Reviewed by Ro
TITLE: Comeback King
SERIES: Necessary Roughness #1
AUTHOR: Riley Hart
PUBLISHER: Riley Hart
LENGTH: 268 Pages
RELEASE DATE: June 17, 2026
BLURB:
Lucas
To my dad, Hunter King is a football prodigy destined for greatness.
The son he always wanted.
To me, Hunter King is the guy I’ve loved most of my life.
The guy who happens to be my dead brother’s boyfriend.
We were kids when Hunter came into our lives—the boy with the skill my brother didn’t have and the drive I lacked. The one who was always kind to me, who cared about my photography when, to my dad, it was a hobby, not worth anyone’s time.
Looking at the world through the lens of my camera is the only thing I’ve ever wanted.
Other than Hunter King.
Hunter
I would be nothing without the Blakes. Coach Blake nurtured my football talent from high school through college and now professionally. For all intents and purposes, he was my father. And when I started dating his son Ellis, it felt like I truly became part of the family.
But since Ellis died, nothing feels right anymore—not even the game I’ve always loved.
Until Lucas walks back into my life.
With each lingering touch, I feel sensation returning. Every kiss breathes air into my lungs. And for the first time in three years, it feels like my heart starts beating again.
But with every embrace, I’m betraying Ellis’s memory. The media, my team, Coach Blake will all condemn me. I’ll no longer be their Comeback King. I’ll be the man who is sleeping with his dead boyfriend’s brother.
Yet none of it is enough to make me stop.
The Comeback King is the first book in a new series. You can expect big feels and a secret relationship with pining and learning to love after loss.
REVIEW:
So I was a little leery about this one, because I am not, in any way, a sports fan. This book focuses on Hunter, a pro football player, and Lucas, the younger brother of Hunter’s late boyfriend, Ellis. Oh boy. Hunter and Ellis met as kids and moved from friends to besties to lovers, all the way chasing the football dream that was theirs but also belonged to Coach Blake, Ellis’ and Lucas’ dad. Coach wants his sons to become football legends. The problem is, Ellis has the drive and the want, but not the talent. Lucas has the talent but wants nothing to do with football. “The second I didn’t want football, I was dead to him, and he’s only been hating me more since we lost my brother.” And here comes Hunter, the son Coach wants because he is talented, and he wants it more than anything.
The way Coach treats Lucas is shameful and, honestly, emotionally abusive. While yes, the book is about Hunter and Lucas, it is more about family dynamics and how they affect you forever. Lucas has succeeded in his photography and owns an art gallery. His parents don’t know, but they don’t know much about him. It is here, at a gallery show, that he runs into Hunter again. Since the death of Ellis, Lucas has shut himself off from the family, but Hunter has gone off the rails. He’s still a pro football player, but he’s careening, drinking, partying, hooking up. It was sad to read the guilt he carries around for still being here and how much he misses Ellis.
There’s a lot of baggage in the story, as you would expect. Huge expectations from Coach Blake, knowing how Ellis stands between them, the difference between the two of them, and navigating something new in the public eye. Something that people will definitely have opinions about. So much of the issues and problems, dating back from when Ellis was alive, are caused by Coach Blake. Who people view as this sort of folk hero. Hunter sees it though “On the outside, it looks like Lucas had it easy, but I know he didn’t. Coach Blake was never good to him. I wasn’t always good to him. Ellis wasn’t either.” Hunter feels a lot of guilt for not stepping in with Coach Blake when they were young, but I can see how that would be nearly impossible. And it wouldn’t have mattered. They share more, even though Hunter hasn’t ever admitted it. We both know what it’s like to live in Ellis’s shadow.” Ellis was “…so good, so perfect, the best son, student, friend, boyfriend, football supporter a person could be, but it was so damn hard living up to his expectations.”
The football parts weren’t my thing, I felt sort of like Lucas while the games were being talked about, but it’s a huge thing in the family and for Hunter. It’s interesting that when Lucas and Hunter start talking again (and Hunter feels like this has to be hidden, because people can be jerks), his game improves. Three years since Ellis died and his game has tanked. Now? He’s back to the talent he always was.
One thing about Lucas: he is who he is, doesn’t sugarcoat anything, and went through trauma to get there. But I absolutely loved that when Hunter asked his favorite thing to photograph, he said, “I like taking photos of things that make me feel, and I never know what will do that.” That summed up so much about him, and in the process, what life should be like.
I went into this book thinking, well, maybe. It started with two strikes for me – I don’t like sports, especially football, and the brother thing can get uncomfortable. I ended up loving both of these men and their story. If I could go slap Coach Blake, I would, for sure. The whole dynamic worked for me, and their approach to any type of relationship, including friendship, seemed so realistic in the shadow of dead Ellis. I’m thinking Oak might be next?
RATING: 
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