Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Illegal Motion

SERIES:  The Package Deal

AUTHOR:  Rheland Richmond and Emerson Beckett

PUBLISHER:  Self-Published

LENGTH:  384 pages

RELEASE DATE:  February 13, 2023

BLURB:  

Callum Kennedy

I should have known behind that deep sexy southern drawl, and beautiful face lived the world’s biggest asshole.

I’ve tried my damnedest to put him behind me. But it was hard to do when I saw his face every night in my dreams and couldn’t forget how he worked my body over.

It was okay. I had my work as a vet, my equine rescue to manage, and my friends. I’d forget him or work myself to death trying.

Except there’s one problem.

Turns out he’s the new free-agent running back who just signed a one-year deal with the Portland Pirates. The infamous Declan Miller has turned my world upside down and reinserted his unforgettable self back into my life for the next year.

Declan’s the last person I want help from, but it looks like I don’t have a choice.

Declan Miller

When I walked into Alejandro’s Bar that night in late July, I never expected to meet someone my first night in town.

But the sexy guy with wavy dark blond hair and hazel-green eyes sitting alone at the bar caught my attention immediately. Or maybe it was the way he was sniffing his own shirt.

After a night of the best sex of my life, I knew I had to push him away. I wasn’t doing relationships anymore, and this gorgeous, funny man had the power to break me.

But when I find out my unforgettable hookup is part of my new friend group, Dr. Callum Kennedy wants nothing to do with me until he has no choice but to let me help.

Illegal Motion is an MM sports romance and the fourth book in the Package Deal Series about the hot single dads of the Portland Pirates football team.

Tropes: enemies to lovers, close proximity, found family, one-night stand to forever, sports romance.

REVIEW:

Note:  This is the fourth book in this series and as such contains major spoilers for the first three books and has some overlap especially with the timeline of Unnecessary Roughness.  While it can be read as a standalone, I think it’s better read in order to understand the found family that these guys have formed and how/why they support each other.

Declan and Callum have a one night stand after meeting at a bar.  Declan is really terrible to Callum the morning after – he wants to be sure to cut ties – he’s not worthy of love or a relationship and he knows that this guy could definitely break him given half the chance.  But he’s already been broken and he’s not going there agin.

Callum is dead tired.  He’s a vet with a busy practice and trying to get an equine therapy/horse rescue up and running.  His one night stand with the guy who should have been perfect for him has gotten into his head.  So the surprise when after months he meets the guy at his football player friends Super Bowl party really screws with his head.  What did he do? But when the guy tries to make it up to him?  Well let’s just say that was unexpected 😉  And the end result?  Months of push/pull, start/stop between them where Declan clams up and Callum misinterprets.  It takes outsiders to finally get them to admit what’s going on 😉

Oh man!  This was a painful story for quite a while.  These guys need a LOT of help to get to their HEA 🙂  Luckily they have lots of friends and found family that work hard to get them out of their own way.  This story is not so much one of miscommunication as it is two guys who just have issues being honest and articulating what they want/need because they are so afraid of heartbreak.  Needless to say, that leads to overthinking, overanalyzing and misinterpreting too many conversations/interactions.  That being said, I’m not letting Declan off the hook for how badly he behaved after their first night together.  Their chemistry and attraction are off the charts and whenever they are in the same room, they are like magnets that are drawn to each other.   Declan is so convinced that he doesn’t deserve love after the flameout of his marriage.  Then there is his daughter to consider.  Callum has a lot on his plate with his clinic and the equine therapy center he’s trying to get setup.  He doesn’t have time for games and he doesn’t need to feel used by anybody.  The fact that they are constantly pushed together because of their common friend group just pours gasoline on the flames 🙂

When Declan falls into caretaker mode, it’s clear that he really loves Callum, but he still doesn’t think he’s worthy.  Callum doesn’t know how to read this hot/cold situation he keeps getting from Declan.  There are quite a few stop/starts for these two and it takes an intervention by their well-meaning friends to force them to face the fact that they are in love with each other and to stop hurting each other unintentionally.  There are a few more missteps, but thankfully nothing they can’t overcome.  While it does take quite a while to get these two together, it’s totally worth it.  I particularly loved the story line with Declan’s daughter Meredith.  He so wanted to be a good dad and make sure she was taken care of and getting what she needed.  I loved that he fought for her.  Callum is such a good guy and good with children also and together they put Meredith first.  While Declan’s ex-wife is a piece of work, there are other female characters who are not at odds with all these gay and bisexual men and their families 🙂  I adored getting to see all of the couples from the past books in this series supporting this new couple and their family.  The kids, the caretakers, even the team management is on board.  Wouldn’t it be great if this was the way it was in real life in Sport culture?  We can only work to make it so 😉

This is a long book.  It covers two years in the life of these two men and their push/pull romance.  There are a lot of things they get wrong, but then they figure out how to make them right.  With their found family, they are able to build a happy, healthy relationship.  With the right advice and support, both Declan and Callum grow up and ask for what they want and need and get honest with how they feel and forgiving of each others stumbles.  The epilogue was glorious.  I definitely recommend this one – it has all the feels and a huge HEA that is hard won.

RATING: 

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