Reviewed by Larissa

TITLE:  The Game

SERIES:  Charleston Condors, Book 2

AUTHOR:  Beth Bolden

PUBLISHER:  Self-Published

LENGTH: 377 pages

RELEASE DATE:  August 9, 2023

BLURB:

Micah Rose is ready for a clean slate. He might’ve messed up his rookie year with the Miami Piranhas, but being traded to the Condors is the best way to put all that behind him.

The Condors are rebuilding, too. New owner. New coach. New players. New rules.

But one rule hasn’t changed: don’t marry your ex-best friend in Vegas.

Beckett West isn’t looking forward to seeing Micah again. Back in college, they shared not only a ride-or-die friendship, but a ton of sexual tension they never acted on.

That was before Micah pushed him away.

Still, Beck’s never forgotten their last drunken night together. Not only did they finally confess their feelings, they both promised if the day ever came when they played on the same team again, they wouldn’t waste the chance to be together.

But Beck didn’t expect that day to ever be this day.

He certainly didn’t expect to wake up in bed with Micah’s ring on his finger.

Or that he’d never want to take it off.

But it turns out the only man for him is the one man he could never forget. The one man he’s always wanted to make his.

REVIEW:

Beth Bolden’s inspired NFL football fictional universe that houses three different sports romance series – The Riptide, Miami Piranhas, and this in-progress series, Charleston Condors (plus the related Food Truck Warriors series) – is the gift that keeps on giving.  If you love sports romances and, in particular, those with lots of on-field action, it doesn’t get much better than Bolden’s stories.  The Game is one of her best romance storylines, although it’s lighter than her other stories in terms of football action. But the story doesn’t suffer because The Game puts the spotlight on the fascinating Micah Rose, a second-year NFL cornerback recently traded from the Miami Piranhas where he spent his rookie year. Now, he’s an up-and-coming football superstar who’s trying to shake off his mistakes and become the best he can be.  

Micah first pinged our radar back in the Miami Piranhas series.  He’s had a bit of a redemption arc starting in that series and bridging into the current Condors series.  Bolden does a nice job of making that clear and understandable while keeping this story self-contained, providing appropriate background and context so you can read The Game as a standalone.  That being said, while not strictly necessary, undoubtedly, you will engage with Beck and Micah better if you’ve read the Piranhas series first. 

The Star kicked off this Charleston Condors spinoff series, and its pace felt atypically slow.  Lots of background and introductions, less in the way of action.  Micah and Beck’s story picks up the pace a bit and definitely focuses on its featured couple with very little in the way of meandering into other characters and potential plots. But it spends more time with Micah and Beck off the field than on and the on-field detailed action is what sets Bolden’s stories apart. That being said, it’s Bolden at her best in delivering a romance storyline- taking a second chance, best friends-to-lovers romance and injecting a woke-up-married twist to it.  Micah and Beck are well-realized characters, given depth and complexity.  You immediately feel their deep connection as best friends and teammates pre-NFL draft, and how they quickly fall back into that deep connection and all of those non-platonic feelings for each other that an aborted post-draft encounter almost destroyed.

But what really makes The Game succeed is Micah himself.  He’s arguably the most complex character in Bolden’s extensive universe,  and he’s also had the greatest character transformation (save Spencer Evans from Bolden’s The Red Zone).  Bolden’s crowning achievement here is her deft weaving of characters and experiences from multiple interconnected series into an overarching tapestry of found family that resonates whether you have read every book in this fictional universe or only this book. She delivers a seamless romance for Micah and Beck that makes sense even amongst the craziness of NFL football playing out on and off the field.

The Game delivered what I expected from Bolden (albeit a bit less football than I would have liked) in a story that was not what I expected.  It’s a sweet, sexy, sports romance with an unusual plot that had me turning the pages, unable to put it down.  Highly recommended.

RATING: 

BUY LINK: 

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