Well, hello, worst book hangover of the year. It's nice to meet you.
This book, oh god. It was gorgeous, angsty and romantic and heartfelt and tough and UGH, just 100% my jam and I'm pretty much in mourning now because I didn't want to leave Isaac and Julien and their team and friends behind, EVER.
I'm pretty sure this is going to end up in my top ten reads of the year, even though it's still April, and I'm also pretty sure that this book has stolen the top position for favourite sports romance I've ever read. Yes, it was that good.

Rookie Mistake was the perfect balance between light-hearted and "oh my god, my soul hurts". It literally has every single thing I love in a romance, and then some: banter and humour, a found-family that will leave you in tears (of joy), angst with a dash of hurt/comfort and another dash of "I have been unexpectedly whacked over the head with a shovel of feels", hockey (but not in an overwhelming-I-don't-know-the-rules-what-is-happening-way) and well-earned victories, and also, kink and heat and a romance that literally stole my breath away.

Julien and Isaac were fantastic protagonists. I absolutely adored them, flaws and all. Isaac was endearing and protective and careful and also reeeally hot, the perfect gentlemen. He's got flaws and insecurities and he gets lost in his head a lot (100% relatable), but he still puts in the time to be better, to overcome his fears and to ask for help, and I admired him so damn much, start to finish.
And Julien? God, where do I start. Julien's tough and snarky and equally protective of Isaac as Isaac is of him, but he's also messy and damaged and gritty and anxious, so insecure and vulnerable you'll find yourself wishing somebody would just whisk him away from everything. God, I was so proud of him.

Their relationship was perfectly built, and it felt pretty damn realistic. There's drama for sure, and there's miscommunication and insecurities and self-sabotaging, like any other relationship, but what I really adored was the fact that both Isaac and Julien put in the time to be better, to act better, to know better. They talk, to each other and to others (well, Isaac more than Julien), and they research and they try to do better, and every single one of their missteps and misunderstandings are eventually talked about and that was such a refreshing thing to see in a romance. Sure, theirs isn't a perfect relationship, but it's 100% honest.
And also, the kink and light D/s undertones? GOD, I adored their dynamic, inside and outside the bedroom. This is the second book I've read in a row where there's some kind of dynamic reversal with the MCs in the bedroom, where the opposite of what I was expecting happens, and I might just go looking for more.

The side characters were as fantastic as the MCs. Darian and Julien and Isaac's family and team were fabulous, but I loved (I LOVED) Nisha and Elias. So damn much.
I'd literally die for them. Even though they're not main characters (YET? One can hope, and possibly make a sacrifice to a moon goddess in the meantime), they're both so alive. So well-rounded and complex and they have such an interesting dynamic, with each other and with Julien and eventually with Isaac too.

Also, I'd sell my soul for a book about them: all the pining and bff-to-lovers slow-burn deliciousness, all the (not-so) secret sexual tension and THE CHEMISTRY? Gah, inject it in my veins, please and thank you.

The writing was seamless, the prose utterly gorgeous and it made me feel a ton of feels. This isn't my first L.A. Witt book, but I think I might need to go and find myself more Anna Zabo: I know they write a lot of kinky romances, so I'm pretty sure my bank account won't thank me when I'm done with their backlist *cackles with glee*

Anyway, this book comes out in June. I was lucky (and, I'd say, blessed) to read an ARC of this wondrous book two months in advance, but now I can't wait for June, to have more people read it, so they can scream about it with me. And I'm also in desperate need of more.
Worst book hangover ever. Ugh. Anyway, I totally recommend this.

I received an ARC from the authors in exchange for an honest review.