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Wes Van de Hoek clawed his way off his family’s West Texas ranch under the Friday night lights, earning a football scholarship to the state’s best university. Three years in, he has it all: he’s the starting tight end, team captain, and, according to ESPN, maybe the best college football player in the nation. But he’s been keeping a secret from everyone.
Justin Swanscott has three certainties in his life: he’s gay, football is overrated, and he really, really doesn’t like cowboys. He should never have fallen into Wes’s open-range eyes or let his heart run wild when Wes gave him that shy little smile over summer. But he couldn’t stop himself.
Everyone’s asking questions about Wes this season: How is he playing so well? Will Texas be undefeated this year? Will he take the team all the way to the national championship? What’s next for him?
The truth? Wes isn’t dreaming about an NFL contract. His heart belongs to Justin, even though the world wants it to belong to football.
Wes has stadiums packed with screaming fans, ESPN is all over him, and the NFL wants him badly. He’s living under a microscope, and the pressure keeps building as the team keeps winning. Everyone wants something from him, but all Wes wants is to love Justin.
Something’s gotta give.
Justin Swanscott has three certainties in his life: he’s gay, football is overrated, and he really, really doesn’t like cowboys. He should never have fallen into Wes’s open-range eyes or let his heart run wild when Wes gave him that shy little smile over summer. But he couldn’t stop himself.
Everyone’s asking questions about Wes this season: How is he playing so well? Will Texas be undefeated this year? Will he take the team all the way to the national championship? What’s next for him?
The truth? Wes isn’t dreaming about an NFL contract. His heart belongs to Justin, even though the world wants it to belong to football.
Wes has stadiums packed with screaming fans, ESPN is all over him, and the NFL wants him badly. He’s living under a microscope, and the pressure keeps building as the team keeps winning. Everyone wants something from him, but all Wes wants is to love Justin.
Something’s gotta give.
My Rating - 5 Stars!
Basically, it's four hundred pages of awesomeness! I love this story and couldn't devour it fast enough.
A few weeks in Paris for Wes finds him falling madly in love with his roommate Justin. After a whirlwind romance, they head back to the same college in Texas. But things aren't so easy.
Wes is a closeted football player, who can't come out while on the team. His coach hits him with a motivational talk that comes at a terrible time.
Justin, meanwhile, isn't closeted.
Ugh, all the feels come out when they need to leave each other for a few weeks. And all the angst starts when Wes is back at school and pressured by his coach.
All the feels. The tension. The fear. The anxiety. The doubts. The absolute terror of coming out, or being outed. The need to protect Justin at all costs.
And this is why I love sports romances. All of Wes's fears are well founded. Sports fans are brutal. Teammates are ruthless. Everything Wes feels is absolutely based in reality.
The pressure he feels is intense and is well illustrated. He's only at college due to his football scholarship. If he comes out and loses football, he loses his education. And his education is extremely important to him, for that is his dream.
Omg. Everything about this book is amazing. I felt every damn emotion along with the men. The only thing I don't love is that it's written in alternating third person pov instead of first person. There are definitely times this kept me a little disconnected, but overall, the emotions are felt strongly.
The book gutted me. Just gutted me. And that's less than a third of the way in.
The rest of their story follows the highs and lows, the good and the bad, of their journey. The strength of their connection and love is never in doubt. But the path they need to take to get their happy ever after is in question throughout.
I love every single second of this romance. It definitely surprised me with some twists and turns I didn't see coming. I appreciate that this is a totally unique storyline to me. It's definitely not what I expected and you'd be hard pressed to find two people who fall in love so quickly or so deeply.
The Jock is everything I love about sports romances. Tal Bauer perfectly encompasses all the pressures and demands put upon athletes to tow the line and be the star athlete. I love, love, love this book.
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