Great start to a new college series
5 stars

I’m a huge fan of Maya Hughes and her writing and was really pleased when I heard that she was bringing out a new college-set American football series. This time we’re at St Francis University (aka STFU) in Pennsylvania. This team were the main rivals to Fulton University, from Hughes’ previous series. This is a completely clean break from those books, however, and this one stands alone with its own HEA.

Leona is our heroine and I liked her from the moment she ran into Reid. She was a nerdy heroine who was sociable, fun and had the right amount of hangups to make her relatable. She was also a teeny, tiny bit unsure of herself which was definitely endearing. She had problems, sure, but she was never a whiner. She also stood up for herself when the chips were down - and I couldn’t help but admire her for that. She was someone I was rooting for from the moment she stepped on the page.

From the time he first bumps into Leona - literally - Reid is smitten. It was actually kind of adorable how flustered and tongue-tied he becomes around her, especially since it’s a completely foreign experience for him. Reid is all about football and is practically a God on campus which he’s definitely used to his advantage. He’s not a player but he definitely has more experience than Leona. Despite that, it’s Reid that’s more nervous in their encounters which again, was really sweet.

With all the sweetness, you might be surprised to hear that Reid and Leona together were electric. They had enough chemistry to give me that lovely ‘butterflies in the stomach’ feeling every time that they were together. It didn’t hurt that their relationship was secret, so there was a lot of quick grabs, throw each other against the nearest surface, kisses and encounters. My favourite kind, if I’m honest!

I liked that the reasons why Reid and Leona couldn’t - or should’t - be together were completely believable. It would have been easy to go with a flimsy reason but this one felt solid. There were also little extras to do with the backgrounds of both Reid and Leona - mainly to do with their families. There was nothing overly consuming and it helped build up a better picture of our main characters.

As this is the beginning of a new series, we get to meet most of our main players for the rest of the books. This can feel like a lot of characters and information but things started to sort themselves out as I read. I can see why some readers might find this book lacking in comparison to the Fulton U books, but I loved it and I really do think that once the rest of the series comes out, coming back and reading this story will give people more love for Reid and Leona as we’ll hopefully continue to see them in the other guys’ stories.

I love Maya Hughes writing - she gives me just the right amount of drama, romance, sex, love and angst to ring all my bells. She has a way of writing characters that feel so alive that I almost feel I’m reading about friends rather than people from someone’s imagination. Whether you’re a long-time fan of Maya Hughes or this will be the first read of hers, I would highly recommend this book. It’s got everything you need for a satisfying, first in the series, read. ( )