Author: Meghan Quinn
Series: Kings of Football, #2
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Tropes: Second Chance Romance, Friends to Lovers, Road Trip, Holiday Romance, Slow Burn, Sports Romance
Trigger/Content Warnings: Mentions of death of a family member
Release Date: December 10th, 2020
Goodreads | Amazon.in (Available on KU)
Synopsis: I haven’t seen her in three years.
I haven’t talked to her since the kiss.
So why am I on a plane, flying across the world to spend a week with her in Germany?
One word: Pops.
My life’s a mess.
My possible football career is hanging on by a thread.
I’m driving the roads of Germany in honor of Pops with the one girl I can never have.
And I’m sharing a bed with her, the girl I’ve measured everyone else up to, while desperately trying to not to touch her.
We made a pact growing up, never to get romantic with each other – never fall in love.
And I’m about to break that pact. For good.
Review: I think I’ve found my favourite Meghan Quinn couple. Sure, I haven’t read all her books, and after reading about Crew and Hazel, I’m super curious about Crew’s parents – Porter and Marley, who were in The Mother Road. But guys, Crew and Hazel are adorable, sexy, cute perfection. The real star of the book is Pops, because he’s the one pulling all the strings in this story. But Crew and Hazel have the most wonderful friendship and relationship that you are going to be totally hooked on them.
If you’ve read The Revenge Pact, then you’ve already met Crew Smith. He’s one of the three main guys who are referred to as the Kings of Football and he’s friends with River (hero of The Revenge Pact) and Hollis (Coming soon in The Relationship Pact). Football is his life, as you can imagine, and after the death of Pops, his beloved grandfather, everything’s been going downhill. And Crew’s gone home to California to be with his parents as he reevaluates his life and tries to figure out where he wants to go with his football journey. And he discovers that his grandfather has left him one big trip to Germany – with his childhood friend and the girl he ran away from after she kissed him.
“Being around Crew again is soothing, as though with him next to me, all my worries are slowly starting to float away, and it’s just me and him like it used to be.”
Hazel is so perfect. She’s a farm girl, helping out on Pops’ farm and making it better than ever. So when Pops dies, it affects her also, quite deeply. Which is why she doesn’t hesitate to get on a plane to go to Germany with the one boy that she’s always had feelings for. Hazel’s had a rough life and Pops’ farm has been her safe haven for years. And every summer, she’s had Crew, till he grew up and got deeply involved in football and forgot all about her.
Because of their friendship and their relationship for so many years, the rapport and banter and chemistry between Hazel and Crew is spectacular. Right from the minute they greet each other on the plane to when their trip is over, you can feel that amazing friendship radiating off of them. It’s what makes this book so great. Because it’s a lifelong friendship – with some hiccups on the way – and coming together to create this beautiful bond. And this holiday that they’re on, just makes it better.
“It’s a kiss that offers comfort and support. A kiss that makes you think you have so much more time with the person kissing you, rather than a few days. A kiss that speaks of friendship, love, and knowledge, and one I’m so thankful to be part of.”
Against the backdrop of Germany at Christmas, we watch Hazel and Crew fall in love. To fall in love with someone who knows you inside out is a wonderful feeling, or I would assume by how amazing it was to watch these two kids just trip over themselves for each other. While not angsty, there are a lot of unresolved issues that the two of them have to deal with and face and they tackle it like friends would. But underlying all of that is this constant awareness that it definitely means something more.
Pops’ plan takes them through parts of Germany most of us have only read about in books or seen in movies, and Hazel and Crew bond and connect through these adventures. There’s just so much to experience and seeing it through their eyes will definitely make you want to go to Germany right away and do it all too. Meghan Quinn has put in the work and she’s taken the time to give you a book with specific details that makes it all the better as you’re reading it.
“Football was expected of me, but you, Haze, you’re my fucking passion, and I would do anything to hold on to that.”
There are so many elements to this that I can’t disclose without giving away too much, but seriously, this book made me feel so much. There are heartfelt conversations, trips down memory lane and growing up together that happens in The Romantic Pact. While it’s a story about reconnecting with your friends and loved ones, it’s also about finding yourself. Because through this trip and their time together, Hazel and Crew do a lot of growing up and realising that makes this story that much more perfect.
After meeting River/Anastasia and Crew/Hazel, I am more than ready for Hollis and his lady love to rock my world.
Thanks to Meghan Quinn & Candi Kane PR for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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