REVIEW: Kissing Games by Stefanie London

Kissing Games by Stefanie London: When Ryan is kept up at night from squeaking bed springs, he decides to confront the librarian who assigned a romance novel for book club. Expecting a stereotypical older woman, he is surprised to find a young, attractive, dino-wearing spitfire instead. When she turns the tables on him insulting her book and goes off about how his sex life must be so vanilla, he is even more taken aback. Being a world class pitcher means that normally he doesn’t have anyone talking back to him, but he finds he likes the way the librarian talks to him.

After her initial interaction with Ryan, Sloane is shook. Never has anyone questioned her book choices, especially no one as attractive as Ryan. She hopes that she can keep him out of her mind even though his eyes were piercing her soul as they spoke. She doesn’t get her wish when his father injures his back, and Ryan steps up to take his place on the parade planning committee with her. As Sloane gets to know Ryan, she decides to use him to try to experiment making friends. Having moved so much at a young age and being new to Kissing Creek, she hasn’t made any lasting relationships yet.

As they spend time together building a parade float and talking about the book club pick (romance and all), both Sloane and Ryan find themselves enjoying each other’s company more than anticipated. Even though both of them know that their time is limited until Ryan has to go back to Canada for baseball, they decide to act on their emotions, and it makes them question everything that had their minds set on.

Sloane always moved around as a child and had to learn to not rely on others. She was always the new kid and never had friends and has walls up because of it. She wants to tear them down and open up to others, but she’s not sure how. By building the relationship with Ryan, she starts to understand what she really wants and what she has to do to achieve it. From finding new friends to working on building relationships with those in her life, she grows leaps and bounds in her time with Ryan.

Ryan was always career focused with a one-track mind on the World Series. When his injury causes him to go home, he takes that time to focus on other things besides baseball and how his team is doing without him. What he doesn’t expect is to find that he likes the aspects of his hometown. He has a hard decision on whether to focus on his career or to focus on his family and his budding love for Sloane in Kissing Creek.

Overall, the book was so cute! The Kissing Creek series is shaping up to be a phenomenal one. One thing that is very different is you don’t really know the characters in the other books like most series. The good thing about this strategy is that you feel like you can really connect with the new characters instead of hoping you might see some of your faves. The steam comes off the pages at times, but also focuses on why their relationship matters and I love the way Sloane and Ryan interact and build their bond.

Book Info:

Publication: March 21, 2022 | Entangled: Amara | Kissing Creek #2

The effervescent, quirky romantic comedy from USA Today bestselling author Stefanie London…

Injured pro baseball player Ryan Bower has plenty of reasons for not sleeping. But thanks to a steamy romance novel that’s ignited the imaginations—and libidos—of pretty much everyone in Kissing Creek, Ryan’s kept awake by the sound of his parents. Having sex. Unforgivably gross. And Ryan is almost certain that the town’s adorably quirky and troublemaking librarian is responsible.

Sloane Rickman adores everything about her little town—with the exception of its very tall and infuriatingly sexy Golden Boy. Ryan Bower may be a ball-playing hottie, but where exactly does he get off telling her what books to recommend to her oddball little book club? Good thing he’s only in town for the fall.

Now Sloane and Ryan are stuck planning the main float for the town’s parade. But somewhere between arguments over paint colors and papier mâché flowers, their fights keep turning into red-hot kisses. And between Ryan’s demanding ball career and Sloane’s life in Kissing Creek, they face the biggest game of their lives…if they’re ready to play for keeps.