Jock Royal (Jock Hard #4) by Sara Ney

Jock Royal by Sara Ney is the latest installment in her Jock Hard series. The anticipated installment to a beloved series leaves you both reaching for a fan, the remote to turn on BBC, and questioning whether or not you actually enjoyed the read…

Genres: Contemporary Sports Romance
Publisher: Independently Published
Publication Date: June 24th 2021
Source: Author
Format: ARC

IT’S EASY TO TAKE ONE DARE WHEN YOU THINK IT’S HARMLESS.
Ashley Dryden-Jones is the best rugby player on the field—when I take a dare I instantly regret, I had no way of knowing he was a gentleman. An athlete. British with no plans to stay in the States.

He makes me forget myself, bruises, 5 o’clock shadow, accent and all.

He makes me forget I cannot crawl into bed with him at night—or get drunk and throw caution to the wind for once in my overly cautious life.

Because he’s my new roommate.

ONE STUPID BET LEADS TO ONE UNFORGETTABLE NIGHT.
When I win a trip to Vegas I need a plus one; he’s the strapping, strong and responsible choice. Besides—I’ve never been anywhere and he has.

He is the best friend I didn’t know I needed.

Ashley is one of the good ones—but I’m about to find out how bad this good boy can be.

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*Available on Kindle Unlimited!

ARC provided by Author in exchange for my honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

“It’s easy to take one dare when you think it’s harmless…”

This trip back into Jock Row was a cute one! Sara Ney brings us to the Rugby side of the Athletics Department with her latest installment, Jock Royal, which follows the hilariously comedic opposites attract story of Georgia, a girl who is forced to switch schools in her senior year due to her scholarship being pulled, and Ashley, a son of a British Lord. When a hazing stunt goes sideways at the start of the year, Georgia finds herself on a mission to gain forgiveness from the big surly Rugby player she offended and Ashley (said Rugby player) is on a mission to be himself outside of his family’s title and duty.

You ever read a book where you didn’t mind it but know without a doubt that if you keep thinking back on it, you’ll realize you had beef with a lot more than you thought initially? Well that is where I am standing with this one. My initial reaction after finishing this was “well that was cute–a tad annoying at times but cute.” But after reflecting more on the story and looking back on my bookmarks I realized I had more “annoyed” reactions than “love this/this is cute!” reactions–if that makes any sense.

I loved Georgia and her persistence to make the most out of a sucky situation. A standard Ney heroine, Georgia didn’t hold back any of the sass (nor the sweetness) and whit when it came to Ashley. I liked these two together, their mutual stubbornness and feisty banter were probably my favorite parts of the entire novel. I loved watching these two go back and forth and just be themselves. This was super (and I mean super) light on the angst which was nice after reading back to back drama filled novels.

What I didn’t really care for and what probably annoyed me the most was the constant reminder of how Ashley was British. It was fine during the beginning as we were getting to know the characters and their back story–but after a while, I honestly started skimming over the sentences and paragraphs that went over his being from a different country because it came up so frequently. Some of the verbiage Ashley used made absolutely no sense in the grand scheme of what he was trying to say nor did it reflect the place he claimed he was from; making it feel like his vernacular was thrown in to sound more authentic rather than being something natural.

With the annoying bits aside, Jock Royal was a cute story. As an opposite attract, Vegas surprise wedding kind of romcom–it was pretty chill! Sara Ney definitely delivered in the comedic department as she always does and her signature whit and sassy one liners were on full display with this book. If you are looking for something quick to read and if you don’t mind “Hallmark” like British Heroes, I definitely say give this one a go!