Review by Booklist Review
On the verge of the NBA draft, star player August meets Iris in a bar and discusses basketball. She knows who he is, and also knows all about the game. It's a meeting neither will forget. As August signs with a team and moves on towards a bright future, Iris becomes pregnant with the child of another star player, Caleb, her longtime boyfriend. Her plans to work in the sports world are derailed and soon she is established with a baby girl in Caleb's mansion, while he hits the court. But life with this wealthy player turns dark quickly as Caleb unleashes his temper and possessiveness and harms Iris physically and emotionally. Chance meetings with August show her the possibility of a better life, but she isn't sure she can survive taking her daughter and leaving Caleb. Ryan's powerful story of abuse and pain beneath the veneer of fame delivers complex emotions and terrifically compelling characters. Fans of Colleen Hoover may also enjoy the first novel in Ryan's Hoops series.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A triumphant story of a domestic violence survivor creating her happy-ever-after. Ambitious college graduate Iris DuPree stays with Caleb Bradley, her basketball-player boyfriend, because of an unexpected pregnancy, though she has her own career goals and feels an electric connection with his rival, August West. When Caleb slowly separates her from all her emotional and financial resources and turns violent, Iris is trapped in a nightmare of sexual and physical abuse, terrified of his threats of hurting her baby and her family members. Occasional interactions between Iris and August only ratchet up Caleb's terrorizing behavior until, after one night of extreme beatings and rapes, Iris leaves with her daughter thanks to a cousin's help. Ryan's heartbreaking story intersperses Iris' point of view with that of August as they meet, fall in love, and suffer a separation that is extraordinarily brutal for her in more ways than one. Only in the second half of the novel is Iris able to take back control over herself and her story and eventually embrace love and sexual autonomy with August. Written with unflinching honesty, the novel contains on-page scenes of intimate partner violence that are difficult to read but not gratuitous. Iris' and August's inner worlds are consistently at the center of the story, and their romantic and sexual attractions for each other survive her harrowing situation. The author makes it clear that societal structures facilitate women's subjugation, and all the characters, including Iris' and her abuser's family members and acquaintances, are well sketched to show their complicity or allyship as bystanders. A sports romance that should be read by everyone who cares about women's safety. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
