Hating the Player by Rebecca Jenshak

Angsty but so sweet, Gavin and Violet’s story is better than I could’ve hoped it would be. This second chance, enemies to lovers romance begins with Violet hating Gavin, and unfortunately for her they’re stuck together on a camping trip with their mutual friends. This is such a problem because the year before they were together before something happened causing it to all go sour. Things go about as well as you think they might that weekend, but then soon after that trip something happens, and they wind up starting to get close again. From there, a tentative truce begins, and that’s where things start to shift and more begins to develop between them.

You know when you start to read a book and you’re like “I love it already and it’s only been 20 pages,” and then somehow the book just gets even better from there? That happened to me with this one. I absolutely adore a good second-chance romance, but then add in all the emotion and drama in Gavin and Violet’s story, and what we get is an incredibly compelling and enjoyable college sports romance. I like that we get to see just how transformative the pain of what happened in their relationship the previous year was for each of these characters. The way this book was plotted out made the series of events fall exactly right for the evolution of Gavin and Violet’s second chance, and I didn’t want their story to end.

And these characters! Something this author always manages to do with her characters is that she makes them and what they’re going through feel real. It’d be impossible to not empathize with both Gavin and Violet at least at different times during the book, and I love how totally endearing they are.  Violet has this snark to her that’s adorably funny, but she’s vulnerable, too. Then there’s Gavin, and he’s refreshingly earnest and charming. Together, they’re now my favorite couple from Jenshak.

If you enjoy second chance or enemies to lovers or college sports romances or all of the above like I do, you need to read Hating the Player. I instantly fell in love with Gavin and Violet’s story, and I think you will, too.