Review by Gabrielle

First and Forever is another perfect rom-com by Lynn Painter.

Favourite Quote:

“Last year after I moved here, I adopted them from the shelter.”

Oh my god, he’s a cat guy.

He’s adopted not one, but three cats.

From the shelter.

Someone get me a shot of whiskey, STAT.

I needed to wipe that little green flag nugget from my memory because that was some knee-weakening shit.

Book Synopsis:

Duffy Distefano loves three things: her dad, the family cat, and Minneapolis Coyotes football. So when she gets booed out of a game and becomes the internet’s villain, she is distraught—and disgruntled. All she did was shove Coyote Carl away when he made a move on her, but everyone else just saw a woman attacking their team’s beloved mascot. Eager to clear the air, Duffy agrees to an interview on a hit morning show. She doesn’t expect a co-guest to join her—especially not the Coyotes’ star tight end.

When MVP Connor Cunningham gets tasked with damage control to help his team out of their PR nightmare, he thought that meant saying a few words on the team’s behalf. Instead, he finds himself in a highly amusing verbal sparring match with a recently wronged fan on live TV. Duffy pelts him with fiery jabs but is also clearly diehard about the Coyotes—color him intrigued…and attracted.

The interview instantly goes viral, and the public is obsessed with them. A strong push from the Coyotes’ PR team to ride the wave results in Connor asking Duffy out. Despite his distaste for PR stunts, he’s surprised to discover being with Duffy is much easier than he thought, and somehow it doesn’t feel fake to him. Harboring this secret can only blow up, but all he knows is that if he messes things up with Duffy, it’ll be the greatest fumble of his life.

Review:

Our team here at RBTB has pretty diverse reading habits and there are some pretty big differences between us. Each of us has our preferences of tropes and subgenres that we like to read, but one author we always agree on is Lynn Painer. If our preferences were a venn diagram, Lynn Painter is where they would converge. She’s just so great. Not only does she write terrific books; she’s also an awesome human. We’ve done a couple events with her now and we all just love her.

Now that can be some pretty high expectations to fill, so with every new book I’m curious if I can possibly love it as much as her last. I’m here to confirm that First and Forever is a good egg folks. A very good egg.

Let’s hear it for characters you’ll actually like and be cheering for! That’s right folks, both our main characters here are winners. First we have Duffy. She speaks her mind, is a numbers gal, and has a great big heart. She’s a little awkward and a little stuck, but definitely not hopeless. She’s really very strong, and has moved home with her dad to keep an eye on him after the death of her mother. And she loves football, specifically the Coyotes team.

And then we have Connor. He is an all green flags kind of hero. Gorgeous and huge (you’ll hear a lot about how big his hands are), he’s a gentle giant professional football player. He listens and makes more romantic gestures than I can count in the book. And not stupid ones either. Panty-melting gestures and dates that are perfect for Duffy.

I LOVE Duffy and Connor together. Right from the get-go, their chemistry is amazing. Zingy, I would call it. Lynn keeps the tension and attraction high without it getting super spicy. Folks that enjoy a more closed door romance will enjoy this aspect. My favourite thing about all Lynn Painter books is the banter, and this book is no exception. She is the queen of hilarious and awesome banter. I cannot even tell you the number of times I cackled out loud as I read.

I’m awarding bonus points for this book for:

  1. Incredible and hilarious cat characters.
  2. Fun side characters, especially Duffy’s dad and brothers. Their dynamic family is really special and at times, very funny.
  3. A heart-melting relationship between Connor and his grandfather.

First and Forever is a winner of a rom-com, great for bookworms looking for an uplifting read.

Thank you, Berkeley Romance for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.