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My Review:Title: The Cad and the Co-Ed
Author: L.H. Cosway, Penny Reid
Series: Rugby #3
Published by: Indie
Release Date: February 12, 2017
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 337
Genres: Sports Romance, Contemporary, Romance
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge, Lenoreo's 2020 Diversity Reading Challenge, Lenoreo's 2020 Monthly Motif Challenge, Lenoreo's 2020 Reading Assignment Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:
Blurb:Keeping a secret this big is going to take lots of balls. Specifically, rugby balls.
THE CAD
Bryan Leech is a cad.
Or, he *was* a cad.
No one is quite certain.Once the quintessential playboy, Bryan claims he’s done with wild parties and weekend benders. No more one night stands leading to mornings he can’t remember; no more binges and blackouts; no more exploits plastered all over the tabloids and rag sheets. According to Bryan, he’s cleaning up his act.
The only problem is, no one believes him.
THE CO-ED
Eilish Cassidy never thought she’d be a mother at nineteen or still in college at twenty-four. Cut off from every member of her family except her favorite cousin, she’s finally managed to put her life back together. Stronger and wiser, Eilish enters her last semester of university determined to stand on her own. Now she just needs to find an internship.The only problem is, her best option—by far—places her directly in the path of her son’s father, and he doesn’t remember her at all.
THE PLAN
Bryan is determined to prove he’s changed. Eager to settle down with the right woman, he’s got his sights set on the gorgeous redhead who seems terribly familiar.Eilish is determined to hide her secret. She’ll do anything to keep her child safe, even if that means ignoring her own wishes and desires.
But what happens when Bryan starts to remember? And what will it take for Bryan to convince the girl he forgot that she’s unforgettable?
3.5 stars — There were so many things I truly enjoyed about this story, but also a few things that were a bit meh.
I actually genuinely liked both Eilish and Bryan on the whole. They were characters that had both made mistakes or rather were living with the consequences of their decisions. The problem is that there was a fuckton of miscommunication in this one, and that does tend to annoy the living shit out of me.
Eilish frustrated the hell out of me. There were so many things I loved and admired about her (her parenting, the love she had for Patrick, her genuine passion for her job). But then there was the rest. I mean, she was super unprofessional in this book, and I’m not talking about the sex in the room. She actively avoided doing her job because she was avoiding Bryan, and that’s just so not cool. And then there was her wishy washy back and forthness. I guess I honestly just didn’t get to know her and her hangups enough for me to understand her ridiculous level of lack of trust, and how she kept backtracking. I mean, I got where the authors were trying to go, I just didn’t go with them or something.
Bryan frustrated me as well, just perhaps not quite as much. I LOVED seeing the aftermath of an addict trying to live a sober life. It generally felt very real. Especially all the little roadblocks he would come across. I appreciated that he did lean on his sponsor, and that it wasn’t all just easy peasy, but that he genuinely didn’t want to go back to that life. And he had his own hangups and back and forth going on. I mean really, these two were just too messed up to function.
Thank fuck for Sean. I still don’t know if I want to read his story, but he was the coolest fucking cousin. I loved how unique he was, and how much you could tell he genuinely cared for Eilish and her wellbeing. And not just Eilish, but his nephew as well. It was sweet and adorable.
One of the highlights of this story for me was seeing how excited Bryan was about becoming a Dad. It was a refreshing reaction in a secret pregnancy book. I felt all the emotions over those bits of the story.
Their chemistry was pretty solid, though with all the other crap going on, it was hard to get completely invested.
As an aside, I’m super duper glad I read book 4 before this one, because otherwise I might not have wanted to read Josey’s book based on her behavior in this one, and I LOVED her!
Huh. I started this thinking 4 stars…now I’m down to 3.5 rounded up, and starting to wonder if I should round down. Despite this strange review, I really did enjoy this book, and it sucked me in and had me staying up late to finish it. So despite not having as many good things to say, I’m sticking with my gut and rounding up.
Seems like this series is a little hit or miss for you. I think it’s one where the books definitely got better as they went along. The great thing for me was it introduced me to Penny Reid’s writing. I started with this series. I actually bought the first book at that Seattle signing I think we both went to, but didn’t know each other then.