Unfortunately it’s a dnf for me.

i think that story started very abruptly, therefore, it gave a bad impression for me, as a reader. i didn’t get much of information about the main characters, their relationship beforehand and overall personality. it felt like we jumped into a middle of a story out of nowhere.

i also didn’t enjoy the main characters. i love how diverse the universe was but their personalities went to a single one. they were blunt, had unrealistic reactions and lucked feelings. book felt too manufactured and felt not real. i didn’t had that feeling of caring about at least one person in the book.

i still gave this book 2 stars since i liked the trope choice and how it was put into a book. the fake dating part was kind of okay but also lucked that tension and chemistry that would want me to root for their relationship.

2.5/5 stars

Cross My Heart is a fake-dating, second chance, college romance set up with a truly fresh take on sports in romance books! While the story does follow the budding romance between our MC's, it is also heavily centered on the sport at hand: Lacrosse. I have never watched a Lacrosse game nor read a Lacrosse sports romance before, so I definitely didn't get much into the specifics of the sport, but it was such a fun read regardless. and it seems I may like Lacrosse (at least in books) a bit more than I thought I would. One thing I really enjoyed in this book was the banter between May and Colt since they were childhood rivals turned fake-dating due to an unfortunate (was it truly?) circumstance. As much as I enjoyed the banter and the growing connection between these two, I did find myself skimming in certain places and can admit that it fell flat in the end. I was confused at times and was just WANTING more from our main characters and even some of the supporting roles.

Though, if you are reading solely off vibes and tropes, this book is 100% a great one to read! It just, unfortunately, was not really for me.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚Rating*ੈ✩‧₊˚
DNF 21%

˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗Tropes˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗
🥍 Fake Dating
❤︎ Grumpy x Sunshine
🥍 2nd Chance
❤︎ He Falls Harder

💭 Thoughts-

-ˋˏ✄┈┈Honestly I really wanted to like it and I tried so hard to keep reading it, but I literally could not bring myself to read it…

-ˋˏ✄┈┈It was also just boring for me and bland sadly. I wish it was otherwise though because I love a good fake dating trope in a book, but it just wasn’t.

Thank you to NetGalley and the team at Avon for the early copy of Cross My Heart! I was really excited to dive into a fresh take on the sports romance genre, especially one centered around lacrosse, which was totally new to me. Unfortunately, this one just didn’t click for me. It features a fake dating trope, but I had a hard time actually feeling that dynamic play out. The chemistry between the main characters felt a bit flat, and it seemed like the FMC was holding a grudge throughout, which made it tough to root for their connection. The premise had so much potential and could have been really cute, but ultimately this one wasn’t a win for me.

⭐️ 2.75

This was a decent romance! I wasn't really sure to expect with this one but it ended up being better than I thought it would.

However, it missed the mark in a few spots for me personally. It was really hard to get into and I found myself not wanting to pick it up like I normally would a romance novel. I think there a couple reasons for this. First, I just don't know the sport of lacrosse very well, so it was difficult for me to get a grasp on what was happening because of that. Also, I just found myself confused at times? I think it was the setting, the jumps from chapter to chapter seemed off, and it just generally felt a bit disjointed at times.

The romance between the two main characters also didn't feel fully resolved to me either. It all felt a bit surface level at times and I wish we could have gotten to dive just a bit deeper into their relationship and emotions.

I also wish the author's note would have been at the beginning of the book. I was a bit confused while I was reading because I couldn't get past the fact that these lacrosse players were, like, famous? 😂 But in the author's note Patel explains that she wanted this book to be in a world where professional lacrosse players were as famous as other professional athletes, and then it all made a bit more sense to me, I just wish I would have known that going in.

Overall, this was an okay read! It wasn't one of my favorites, but I didn't dislike it either.

These characters really had no chemistry whatsoever and quite honestly, their dialogue was soooo dry. Fortunately, I did not finish this title.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

I had really enjoyed Overdrive so was looking forward to giving something different by Esha Patel a go.

However I really couldn’t get into this one at all. Admittedly I have no interest in lacrosse so that probably doesn’t help but I just felt this lacked some of the charm I loved so much in the Offtrack series meaning the characters weren’t even drawing me in never mind the plot.

3.5 stars

There were moments of this story that I really enjoyed but overall I felt like I was missing the connection to Colt and May and their romance fell a little flat at times.

I loved when parents were in scenes and I felt they added to the back story which was nice to read.

This book just fell a little flat for me - I didn’t engage well with the characters and wasn’t really sold or rooting for their romance! May and Colt are childhood “somethings” who both play Lacrosse and end up having a “Second Chance Romance” topped up with some fake dating on the lead up to a big championship. I enjoyed the sports element and some of the side characters but a lot just felt lacking.

Six stars, up there with my top books of all time. This is absolutely phenomenal and I don’t know where to start.

How do you even begin to describe a book that’s crept its way into your soul???

My darling May. She is so angry, she’s the epitome of female rage and an absolute powerhouse. I can absolutely see why Colt was in love with her because she’s just the most beautiful person. Family oriented, a team player, passionate, fiesty, loving, loyal…wow. And so fucking talented.

Colt…sweet golden retriever Colt. He is the most wonderful, gentle man. I loved seeing his character development and his love for May truly was untouchable. The way he would ride or die for her. He WEARS HER JERSEY!!!!!!

CMH is not only a beautiful depiction of second chance love but it’s just the most pure, wonderful representation of girlhood and being a woman, paving the way for those who came before you and those who will come after.

It’s the same feeling as seeing the thousands packed into football stadiums for women’s football during the euros, the same feeling when the crowd goes crazy for the first female running a marathon.

That deep unapologetic, emotional pride that cracks you open and reminds you how fucking wonderful it is to be a woman. It also serves as a harsh reminder that there is still miles to go.

But as long as we’ve got women in the world like May, I think we’ll be alright.

There were some gaps in plot for this romance and I could’ve done with a glossary for lacrosse terms!
Overall it was enjoyable and fun and it was a nice change of sport for this very popular sub genre.
I’m not even sure I can really call it a romance as even the fake dating element was more about the inner turmoil of “hidden feelings”.
Cross My Heart was as much a love letter to the sport as it was for these two main characters falling for each other.

I received this book as an ARC and provide an honest review

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books for the e-ARC of this book.

I really liked this book! I have read a number of sports themed romances, but lacrosse was definitely a new one for me!

I loved FMC May's character and how the relationship between her and the MMC Colt developed over the course of the story.

I also really liked the more complex and involved parts of the book, and how cultural celebrations and customs were reflected throughout this book, I felt it added a layer of depth to the story and made the characters come to life even more!

The trope of second chance romances is one of my favourites and I feel the story was told we'll. The only small note I would make is that in some parts the story felt predictable and too inkeeping with the tropes.

I would definitely recommend this book to friends and would love to read more from Esha Patel!

Thank you Netgalley and Esha Patel for letting me read this book for an honest review.

This was a cute rom com read, it look me a few attempts to get fully into this book, I think that it was just a sport romance that I wasn’t used to reading. But once I did I enjoyed it 😊

I did enjoy this book, it did take me a few tries to get into it but I did finish, it did feel a little flat for me, something was missing but overall i did like it!

Following the story of two childhood lovers with a trope of faking dating. I do think the main FMC did have a lot going for her, she was funny, tough but also stuck in this past life with the MMC, I am not normally a second chance romance reader and this did remind me why I struggle with this reading trope. This story is following both of them learning to let go of the past and being able to move forward to see if this is actually something real.

I liked some of the side characters and the sports element but overall this book did feel like it was missing something but it could just be as I struggle with second chance romance, if you want to follow a story of a MMC who is a bit of a tormented soul and a FMC who doesn't understand how to let go of the past but does try to remember that not everything is so black and white (with the help of her friends, family and her bestie). I would recommend this book.

I rated this book a 3/5 stars

Thank you Netgalley and Esha Patel for letting me read this book for an honest review.

Honestly for me this was just a really average fake dating sport romance. I felt like the book expected you to know everything about lacrosse and didn’t explain any of the things they were talking about so I was left doing a lot of googling in between my reading to understand what was being talked about. I also didn’t really get some of the ways the MMC’s family were reacting to his life choices. To an extent I understood why May felt the way she did about everything that happened but some of it really just did not make sense to me. I also just felt like there were a lot of times where we would just get a quick recap of things occurring instead of getting to be a part of the moment so I struggled to fully feel the connection between May and Colt. Overall I think this was a fine read but not my favourite.

🌟: 4.5
This rom-com made my little lacrosse loving heart so happy!

So yes, let me start by saying that, as a high school lacrosse player, I am HEAVILY biased because I wish there were more lax romances out there. I loved how much the sport was featured throughout the book, and I was just as invested in the team’s journey to the championship as I was in the romance. Playing lacrosse in high school, I am all too familiar with how neglected the sport can be, so I liked seeing May and Colt use their ruse to draw attention to the team.

I am a total sucker for fake dating, so I enjoyed how May and Colt’s relationship developed. Colt was such a sweetheart. He has a lot to apologize for when it comes to their past, but it’s clear how in love he is with May from page one, which I LOVE. I liked how May was given space to be angry with and hate Cole, but also has friends around her to talk through her developing feelings toward him.

Between the angst, the drama, the hard-won games, and the swoon-worthy yet rocky love story, I was hooked on this book from start to finish (and I was even shedding a bit of a TEAR at the end?!?!), and I would absolutely recommend!

Looooooooove the diverse characters. I know exactly nothing about lacrosse so those parts went over my head. Also wasn't a huge fan of the second chance. But it was a fun quick read.

i’m not sure this was really for me, it’s not a sport I know / am into so that side of it didn’t really interest me. I also didn’t feel any sort of connection to the characters so I just felt very uninterested and unconnected to this book.

It was an easy light read inbetween other books though, I know Esha has an F1 romance which I might give a try!

Adorable, I love sports romances and this hit the spot and scratched the itch in my brain, I also love seeing diverse characters in books and we need more of them!!!