{"id":72454,"date":"2023-11-14T05:00:28","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T10:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=72454"},"modified":"2023-11-14T05:38:48","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T10:38:48","slug":"review-end-game-bsu-football-4-by-j-b-salsbury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=72454","title":{"rendered":"Review: End Game (BSU Football, #4) by J.B. Salsbury"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buy:\u00a0\u00a0Amazon<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Blurb<\/strong><\/h4>\n

She would be my end game. I just didn\u2019t know it yet.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ophelia asked me for one simple favor\u2014to get the guy she\u2019s in love with to notice her.<\/p>\n

It won\u2019t be easy; she looks as if she\u2019s spent her whole life trying to disappear. But I never turn down a challenge. Convincing anyone I\u2019ve given up all women for this one woman is my biggest challenge yet.<\/p>\n

I agree to help her win over the man of her dreams. The problem is she quickly becomes the only woman staring in mine.<\/p>\n

She offered to pay me. In the end, I want the one thing she plans to give to someone else.<\/p>\n

Her heart.<\/p>\n

End Game is a fake-dating, opposites attract, college\/new adult romance featuring a charismatic hero and a wallflower heroine entangled in an arrangement neither could have prepared for.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Add to Goodreads<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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Review<\/strong><\/h4>\n

4 stars<\/b><\/p>\n

J.B. Salsbury takes us back to BSU football with a fantastic fake relationship\/friends-to-lovers romance, and two characters that completely stole my heart.<\/p>\n

This is book #4 in the BSU Football<\/i> series, and though it\u2019s been a while since I\u2019ve read the earlier books, I was instantly sucked into this story, which can absolutely be read as a standalone.<\/p>\n

Self-declared science nerd, Ophelia is quiet and shy, and prefers to exist in the background wherever possible. But that has resulted in her flying a little too low under the radar. A quick encounter with BSU football star, Kaipo Ryker gives her the opportunity she\u2019s been looking for, and she bravely asks him to be her pretend boyfriend to help her win the heart of the guy she likes. He is intrigued by her proposition, and agrees, and quickly throws himself into being the most epic of fake boyfriends.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s still several yards away, a few dozen students between us. I stand frozen in the doorway, my bag clutched to my chest while my classmates squeeze past me. Wearing a faded BSU Football t-shirt, as if anyone needs the reminder of who he is, he holds his arms wide and high above him. \u201cMy woman!\u201d His jeans hang low on his hops, and I catch the hint of a tattoo peeking out at his hipbone.
\nHe closes in, his proximity and smile causing a tachycardic event in my chest. Those big, solid arms reach for me. \u201cNo hug for your man?\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I was alternately laughing or swooning at Kaipo\u2019s fake-boyfriending efforts. He is sweet and thoughtful, and he genuinely cares about Ophelia, helping her find confidence and treating her beautifully. He is sweet and generous, with a huge heart, and he completely stole my heart<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to fall in love with you. I have no doubt about that.\u201d \u2026
\n\u201cYou don\u2019t have to fake boyfriend me now when no one is watching.\u201d \u2026
\n\u201cI\u2019m serious. You are the kind of woman a man falls in love with. No fake-boyfriending bullshit. Just facts.\u201d <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Every encounter between them is fun, flirty and affectionate. And as Kaipo puts Ophelia at ease, and she grows comfortable with him, they truly get to know each other, and Kaipo finds himself falling hard for his shy new friend.<\/p>\n

I want to slap myself out of it, but I can\u2019t shake the feeling of Ophelia, of her touch, her eyes when she looks up at me with pure trust. I can\u2019t shake her. I want her. All of her. In every possible way. <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s such a fun read. I loved the dynamic between Kaipo and Ophelia which shifts from strangers to close friends to more. It\u2019s sweet, sexy and exciting watching these two come together and just as much as I loved their fantastic banter and conversation, their inner dialogue was just as entertaining, and I laughed so many times while falling so hard for both of these characters.<\/p>\n

The couples from the earlier books in the series appear, and I loved seeing them all so happy and loved-up, and invested in Kaipo and Ophelia\u2019s relationship, knowing the whole time that there\u2019s nothing fake about it.<\/p>\n

The ending brings a surprise twist that actually caused the book to lose some momentum for me. Actually it was more like screeching breaks. I wasn\u2019t a fan of some of the characters\u2019 actions and how things ultimately played out, and it took a 5-star read down to a 4, but I was glad to see these two get their happy ending.<\/p>\n

4 stars.<\/p>\n

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BSU Football<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"\" \u00a0\"\" \u00a0\"\" \u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

Breaking Defenses (#1) <\/strong>(Carey & Rowan)
\n<\/strong>Spin off from the Fighting<\/em> <\/a>series – Carey Slade is the son of Jonah and Raven from Fighting for Flight<\/a>
\n<\/em>Review<\/a>
\nBuy: \u00a0Amazon <\/a> | \u00a0B&N\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Kobo<\/a><\/p>\n

Hail Mary (#2) <\/strong>(Spider & Emery)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

On the Sideline (#3)<\/strong> (Loren & Bex)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n

End Game (#4)<\/strong> (Kaipo & Ophelia)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Check out more great reads at our J.B. Salsbury Author Spotlight<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buy:\u00a0\u00a0Amazon Blurb She would be my end game. I just didn\u2019t know it yet. Ophelia asked me for one simple favor\u2014to get the guy she\u2019s in love with to notice her. It won\u2019t be easy; […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71997,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":4,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1132,13,9,58,29],"tags":[1201,648,48],"class_list":["post-72454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fake-relationship","category-new-adult","category-romance","category-sports-star","category-steamy","tag-bsu-football","tag-j-b-salsbury","tag-review"],"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\/2023\/09\/End-Game.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-iQC","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72454","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=72454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/71997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=72454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=72454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=72454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}