Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: Rough Contact
AUTHOR: Beth Bolden
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 438 pages
RELEASE DATE: October 14, 2020
BLURB:
Their romance is forbidden. Their love is a secret.
Neal Fisher knows heartbreak. It’s the clock ticking down in the Super Bowl. It’s missing the most important field goal of his life. It’s losing everything: his thirteen year career as an NFL kicker, his future, and his pride.
Jamie Wright knows love. It’s everything on the line as the crowd holds their breath. It’s a perfect kick as the ball soars through the goal posts. It’s NFL fame and glory laid out before him.
Neal is on his way out, and Jamie–if he can withstand the tryout pressure– is on his way in. The one person Jamie should avoid is the veteran kicker, and the last thing Neal wants is to sink Jamie’s chances. But a chance meeting and a wild and undeniable chemistry proves to be irresistible.
Neal thought he knew heartbreak. Jamie thought he knew love.
They were both wrong.
Their romance is forbidden. Their love is a secret.
But if they trust each other, maybe their growing relationship won’t end in tragedy. It might even be the beginning of football’s greatest love story.
REVIEW:
Sometimes you read a book and you just know right from the start that you are going to love it. This is that book. By the end of the prologue, I already loved Neal. And it doesn’t take long to fall for Jamie either. The two of them come together quickly in this book, but they just click. It all feels natural despite the age gap and the improbable circumstances that brought them together. And the romance between Neal and Jamie is sweet and heartwarming, with minimal angst.
The storyline has really good momentum to it and although somewhat predictable, there is just enough of a twist on the events that it makes it fresh. I particularly like that the fictional events in this book are reality based and you can tell because the writing is excellent and it brings it all to life colorfully and believably. The best part of this book, though, are the relationships – not just Neal and Jamie’s, but those between Neal and his circle of ex-teammates/friends. The open, welcoming nature of this group of men and how they adopt Jamie into the fold readily and without question just gives you all the feels.
This book is definitely one I intend to reread. You do not have to read The Rivalry first, although the events of this book pick up after that so there are references to what happens in that book and the MCs feature in this book as well. If you read in sequence, you’ll have more context and background but you can enjoy Neal and Jamie’s romance and HEA just fine even if you haven’t.
RATING: 
BUY LINK:
[…] Through her portrayal of Spencer, Ms. Bolden creates a fascinating and unusual twist on the closeted gay sports athlete romance. Spencer finds himself in a conundrum of his own making. He’s an out football player who essentially put himself back in the closet. He put his head down, focused on the game, and did everything he could to try to deflect from his “gayness”. In so doing, he made it through, losing a piece of himself day by day, while simultaneously alienating potential allies. This includes many of the players on the Riptide like Heath Harris and Sam Crawford (from Book 1 The Rivalry) and Neal Fisher and Jamie Wright (from Book 2 Rough Contact). […]