A new series spin off from Nicole Dyke's Kensley Panthers. A bit of angst and a whole lot of hurt/comfort in a small town where football is king and acceptance has to be fought for.
From the blurb:
Welcome to Big Bend—my nightmare and my home, all in one.
I don’t fit in here. I don’t fit in anywhere. I’ve made so many mistakes. Over and over.
Two of those mistakes haunt me. One being responsible for a friend losing his job and reputation in this town.
And two, well, that one is even worse.
I ruined so many lives with one stupid decision I barely even remember.
And now I’m going to pay for it.
Colt Howe
Kensley. A place I never wanted to be again.
But I had to come back home. My sister Chloe needs me, which is more important than escaping the town I grew up in.
I’m here for two reasons and two reasons only: my sister and my nephew.
I’ll make sure my nephew has a better life than I had. That his father is there for him, whether he wants to be or not.
That’s my promise.
I was so damn close to getting out of this town for good. Right in that red zone, I could see the goal, but then I got hit with a force I never saw coming.
And that changed everything.
SNik's review:
First in series (Big Bend Bears). Hurt/comfort. Small town. Dual POV.
Dallas only has one more year of high school and he can escape his parents and the town of Big Bend, the only things he enjoys are football and his friendship with his best friend. Colt is a protective older brother that has to confront Dallas, but what he finds is a man that could use someone to see beneath the surface and help Dallas with his struggles.
This series is a spin off from the author’s Kensley Panther’s series and has the same amount of angst, wanting to escape small town bigotry, and a big dose of hurt/comfort. It may feel like instalove to some readers, and I was ok with the way Dallas and Colt’s relationship progressed, it worked for them. A ton of spicy interactions, and plenty of soul searching for both of them, with some important supportive secondary characters helped their relationship become something special.
Autumn's review:
I loved this story. It was dark and sweet and had a HEA.
Usually, I'm not into sports romance, but Nicole has a way with words that make it work. She's the only author I'll attempt sports in my genre of any kind.
I felt bad for Dallas so much through this book.
Rogue's Review:
- small town
- Virgin MC
- new series
This was a new to me author, I haven't read anything before. I realised pretty quickly this was a spin off from another series but I managed to follow along just fine jumping in here. I really felt for Dallas, when we meet him he's really at rock bottom after a series of things, and has nobody to turn to other than his friend Benny. Being confronted by Colt was the final straw, I think. I liked that Colt actually saw Dallas, and didn't just judge him as harshly as everyone else. While it was a very quick development of the relationship between the two, it didn't feel rushed and it did suit them. I did worry with Dallas being so young and naive in a lot of ways but this was about Dallas finding himself and his confidence too, bolstered by Colt.
It was very satisfying to see Dallas gain enough confidence and belief to stand up to his parents, his bullying coach and find his happiness. I liked the surrounding characters too, like Chloe and Benny and I really look forward to seeing Benny's story.
As the start to a series, this is good at setting the scene and I'm definitely in for more
Heather's Review:
We've moved up the road to Kensley's rival, Big Bend and features Dallas, the young man whose heartbreaking history led to his need to search for answers and embroiled him in a scandal that caused someone else to lose their job...
Dallas is so down, and Colt is ready to unleash more terror on the poor high school senior, until he realizes just how harshly Dallas is judging himself and how much he's internalized by being stuck on the football team, at his school, in his town and with his mother...
This book had the right amount of angst to be a new adult story, just enough secrets, just enough fumbling and of course the right amount of steam... I love how Colt started seeing Dallas as his true self and helping him open up and gain confidence. I appreciated how much he was willing to put himself out there and fight for his man...
This was a great start to the spin-off series and I can't wait to read Benny's book and see what more comes from the Big Bend Bears series.
Red Zone is currently available as an e-book and can be read as part of your Kindle Unlimited Subscription
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