Series Name: Chicago Grizzlies, # 2
“Damon puts his hand on the small of my back, and goose bumps chase up my spine. Nope, my body cannot react to his touch. He’ll be in my life for the rest of time now, and things need to remain uncomplicated. I can’t strive to have a relationship with a guy like him. Beyond the obvious complications if things didn’t work out, dating a man who plays professional football can’t be easy. The women and the press would be like a tsunami to my self-esteem.”
Something Like Lust is a fabulous pick for anyone looking for a spicy sport romance.
Do it.
Don’t do it.
Never in my life did I think I’d wager in my head whether to sleep with Chicago Grizzlies wide receiver, Damon Siska.
He’s the perfect package—hot body, killer smile, and flirts like he earned a doctorate in it. But anyone who reads gossip blogs knows he is looking for one amazing night and nothing more.
I’m not the usual type of woman he beds. I’m a middle school teacher who cherishes her quiet nights in, drinking wine, and watching romantic comedies, dreaming I’m the heroine. I’m not embarrassed to admit—I want the fairy tale.
But Damon caught me at a weak moment. Fresh off a break-up and feeling lousy about myself, I gave into temptation and left the next morning like every other woman he’d slept with.
Except I walked away with more than just the memories when three weeks later the little white stick glowed with two pink lines.
If you are looking for a quick and easy sports romance, I would highly recommend trying this book. Piper Ryan has written a lot of romance novels, and she knows what makes her readers happy. This book was a great read. I really enjoyed the story and the characters, and I will be going back and reading the rest of the books in the series. Now, the main trope in this book is unexpected pregnancy/secret baby, which I know is not a very popular trope in Romanceland. I don’t mind it, and Piper did great at breathing new life into this trope. The story moves along quickly and has almost everything you could want in a romance book. There is family drama, humour, romance, heartbreak, and some spice. There was even an unexpected twist/reveal at the end of the book.
I don’t mind a third-act break-up, but I wasn’t a big fan of it in this case. Adeline ends up leaving Damon and moves back into her own place. She has fallen hard for him, but he refuses to acknowledge that he has any romantic feelings for her. Adeline doesn’t want to live with a man who could never return her feelings. I understand why she left, but the event that triggered her leaving was a bit jarring and felt like it came out of nowhere. I actually had to re-read the scene a few times because I couldn’t figure out what happened. I also felt like the reasons why Damon refused to fall in love were just thrown into the story with little thought as to how they would fit with the overall story. The last little chunk of the book didn’t fit with the rest of the book.
The MCs are pretty stereotypical for a romance book. You have the playboy billionaire football player who refuses to ever fall in love. And then you have the smart, sassy, and kind heroine who is going to shatter that carefully constructed world the football player has built. Adeline and Damon have some pretty delicious chemistry right from the beginning. And it’s clear that as much as they both want to deny it, the one-night stand that they had rocked each other’s worlds. I devoured every interaction between these two. It had this wonderful balance of flirty, fun banter and spicy dirty talk. One of the things that surprised me was that this book was less spicy than I thought it would be. There is some banging happening in the book’s second half, but not that much, so if you are looking for something on the higher end of the spice meter, then maybe this book isn’t for you.
As I mentioned, one of the main tropes is unexpected pregnancy. I liked how Piper handled this trope. As soon as Damon found out that Adeline was pregnant, he made sure that he was there to support her and the baby. He showed up and took responsibility. I like how this book’s co-parenting aspect was also handled. It was smart and thoughtful while creating some fabulous moments of tension between the two MCs. If you are a fan of roommates to lovers romances, then you will enjoy the second half of this book. There is something so wonderful about two characters who clearly are lusting after each other and having them live together as platonic roommates. We all know that it’s only a matter of time before they end up banging.
Something Like Lust is a quick and fun romance romp.
