Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Tropes: enemies to lovers; second chance romance; new adult romance; sports romance
Rebecca Jenshak’s Hating the Player is more of the magic you expect from her. The story follows Violet, one of the four young ladies who live in the house next to Jenshak’s infamous White House, the house of the storied Valley U basketball players. In fact, one of those players, Gavin has a sordid history with Violet: he cheated on her with her sophomore year roommate. Gavin has pined for Violet from afar ever since. Complicating his life is his contemptuous relationship with his famous former NBA star father. Hating the Player is Gavin and Violet’s journey to reconciliation and a happy ending. What are some of the reasons you should read this book along with its predecessor, Tutoring the Player?
- Gavin is a simp for Violet. Truly. He wants to be with her so much and he realizes he made a mistake in the past, but his feelings have never gone away. His courting of Violet makes for some of the best moments of the book.
- Violet’s journey towards forgiveness is crafted well. She’s angry at him, and it takes the first third of the book for her to be won over. Thanks to Gavin’s tenacity, this finally happens, and it doesn’t feel too rushed or too drawn out.
- I loved the slow evolution of their reconciliation.
- There is a smexy scene involving a pen.
- The message to live in the present and look to the future instead of focusing on the past, on the time that can no longer be fixed, is an important one, and Jenshak carefully teases that through her story in a couple of ways.
Hating the Player is thoughtful, sweet, and spicy in equal measure. If you’ve never read a Rebecca Jenshak Valley U story, you’re missing out, and you should jump into this story STAT.
In love and romance,
Professor A
Professor Romance 