TEST
Kristen Callihan’s sexy, swoony and supremely entertaining Game On series tops my list of terrific sports romances. This fourth book, The Hot Shot fits neatly into the series, but it’s a bit different and the only one that I haven’t rated a DIK. For starters, the principal character, Finn, isn’t one of the original, beloved group of friends that launched the series and neither is his love interest, Chester Copper (she’s a she, and yes, you read that name right). We’ve also moved fully out of NA and squarely into adult contemporary territory, but fortunately, book three also took place after college, so the transition isn’t as jarring. But it does lend a bit of a different vibe to The Hot Shot, and though I enjoyed it, it felt more like the start of a new series than a continuation of the old one. It’s good, and I liked it quite a lot, but it falls just a bit short of its predecessors.
When professional photographer Chester – Chess – Copper agreed to do a charity calendar shoot featuring New Orleans NFL football players in the buff, it was just another job. When the players arrive, they’re surprised by her request to strip down, but only quarterback Finnegan Manus seems to struggle with the request. She can’t imagine why; his body, his face – everything about him is beautiful. When it’s his turn to pose, Chess can’t quite figure out why he’s so tense, but she makes an effort to set him at ease. Despite her nonchalant attitude about the shoot, she can’t help the frisson of awareness (and lust) she feels when she’s photographing him, and if his slightly erect penis is any indication, he’s feeling it too.
Uncomfortable with the entire ordeal, Finn is caught off guard by his attraction to the photographer, despite the negative vibes she’s projected from the moment he arrived at her loft. Her smoky voice is hypnotic and when it’s his turn to pose, he can’t seem to distract himself from lustful thoughts about her. There’s something about Chess – she isn’t traditionally beautiful and she clearly doesn’t like him – but when he leaves the shoot, he can’t stop thinking about her. Fortunately, later that same evening he spots her out on a date and when he notices her hiding a yawn, decides to crash it. She’s grumpily grateful and while his best friend and wingman (a fellow player – wink!) distracts her date, Finn convinces her to let him walk her home. Their back and forth is terrific with Chess gently teasing Finn about his reputation as a ladies man, only good for one night stands. Finn proudly defends his dating history (or lack thereof), and the conversation only becomes awkward after Chess blurts out that she’s not going to sleep with him. Cue the cringe. Chess isn’t interested in Finn (so she says) and Finn wants her to be his first girl-friend, emphasis on friend. Okay. After establishing those ‘facts’, Finn leaves her at her door. Oh you two.
From the start, Chess and Finn say they want different things – Finn, a friendship, and Chess a long term relationship – but not with Finn. These two give friendship a try, though it’s clear to everyone but them that they’re lying to themselves. Finn has fallen hard for his tough and sexy ‘friend’ Chess, and Chess is deeply in lust with her buddy Finn. The friendly relationship becomes a lot more complicated when Chess’s apartment building burns to the ground and she barely escapes. After learning about the fire, Finn races to the hospital and offers a devastated Chess a temporary home. Still just friends, these two dance around their attraction while falling harder and harder for each other, and trying harder and harder to deny it. Both have painful secrets they’re afraid to share (which have repercussions later in their relationship), but living together only pushes them closer. When Finn makes plans to visit his family in California for the holidays during a break in his football schedule, he asks Chess to come along. His mom is pressuring him to get married, and perhaps Chess can pretend to be his girlfriend to fend her off? Again, you two. Duh. This can’t end well… but it does! For us! Romance readers already know pretending to be in love is only difficult if you aren’t. And they are. Unfortunately, they still aren’t quite ready to admit it.
Anyway. Finn and Chess as friends-pretending-to-be lovers is just the little push they need to fall into bed together and when they do… Yowsers. It’s naughty and dirty and sexy and awesome. And fortunately, once the clothes come off, Finn and Chess can’t keep their hands off each other. This happy connection lasts even after they return to New Orleans, but those pesky secrets they’ve both been keeping come back to haunt them not long after their return trip. Chess and Finn are relationship novices, which works to their advantage early on, but when the going gets tough, they push each other away instead of holding each other closer.
I loved the chemistry between Finn and Chess, but I struggled through their platonic relationship in the first half of the book – it felt overly long and drawn out. A hallmark of the Game On series is the intense chemistry and passion between the principals, and Ms. Callihan usually doesn’t waste too many pages before sexy shenanigans take place. In The Hot Shot we wait and wait and wait some more. I did love when Chess and Finn finally got together, and because they’re both so likeable and charming together, the book keeps your attention, but the delay makes the second half feel rushed. I wanted to have some time enjoying Chess and Finn as a romantic couple, but it wasn’t enough. When they fall into bed together, the lead up to that first encounter is delicious and the sequence is sexy as hell. But you just know a crisis is around the corner because you’re nearing the end of the book. I hated that, though in the context of the story, the delay made sense. I only wish the book had been longer so as to allow us to spend more time with them in their all too temporary ‘happy for now’ phase.
Though both Chess and Finn are quick to realize they’re in love, they’re slow to admit it to one another, and when they finally realize there’s no reason for them to be apart, it’s almost too late – but this is a romance novel, so it isn’t. I loved their reconciliation, mostly because I love them and their chemistry. And once again, their conversation – heartfelt, funny, romantic and honest – is a highlight.
Ms. Callihan writes couples you can root for and this pair is no different. I don’t think you need to read the earlier Game On books to enjoy The Hot Shot, mostly because there are few links to the earlier books, and I think this story works just fine as a standalone or even as an introduction to the series. The Hot Shot is yet another great addition to Ms. Callihan’s catalog, one that new and existing fans will enjoy.
Buy it at Amazon/iBooks/Barnes and Noble/Kobo
Grade: B
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 27/04/17
Publication Date: 04/2017
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
I love romance novels - all kinds.
I love music - some kinds.
I have strong opinions about both and I like to share them.
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Recently read Hot Shot after running across a nice rec for it. I enjoyed it and would give it a “B”. I followed up with The Game Plan, which I would rate a “C”.
As a general rule, I don’t care for contemporary romances–especially when the H/h are in their 20s–but having read Kristen Callihan’s Darkest London series, I was curious about her contemporary series. Hot Shot has something of a briefly-enemies-to-friends-to-lovers trope, which appealed to me.
What I liked: Callihan’s flair for witty banter between the H/h–something we only saw here and there in the DL series–was front and center in Hot Shot. She does have a knack for clever, too-cool-for-school wit and wisdom, as only 20-somethings can dispense it in Contemporary Romancelandia.
Second, unlike some of you, I loved that the H/h took their sweet time getting together (i.e., finally having sex). Normally, this would chafe at me, but here, the waiting just ratcheted up my anticipation instead. I thought they hit the bedroom at just the right point in their relationship.
What I didn’t like: The editing was seriously lacking. Also, Callihan’s characters’ voices were too similar for me. (I read The Game Plan right after Hot Shot and confirmed this–Dex and Fiona’s voices were similar to Finn and Chess’s voices. Same vocabulary, same too-cool-for-school thoughts and attitudes. It all kinds of sounds like one voice.)
BTW, I won’t be reading books 1 and 2 in this series; Hot Shot, and to a greater extent The Game Plan, confirmed for me that I’m too old for 20-something relationship angst and overall hipness. I had to laugh when Fiona lets us know she has a 21-year-old friend who is an internet security consultant at some company. Of course. What new college graduate doesn’t immediately get a job as a whiz-bang IT consultant (and I don’t think Callihan meant “contractor”) upon graduating?
YMMV
I’m about three quarters of the way through this book and it’s taking me a long time to finish it. It’s fine enough, with good writing (although I don’t tend to find Callihan’s banter as funny as most other people do; maybe that’s a cultural thing). But it feels so familiar (The Friend Zone meets Idol) that I kind of lost interest early on. I think I would have found the book more compelling if Finn and Chess had had that odd initial connection without also being struck down by lust, but I know that’s not the sort of story Callihan writes. It’s not really friends-to-lovers, but a case of let’s dance around each other for so long that the reader feels like yelling at them to just wake up to themselves. I’ll finish the book eventually, I’m sure….
It did take a LONG time for them to get horizontal! But I loved it when they finally did get together and I really loved him. Not my fave in the series but I think I enjoyed it more than you did.