#BookReview Long Shot by Kennedy Ryan @kennedyrwrites @Read_Bloom #ReadBloom #KennedyRyan #LongShot #HoopsSeries #SourcebooksCasa Title: Long Shot

Author: Kennedy Ryan

Series: Hoops #1

Published by: Bloom Books on Aug. 8, 2023

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 480

Format: Paperback

Source: Sourcebooks Casablanca

Book Rating: 10/10

*Reader Advisory: Please be aware of the content warning in the beginning of the book.

From award-winning author Kennedy Ryan comes the soul-gripping, unforgettable first installment of the Hoops trilogy.

Iris DuPree meets August West in a sports bar during her last semester of college. It’s the conversation of a lifetime and sends sparks flying in every direction. The connection is undeniable…but the timing is all wrong. August is poised for the NBA draft, and Iris belongs to another man—basketball’s “golden boy” and August’s long-time rival.

The two go their separate ways, but they often recall that electric night and what could have been. While August has embarked on his all-star life, studded with wealth and fame, Iris’s perfect public relationship has become a nightmare behind closed doors. A tarnished dream of fool’s gold.

When August re-enters her life, the world seems briefly bright again, but Iris’s darkest nights are not over yet. To survive, she must build her own strength and trust that her bond with August can endure after all this time.

Even when her fraudulent prince has vowed never to let her go.


Review:

Powerful, consuming, and heartbreaking!

Long Shot is an immersive, emotional, heart-wrenching tale that takes us into the life of the intelligent, driven Iris DuPree as she struggles to survive a surprise pregnancy, broken dreams, a daughter she loves more than life itself, a boyfriend who was once loving but is now always angry, controlling, and brutally violent, a strained relationship with a cousin who always had her back, and a complicated attraction with a man who somehow has been stealing her heart piece by piece since the day they first met.

The writing is tender and expressive. The characters are genuine, vulnerable, and resilient. And the plot, told from alternating POVs, is a haunting tale of life, loss, secrets, perseverance, power, shame, self-blame, violence, denial, pain, healing, hope, empowerment, sexual assault, new beginnings, and unconditional love.

Overall, Long Shot is not for lovers of the lighthearted. It’s dark, gritty, raw, at times disturbing, but it’s also tragic, memorable, beautiful, and romantic. It made my heart smile, shatter, and then put it all back together again in 480 pages, and I can guarantee that even though it’s shockingly the first novel I’ve read by Kennedy, it definitely won’t be my last.

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

     

 

 

Thank you to Bloom Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Kennedy Ryan

A RITA® and Audie® Award winner, USA Today bestselling author Kennedy Ryan writes for women from all walks of life, empowering them and placing them firmly at the center of each story and in charge of their own destinies. Her heroes respect, cherish, and lose their minds for the women who capture their hearts. Kennedy and her writings have been featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, TIME, O magazine, and many others. She is a wife to her lifetime lover and mother to an extraordinary son.