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Review

“Brace yourself … I’m going to date the shit out of you.”

So much win, I love this book!

4.5 stars

This is such a great read! A sports college romance that is low angst, pure entertainment and so much fun! So rude, crude, inappropriate and completely hilarious, with a gorgeously flirty and sexy friends-to-lovers romance, I smiled and laughed so much while reading and I loved it!

College student Sebastian ‘Oz’ Osborne is gorgeous, popular, and an all-star wrestler who can (and does) have any woman he wants. His life isn’t perfect, but on the whole he is living the charmed life, and loving every moment of it. And yeah, he’s a bit of a douchebag, but he’s so adorably cocky, you can’t help but love him right away.

“Sweetheart, Oz is a nickname. Haven’t you googled me yet?”
Amused blue eyes roll. “I’m sure you google yourself enough for the both of us.”
Shit, she’s right. I do google myself a lot.

Jameson Clarke is a smart, sensible and ‘normal’ college girl. She studies hard and avoids drama and bad boys, and pretty much flies under the radar. She’s likeable and relatable, and as awesome and potentially overpowering of a character as Oz is, James never fades into the background, and more than holds her own. She’s a fantastic heroine, and I love her!

“Never judge a girl by her cardigan.”

Oz and James meet in their college library after Oz’s friends bet him that he can’t get the cardigan-and-pearls-wearing, librarian-looking girl to kiss him. It’s an unusual meet for sure, but it gives the opportunity for some great banter, and the kiss that eventually follows blows them both away. There is a clear attraction there, but while Oz is keen to pursue their chemistry, James refuses to get involved with a pervy douchebag, so instead they slip into an easy, though unlikely, friendship.

They remain on the dirty flirting side of things, with Oz’s smut-talk and innuendo a constant presence, and he very quickly learns that James isn’t the uptight prude she appears to be. She’s smart, sarcastic and funny, and their relationship progresses to the point where they openly share everything with each other, becoming best friends, and I loved their honesty and their sense of fun.

“Is sex all you ever think about? You’re relentless.”
“No, it’s not all I ever think about, but I swear, something about those goddamn sweaters of yours make me stupid.”

But underneath it all there are true feelings developing. From the mad lust that has plagued them since the moment they met, they have grown to genuinely care about each other, and while Oz continues to try to get his girl into bed, James isn’t prepared to act on their epic sexual tension without some sort of commitment beyond one night – something he’s not sure he’s capable of, until he begins to understand just how much his best friend has come to mean to him.

“Do you feel that, Jameson?” he implores breathlessly. “Can you feel it beating?”
I can.
“That’s for you. No one else makes me feel this way; no one has ever made me feel this way. No woman. No coach. No opponent makes my heart race the way.”

Can a douchebag really change his ways?

“Brace yourself, Jim; I’m going to date the shit out of you.”

God, I love this book! It’s not a complex or unique storyline, but it’s done so well! Oz and James are both fantastic, well-developed characters and the dual POV allows us to see all that they are thinking and feeling. And that, combined with the sensational banter and dialogue, make this book absolutely shine! It’s funny, dirty and rude, and Oz is downright outrageous at times, but it’s so freaking entertaining and I honestly loved every moment between them. I could feel their chemistry and their growing emotion, and I felt like I lived it right along with them, and the lack of drama and game-playing was a definite bonus.

This book was all win for me. I have so much love for these characters, and with a strong bunch of side characters introduced, I can’t wait to continue on with Zeke’s book up next.

4.5 stars

Note – I listened to this as an audiobook, and Josh Goodman and Muffy Newtown do a fantastic job bringing these characters to life.