4.25 stars!
(This was my second read-through; I'm trying to make myself write reviews more often, so here I go...This is gonna be kinda stream-of-consciousness things, though, so bear with me.)

This was one of those "don't judge a book by its cover" situations. The cover is like "be aggressive, but make it THEATRE" *jazz hands, oh wait I mean FISTS* ... I'm glad I got over that and gave the book a chance.

Anyway, this book hit all the right notes. When I really think about it, the story (Preston's side) is a bit outlandish. So I just don't really think about it! Problem solved.

Preston and Jeremy also get very rough during the smexy times. Also, Preston doesn't ever seem to lose his verbally combative nature toward Jeremy. It kinda bothers me that he always tells Jeremy that eating certain foods will make him fat and slow. But, then I tell myself that it didn't bother Jeremy, and I don't need to get defensive in his honor. So maybe it's not my normal style to like to read books with pain kinks or snappy tones, but somehow this book made me like it. Whatever works!

I really adored that once Preston trusted Jeremy, that was IT for him. I loved the co-dependency between them (was it healthy? Meh, it's fiction).

Spoiler

I love how Ella chose Preston to be hers. Heck, I love how Preston thought that Ella was Jeremy's daughter for most of the book and never even asked about it.

How bad is the Coach though? Absolutely worthless.

Spoiler

If your players are adults, you shouldn't be arranging for their time off without consulting them. I think Preston probably would have gone along with what his father wanted anyway, but I don't think it was the Coach's place to set it up with the father directly.

On my second time reading it, I had forgotten about the

Spoiler

c*ck-shaped Santa cookies.

Omg, I'm never forgetting that part again. Pure gold.

I need the recipe for Jeremy's mom's taco salad (that's not a euphemism). It just sounded amazing and now I'm craving it.

Some details:
1st person POV (dual)
Present Tense
HEA? :

Spoiler

Yes

3rd Act Breakup? :

Spoiler

No

Strict Top/Bottom? :

Spoiler

Yes

Bigger Top or Bigger Bottom? :

Spoiler

Top is bigger

Angst: 3.5 / 5
Spice Frequency: 3.75 / 5
Spice Level: 3 / 5

Tropes:
Sports
Enemies-To-Lovers
Touch Aversion
Hurt/Comfort

Kinks:
Pain

Triggers:

Spoiler

Torture (on-page)
Physical Assault (between MCs)
Physical Assault (not between MCs)
MC with other person (not cheating)
Abuse by Parental Figure

Other:
Scar Representation
Mental Health

4.5 stars from me!

This book had me looking up recipes for Rotel dip. Take that statement as you will.

My favorite part about this book is that each main character had a distinctive personality that was noticeable in the dialogue and narration of their respective chapters. And, such personalities they were! Jesse is my adorable, clever baby. Sam is a hottie athlete golden retriever, and he has a brain! I love a book with two nice characters - but don't confuse nice for boring. This book was far from dull.

The writing of these characters was so charming and witty. But it didn't fall into the trap where every sentence turns into a joke, and it's too much. I've seen that happen in other books, and I'm glad it didn't happen in this one. This one was perfect (to me).

What would have made this a perfect 5 stars to me?
- More descriptive spicy scenes. I mean, don't get me wrong, it had plenty of spice and it was hot. But a lot of the most descriptive scenes were solo scenes. There were a couple steamy scenes that (in my opinion) could have been key scenes (like the first rimming), but weren't described. We had a couple FTB sex scenes, and that shocked me. I think penetrative sex was fully described once and mostly described another time (off the top of my head, I might be slightly off on that). I just expected more? But whatever was in there was VERY GOOD. I mean, the book was already over 300 pages, so I guess there's only so much that coulda been described without overdoing it.
-

Spoiler

I totally felt the chemistry and connection between Jesse and Sam BUT I was surprised they arrived at the I love yous when they did. Like, I felt the strong like factor, but I didn't feel the love at that point.

Some Random Thoughts:
- Like Jesse, I never thought I cared much about feet. But the foot job scene - holy hell!
- Mark is annoying.
- Reid is a wanker.

Some favorite quotes, I can't explain why I loved these quotes but they were just clever or something:

The question marks on the end of this guy's sentences were starting to throw me into an existential crisis.

"Then sit back and watch your kingdom grow." He spangled his fingers through the air.

Twin Rorschachs of spunk.

His eyes kept straying to the one ball hanging out of my jock--unintentional escape artistry on the part of my testicles.

Was he trying to Cyrano de Bergerac my date?

"You would kill it on this show," Sam said, sotto voce, and I felt the warmth of his large hand close around my toes and squeeze.

My body was just a vast sea of sensorial endpoints rippling with Sam's every touch.

I rolled over on my little Manhattan Island of mattress, putting my back to him, and closed my eyes, willing myself back into dreamland.

My baseline was an anxiety minefield, and my metal detector was constantly crapping out on me.

Sam slid from the edge of the bed and stood for another languid stretch, this time exhibiting his back muscles. God, all that was missing was a fan of peacock plumes bursting from his ass.

"Considering we were both that slammed, I'm not sure how... functional either of us were."
"The spirit may have been willing, but the flesh was very definitely--"
"Flaccid."

Some stuff:
Angst: 1/5
Spice Frequency: 3/5
Spice Level: 3/5

Oof.

I've just finished reading this book for the 4th time this year, so I decided it's finally time for me to write a review.

A full 5 Stars from me!

Gosh, I just love Tal Bauer's writing. This book is not super spicy, and I always want my books to be super spicy; so considering that, the fact that I give it 5 stars means that this book is special. It is full of beautiful imagery and emotion (as one comes to expect from TB - but this one is even more so because Bryce's character is so introspective and feels things so deeply).

Some Specifics:
POV: 1st Person dual
Tense: Present
HEA?:

Spoiler

Yes

3rd Act Breakup?:

Spoiler

No

Strict Top/Bottom?: Yes
Top or Bottom bigger: Top is bigger
Angst: 2.5/5
Spice Frequency: 1.75/5
Spice Level: 2.75/5 (includes description of penetrative sex, but not as descriptive as it could be)

Tropes:
Sports
Gay Awakening
Found Family

Triggers:
Graphic Medical Situation

Other notable things:
Music
Athletes
Supportive families

From this point on, expect spoilers.

Some of my thoughts while reading:
- I love Bryce's confident move, straddling Hunter, for their first kiss. (granted, it didn't work out great for him, but I loved the confidence)
- It's so funny to me that after they get together again, they just kinda move in together. Like "oh you're in a hotel? you can stay with me" and then he never leaves, lol. Love it.
- It's never explicitly stated that Hunter is gay, but I'm going to call this a gay awakening for the following reasons:
1. Hunter said he never really had much inclination to get together with women.
2. Hunter said that him falling for Bryce should explain why he never fell for a woman. And he never knew to question this in the past so he never considered not being straight.
- I'm only labeling it for the purpose of searching terms later; not trying to assume H's identity.
- The narration for Bryce and, especially, Hunter feels a little too old for them. They're supposed to be 26 and 22, and Bryce is definitely an old soul so he gets a pass on that, but Hunter's POV is a little inconsistent. One minute he's like "I still haven't figured out which cereal is my favorite!" and a few chapters later he's talking giving some eloquent description of ocean beds shifting and hockey in villages in Canada. It doesn't feel like something H would know unless B told him, so it just seemed out of place in H's chapter.
- Valery is a sweet teddy bear and I love how he comforts Hunter by murmuring in Russian and cleaning H's face and all that. We love Valery.

Milestones:
First Kiss:

Spoiler

23% : Chapter 7 / Page 66

Reunited in Person:

Spoiler

28% : Chapter 10 / Page 82

Second First Kiss:

Spoiler

44% : Chapter 13 / Page 123

First Sex:

Spoiler

45% : Chapter 13 / Page 126

First Penetration:

Spoiler

68% : Chapter 17 / Page 186

The Incident:

Spoiler

73% : Chapter 18 / Page 200

First L Word - H to B:

Spoiler

74% : Chapter 18 / Page 204

First L Word - B to H:

Spoiler

89% : Chapter 21 / Page 245

Publicly Out:

Spoiler

96% : Chapter 21 / Page 263

Spoiler

Proposal:
98% : Epilogue / Page 269