Welcome to Litsy!

Johnny‘s recovering from an injury that keeps him from rugby, but could bring him closer to Shannon. Shannon has to deal w/ CPS in keeping her family together. How will they juggle spending time w/ each other & deal w/ family stuff?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked this one a little better than the first one. There‘s a little more romance & Shannon had a bit of a character arc. There was also less DV & bullying. The ending was cute.

Shannon changed schools b/c she was bullied at her old school. She collides w/ rising star rugby player, Johnny. He‘s supposed to be focused on rugby, but he feels drawn to her, especially when she‘s being bullied again & faces DV at home. Will they be able to be together?

This 1 was ok. I don‘t like reading DV & bullying; it should be a TW. The writing wasn‘t that great. It was kinda funny. The main characters got on my nerves, mainly Shannon.

Another great slow-burn, second-chance romance by Mariana Zapata.

#BookedInTime @dabbe @Cuilin
South African apartheid

This is a very interesting read about the end of Apartheid. I learned so much. Mandela was a visionary. He took a revolution and expertly molded it with the goal to limit violence, ironically by using one of the most violent sports. It is hard to believe what Mandela was able to do, it honestly is such a movie moment
I enjoyed this book the writing was easy to digest

*Rugby was the opium of apartheid "

As someone in the US who has really gotten into rugby the last 2 years, and who quickly became a huge Springbok fan, this book has been super interesting.

One of the most popular Springbok player is a white man named Fif de Klerk I had to look up if he was related to the president who transferred power to Mandela (he is not).

I do wish there was more rugby talk in this first half, but I am learning so much

Not my favorite of Zapata's but still enjoyed. I liked the characters and the plot was good, though a bit unrealistic. Definitely a beach read. 4 ⭐️

#Two4Tuesday

1. Nope

2. The tagged book is phenomenal and one of my favorite YA books ever. Yes it‘s about a rugby team at a private school but it also so much more with twists and turns and unexpected depths. It also has one of the greatest covers ever (something I randomly had a conversation with Dan Santat about at a book event 🤷‍♀️). Love it.

@TheSpineView

I sped through this book until I got to the last twenty pages. They were too depressing to read, I had to close the book every two pages. I knew it would be sad, I just didn‘t think it would be that sad. Joeys story broke me in a way I wasn‘t ready for, and I‘ll need a minute before I read the next one.

The man that is Johnny Kavanagh. He is the standard. I am a massive fan of all the boys in this book, they‘re my favourites. I was not at all ready for the sadness that this book would bring, I was not ready for the heart wrenching twists. I need to get my hands on the next book, I‘m so ready for my heart to break with Joeys pov.

As a rugby player this made me so happy. It is the only rugby romance I have ever found and it was so phenomenal. I love a good slow burn, and this was exactly that. I loved the characters, none of them are forgettable. I‘m already reading the second book and I can‘t wait to get further into it. I NEED more rugby romance novel recommendations.