Review: Block Shot by Kennedy Ryan
Block Shot by Kennedy Ryan Published by Amazon Digital Services LLC on September 8, 2018
Genres: Romance, Women's Fiction
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A STANDALONE second chance, enemies-to-lovers romance set in the cutthroat world of sports management.
They're two sharks in a fish tank . . .
JARED
If I had a dollar for every time Banner Morales made my heart skip a beat...
The heart everyone assumes is frozen over.
Her anger is...arousing.
Every glare from those fire-spitting eyes, every time she grits her teeth, gets me...well, you know.
If I had a dollar for every time she's put me in my place, I'd be an even richer man.
I'm a successful sports agent because I assume "no" means you'll think about it.
I'm sure what you meant to say is "Coming right up.”
They say even rich men don't always get what they want, but those men don't know how to play the game. The trick is to keep them guessing.
Take Banner. She assumes she's winning, but this game?
She doesn't even know how to play.BANNER
If I had a dollar for every time Jared Foster broke my heart, I’d have exactly one dollar.
One night. One epic fail. One dollar...and I'm out.
I've moved on.
I’ve found success in a field ruled by men.
Anything they can do, I have done better.
They can keep the field while I call the shots, blocking them when I have to.
And Jared has the nerve to think he gets a second chance?
Boy, please. Go sit down. Have several seats.
I'll just be over here ignoring the man carved from my fantasies with a lust-tipped chisel.
Oh, I didn't say the struggle wasn't real.
But I've got that one dollar, and Jared won't have me.
Block Shot is the second standalone novel of the Hoops series by Kennedy Ryan.
In Long Shot, we read Iris and August’s harrowing journey to happily ever after. In the follow-up, August’s brother Jared meets his match in the fiery and incomparable Banner Morales.
Let me keep it real with you, I liked Jared well enough in Long Shot but he had work to do to properly win me over. I was like, what does Jared know about blocking shots?! And how was he going to convince me he was worthy of being with a woman as great as Banner? (It might be because I had convinced myself that Kenan and Lotus’s story was next but shuuuussshhhhhh!)
I underestimated that man, because after staying up till 2am he sure showed me LOL. Because you know what Kennedy did? Delivered, as she always does!
Jared and Banner met in college, and were great friends with the potential for more. Let’s just say that one night where miscommunication and poor choices reared its ugly head, all trust was lost and their fragile bond was broken.
Fast forward 10 years later and both are sports agents, Jared owns his own agency and Banner heads the LA office of a very popular rival. After hardly seeing each other on rare occasions within the last 10 years, these two find themselves in each other’s orbits quite a bit now that they’re both living in the same town. Circumstances may have changed but feelings have not, and these two soon realize that what they had never really went away. Jared is content with rehashing his feelings. Banner? Well her situation is a bit more complicated and it’s going to take a lot of convincing for her to forgive.
Jared and Banner and both…complex. Banner is brilliant and kind and compassionate. She can charm just about anyway and has the smarts to back it up. Clients love her because she’s a killer with a heart. Jared is all gut instinct, he’s unyielding and to most, unfeeling. To be honest, many would consider him an asshole, and trust me they would not be wrong. Jared and Banner are opposites but they provide the perfect balance. Let Jared tell, Banner is his equinox.
I related to Banner quite a lot, her doubts and insecurities are ones I’ve known too well. I don’t want to give too much away but I think when most women read this book and see a lot of themselves in Banner. She was ambitious and knew exactly what she wanted professionally and worked her ass off to get to the top and remain there. She was a fierce heroine; strong yet vulnerable and relatable.
I cannot love you gently
It’s not in me
To love in part,
So I will love you
Completely,
And a little madly…
-Matt Spencer, Poet
I love characters that are strong willed and passionate and both of Jared and Banner had it in spades. Banner had a little more finesse and tact than Jared, but Jared had laser focus. He was determined to win Banner back, at any cost, regardless of whose toes he had to step on or who he had to tell to fuck off. While I didn’t agree with all of his tactics, he won me over. Despite being a jerk, I have to admire a man who knows who he wants and is willing to do whatever needs to be done to get her. He was an asshole to most of the outside world but to the ones he loved, especially Banner, he was unafraid to show his softer side.
Some would say this was a ‘lighter’ Kennedy Ryan book but make no mistake about it, you won’t leave completed unscathed. You’ll question a few decisions but then wonder if you would do the same thing in their situation and had that type of love on the line. When it comes to love, sometimes the lines are blurred and we don’t see everything black and white. When a love is as unrelenting as Banner and Jared’s, there’s usually a gray area.
Natalya is the author of All The Things I Never Said, a soul-stirring collection of short stories, prose and love letters for the soulful wanderers, the brokenhearted and the hopeless romantics.
You can follow her rantings and occasional sparks of brilliance on Twitter @NatalyaMuncuff.
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