Genre 📚: New Adult Contemporary, Romance
Tropes 💁♀️: Sports romance, College romance, Friends with benefits, Football player x Cheerleader
Rep ✔️: Main character with OCD
CW ⚠️: Descriptive sex scenes, house fire, abandonment, emotionally distant parents
Rating ⭐️: 3/5
Jesus. I don’t think I’ve read a book with this much spice since Icebreaker by Hannah Grace. I kind of knew what I was in for, with the no-strings-attached premise, but damn. I was definitely clutching my non-existent pearls.
Rather than a hockey player and figure skater, like Icebreaker, the novel Game On follows a football player and cheerleader. The star quarterback Hudson is too focused on his studies to have a relationship, and the British exchange student Ella is too distraught over a recent breakup. But, ya know… they meet, they have crackling chemistry, and suddenly, all of that is out the window.
The first half was pretty hard to get through, as Hudson and Ella were constantly going back and forth — flirting and then ignoring, wanting to be together and then not. Once they finally agreed to try a casual relationship, things got moving and they got, admittedly, very sweet. Not exactly a sweeping romance, but sweet nonetheless. This is a great read for anyone who wants a nice, simple story with little drama and a whole lotta sexy time.
**Much thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Game On will be released on September 9, 2025.
Sara Bechtol 