Half-Court Heat

I have to quickly say that I loved the writing style of Eliza Lentski from her series “The WinterJacket” and “Don’t Call Me Hero”. This “Hoops & Heartstrings” series has been amazing. Big basketball fan, so I have been impressed with the play by play writings. The proper approach to the game and her ability to weave a very strong love story through it all. Eva & Lex’s story continued in this book. Eliza’s words had us following the couple as they fell deeper for each other, showing the world. Joining forces on a 3x3 Miami off season league until tragedy hit. Their relationship taking a few hits when an old love comes back. Trying to find their way back during some tough times. This book had everything. Excitement, Happiness, Anger, Sadness and a yearning for more….

Each Lentzski book seems to be better than the last. I wanted to wait for the audiobook, but I loved Hoops and Heartstrings so much that I had to go for it. This book was so well-written and blew me away with the wide spectrum of emotions. At times, I laughed, I fought back tears, I became furious, I experienced fearful concerns and I smiled joyfully. Eve Montgomery and Lex Bennett are our mixed-racial stars and our lovers. They’d gone from being teammates, to long distance separation, to being roommates, experiencing such emotions as being insecure in their relationship, resentment, jealousy and those that accompany being under the scrutiny of the public eye. Eve was the more famous, so much so that she was practically her own brand. She and Lex were dubbed, “The chosen two.” I don’t know if the author ever played basketball, but she sure captured the essence of the game from the dynamics of player relationships, the grind of practices and the actual games. Added in this book was the 3X3 league in Miami with a lot of attention to the team members’ relationships, the pain of dealing with a serious injury, a sexual proposition and the resulting tension it caused in their relationship as well as the threat from a former girlfriend. One more heads-up thing I’d like to mention is the book’s title. HEAT should be in all-caps because the heat was almost too-excessively sizzling! This settled down in the second half, but it’s what a lot of readers look for and I guess it did…

For me, things really picked up and blasted off halfway through. Lentzski does an amazing job building tension between characters and pushing them to the brink. Her writing sucks you in so much you find yourself seething and despising the villains while investing your entire heart behind her MCs. It's a great continuation from book one. The angst is high, the love strong, and the spice blazing. It's UNRIVALED!