I am reading is confusing. The only tell tale sign I’ve notified is if the MMC’s mother is in the scene. There are also many pages (I am reading on kindle) where there will only be one word of text on each line for nearly the entire page and it is just so difficult to get through. I feel as though I can’t continue to read and review the plot if I do not know what is actually going on. I understand that this is an ARC, but the formatting is nearly unreadable and there are so many errors (including misspellings of the main characters names) that I feel as though it should have been at least roughly edited and formatted before making it this far.

My other issue is not the age gap, but the age of the two characters when they are discussing when their attraction first started. I believe the age gap between the characters is 3 years and they keep talking about how their attraction first started just before the MMC started high school which puts the FMC around 5th or 6th grade (10-12 years old) and the MMC talks about how he was distracted by her breasts. Personally, I cannot read about being attracted to a literal child and it is making me uncomfortable to the point that I am unable to finish the book.

The plot is pretty good, they came home for spring break. They’re “exploring” their relationship (mainly sexually) but have an expiration date. I don’t know what’s going to happen next as I am DNFing at the 50% mark, but I assume the MMC is going to start addressing his mental health concerns and the FMC is going to help him do so and then they will tell her brother and see how it goes once they are both back at their respective schools. I just think this might have been better with a 2-3 year gap between the past issue and present day as it currently reads like a wattpad book written by someone very young

It was cute! I enjoyed the characters and the story was well written. It seems more of a Happy For Now ending than Happily Ever After, but I enjoyed the ride regardless. The spice was good but not over the top. The only thing I didn't like was how much of a doormat the FMC seemed to be for the MMC. Other than that it was a good read.

I had never read this author, but this book was great! I really enjoyed the tropes, as well as the character development! Her characters are so realistic and lovable, and I didn’t want to put it down!

Rating: 3.75 (rounded to 4) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 3/5 🌶️🌶️🌶️
 
“It was always you”
 
I think it’s safe to say that most people can remember the name of their first crush. It might even be a safe bet to say that if you have a brother, you might have had a crush on one of his friends at one point or another. Cams first crush was his best friend’s little sister, Maddie. For Maddie, it was her brother’s best friend, Cam. When Cam suddenly loses his mother, his whole world turns upside down. Cam throws himself into football with dreams of being drafted by the NFL and earns himself a new name as a player (on and off the field), leaving Maddie behind. While both home on spring break, Cam and Maddie can no longer deny the feelings they have for each other. Does what happen at spring break, stay at spring break?
 
✨ Brothers Best Friend
✨ Spring Break
✨ Sports Romance (NFL hopeful bound MMC)
✨ Childhood Crush
✨ Friends to Lovers
✨ Dual POV
 
Thoughts:
* The flashbacks were a little confusing at times - there was no clear indication the book was about to go from present to past.
* I’m all for a spicy book, but the spice seems to have overtaken the plot.
* I love how protective Cam has always been of Maddie, even when they weren’t on the best of terms.
* Cam’s mental health/grief played a huge part in this book and I wish it was addressed sooner rather than the last 5-10% of the book.
* I’m always a fan of anything written in Dual POV.
* I absolutely adored the side characters (Ethan, Maddie’s brother and Maya, Maddie’s best friend) – wondering and hoping for a second book with them and an update on Cam & Maddie?
* Overall a super quick, fun read (filled with some fluff as well as spice)

TW: this book contains mentions of cancer (past in flashbacks / in present day conversations) and grief/loss of a parent.
 
Thank you so much to: Wattpad WEBTOON Book Group, W by Wattpad Books, Net Galley and of course Deanna Faison for an electronic advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Tropes: Brother's best friend/ Playboy and virgin/ childhood crushes/ NFL bound MMC/ Nerdy FMC

Playmaker felt like watching and episode of MTV's "Awkard" if anyone remembers that show. It was a lot of going to parties. Maddie the shy, nerdy girl who not used to being there. Cameron is the hot shot playboy who gets all the girls. Other Cameron losing his mother and that deepening his character, this was all a story we have seen before. This book also is spice over plot. I'm more of a plot driven person myself. This book was fine, it just wasn't anything groundbreaking.

If you’re a big fan of Icebreaker by Hannah Grace or Consider Me by Becky Mack, then this is for you! A football player and his brother’s best friend spend a few weeks on break exploring their feelings. There’s spice and drama, which I expect nothing less from a Wattpad book 💋

3.5

i say this with love, but this 100% DOES give wattpad (which makes sense, because it came from there). no shade, it just has the high drama and heavy sex you’d expect LOL. i did like it, though, and it was a fun read. i’d recommend it if you need something fluffy with low stakes.

#netgalley

Rating: 4.5/5
Spice: 3.5/5

I loved this book. The perfect blend of spice and plot sprinkled in with all of the romance feels was making me giggle and kick my feet. Maddie and Cameron's relationship was so enticing and intriguing to follow along. They went from childhood friends...to a heartbreak...to strangers...to re connection...to lovers?! I really liked getting all of the backstory between them and they were so interconnected in each others lives... it really made sense for them to be together.

ALSO... the brothers best friend?! How scandalous, but I loved it. I was EATING up the secretiveness and the scarcity of their relationship. They had to keep everything on the DL and sneak around?! AGHH the tension. I thought the spice was good. It didn't feel cringe or overdone... they felt like college kids who were in love and LONGING for one another that they made every spicy moment intentional and count.

I will be recommending this one!!

Tropes:
- Brothers best friend
- Friends to lovers
- Sports romance
- Spicy romance

Thank you to NetGalley and Wattpad WEBTOON Book Group for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I am first to say that I am wary of sports romance novels, but I liked this one a ton. It is pretty spicy, so if that’s not your type of romance novel, this one won’t be for you. If you do like spice, you’ll really enjoy this one! My only issue was I didn’t love the way the flashbacks were done— it confused me at times. But, I really loved both lead characters and the author deserves major props for making Cameron so lovable, despite me thinking I was going to hate him at the start. This book is definition of the trope “she fell first, he fell harder” and it’s just an enjoyable read

[Thank you to Netgalley and Wattpad Webtoon Book Group for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.]

This book was... fine? It's cute but not memorable. It's an easy read that you can finish in a day. 

The story seems to forgo plot in favor of spice. That would be fine but it's a 400 page book and at a certain point it gets repetitive. I hadn't even made it to the half-way point and I was already anticipating the third act break-up to happen (I was shocked by how much was left when I looked at the progress bar).

I think it could have been edited significantly. I also would have appreciated if the flashbacks were better explained (ie. “5 years ago”) because there are a few jumps and maybe it’s the way the eARC was formatted, but the flashback scenes didn’t immediately register as such.

4.5 stars!

I loved Playmaker. How much, you ask? Well, I read the entire book on my phone after thinking I would just check out a few pages before I could go home and grab my Kindle! I was totally incapable of putting it down.

The history between Cam and Maddie, how they grew up together, had me rooting for them from page one. I loved the spice in this book because of the passion between the characters. It all felt very authentic to me, and since I’m not a huge fan of insta-love, this book was right up my alley.

Cam and Maddie face some tough challenges as they navigate grief and uncertainties together, but their story is honestly captivating. Think fluffy, spicy, sports romance with a totally believable connection between the MMC and FMC. This book is so easy to adore.