Monday, October 19, 2020

Rough Contact by Beth Bolden Release Blitz

Rough Contact by Beth Bolden Release Blitz

Their romance is forbidden. Their love is a secret.
They’re the Romeo and Juliet of football.

Neal Fisher knows heartbreak. It's the clock ticking down in the Super Bowl. It's missing the most important field goal of his life. It's losing everything: his thirteen year career as an NFL kicker, his future, and his pride.

Jamie Wright knows love. It's everything on the line as the crowd holds their breath. It's a perfect kick as the ball soars through the goal posts. It's NFL fame and glory laid out before him.

Neal is on his way out, and Jamie—if he can withstand the tryout pressure—is on his way in. The one person Jamie should avoid is the veteran kicker, and the last thing Neal wants is to sink Jamie’s chances. But a chance meeting and a wild and undeniable chemistry proves to be irresistible.

Neal thought he knew heartbreak. Jamie thought he knew love.

They were both wrong.

Their romance is forbidden. Their love is a secret.

But if they trust each other, maybe their growing relationship won't end in tragedy. It might even be the beginning of football’s greatest love story.

 

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Rough Contact by Beth Bolden

Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
~  Also Available with KindleUnlimited  ~

 

 

Excerpt



It felt surreal to be surrounded by so many people he’d only watched on TV. There was Bran Phillips, the famous center for the Riptide, just over there, a small girl balanced on his shoulders, and they were both laughing. Rashad Green, the best running back in the league, was sitting on a chaise lounge, sipping something fruity and frozen from a plastic margarita glass. And then there was Heath, making sure he got something to eat, and introducing him to everyone who they met. “The new kicker,” Heath said several times, even though it was hardly like he’d won the job. But then Heath would know that better than anyone, because he was on the coaching staff and he knew how many kickers they’d brought in to try out. But every single time he said it, Jamie felt like giving an addendum of not quite yet, but maybe, hopefully? If everything works out.

But Jamie didn’t, because even though Heath was more relaxed than Jamie had ever seen him, he was still Heath Harris, and he contained so much goddamn confident certainty that after meeting most of the people at the party, it was hard not to think of himself as the Riptide’s new kicker.

You’re getting ahead of yourself; you still gotta make it happen, he reminded himself. Tomorrow is the day you’re gonna have to prove yourself, again. And then you’re gonna have to do it over and over again, and then probably a couple hundred more times, for good measure.

Maybe then Coach R and Coach Toby might be satisfied.

He was sitting on the edge of the pool when suddenly he felt a body drop down next to him. He was half-expecting it to be Heath or maybe even Sam—which was surreal because he’d never imagined he’d be in the kind of position to be sought out by either of those guys—but then when he glanced over, he nearly fell into the pool.

It was Neal Fisher, and he was just in a pair of navy blue trunks, with little green palm trees scattered across the fabric. He was pale, like he’d spent too long inside this summer, but he was still undeniably handsome, his green eyes glowing in his gorgeous face, offset by his dark hair. It fell into his eyes a bit, probably because it needed a trim.

Jamie’s hands tightened on the edge of the pool and he prayed he didn’t make a fucking fool out of himself. He was just meeting his idol, that was all, and a guy he’d probably spent way too much time fantasizing about over the years.

Do not tell him you’ve jerked off to him about a thousand times. Do not even think about it.

“Hey,” Neal said casually. So casually that Jamie had a feeling that he didn’t know who Jamie really was. “You told me to come find you.” He smiled then, and though it was only a shadow of his former smile, which Jamie was embarrassed to admit he was intimately familiar enough with to tell the difference, it was still a smile. He poked Jamie in the shoulder. “Found you.”

 

 

Reviews


Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team


Erica☆☆☆☆☆
Rough Contact is listed as a standalone, but I do caution that reading Rivalry beforehand would be a good idea. No confusion to be had, but the two novels are connected by the same NFL team and a cast of friends. The emotional investment may be higher if read in concert with one another.

From word one, I was hooked, reading Rough Contact from cover to cover in a single sitting. It was beyond easy to empathize with Neal after that hard-hitting prologue. Not so much a mistake or an accident, or even a misstep, but that one moment in time altered Neal's life, including his love life.

But fate had other ideas for Neal. When one door opens, as the saying goes. Jamie breezes in to take up the mantle for Neal, with a wounded NFL team making a whole slew of their own mistakes, unable to handle such a large loss that was a team failure.

It's a new season, a season of healing for an entire team, but most importantly for Neal. He's struggling to let go of his failure, forgetting that it's a team sport, and that his final kick may have cost them the game, but had everyone else done their job prior, he wouldn't have had to kick to earn them a win, something they all seemed to forget when pointing fingers instead of self-reflecting. Sometimes it's all up to fate, no matter what.

Neal is emotionally wounded, his direction in life stalled. Jamie is a young rookie who is eager to fill his idol's shoes through determination, skill, and mental preparedness. This mindset boils over from the field to his personal life, calm and assured, caring and compassionate. Patient. Jamie is everything Neal needs to get a new lease on life.

Heartwarming and hopeful, Rough Contact is a slow building romance between a pair that could have been rivals like their predecessors, but instead it's as easy as breathing. The angst in their relationship is due to outside forces. As long as they stick together, they'll get through anything.

Highly recommend. Fingers crossed we get to revisit this team and cast of characters in a future novel, as there is one specific character that I'd love to hate during his own narration.


Ruthie☆☆☆☆
This is the second in a series and I would definitely recommend that you read Sam and Harris's story if you haven't already. You could definitely read this first and enjoy it, but you would find out a few of the earlier couple's adventures. I am a big sports romance fan and here we get to experience the pressure that a kicker will place on themselves in the NFL.

Neal has spent six months hiding under his duvet – almost literally – as he is blamed and blames himself for his team losing the Super Bowl. Now any logical person has to know that it is not on the shoulders of one player that a team loses... but you wouldn't know it here. He is removed from the team and in the process, loses his boyfriend who works for the team too. That part I think was an unexpected bonus, as he turns out to be a snake.

Jamie has been brought in to try out as Neal's replacement. He is a huge fan of the man, so finds the situation somewhat odd – and the coaching team put the kickers through hellish trials, clearly still not coping with their loss. I loved this psychological aspect of the story – it is crazy, funny, and sadly, utterly believable. To add to the adventure, he meets his hero at a party and the two of them have an immediate chemistry. Inconvenient in one way, but possibly lifesaving in another.

I really enjoyed watching the two men falling in love, finding themselves and each other as they also cope with the external pressures that inevitably accompany such a pairing. They definitely benefit from having a few key people on their side.

It is difficult at times to see just how this will work out, but Beth Bolden gives us everything we could possibly desire in this lovely romance.

 

 

Author Bio


Fun, Flirty & Fluffy Romance. Beth Bolden

A lifelong Oregonian, BETH BOLDEN has just recently moved to North Carolina with her supportive husband and their sweet kitten, Earl Grey. Beth still believes in Keeping Portland Weird, and intends to be just as weird in Raleigh.

Beth has been writing practically since she learned the alphabet. Unfortunately, her first foray into novel writing, titled Big Bear with Sparkly Earrings, wasn’t a bestseller, but hope springs eternal. She’s published seventeen novels and six novellas.


Connect with Beth

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Instagram  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads
Beth’s Boldest Facebook Group

 

 

Giveaway


 

“Did you have a poster of me above your bed?” Neal teased. “If they’d made one of you, I sure would have,” Jamie said.

 

Hosted by

Gay Book Promotions


Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Rough Contact by Beth Bolden to read and review for this tour.

1 comment:

  1. Congratulations on your new release Beth it sounds fab and thank you for the reviews, I've put the book is on my wish list.

    ReplyDelete

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