![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Hard-Pass-Release-Banner.png?resize=640%2C335&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cHard pass.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n That\u2019s what the last girl I slept with said when she got her first sober glimpse of me. She laughed, walked out of my penthouse\u2014and I never saw her again. It doesn\u2019t matter that I\u2019m a rich, professional athlete; what mattered was my face.<\/p>\n Beauty might only be skin deep for some\u2014but I know better.<\/p>\n \u201cPay up.\u201d <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n That\u2019s what the last girl I spoke to said over the phone when I made her an offer she couldn\u2019t refuse. Desperate to sell a set of rare baseball cards, she\u2019s clever and entertaining. I\u2019m instantly smitten, but nowhere ready to reveal myself. Thank god she has no idea who I am\u2014or what I look like.<\/p>\n I\u2019m a professional athlete–how hard can playing the love game be?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add to Goodreads<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3.5 stars!<\/b><\/p>\n A sports romance with a difference, this is a fun, sweet and sexy love story that is both delightfully awkward and absolutely heartwarming. The first in a new series for Sara Ney, it\u2019s a great little read, and I really enjoyed it!<\/p>\n Noah Harding is a baseball superstar with wealth and success like he never dreamed of. But he doesn\u2019t have much luck with the ladies. You see, he\u2019s not the best looking guy, and after enduring teasing and numerous rejections, he\u2019s lost all confidence when it comes to women and he doesn\u2019t even bother. But he very quickly gets sucked into talking into a girl online because she\u2019s selling a rare baseball card that he wants, and for the first time in a long time, he\u2019s interested.<\/p>\n Miranda is devastated to be selling off one of her late Grandfather\u2019s beloved baseball cards, but she\u2019s desperate for cash to invest in her new business. She\u2019s happy to at least be selling it to somebody who seems to be a fan. But when she meets him in the flesh, he\u2019s nothing like the guy she was flirting online with, and she is really disappointed because they seemed to hit it off so well! Until she finds out that due to his nerves, he sent a decoy in his place.<\/p>\n It’s awkward and funny, and Noah and Miranda\u2019s road to romance is definitely not a smooth one, but it\u2019s a really entertaining ride. It was a treat to read about a sports star who isn\u2019t all arrogant and cocky, instead Noah is a genuinely nice guy \u2013 but quiet, vulnerable and insecure, with no idea how to talk to or act around women. And it gives Miranda the chance to shine as the brave, confident, yet still slightly awkward woman to drag him out of his shell. She is patient and sweet with Noah, and she doesn\u2019t hold back, and it\u2019s a wonderful dynamic as these two muddle their way forward together.<\/p>\n \u201cGuys don\u2019t like the girl next door. They want the girl who wants to bang.\u201d I laughed and cringed along with them, and I fell in love with both of these characters. Their text banter is fantastic, and I loved watching them find their way to, and see the beauty in, each other. There are some truly gorgeous moments, and I loved seeing Noah slowly find his confidence. And even with his issues, when it comes to the sexy time, he is everything you would want a romantic hero to be (oh, so hot!).<\/p>\n It’s a short book and it moves pretty quickly, but it ends in a good place. We are also introduced to a fantastic bunch of side characters, and I hope we get to see some of them again as the series continues.<\/p>\n This was a really fun read. 3.5 stars!<\/p>\n An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.<\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hard Pass (#1) <\/strong>(Noah & Miranda) Hard Fall (#2) <\/strong>(Trace & Hollis) Hard Love (#3) <\/strong>(Tripp & Chandler) Hard Luck (#4)<\/strong> (Mateo & True) <\/p>\n For a list of cities\/venues Sara will be signing at, or to purchase signed books, please visit her website at\u00a0www.authorsaraney.com<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Newsletter\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Instagram\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Twitter\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Book+Main<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Goodreads<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Bookbub<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Amazon\u00a0 |\u00a0 Nook\u00a0 |\u00a0 Apple\u00a0 |\u00a0 Kobo Blurb \u201cHard pass.\u201d That\u2019s what the last girl I slept with said when she got her first sober glimpse of me. She laughed, walked out of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":3.5,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,9,58,29],"tags":[59,48,733,1161],"class_list":["post-52930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lol-funny","category-romance","category-sports-star","category-steamy","tag-arc","tag-review","tag-sara-ney","tag-trophy-boyfriends"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Hard-Pass.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-dLI","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Hard-Pass-Teaser.jpg?resize=336%2C336&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n
\nReview<\/b><\/h4>\n
\n\u201cThose guys were idiots.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Hard-Pass-Release.png?resize=509%2C339&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nTrophy Boyfriends<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Hard-Pass.jpg?resize=80%2C122&ssl=1\")
\u00a0![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Hard-Fall.jpg?resize=80%2C122&ssl=1\")
\u00a0![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Hard-Love.jpg?resize=80%2C122&ssl=1\")
\u00a0![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Hard-Luck.jpg?resize=80%2C122&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy: \u00a0Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0\u00a0Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nAbout the Author<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/sara-ney-author.jpg?resize=200%2C200\")
Sara Ney is the USA Today Bestselling Author of the How to Date a Douchebag series, and is best known for her sexy, laugh-out-loud New Adult romances. Among her favorite vices, she includes: iced latte\u2019s, historical architecture and well-placed sarcasm. She lives colorfully, collects vintage books, art, loves flea markets, and fancies herself British.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Wildfire.png?resize=352%2C134\")
<\/p>\n