Reviewed by Lady Macbeth
TITLE: Salt
SERIES: Like Teammates #2
AUTHOR: Jonah Yorke
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 437 Pages
RELEASE DATE: May 12, 2026
BLURB:
Connor
Getting accepted into the same post-grad university as my girlfriend seemed like a solid reason to stay together. Now that I’m in San Diego, living with Thalia’s family, all I want to do is go back to Sacramento. Back to my family, my friends, and the sport I love like crazy.
When I stumble upon a pickup soccer match on the beach, it stirs something in me. My eyes, and my camera, obsess over the dark-eyed forward with a body straight out of a fashion magazine.
Dane Calvo…tall, untamed, and unabashedly gay. He hits on me, and I reject him. Then I find out he’s Thalia’s younger brother—the one who sleeps in the bedroom next to ours. Maybe it’s a bad idea trying to be friends with a guy who is clearly into me, but I’m straight. At least, I think I am.
Dane
The only thing worse than my sister moving in is that she brought her stupid boyfriend with her. Now I’ve got both of their crap taking up valuable counter space in my bathroom, and my dad is making me eat dinner with the family.
When I discover Thalia’s boyfriend is the same drop-dead cutie who was taking stalker-pics of me at the beach, I know I can have fun with it. The problem is, he knows I’m gay and my family doesn’t. Even worse, he wants to be friends—wants to train me even—but the more time we spend together, the more I want him all to myself.
He keeps saying he’s straight, but I have my doubts. But even if he’s not, how could someone as good as Connor Whitlock ever want a train wreck like me?
SALT is a spicy sports romance that deals with themes related to identity, infidelity, mental health, and family trauma. It is the second book in the Like Teammates series but can be enjoyed as a standalone. This book is intended for readers age 18 and up.
REVIEW:
Second book in the Like Teammates series and Jonah Yorke did his magic again. I’ve become very fond of this author’s writing and I adore the stories he creates.
We met Connor in the previous book, since he was one of Rowan’s teammates and friends. He’s a nice and easy guy, a good friend, a talented photographer, a devoted son.
At the start of the story, Connor is about to leave Sacramento to move to San Diego with his girlfriend Thalia; the plan is to attend post grad university and live together at Thalia’s dad’s house. It’s clear right from the start that Connor is a bit insecure about the move: new school, new city, new house, Connor has not a solid ground under him except for Thalia. Moreover he doesn’t have a close relationship with her father, so he’s a bit nervous about the whole thing.
Thalia’s family consists of her father, her stepmother and her brother, Dane, whom Thalia hates fiercely.
Dane is a bit of a riot: he’s brash, sarcastic, unashamed, he spends very little time at the house because he can’t bear to be continuously and cruelly criticised by his father, he’s not out as a gay man to protect himself from his father’s ire. Dane is a young man who’s been hurt by everyone in his family (father, mother and sister) and bears scars so deep that affects him and make him believe he’s not worthy of love. The details of the abuse and abandonment he suffered were heartbreaking.
Unexpectedly, Dane is also the only person with whom Connor spends time with, since Thalia seems to have completely abandoned his boyfriend in favour of always being with her new friends.
Connor and Dane, despite being completely different, get along very well and their connection grows stronger every day: in fact they always find new reasons to hang out together, sometimes to play soccer, or to have dinner, to go to parties or to the zoo. While Connor helps Dane improve his soccer skills and gives him the attention and affection he craves, Dane fills the void left by Thalia and makes Connor feeling cherished and less alone.
I adored how Dane was smitten by Connor, how he found him adorable and precious, how he stopped behaving irrationally and let go of his bad habits because he didn’t need those things anymore. Dane was completely devoted to Connor, he craved his closeness like air, not only physically, but also emotionally. Connor was a safe place for Dane and Dane would have done everything to protect their moments together. The sleepovers in Dane’s bedroom were my favourite parts: their nights spent tangled in the same bed were hot but also extremely intimate and emotional. And all those sweet kisses!
I found Connor’s struggles with his bi awakening very realistic and well written: it was not an easy or smooth journey and he made a few mistakes, but when he realised that he loved Dane with all his heart and surrendered to their love, it was so wonderful.
Should Connor have handled the revelation better? Of course he should have. It was a messy affair that he could have prevented and that hurt Dane a lot. But I’m glad they worked things out and didn’t let miscommunication or fears get in the middle of their happiness.
As clearly stated in the blurb, this book contains cheating: when Dane and Connor become physically close, Connor is still committed to Thalia. But, although I believe cheating is always the wrong choice,I also think that if there is a person in the fictional world who deserves to be cheated on, it’s definitely Thalia.
She’s horrible. And I don’t mean only that she was a horrible girlfriend (I’m pretty sure she was cheating on him too, even if the author didn’t explicitly say that), but that she was a horrible person too. She constantly belittled, hurt, mocked Dane in every single moment they were in the same room. She hated him and winded up their father against him.
She deserved way worse than to be cheated and I was a bit disappointed that in the end she didn’t learn anything, she was still an awful person, trying to ruin Dane’s chances to have a family.
I’m not going to write about Dane’s mother to avoid giving spoilers, but I’m glad she had to work very hard to have her redemption (and jury’s still out about that).
In this book there’s also a scene that, on paper, should have made me close the book. When I realised what was happening at the party with another man, I was ready to be disappointed, but the author handled that kind of situation perfectly! I actually loved it: Dane was totally enthralled by Connor and everyone else disappeared from his mind. Every emotion, every sensation he was feeling was because of Connor in front of him and not because of another man. That was an incredibly powerful scene, I didn not expect to like it so much.
Who will be the MCs of the next book? Levi? Raisel? Or Zeke and Brandon (oh gosh, they’re still bickering like they did in book one!). Anyway I hope this author will write stories for them all because these guys are amazing. And having Rowan and Tommy back for a bit was wonderful, I hope we will see them again in the future.
Don’t miss this book and put it first on your TBR, you won’t be disappointed.
RATING: 
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