| Title | : | Blindsided (LSU #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 302 |
| Publication | : | First published June 9, 2022 |
I crashed into someone’s car. Even worse? It turns out that the person I blindsided is my new housemate, Liam, second-year student and football player.
It’s hate at first sight…until it isn’t.
But even if he doesn’t hate me anymore, it doesn’t change the fact that he’s straight.
At least, I thought he was.
One night, one kiss, and everything I thought I knew turns upside down.
They say actions speak louder than words.
And his actions tell me that he wants me.
Blindsided is a standalone M/M new adult college romance with roommates to lovers, enemies to lovers, and bi awakening themes. This book contains mature situations and content.
Blindsided (LSU #1) Reviews
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![moonlight ☾ [semi-hiatus]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/users/1645500038i/37448930._UX200_CR0,0,200,200_.jpg)
i was really excited for this bc i loved
Savage Rivals but my face for majority of the book was just: 😐
i would have been fine with Liam's mixed signals/push and pull if Noah had the strength to resist him every time he said "I want you" but Noah just kept running back and i wanted to at least see him fight the attraction more bc of Liam's whiplash?? i personally had no thoughts towards either of the mcs (the only thing i liked about Noah was he liked anime 🤣), i was more interested in the side characters tbh so i'm still continuing the series, but this was disappointing bc i had such high expectations. 😭
not even the few cute moments or possessiveness/jealousy (speaking of, one thing that annoyed me with the jealousy here was how Liam was the one who would say to forget what happened, but still had the audacity to feel jealous? you're confused or figuring yourself out, that's fine, but don't involve someone while you're still unsure bc people are gonna get hurt) were enough to make me enjoy this, unfortunately. 😔 -
Blindsided consists of Liam and Noah being hit over the head by a sledgehammer of feelings. This crazy intense enemies-to-lovers romance is the perfect display of intense chemistry that leaves its main characters so utterly wrecked.
Liam and Noah have a horrible first impression of one another in their campus parking lot. This leaves both seething and even more dismayed by one another after realizing they are now roommates. Thus begins their relationship that is filled with snarky banter and sexual tension buried underneath.
The enemies to lovers mixed with forced proximity amplify the tension wonderfully and when their chemistry is too hard to resist everything builds and complicates from there. Overall I loved Blindsided, with its fantastic chemistry between the main characters, and the push/pull between Liam and Noah was very well done. -
✦ i wouldn't really call this enemies to lovers. sure, they had a little disagreement in the beginning, but that whole thing went away pretty quickly.
✦ college setting, roommates, bi-awakening, jealousy, tension, some angst, lots of mixed signals, lots of annoying push and pull.
✦ basic, stale smut that gets boring way too quickly, since there's too much of it.
✦ i wanted more depth and to feel an actual, meaningful connection between the mcs, but instead i just got lots of eyefucking, feelings developing out of nowhere, smut and then some more smut.
✦ i liked the fact that both mcs had supportive friends and family members, that's always nice to see. the rest of the book was sadly just mediocre as fuck in my eyes. moving on. -
Becca Steele’s enemies to lovers will forever have me by the throat.
she just brings the intensity, the jealousy, the angst every time. and this book was no different. i was grinning like a lunatic from the get go. it was just a fun, indulgent read.
Blindsided follows the story of Noah and Liam. Noah is starting university in London and moves into a shared house with a bunch of football players (soccer for the Americans out there... *shudders at the word soccer*), and one of them is Liam... Liam being the guy who’s car that Noah crashed into earlier that day. so, it’s easy to say that there’s a lot of heat and animosity from the very beginning.
and i ate that shit up.
there was a lot of back and forth here, but fortunately it wasn’t exhausting (most of the time). it was full of angst and tension, and it aligned with the characters entirely. i actually craved the push and pull bcos i love how Becca Steele executes that tension. sometimes with her books, i want her to drag out the intense enemies dynamic even more bcos it’s always my favourite part. that did occur here, but it’s probably a personal thing and me being selfish bcos i just love the angst between the enemies she writes.
truly, whenever they were all angsty enemies, i turned feral. when they were nice to each other i was like “no go back to being mean🤺🤺🤺”
Noah was my personal favourite. he was just so sweet, cheeky and endearing. he was the type of character you just wanna bundle up in a big blanket and protect them from the world. while Liam gradually grew on me (at times i was side eyeing him like 👁👁 bcos he pushed my buttons for sure) and in the end he broke my heart a little. he was raw and a bit broken, i just really felt for him.
im actually shocked at the emotions this one stirred in me too. towards the end of the book i was getting super teary-eyed. these two hurt my heart, eurghhhh💘 i didn’t love this as much as Savage Rivals, but i was still all giddy and smiley while reading this. the enemies part, the push and pull, was ultimately my favourite part of this whole book and i wanted more. im just being a greedy bitch at this point, but the build up with these two was superior.
i adored some cameos from familiar faces. it literally made me smile so big, gah! i loved it. two of my personal fave lil cinnamon rolls were there and my besties were killing it💅🏻 it was just an all around feel good story with tense angst, snarky enemies and they some squishy feels. if you liked Savage Rivals, then i can see you liking this!!
but the most unrealistic thing about this book was how quickly Noah made friends at uni. like it was his first day and the lad had so many friends. im going into my final year and have one solid, reliable friend🧍 teach me your ways, Noah. and i also loved the accuracy of the details surrounding British uni life. it felt so real to me, i just appreciated the attention to detail.
praying the next couple is who i think it is���🏻 but i can wait for them if i finally get Zayde’s romance this year. my fave psycho boy deserves the world🔪
thank you to the author and her team for the ARC in exchange for an honest review! -
I had fun reading this even if the “enemies” part lasted about 30 seconds.😂 The banter felt a little bit forced and unnatural to me but I did enjoy the characters (kinda?!?) and the jealousy…(who’s surprised?!)😶 Some of the jealousy was very dumb but I simply did not care!!!! Me, to myself, out loud: This is so dumb!!!! Me, to myself, in my head: Yay!! There’s more :) The cute moments between the couple seemed to always end in on a sexual note which took away from whatever vulnerability was just expressed because I feel like this book didn’t show me a lot of love between the couple but more so lust disguised as love. And to be honest I’m not really sure why either of them liked each other. Either I’ve forgotten or it just seemed like someone would make a snide remark and then sex would happen (rinse, repeat). I still liked it but I’m kinda blown away how little I can remember of a book I finished…*checks time* 2 hours ago? I know I have a bad memory but sheesh! I wish there was more sweetness but also more snark!! This really isn’t enemies to lovers in my eyes more like everyone’s annoyed for exactly one minute but they get over it and fuck 2 seconds later to lovers.
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Becca is a master at enemies to lovers and I love and look forward to everything she puts out and Blindsided was no exception. This hit all the right buttons when it comes to build up, denial, jealousy, possessive-ness, push/pull, dialogue, like-able characters, and super hot steamy moments.
You have:
College setting
Lots of hot footballers ⚽️
Enemies to lovers
Cameos! (Won’t spoil who)
SMIRKING
Confusing feelingz
Cannot wait until Sidelined -
***2.75 rating***
Back to the circus I go....
🎪🎪🤹🏼♀️
I was warned.
I have no one to blame but myself
🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡 -
I wouldn’t say this book was bad. I mean I read it in a single sitting so it must have something going on for it. But it wasn’t great?
Honestly, going in with low expectations is probably the best thing you can do in 2022 because that seemed to be the only thing that works for me.
The pattern of the plot was simple :
- they hook up
- Liam is straight so he runs away
- Liam gets jealous when he sees Noah with someone else
- Drags Noah away
- *read from point one*
I didn’t really get any enemies to lovers here. They had a spat in the beginning when they bumped cars but the hatred there didn’t really seem real to me. It felt a little forced and just “put there”.
If anyone remembers where the plot line with Noah’s student loan ends up please let me know. I’m not sure if it completely disappeared or if I just skipped that portion of the book because I don’t remember it being mentioned later on as the story goes.
The relation itself was just fine. I liked the ending though, Liam talking and coming out to his mom and then the guys really made me tear up and happy. I felt what he felt and I loved the way the scene was written. It wasn’t mega over the top or a loud declaration so I appreciate it being short and sweet and something that would happen in real life and not Just in the books. -
i'm just gonna go for the kill and say: this was bland as hell. boring but not too boring. i don't mind reused storylines like this one but i need to feel excitement and joy when i read. the cute moments? the jealousy parts? and the enemies-to-lovers trope? i'm sorry miss steele but they were all meh. my overall problem is how liam's and noah's romance wasn't really a standout.
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The couple is cute but Liam gives so many mixed signals. I hope there would be a story about Elliot and Ander though
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[2.5] it's still early days, but for now, i'm the odd duck adrift in a sea of glowing reviews in a classic case of "it's me, not the book" 🦆🙈
those who've been with me for a while know i had the time of my life with
Savage Rivals, and the cameo scraps we were tossed here had my inner duck kicking its feet in playful delight (#LeviAsher4Life).
unfortunately, i made the unwise decision to chase that same high with housemate mcs who turned out to possess a select handful of pet peeves that irk me to high h-e-double-hockey-sticks and back. a recipe for disaster in my future if there ever was one 😅
it comes as no surprise that Noah and Liam's first meeting takes place with a bang. and by bang, i mean a regrettable car crash in a parking lot because they were vying for the same empty spot. in the violent eruption of animosity, any hopes of them behaving like civil members of society are dashed as the blame game over the incident takes a life of its own. (**funnily enough, even the blurb states from Noah's pov: "I crashed into someone’s car," so though he's loath to admit it, the man himself has spoken 😂**)
low on finances, Noah is reasonably reluctant to cough up compensation, but he never sought to communicate the will-starve-within-24-hours levels of dire his situation was. even when the emptiness of his food shelf became impossible to hide, he was still brushing off his housemates' concerns and refused to borrow money from anyone. instead, he chose to bite back at Liam with barbs and taunts of his own and chip away at what little trust could've called for a compromise (proven by the notable guilt Liam's hit with when he realizes Noah truly had barely a cent to his name).
Noah also purposely adds fuel to the flames as a poor housemate out of spite, helping himself to Liam's food, deliberately turning up the volume of his already pounding music to tick Liam off, etc.
don't get me wrong, Liam isn't innocent in this either. he puts forth his best effort to get a rise out of Noah in return, but he bugged me in another way: his countless displays of jealousy. i can't handle jealous people irl but in fiction? *makes grabby hands* never stop 😌👌🏼 there are exceptions though, such as when the mc is still confused with their sexual orientation. in these cases, it can get a bit complicated.
i feel for anyone left disoriented upon uncovering a life-altering self-truth, and i fully understand that it takes time to reach acceptance. what i can't get behind, however, is snapping at the person you have your sights set on for getting touchy-feely or a little too close with someone else when you're still floating in limbo. this selfish desire isn’t foreign to many of us, but bottom line is we're free to work ourselves into a tizzy, but if you think you have the right to act on those feelings by controlling what another can or cannot do, time to take a hard look in the mirror. i found it frustrating to watch him continuously lead Noah on while blaming Little Liam (heh) for his poor decisions in the process. this constant cycle of distance-keeping, giving into desires, hiding from the world, and not being able to promise more wasn’t quite my cup of tea 🍵
all in all, i don't mind insta-attraction but their purely physical reactions to each other never seemed to evolve into profound territory from where i stood. the curtains closed right after they became an actual couple, and only a paltry amount of page time was spent on them getting to know each other outside of their steamy connection and sans the large cast of side characters in the same room.
but even though i personally found the story bogged down by the repetitive push-and-pull, i do believe the majority of readers will find more to love in this story than i did. if anything, it still managed to pique my interest in regards to a potential future couple, so i'm looking forward to giving this universe another chance when the time comes.
extra points for the lack of family drama as well as the mention of aot marathons because nothing says romance more than watching disproportional naked giants dismember/devour humans like delectable butter popcorn with your crush 🥺
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. -
"There was no doubt that he was very, very hot, but it was more or less negated by the fact that, based on first impressions, he was a complete and utter bellend"
Oh my, I totally loved this ❣️
Blindsided by
Becca Steele is everything I love in a MM book at the moment:
❣️Enemies to lovers
❣️Bi-awakening
❣️Angsty push and pull
❣️British slang and humour
❣️College MM romance
❣️Sports romance
❣️Cameo appearances!
❣️Steamy scenes
❣️Opposites attract
❣️"Mine"
❣️HEA
The smoking hot chemistry between our MCs Noah and Liam is apparent right from the get-go, as are the equally strong denials of that chemistry by Liam.....
"I'd always known I was straight. I hadn't even considered another way. Until him. He'd shown up in my life and completely blindsided me, and everything had changed."
You're gonna love it!
Highly Recommended
5 super steamy ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ -
Blindsided is hands down my favorite book from Becca Steele. It’s raw, emotional, steamy, and gave me all the feels.
Sweet Noah is openly gay and looking to find that one guy, not in the closet. After a run-in with Liam. Hostility is high; soon after, Noah finds out Liam is his new housemate. Oh, that angst between the two.
Liam finds himself confused about his attraction to Noah. I forgot to add that Liam identified as being straight. He tries to keep his distance, but his attraction to Noah is too intense; I love his jealous side.
But all I could focus on was the fact that Elliot had his hands all over Noah, and no. Fuck. That. Mine. Mine. MineThe chemistry between the two is hot. You know, the one where you can't keep your hands off each other. I will add I did have some whiplash with Liam and his back and forth.
. I knew I’d confused Noah with the way I’d been acting around him—but I didn’t know if he realised just how confused I’d been myself.
If you like excellent enemies to lovers, with opposites attract and sexuality awaking, this book is for you,
-
MM Romance
Bi-Awakening College Roommates
3 Stars ⭐️
🤡🤡 I can only blame myself for this one because I saw all the lackluster reviews and even read snippets from the author’s newsletter that made me roll my eyes and yet I kept seeing this book and just had to read it.
All the reviews are true. It’s predictable, cliché, annoying with Liam’s back and forth, not enemies to lovers BUT I went in with extremely lowwwww expectations and I had trouble putting it down. 😂😂 Will I ever read this again? Not likely but it entertained me for an afternoon and I seem to have a weakness for college bi-awakenings. 🤷🏻♀️ Would have loved more Levi & Asher cameos though. Just saying…
Andddd can I say how much I want to read Elliot and Ander’s book??? Best friends to lovers, GFY. OMG please!!! -
It's no secret that Becca Steele is one of my FAVORITE AUTHORS! So, I was really excited for this book and it did not disappoint! I freaking LOVED Noah and Liam so much!!! 😍😍😍
I was in a book slump for a month now. No matter what I picked up it just lacked this happiness, love and all the feelings I used to get while reading. BUT luckily Blindsided was released. I smiled, laughed, screamed like crazy while reading it!!! Blindesided made me so happy and made me remember why I love reading so much!
This book has everything I love:
- enemies-to-lovers (which Becca is so amazing at!)
- jealousy and possessiveness
- sport (football)
- CAMEOS from other books! 🥳 (I SCREAMED AND JUMPED when they appeared and SMILED like a fool at every scene we got with them!)
- HOT smutty scenes and first times with a guy
- college setting
- forced proximity
- chemistry they can't ignore
- amazing friends
Aghh, all the feelings! This book was just amazing! If you enjoy all of the things I mentioned I recommend this book to you! 😍
I admit, I loved Noah a little bit more than Liam. Noah was such an amazing and refreshing character to read. He was kind, gentle, funny, did I mention how kind he was? Liam was the grumpy guy, he was the "bad" guy in the story. His feelings for Noah were confusing for him and we see him struggle. I can see why some readers may find it frustrating but I understood Liam's point of view and feelings. Oh, Noah hates football and Liam is a footballer. 👀🤭
We see Noah and Liam's feelings develop naturally, it didn't happen out of the blue. We see them hate each other at the beginning and slowly feelings other than hate show up. Let's not forget their friends and how amazing all the scenes with them all were. 👏A shiver went down my spine. Fuck. This boy was going to kill me.
Bloody tiny benches.
"You might be the one with the experience with guys, but don't make the mistake of thinking you're the one in charge."
I can't wait for the next book. It will be bestfriends-to-lovers and hopefully we will see again the characters from Becca's previous books. Like, I LIVE for them sooo 🤭😍 -
Didn't love this as much as Cross the Line and Savage Rivals but it's still good.
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Hmm, unfortunately while I enjoyed this at first, eventually it started to wane and it became just "meh" for me.
This was shaping up to be a 4 star read for me, at least. I liked Liam and Noah's chemistry, their dynamic was interesting, I liked their interactions. Yeah, Liam was kinda of an asshole at first, but it's kinda fun when they're assholes at first and then change their tune when they realize how wrong they were.
Then as they started to kiss and more, Liam was understandable in his confusion about his feelings and sexuality and so giving the back and forth treatment to Noah.
But then eventually, it started to feel like it was going on for too long. This whole book.
I think it would have benefited from being 50 pages less or maybe even more. There was no reason for this story to be almost 300 pages.
Instead of getting Liam going on that journey, it felt dragged out for drama, him going back and forth over and over and over again, which got to be old, and then him coming to terms with his feelings and sexuality really quickly at the end. It takes him one conversation with him mom to be ready to come out and be with Noah? Not buying it.
I think instead of having Liam freaked out for like...85% of this book, he should have started accepting it in little ways. Maybe started to tell a friends here or there, and then his mom near the end, and then maybe fully coming out to their household or like he does at the party at the end. I just think steps needed to be taken for him to get there that weren't there in this.
Also, honestly, the sex scenes kinda made their chemistry go down for me. There just wasn't much to the sex scenes, they were just kind of generic and went by really fast. I wasn't really into them. And then at the end when I was ready for this story to be over, we got a few more sex scenes, at which point I didn't really care for them and skimmed them.
I skimmed other parts near the end of this too. I was just kinda checked out of this story by the end.
That second half of this just didn't do it for me. So what would have probably been a 4 star read, I took down to a 3 star read.
It started out well for me, and then just kinda went downhill.
And also while I understood Liam taking time to come to terms with himself, with his sexuality, I was curious why he was so jumpy around their housemates, at the very least. Because Preston lived there, and his boyfriend is Kian (from a previous book written by this author), and they're also casually friends with Levi from another book, and Asher, his boyfriend, shows up once too.
And the other housemates are just fine and treat them all well, so why would they treat Liam and Noah any differently? It didn't make the best sense, as times went on. At first, yes, because he really did need to come to terms with himself, but why couldn't he, as he thought about his sexuality, thought about how his roommates would treat him and Noah and maybe he could slowly come out to them as he was getting ready to come out to the world.
It just didn't quite work for me there.
So, a lot of potential in the beginning, and I enjoyed a good chunk of the first half, but then it just kinda let me down, the chemistry tapered off, and this dragged on for way longer than it needed to.
Hopefully the next book in this series - which I think will be about Elliot and Ander, two of their friends we meet in this one - will be better. I'm still willing to give this author a chance because I did love Levi and Asher's story.
So here's hoping🤞
But for this one? It was just "meh" overall, unfortumately. -
Thank you to Gay Romance Reviews and the author for providing an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I thoroughly enjoyed Blindsided! I definitely recommend reading
Savage Rivals and
Cross the Line before reading this one, because there are some nice character cameos here that I really enjoyed!
Blindsided follows Liam and Noah, two boys who meet when they crash into each other in a university car park. Literally. Becca Steele does enemies to lovers in a way that just resonates SO well with me. Savage Rivals was unparalleled, honestly, and Blindsided wasn't as intense as that book when dealing with enemies-to-lovers, but it didn't matter. Steele was just able to ramp up the tension between Liam and Noah so well and I was. Here. For. It.
There was some angst because - how could there not be? But also the spice was perfection. Noah and Liam were so into each other and Noah had a great wingman in Elliot. Sidenote: Here's hoping Elliot and JJ get their own books because I am dying for more M/M stories by Becca Steele.
There wasn't a lot of focus on football (soccer, if you're North American). It's just briefly mentioned, so there is no prior sporting knowledge needed going into this book. Which is great, because I have none. Heh. This book is scheduled to be released on June 9th, and when it drops, you should definitely pick it up. It's paced well, and it's the perfect book to read during an afternoon while you're sitting out in the sunshine! -
i very badly need dRaMa sorry.
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3.5 - 3.6⭐, but rounding it down
This was a low-angst story about Noah, a gay guy who's been bullied by football (soccer) players in highschool for being gay, who then goes to LSU and gets placed in a house on campus with exactly football players, but these ones are nice and predominantly gay. 😉
🔵 Bi-awakening, although I think it was more of a gay-awakening
🟣 Enemies-to-lovers, quite believable
🟡 Straight MMC wants to stay in the closet, therefore
🟢 Some angst
🌶️ Good spice, both MMCs vers
❗ British English - I usually don't read books in BE unless they're historical romances, I couldn't get into it as much because of it
Noah meets Liam on his first day at LSU, when he hits his car and they later on find out they're going to be living in the same house.
The enemies-to-lovers part was actually quite believable and it went on to almost 50% of the book, so bravo! 👏 That's pretty hard to find these days.
I actually also loved the bi-awakening, it wasn't instant and the straight guy didn't run into the gay guy's arms right the next minute, but had a believable exsistential crisis and took his time.
🟡 When Noah and Liam did their dance around each other and Noah was inevitably falling for a straight guy, I think his situation realistically portrayed the actual, life-like situation for many guys, it wasn't dreamy and hot, but very emotional and heartbreaking.
At some point I actually didn't really like Liam all that much, even though he seemed like a great guy in the first half of the book, but it rubbed me the wrong way when he repeatedly turned Noah down and then prevented him having a good time with other guys. Liam's character went from hot stranger to a dickhead in a second.
🟢 The writing wasn't that good in this book, I think. The dialogues were oftentimes a bit weird and the story didn't have that sweet/sexy/dirty undertone that you'd expect in a college romance.
Some readers are completely okay with British English and that's fine, but the dialogues don't sound romantic or hot and it's just not working for me.
🟣 I absolutely did like their first kiss scene. Kissing is so important to me in books and especially detailed kissing. It was definitely here and it was great.
🌶️ The spice was good too, although I feel like the book lost its magic in the last half/third and the spice became a bit boring. But all the initial contacts they made were quite delicious.
The second half of the book wasn't as good and both MMCs didn't really deliver the angsty build-up from the first half.
I think the author gave us two really good characters, but their story should continue with the hype of the first half of their story.
The ending wasn't as strong either and the epilogue was satisfying, but not spectacular.
I normally wouldn't read a book with such pronounced British English, unless it's a historical romance, but I will read this series, I liked the characters and I really loved Savage Rivals (Ash and Levi), the books are connected.
I read Preston and Kian's book already, but the review got lost with changing the cover, apparently.
Next one is best friends-to-lovers! -
3⭐️
Enemies to lovers is one of my favorite tropes so I was immediately interested in this story when I saw it. Noah is going into his first year of university and on his way to his new place, he crashes into Liam’s car. This starts an argument between the two on whose fault it was and this is what leads them to hating each other. But this isn’t the only time they will cross paths because it turns out that Liam is one of Noah’s roommates.
Tropes:
✨enemies to lovers
✨forced proximity
✨bi-awakening
✨sports romance
✨slow burn
I didn’t like the enemies to lovers aspect of this book. I didn’t get why Liam was so pissed that someone banged into his car. Like yes it does suck very much, but it was clearly an accident. No one was hurt, it was a mistake so get each others contact information, insurance etc.. and move on lol. There was no need for the major hostility Liam had towards Noah. When Liam found out that Noah was his roommate, he was a flat out asshole to him and didn’t even want to be in the same space as him. It was just very immature and stupid honestly. There was nothing about his character that I actually liked but Noah I did like. Noah was confident and kind. I actually can’t even name any adjectives to describe Liam because he was a boring character. Towards the end I warmed up a little to him but still not memorable at all.
I didn’t get why they liked each other. The book was just basically describing their sexual attraction to each other. There was no soft moments, no getting to know each other, no dates…. The only reason I wanted to finish this book was because it was a slow burn so it kept me interested long enough. This is pretty much no angst, little to no plot type of story which isn’t my thing normally. If this wasn’t a slow burn I probably would have DNFed it.
If you liked Levi and Asher from Savage Rivals, they made some cameos. I love when characters from other books make cameos so it did bring me some excitement while reading this. These two books are pretty much the same. Footballer men who “hate” each other. So if you enjoyed that book, you’ll enjoy this one. -
i enjoyed this one a lot 🤭
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i always gonna love becca’s book so
-
"He’d shown up in my life and completely blindsided me, and everything had changed."
Blindsided is a college MM romance with sports, steam, angst, emotions, Banters, ALL THE FEELS, Bi-awakening & Enemies to roommates to lovers theme. This was as great as the other MM books I've read by Becca, & the cameos were lovely!! I loved Noah & Liam, completed this in around 5hrs 🥰.
Noah; Sassy & Friendly; is openly gay & a fun guy. N's LSU 1st year & doesn't mix well with sports. It's ironic that accidentally he gets all sportsy roomies 🤣. His student loan problem (1st few chapters) was relatable!
(P.s. Noah is also a fellow anime watcher & gets Liam hooked on Attack on Titan. Yay!)
Liam; Stubborn & grumpy; thought himself to be straight & is caring to those who matter to him. He's at the heart of the emotions in this book, especially for Noah. L's LSU 2nd year & a football/soccer player.
I liked the support of their families, & friends/other roomies - especially as one of them is Preston! When I saw Preston & Kian again, I totally screamed "My boys". We see the whole Alstone Highschool gang here, now in college 😁.
Noah+Liam meet & seemingly became enemies due to a little car crash. And then later found they're roommates, it can't be worse, can it?
Oh yes, they could be attracted to eachother. Sparks may go off whenever they touched.
"Why did I have to become fixated on him, of all people?"
As enemies they bantered hard. Ignored eachother for days. But living together, they tried to be civil, soon got closer. "Friends". And yup the chemistry became too curious & explosive to contain. Actions do speak louder than words.
"The more I got to know him, the more I wanted to be around him. I couldn’t resist him. But I tried. We both did."
It was Noah who wanted Liam first, but he needed someone out to be with him, so history won't repeat itself. Liam wasn't exactly looking for a relationship. But here they were anyway.
Plus Oh there's angst, loads. Noah's cautious so he doesn't get hurt, understandable. Liam's abandonment issues, confusion & panic about his sexuality broke my heart (But when he's all in, it's a sight to see!). The sneaking around was taking a toll.
Hah, these two were too obvious to anyone who observed them closely! Ah, Dear jealousy is always so dramatic & useful too 🤣.
Through it all, they fell together in love. N was patient, but it was a double edged sword. If they can only be Friends with Benefits, Can N do it? Take the little he can get? Doesn't he deserve more?
Hearts heavy, space needed. Yet they're pulled together. But then one incident...Panic & Sacrifice. L knew he'd fucked up badly, when he lost N. So broken.
My tears were flowing freely here 🥺😭.
But the wait & pain were worth the development. As sometimes words are necessary. Cue the sweetness, loving, freedom & acceptance.
"Sometimes it doesn’t even occur to us to think any differently until something unexpected happens to make us look at things in a new way." ~Liam's Mom
My fav scenes in the book: The Parties, Consents, All scenes in Kitchen, sneak BJs, Game match, Amazing Maze, Museum tour, Roomies Bonfire, visiting gay club, & the romantic gesture at end. The sexy scenes are hot & steamy, romance was well written. I loved the ending & epilogue!
I hope Elliot's book is next, he was great here! Noah's running partner 🤪.
** #arcHonestReview #AllViewsAreMyOwn **
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2.5 stars - I had the highest of high hopes for this book because I loved
Savage Rivals and
Cross the Line and would have hurled my body into speeding traffic for the cameos alone. Also, the author put not one but TWO Troye Sivan songs on her Spotify playlist for this book and my low-key obsession with him gave me such a "worlds colliding" rush that I just knew all of the less than stellar reviews were wrong, wrong, wrong. Unfortunately, I was the one who was wrong, wrong wrong and neither the cameos nor the essence of Troye could make me love this book.
Possible Spoilers Ahead
I wrote off the whole "enemies-to-lovers" idea almost immediately. Animosity does not an enemy make and even that dwindled quickly. Instead this book relied heavily, if not completely, on the bi-awakening aspect of the story and it annoyed me to no end. Liam's push and pull and Noah's absolute refusal to stand up for himself made me want to yank every strand of my hair out and mail it to the author with no return address. I wanted Noah to tell Liam about that prick footballer in high school. I needed him to explain to Liam that he'd been down that road before and deserved better. I also needed Liam to talk to at least one of the many gay/bi men in his life about how he was feeling. He had so much support at his disposal and he utilized none of it. I respect that everyone's sexuality journey can be different and that some people have very deep and personal phobias/hang-ups that prevent them from acting on or accepting an attraction that is new or "other" to them, but Liam's reasons for pulling away and keeping things "casual" were so flimsy that a slight breeze could have carried them down the Thames. I hated how he kept hurting Noah and I hated how Noah kept allowing it to happen. I know that Noah was trying to be patient and understanding while Liam struggled with his sexuality, but his patience felt unearned. By the time Noah finally shored up his backbone and brought a halt to all FWB activities, I was too frustrated for applause.
Oof, that felt like a rant and has me eyeing my initial 2.5 star rating with intent. This book wasn't all bad, though. The sexy times were hot and Liam was miraculously all in when behind closed doors. Liam's conversation with his mom was really beautiful and I loved the story she shared with him about their neighbor and the apology she gave for her heteronormative assumptions. I both loved and hated how easily Liam transitioned to boyfriend mode once he accepted his feelings for Noah. It was sweet but it was also kind of hard to believe after weeks of tensing up and complete denial if anyone so much as alluded to his possible interest in Noah. And, of course, the AoT references were great, though I believe the MC's fell asleep while watching at one point and that is complete blasphemy.
As a whole, I was disappointed. I expected to love this book and, sadly, I didn't. But not everything is written with little ol' me in mind and I guess I'm okay with that. This author brought Kian, Preston, Asher and Levi into my life so I won't be giving up on her anytime soon. Better luck next time. -
M/M, hea, college, British, soccer, bi awakening, ku, dual POV
I'm just not even sure what to say about this story. First of all, I didn't enjoy it. It felt like someone started telling me a story and then forgot what they were saying and then just sort of threw together something that might fit the assignment. Two dudes? Check. Bi awakening? Check. Uhhh... Trauma? Check? That should be good enough! And then just? That was it? Noah's entire character basically only existed to make Liam's character recognize he's not straight. -
The good
+ Noah's refusal to bow down to bullies now that he's in college
+ Noah's attempts to make peace with Liam
+ Noah (trying to) protect himself and his heart
+ The accepting community
+ Noah watching Liam's legs... I mean game. Noah watching Liam's game
+ Asher teaching Noah about football without making fun of him
+ Noah's patience with Liam
+ Noah defending Liam when people made fun of him for questioning his sexuality
+ Elliot. Awesome friend
+ Liam asking Noah to be his boyfriend
The neutral
o I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. My review remains honest and unbiased
o Most side characters were main characters from previous book by this author. Despite that, the story was easy enough to follow
o Because of all the characters, I don't remember which were the roommates, which were the teammates, and which were the partners of the roommates. Oh well
The bad
- The source of Liam's bi panic was a little lost on me. His friends were accepting (multiple openly queer friends, with and without relationships), his team was accepting, he had experienced or witnessed zero instances of homophobia... I don't really understand why he took so long to even consider he might not be straight, and I really didn't see why it would be such a problem for him. I'm not judging him for questioning his sexuality, but I am a little confused as to why it was such an issue for him
- Liam toyed with Noah's feelings.
-
- Liam's behavior of 'I won't have you, but nobody else can have you either' is toxic and not sexy at all
- Noah gave and gave (expressing interest in football for Liam, accepting being Liam's experiment a few times even though he vowed never to do that again, not interfering when girls were hanging off Liam etc) but Liam never gave anything back except heartbreak
I really liked Noah. He was really sweet but with a backbone, even though I think he should have let Liam get away with a little less than he did. I did not like Liam as much. His actions didn't really make sense to me, so it felt like he caused Noah lots and lots of hurt for no real reason. However, I do truly believe these guys are great together now that everything is resolved, and I'm really proud of Liam for living his truth, even though it was scary. I honestly don't really know if I'd recommend this book, so let's leave it in the middle. -
Well that didn't blow me away. But it's a nice story, something to relax with.
Noah is pleasantly self-confident, at least most of the time.
Liam is the typical straight guy with the obvious adjustment problems. Surprisingly, when he then accepts it, he is all in. 🙂
What makes me give it 5 stars is the possessiveness of Liam. Oh he is sooo fixated on Noah, and that makes the vibe of the book outstanding. 🥰
Well, and the writing was very lovely, especially Liam's description of his "feelings" for Noah:
He was in a completely different league. It was like comparing…fuck, how did I even describe it? Like you’d been eating the cheapest vanilla ice cream from the supermarket for years, and you always thought it tasted okay, but you could take it or leave it. Then one day you tried real, homemade vanilla ice cream, with the little black bits of vanilla in it, so fucking creamy and delicious and full of flavour that you knew you’d never go back to the supermarket ice cream, because it could never even hope to compare. -
Amazing Story!
I absolutely loved this story. It’s briefly enemies to lovers, roommates, bi-awakening, and so so swoon worthy! It’s the little moments that make this book for me. The care the characters have for each other. Put that on top of the amazing steamy scenes and it makes this book top tier! The audiobook was amazing as well. -
Boys meet.
Boys do not like each other.
Boys fight…
Can you guess what comes next? :D
Yes, stupid boys behaving stupid until they can’t deny their attraction to one another any longer. Of course it’s only physical ..totally no feelings involved ..nothing to see here, move along.
This was an easy read, low angsty with a HEA. Becca Steele has a clear style / theme to her books that continued to be apparent in this one also. Whilst not the most layered of plot or characters, it’s a perfectly enjoyable story with some likeable characters and I’m sure we’ll get to meet some more of the supporting characters up close and personal in her future work.
