Hard Pass (Trophy Boyfriends, #1). ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hard Pass by Sara Ney

My rating: 4 of 5 stars.

“Hard pass.”
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That’s what the last girl I slept with said when she got her first sober glimpse of me. She laughed, walked out of my penthouse—and I never saw her again. It doesn’t matter that I’m a rich, professional athlete; what mattered was my face. Beauty might only be skin deep for some—but I know better.
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“Pay up.”
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That’s what the last girl I spoke to said over the phone when I made her an offer she couldn’t refuse. Desperate to sell a set of rare baseball cards, she’s clever and entertaining. I’m instantly smitten, but nowhere ready to reveal myself. Thank god she has no idea who I am—or what I look like.
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I’m a professional athlete–how hard can playing the love game be?
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Hard Pass

A different kind of sports romance!

I thought the couple in this book were super cute. This book was extremely humorous, but there were a few things I didn’t like about it. The Hero is a baseball star with an $80 million dollar contract, but he has some serious self esteem issues. He had a girl that he was with sort of laugh at him and say the words “Hard. Pass.” as she was leaving his bedroom when he asked if he would be seeing her again.

I have always said when reading any romance where the heroine is a “curvy girl” that if the book, or especially the heroine herself dwells too much on the fact that she is overweight that it lessens the likability of the book. I think a writer can convey the low self esteem without bringing up the topic too much. Like the fact that this Hero (Noah) thinks he is far from handsome. It wasn’t his low self esteem that was at issue, it was that it was just brought up too much in derogatory ways. Like having him referred to as a brown bagger.

The heroine (Miranda) was very attracted to him and he to her which I liked. So I guess I took the negative references to mean that he just took bad pictures. Because really when you think of it, there are a lot of famous and high paid athletes that don’t look like models, but really nobody says anything about their looks in the press except possible haters in comments and people jealous that they aren’t making a ton of money playing sports.

Anyway, I really liked the story about this shy, but extremely famous guy who tries to stay out of the public eye as much as possible. Noah does that so much that when he brokers a deal to buy a rare baseball card from Miranda, he has his best friend Buzz go pick it up for him. Buzz is also on Noah’s baseball team and is the one that loves the press and the women and has the looks to prove it. Though Buzz is sort of a Neanderthal, an in doing so offends Miranda and she thinks he is Noah, so refuses to sell him any more of her Grandfather’s collection.

I won’t go further into the plot because it is not a long book but to say that despite my issues with whether he is ugly or not, I really enjoyed this book. I liked that Noah is a really big guy and Miranda is a small woman. I like that dynamic, and their romance was terrific. Also despite being a shy guy, he is also rich and famous so it wasn’t like he hadn’t been with women in the past. Because I really don’t enjoy reading about guys who are virgins. It is a bit too weird for me unless they are under sixteen.

The romance was also very hot and steamy, which I liked (heat level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥). It was also super funny (🤣😂😅😁). The supporting characters were terrific, especially Buzz as the best friend. I hope the next book is about him. I would like to see him stay with a woman. He is currently the type that is never photographed with the same woman more than once. Miranda’s friend claire is also very funny.

“I thought you said you felt a tingle in your lady business on Saturday after you talked to him.”
“Claire!” I pointedly shift my eyes toward the back of the driver’s head. Though Claire can’t see him, she knows I’m in an Uber and knows he can hear everything she’s saying.
“Could you not?”
“You know I’m right. You had a party in your pants and you wanted to invite him.”

4.2 stars overall. This book was cute and very funny and I really liked the originality and the story.
I voluntarily read & reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts & opinions are my own.