THE HARD COUNT by Ginger Scott - REVIEW

 

Welcome to THE HARD COUNT review tour with Ginger Scott, hosted by Wordsmith Publicity. Be sure to check out all the participating blogs, reviews and enter the tour giveaway!

 

 

THE HARD COUNT

Mature YA Contemporary Romance-Stand Alone

Release Date: July 15, 2016

Goodreads:  http://bit.ly/1O7xc52

Amazon: https://amzn.com/B01HSM221W

iBooks: http://apple.co/1WMNjb8

Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1tuu6yY
Kobo: http://bit.ly/260udA4

Google Play: http://bit.ly/29Bc3j4

Nico Medina’s world is eleven miles away from mine. During the day, it’s a place where doors are open—where homes are lived in, and neighbors love. But when the sun sets, it becomes a place where young boys are afraid, where eyes watch from idling cars that hide in the shadows and wicked smoke flows from pipes.

West End is the kind of place that people survive. It buries them—one at a time, one way or another. And when Nico was a little boy, his mom always told him to run.

I’m Reagan Prescott—coach’s daughter, sister to the prodigal son, daughter in the perfect family.

Life on top.

Lies.

My world is the ugly one. Private school politics and one of the best high school football programs in the country can break even the toughest souls. Our darkness plays out in whispers and rumors, and money and status trump all. I would know—I’ve watched it kill my family slowly, strangling us for years.

In our twisted world, a boy from West End is the only shining light.

Quarterback.

Hero.

Heart.

Good.

I hated him before I needed him.

I fell for him fast.

I loved him when it was almost too late.

When two ugly worlds collide, even the strongest fall. But my world…it hasn’t met the boy from West End.

REVIEW:

There is so much I liked about this book. 

• I love Nico and Sasha's friendship and how they were able to start connected even after Sasha moved away.
• I love how Reagan's father (the football coach) took her opinions about Nico seriously when she approached him about Nico playing for the team.
• I love how Nico and Reagan's relationship grew and changed over the course of the story. It was a relief to read a story that didn't have insta-love between the main characters.
• I appreciate how Ginger Scott showed how petty and fickle adults act. 
• I love how much Nico loved his niece.
• I love how Nico avoided the trouble in his neighborhood and didn't allow himself to get dragged down by drugs and violence.
• I love how we saw Nico's brother break down and turn his life around when he was left to care for his daughter alone.
• I love how Reagan's family rallied around Nico and supported him in his shot at a future in football.
• I love how we saw Reagan's mom get a backbone and stop worrying so much about what the community thinks about her.
• I love the future Ginger Scott gave Nico and Reagan. There is nothing but good things coming for those two. They are smart. They are devoted. They are strong. Together, they'll accomplish their goals.

I will point out that Ginger Scott mentions that this is a Mature YA. BUT, in my opinion, there isn't much in here that pushes it too far to the mature side. A little language; a little heat, but nothing over-the-top. This is a book that would be totally appropriate in a high school library. 

THE HARD COUNT is a one-sitting read. Be prepared when you start. You won't want to stop. 

SIDENOTE: I didn't know what a hard count was until I read the book. Very cool. Here is a website that explains it. http://www.sportingcharts.com/dictionary/nfl/hard-count.aspx

It's so clever. Basically, it tricks the other team into going offside (I think) be delaying the snap just a little bit. Here is a YouTube video that shows it.

  

GIVEAWAY

1 signed copy of In Your Dreams, $10 Amazon gift card

Open International

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

About Ginger Scott

Ginger Scott is an Amazon-bestselling and Goodreads Choice Award-nominated author of several young and new adult romances, including Waiting on the Sidelines, Going Long, Blindness, How We Deal With Gravity, This Is Falling, You and Everything After, The Girl I Was Before, Wild Reckless, Wicked Restless and In Your Dreams.

A sucker for a good romance, Ginger’s other passion is sports, and she

often blends the two in her stories. (She’s also a sucker for a hot quarterback, catcher, pitcher, point guard…the list goes on.) Ginger has been writing and editing for newspapers, magazines and blogs for more than 15 years. She has told the stories of Olympians, politicians, actors, scientists, cowboys, criminals and towns. For more on her and her work, visit her website at http://www.littlemisswrite.com.

When she's not writing, the odds are high that she's somewhere near a baseball diamond, either watching her son field pop flies like Bryce Harper or cheering on her favorite baseball team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Ginger lives in Arizona and is married to her college sweetheart whom she met at ASU (fork 'em, Devils).

Connect with Ginger

Website:  http://bit.ly/1M8g5bi
Facebook:  http://on.fb.me/1U7lDvQ
Twitter: http://bit.ly/1TBkPPT
Pinterest: http://bit.ly/YHKtlF
YouTube:  http://bit.ly/1RcfgqZ
Google:  http://bit.ly/1Rcfjmt
Goodreads:  http://bit.ly/1QKNuyr

SPINNING OUT by Lexi Ryan - REVIEW

SYNOPSIS:

Once, the only thing that mattered to me was football—training, playing, and earning my place on the best team at every level. I had it all, and I threw it away with a semester of drugs, alcohol, and pissing off anyone who tried to stop me. Now I’m suspended from the team, on house arrest, and forced to spend a semester at home to get my shit together. The cherry on my fuckup sundae? Sleeping in the room next to mine is my best friend’s girl, Mia Mendez—the only woman I’ve ever loved and a reminder of everything I regret.

I’m not sure if having Mia so close will be heaven or hell. She’s off-limits—and not just because she’s working for my dad. Her heart belongs to someone else. But since the accident that killed her brother and changed everything, she walks around like a zombie, shutting out her friends and ignoring her dreams. We’re both broken, numb, and stuck in limbo.

Until I break my own rules and touch her.
Until she saves me from my nightmares by climbing into my bed.
Until the only thing I want more than having Mia for myself is to protect her from the truth.

I can’t rewrite the past, but I refuse to leave her heart in the hands of fate. For this girl, I’d climb into the sky and rearrange the stars.

SPINNING OUT is a sexy, emotional novel of 100,000 words. It is first in the Blackhawk Boys, a series of standalone novels.
---
THE BLACKHAWK BOYS. Football. Secrets. Lies. Passion. These boys don’t play fair. Which Blackhawk Boy will steal your heart?
Book 1 - SPINNING OUT - Coming May 3rd (Arrow's story)
Book 2 - RUSHING IN - Coming Summer 2016 (Christopher's story)
Book 3 - GOING UNDER - Coming late 2016 (Sebastian's story)

REVIEW:

Guilt can make people do strange and terrible things. Arrow's guilt drove him to drugs, alcohol, and other illegal activity. It landed him on house arrest. Little does he know that when he shows up at his dad's house to start his sentence that Mia would be there. Not only just there, but always there as a live-in nanny to his father's new child. How is he going to survive with Mia in the room next door. Mia, the girl he desperately wanted, but couldn't have. Now more than ever.

With her father drinking his life away, it is up to Mia to pay the bills so when Mr. Woodison offered to pay her to take care of the house and his new baby she jumps at the chance. Even though working there would send her father over the edge, she figures what he doesn't know can't hurt him. Mia didn't know that Arrow would be serving his house arrest at the house when she took the job. She doesn't know if she'll be able to handle seeing him all the time. The guilt she has weighs so heavily on her that she is a shadow of her former self. Basically just going through the motions. After what she caused, she doesn't deserve a happy ending and seeing Arrow just reminds her what she did and what she could have had if she'd made different choices.

Both Arrow and Mia need to heal, but will they be able to get passed all guilt to do it? Arrow is determined to bring Mia back to her former self. He can't stand to see her walking around the house like a zombie - punishing herself for something that wasn't her fault. Arrow knows he is to blame. He just has to find a way to make everything right.

SPINNING OUT is an intensely emotional story. It is told through two timelines - present day combined with a series of flashbacks that reveal what really happened between Arrow, Mia, and Arrow's best friend Brogan leading up to a terrible accident. Will Mia be able to forgive Arrow when she finds out his involvement? What really happened that night?

Lexi Ryan sets up the next book in the series at the end of SPINNING OUT. I can't wait for Christopher's story and then Sebastian's after that.