Unfortunately, I didn't love this as much as I thought I would. I struggled to connect with the characters and plot. There were still some cute moments, and I loved the representation of Freddy's learning disabilities. The topic of grief was handled well. The relationship between Ro and Freddy was very sweet, with lots of communication and trust, and I really enjoyed seeing them support each other. However, I do think there was too much going on at times, but at the same time, nothing was happening. The focus on external conflicts made it hard to find any real connection between the characters beyond an emotional one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5! Freddy is failing one of his classes, and if he wants to graduate and make it to the NHL, he needs a tutor. That’s where Ro comes in. She’s already juggling a lot in her life, but she agrees to help Freddy—partly because everyone else has already counted him out. What starts as tutoring sessions turns into late-night phone calls, and soon, a genuine friendship begins to take shape.

I really liked Unsteady, but I was an even bigger fan of Unloved. Freddy and Ro were so well-written, and I loved that the author gave us time to understand them as individuals before their relationship started developing. It made their connection feel even stronger and their actions more understandable. Even though this book is on the longer side, the pacing worked really well, and I was hooked the whole way through.

When it comes to Freddy and Ro’s relationship, I’m obsessed. They’re both struggling, feeling stuck in place with no clear way forward, but they become each other’s biggest supporters. They helped one another grow for the better as they fell in love.I just love how vulnerable and emotional these characters were because it allowed me to better connect with them and fall deeper into the story.

If you love a good slow-burn, friends-to-lovers romance, you need to read this book. And that teaser for the next book in the series? I need it ASAP.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

As someone who didn’t completely adore Unsteady, I was a little worried I wouldn’t love Unloved. I was totally wrong!! Peyton does a fantastic job building Freddy as a character and fleshing out his backstory and inner workings. Ro was definitely the perfect addition to this group’s dynamic and I loved every second of reading this. Watching two broken people heal and find each other through still being vulnerable was beautiful. Books like Unloved are why I read, especially the romance genre. There’s so much love and character growth - I couldn’t put this down! Unloved is a nearly perfect romance novel that I think any reader would enjoy.

Thank you Atria, NetGalley, and the author for sending me an early copy!

seriously rip my heart out. i knew i was in for an intense read after reading book #1 of this series last year, but this was another level.

freddy was such a sweetheart! i was worried i wasn’t gonna like him cause im not crazy about the “reformed playboy” but this was done so well.

this fox from hook line and sinker by Tessa Bailey vibes.

i adored Ro and her character arc. specifically with her ex tyler who is a shit human and should have all the bad things happen to him. i wanted more comeuppance with him and some of his gang.

i digress. Ro and Freddy’s friendship was so organic and pure and then turned into the perfect friends to lovers.

this book is out 2/4 and it should be in your radar. i would def look at the CW before picking it up tho!

4.5⭐️

“Loving him is the easiest thing I’ve ever done.” 🤍🏒⛸️❄️📖

a special thank you to Net Galley & Atria Books for allowing me access to an Advanced Reader’s Copy of Unloved by Peyton Corinne!! it’s an absolute privilege to receive an ARC & i’m so honored to be able to share a honest review in exchange.

❄️ publication date: february 4th, 2025
review: ★ ★ ★ .7 (01/29/25)
this book affirms that i am, forever, an advocate for dual perspectives, especially in romance!! despite not reading sport romances often, i found this cute, character-driven book easy to love (if you know what i mean, cue the book’s playlist)

watching Ro & Matt find their own identity was my favorite part of the entire book. although, coming in with a close second would the chemistry between Ro & Matt, SUCH A GOOD BURN.

my heart ACHED when i saw either of them in any pain, both of them have such a sweet soul (& very people pleasing tendencies, very relatable!)

i also enjoyed how realistic healing and grief were portrayed & the representation of mental health and learning disabilities!!

however, there is a fair amount of spice/smut so i would keep that in mind if that’s not your cup of tea!! nonetheless, i hope to read Corinne’s debut novel, unsteady, to fill in some plot holes as this is the second book of the series! 🤍

I knew going into Unloved was going to be emotional after reading Unsteady, but I didn't realize that it was going to hit me the way it did! Matt was such a well-developed character and had Ro was so full of heart. They both yearned for each other and you could feel their emotions leaping off of the page. Matt and Ro were amazing as individuals and were even stronger as a couple.

Not to be dramatic, but it’s February 1st and I just read the best book I’m going to read all year. Stayed up until 430am reading this book because there was no place to just stop and not finish these two precious souls story. I love them to pieces and the way Peyton Corinne writes must be bubble wrapped and protected. I loved Unsteady, it was in my top books of 2024 list, but this book, just wow. It hits so hard emotionally and that is exactly the kind of read I want and crave and need deep in my soul.

“I think you’re amazing and…and I hope you think you’re amazing, too.”

Freddy is a left winger for his college’s hockey team, has a playboy reputation, and a potential future with the NHL hanging in the balance. But he needs to get his grades up…desperately. He’s barely scraping by with a 2.0 GPA, having to retake dropped classes, and struggling with a mix of dyslexia, dyscalculia, and ADHD. Enter Ro, his newly assigned tutor. Ro is in an on-again, off-again relationship with a toxic boyfriend who treats her horribly. And all she wants is acceptance, to be good enough, and to be loved. Freddy is wanting the same things and the way these two find one another in life is just everything.

This book slaps hard, so for anyone who has ever felt like they had to shrink themselves for someone else, sought validation from a toxic relationship (partner, parental, etc), wanted to be “enough”, or has lost who they “are” after being chipped away at…ugh this book is for you. The way this book shines a light on parts of all of us that might feel unloveable and seeing these 2 find someone who truly sees them. This book just has my whole heart. It’s tender and sweet and slow burn and real and hard and friends to lovers and this is why I read romance books.

So many other moments I loved in this book: him texting with loads of emojis, the flirting, calling her “Princess”, him googling where he can watch her favorite movie, “who hurt you?”, when he shows up with her coffee order and she’s surprised he was paying attention, “why are you crying?”, butterfly clips, tattoos, her romance books, “do you ever get lonely?”, bracelets she’s made, the protectiveness they both have for one another, he FaceTimes her mom for her when he knows she’s missing home, her turning around and asking him for help 👀, we see lots of Sadie & Rhys (her best friend and his teammate, the couple of Unsteady), her parents, his flashbacks with his mom, the ending. 🥹🥰

“If you wanna kiss someone, I’m right here.”

I received an ARC from the publisher, all thoughts in this review are my own.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 stars & i will take zero criticism for this book!!

wow, this book is so precious. i absolutely adored our main characters so much. these sad little angels are actually SO lovable and their journey to healing old scars and finally realizing they are worthy of love is so wonderfully written.

unloved follows the lovely ro, our smart, adorable, kind fmc and freddy, our popular hockey player mmc who doesn’t know his worth beyond how people view him physically.

freddy needs to pass biology to graduate and move on to the nhl but he needs a tutor to make that happen. ro agrees to tutor him but what she doesn’t tell him is that she’s had a crush on him since freshman year.

ro and freddy form a wonderful friendship with so much care and respect for each other that eventually turns into more as they spend more time together.

this book had me feeling so many things and i just absolutely fell in love with these two. they are some of my favorite characters at this point and the amount of character growth they go through is amazing.

i definitely enjoyed reading book 1 of the undone series, unsteady, but this one really got me. freddy and ro’s chemistry and relationship is just top tier and i know this will be another comfort book i’ll want to re-read. 💚

thank you to atria books & netgalley for the arc, i loved it so much!

4 🌟

I’d been wanting more of Matt and Ro since the little glimpses we got of them in Unsteady. Though slow, the buildup leading to their romance was so precious!! They grew not only as individuals, but as friends and lovers. No conditions, only wanting each other to be nothing but supported and wholeheartedly okay.

— Thank you so much to Altria Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was another emotional dual POV romance between shy, bookish college student, Ro and Matt aka 'Freddy' Fredderic, a hotshot playboy hockey player who struggles in school because of his dyslexia, dyscalculia, and ADHD and eventually gets assigned Ro as his tutor. Ro, has had a crush on Matt since freshman year when they had a memorable encounter that ended with her first kiss but he doesn't remember.

The mental health rep in this book was amazingly well done! I loved seeing a vulnerable neurodiverse MMC portrayed with empathy and sensitivity. I did find the story dragged a bit and thought it could have been edited down a lot but overall it was good and the audiobook was excellent narrated by Caitlin Elizabeth and Bradley Ford.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review! This would be a perfect read for fans of authors like Grace Reilly or Hannah Grace.

This book was really good, however, I liked the first one better! I gave it a 3.5 stars. It was a little bit too slow of a slow burn for me!

my oh my!! my sweet soft babies ro & matty 😭 ugh i loved them. they both deserve the world. this is what i want my friends to lovers to look like!!! this was real & raw, discussing several hard topics, & peyton did it so well. the found family in this series is beautiful. plus the tutor/athlete trope is going to get me every time 🧎🏼‍♀️

side note: i wanna 👊🏼 tyler so bad & kick him where the sun don’t shine. he had me screammmming into the oblivion!!!

another side note, especially if you have not read unsteady: unsteady and unloved take place around the same timeline and overlap. this book was written in a way that did not share much about book 1’s plot line, but I feel like there were just some major gaps because the author did not want to give too much away since they are interconnected standalones. I definitely think in order to really understand the whole story, you need to read unsteady first for the best reading experience.

i am ready for bennett & toren’s books!!! i know they’re going to rip my heart out of my chest, but i am sat.

thank you atria + peyton for the early e-arc <3

I liked a lot of parts about this book the softer MMC is something I am not used to reading but I felt the FMC was way too soft and seemed like a bit of a doormat. I do wish the main characters had grown a back bone before the end of the book and maybe gotten back at the villainous side characters. I would give this book 3.75 if I could on here. I was almost more interested in the best friends (main character sin the first book) at times and it felt a little difficult to stay and focus on the current fmc/mmc.

4.25 ⭐️ A huge thank you to NetGalley for this advanced copy!

This book absolutely destroyed me in the best way. I really liked Unsteady, but Unloved? It hit so much harder. Peyton Corinne took all the emotions from book one and cranked them all the way up, delivering a gut-wrenching, beautiful story about love, self-worth, and learning to let people in.

First of all, Matty deserves the biggest hug on the planet. Maybe even two. His story absolutely wrecked me. The way he carried so much pain and self-doubt while trying to hold everything together?!? It hurt watching him struggle in silence. Especially when it felt like no one around him was really seeing him. In Unsteady, Rhys’ friends showed up for him hard, but Matty? He was drowning, and his friends were too caught up in their own mess to notice.

-> That said, the little drops of information about the other players on the team has me very interested in their stories! I need more about Kane & Bennett!

Then we have Ro, and god, I loved her character arc. Her growth, her realization that softness and femininity don’t make her any less strong or capable... Especially after being told so for two years. It was so satisfying to see her fully embrace who she is. And her and Matt?? Perfection. I love a good friends to lovers romance, and theirs felt so earned. The slow burn, the way they saw each other and showed up for one another, the way they just fit together, it was everything!

Also, can we please talk about how well this book weaved into Unsteady? Seeing the same timeline unfold from a different perspective made everything feel so much deeper, like puzzle pieces clicking into place. Peyton Corinne knew what she was doing with this, and I ate it up! I really loved getting to see the same scenes in a different light.

I loved this book. I loved Matt. I loved Ro. I loved how Peyton Corinne made me feel everything. This was so worth the read, and I already know it’s going to stay with me for a long time. Looking forward to the rest of the series!

I was a little wary of diving into Unloved. I enjoyed Unsteady SO much, it was in my top 5 reads of 2024. So I'm always nervous about a follow up. I was also not sure how I felt about the first meeting and scenario set up for Ro and Freddy. But I pushed through and I am so glad I did.

I was drawn into their friendship and eventual romance very deeply. My soul ached for them and their insecurities. Freddie, who is worried he's only wanted for his body and a "good time". Ro, who is constantly belittled and degraded by her partner which leads to low self esteem and self worth. I was broken for them at different points.

When they begin to spend time together, Ro tutors Freddie and helps with his learning disabilities, they find a kinship and connection that is so pure and beautiful. It takes a lot of time and heartbreak to get on the same page, but it makes the HEA so much sweeter.

There was also an added treat to see a different side to the romance between Sadie and Rhys, from their two friends. As a lover of Unsteady, I enjoyed that a lot.

Did i finish this book, or did this book finish me?

QUICK THOUGHTS:

This book is the epitome of “to be seen is to be loved”. In my opinion, it was perfect in every way. The writing, the characters, the plot. Everything. It slightly reminded me of Taming 7 by Chloe Walsh, so if you liked that, you’d probably love this. The depth of the characters made them feel real to me, and I sobbed like a baby throughout the entire middle/end. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

FULL THOUGHTS:

The characters in this book felt so real to me. What they both have gone through is very realistic sadly. But, they are both strong and overcome their obstacles. What I found refreshing about this book compared to other romance books is their chemistry wasn’t based solely on lust. They have been attracted to each other since they met, but they truly formed a meaningful friendship first, which then led to an emotionally and physically intimate relationship. The length of this book is longer than a typical contemporary romance, but I almost wish it was longer. The romance felt like a very well done slow burn. I would have happily read 100 more pages of this book.

THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH MIGHT BE CONSIDERED MINORLY SPOILERY SO PROCEED WITH CAUTION

I felt like Freddy had the most character growth throughout this story. He has an abusive relationship with his father, and his mother passed away which traumatized him as well. Seeing him and people close to him stand up to his father was so important to his growth. Another thing that I loved that was important to his growth was reuniting with Archer. He cut out Archer after his mother passed, which consequently cut him off to the only other person who truly loved his mother. Their reunion and their close relationship shown in the epilogue really was beautiful. Don’t even get me started on the name Freddy and Ro chose for their daughter: Elsie Rose Shariff!!! I sobbed.

I DEFINITELY recommend this book. It has emotion, it has humor, it has hockey, and it has spice! Unloved comes out so soon, FEBRUARY 4, 2025.

Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for the free eARC

This book and I were a match made in heaven! I hadn’t read Unsteady, but I was inspired to request this ARC because of one of Peyton Corrine’s insta posts. Every character beat and plot point that came up was exactly what I would have dreamed up for my ideal version of this book. The banter and chemistry were pitch perfect and I’m picky when it comes to banter.

This book develops at a fairly medium pace, and while it could have been edited down a bit, I enjoyed getting extra time with the characters and seeing their relationship develop naturally. I wasn’t attached to the couple from Unsteady (who do feature fairly prominently in the background of this book), but I was won over by them very quickly and am already curious who the next couple in the series will be.

There were a couple of tiny things that would usually annoy me in books, that weren’t really an issue due to how well they were handled in this book. I thought Ro needed to stand up for herself more, but as that was one of the main themes of the book, I didn’t mind getting to see her slowly come to that conclusion herself. I was taking notes while reading and I wrote “girl, stand up” multiple times, but that made it all the more rewarding when she finally did. Also, there were a lot of cutesy nicknames and song references, so if either of those are dealbreakers for you, keep that in mind, though they didn’t end up bothering me. And finally, every college hockey romance has inaccuracies about how the draft works, and Unloved is no different.

I loved this book so much and part of the reason why is that it deals with some real world problems particularly realistically. So I would definitely advise looking into trigger warnings if that is something you are worried about.

All in all, this is a beautiful romance novel that brilliantly explores self worth and confidence, while not tying those things to being in a relationship. Ro and Freddy help each other as friends and grow and support each other, while also developing a beautiful romance.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for my digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

thank you to atria books publishing & netgalley for a copy of this arc 💕

4/5 🌟

this is probably one of the most romantic books i’ve ever read. this is definitely for the ryan shay girlies! i loved that this was slowburn and we really get to see them develop a friendship before anything else. there was quite a few things that i wished were given a deeper dive and the resolutions for certain situations would’ve been more satisfying had there been more consequences. i do also feel like this book was very repetitive but i understand why that is. this book just feels very raw and real. i do recommend reading unsteady before reading this one because i regret not doing that. i just didn’t realize this was same timeline different pov type series 😭
anyways loved so many quotes out of this and i really recommend!!

Still liked this one, but sadly didn't love it or feel crazy invested. Freddy & Ro's relationship kind of starts with a power imbalance (in multiple ways) and it was just a little hard for me to get over that hump. That being said, I do think the more triggering and heavier topics that this book has were handled incredibly well

Thank you NetGalley & Atria Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review <3

I have a feeling this is going to be one of my favorite reads of the year.

Ro is so careful, and carefuls herself into a relationship with a complete twatface. He dangles her on a string, makes her doubt herself, and shames her for expressing wants and needs. She's trying to break out of that, but the wrecking is so real, and part of her character arc is realizing this was toxic and abusive, and she deserves better.

Enter Matt "Freddy" Fredderic. Hockey playboy, but who leans into it for less about his own needs and more because it's positive attention, something he desperately craves. On the outside he's all smiles and swagger, but Freddy is so, so broken and in more ways than we realize until more about his past, and reasons for becoming a playboy, are revealed.

While the attraction is always there, the friendship and respect between Ro and Freddy is also really important. It makes it slow burnish in terms of the physical, even if the tension and the emotions are there a lot earlier. I'd say we get 2/3 in before things cross the line. Still, they feel so grounded in the desire to support one another, and never take away from the way they make one another feel seen for who they are, and I appreciated that caution.

This book made me cry, which automatically earns 5 stars from me most of the time, but even if it hadn't - this is a five star book. Great writing, really well developed characters with motivations and desires, and growth from them both that feels real, not like miracle fixes.