I wanted to love this one, the blurb sounded right up my alley, but unfortunately there was something about this one that did not do it for me.

Good story, couldn't wait to keep reading all what was going to happen. I look forward to reading more by this author.

An honest review thanks to NetGalley. This was an ok book but I did not love it. The characters did not click with me and when I started getting into it the characters would do something that just didn't seem to fit or seemed childish. It was an ok book and if you like basketball you will probably enjoy this.

I didn't really connect with the writing in this one. It felt oddly specific about mundane things. There was a lot of long exposition sans dialogue. The book alternated between Celeste and Lisa and the author would take us back in time to experience something that had already happened from the other point of view. It felt very repetitive and made the story drag in spots. Somehow did the characters lack in chemistry

You had me at basketball, but then it didn't develop from there.

The relationship between Lisa and Celeste lacked a real connection and the storyline was too simple. I feel I should leave it there.

Took me a while to review this book. It’s better late than never. This is the first time reading a book my this author and I’m not disappointed.
It’s good read, just that i feel the 2 MC’s should have had more chemistry.
However, it’s a nice read, no regrets 😄

What a great love story. With an extra steam from the pole dancing. I also loved how important the education was over the sports. The games on court and off was exciting.

Received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

Not a book for me. Didn’t like the writing style and it’s a very bland story. I found this to be boring,

I thought I’d already reviewed this so I’ve read a few books In between and my memory is sketchy but I really liked this book because I really liked the characters. I enjoyed the romance of the book and the idea that different people can meet and have an instant attraction.

I wanted to keep reading this book and was happy to get spare reading time to pick it up.

Overall it was a fast read and enjoyable characters.

Celeste and Lisa work at a small university. Lisa is a basketball coach with dreams of a bigger career at a bigger college. Celeste is an English professor who is settled with her job and home. They meet when one of Lisa players has problems with her English class. Celeste and Lisa have several false starts before they start dating.

Eventually, Lisa will have to decide if she chooses a high rolling career or her relationship with Celeste.

From reading the blurb I should have loved this book, but it took me about a long while to get into it.
I must have read about 50% before I started liking this story, I don’t know why.

I liked both main characters, Lisa is rather confident basketball coach and Celeste is a self conscience English professor. The book starts with pole dancing, maybe that sets it off wrong for me. A lot of the narrative revolves around the pole dancing and self esteem/ insecurities. This should be a good premise for a book, but it all feels a bit off and weird.
I like the banter between Lisa and her best friend and how she conspires with Celeste’s best friend to get them to hook up. Other than that it just all feel s a bit uninspired

3 stars. This book is about Celeste Bouchard, an English Professor at Glassell University. She meets Lisa Tobias, the woman's basketball coach at the University. They meet when Lisa's point guard has trouble with Celeste's class and goes to her for help. Their first couple meetings go wrong as Celeste assumes the wrong thing from Lisa and makes Lisa upset. They eventually try to become friends, as they are both attracted to one another. There are problems with them becoming more than friends, Celeste does not want another relationship with someone from the school as her last relationship went horribly wrong. Lisa does not assume she will stay at the University as she wants to coach at a Division 1 school.

This book was kind of average. It was not bad, but it was not great either. Celeste and Lisa's relationship develop over time and are written well. The way their relationship evolves makes sense for the book and it does not feel like it evolves too quickly. There is nothing that really drew me to keep reading this book, but their relationship was okay. I am not really sure I would recommend this book, there are many other books I would recommend over this.

This book had Its lows and highs. I appreciated that it was about 2 mature women, following their Dreams, insecurities and life goals. But The story was too thin, not enough meat on the bone.,and for me I felt like I had Read The book before. It was too similar to other books. But with that being said. I loved loved The slow burning love between The two women. and the love scenes can we talk about them. they were so hot, It made me blush. so a 3.5 star book for me Even though The love scenes were a 5 plus stars. Thank you to netgalley and boldstroke books for this arc.

Lisa is putting in her time at a small college coaching their basketball team, she's hoping if she can get them a good season or two that she'll get called back up to the big leagues, coaching for a major university and getting her career back on track. She doesn't plan for her clash with college professor Celeste or the instant attraction. The two women grow closer, and they soon realize that their carefully planned futures might not be everything they had dreamed of. Maybe there's something more.

I really enjoyed this book, if the big drama/breakup/back together wasn't a little predictable. I thought the chemistry was really intense and the romance really sweet. I was expecting more sports based off the cover, but it was more of a background aspect of the story. Lisa's team was really sweet and heartwarming and I liked seeing Lisa's character really flesh out as she interacted with her team. I really enjoyed both main characters and the way they grew and evolved throughout the book. This is my first book by Richardson and I really enjoyed the writing style so I know it won't be the last.

I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

After an emotionally abusive relationship with a coworker, English professor Celeste Bouchard swears off dating colleagues, but when womens’ basketball coach Lisa Tobias catches her eye, she may not be able to resist. Lisa has bigger dreams of coaching at a division 1 school and doesn’t want any entanglements getting in the way. With neither interested in a relationship, they strike up a “friends with benefits” situation, but when they start having real feelings for each other, both women will have to rethink their priorities if they want to be together.

Overall, this romance was okay. I liked that the main characters weren’t in their twenties. Celeste mentions several times that she’s pushing fifty, and I think that age and perspective brings a lot to dramatic tension, characterization, and story direction. It was a simple enough story, and I enjoy a good romance set on a college campus, bonus when it’s not between two students.

Some of the dialogue didn’t flow perfectly, and I didn’t love some of the more traditional gender norms the women fit into, but many queer people still identify one way or another and feel more comfortalbe with more traditional labels and roles, and that’s cool, too. To each their own, and overall, that aspect was done well. I did appreciate the give and take of their relationship, that it seemed to be a pretty equal partnership, and I was rooting for them all the way.

It’s a pretty simple story, but some trigger warnings for emotional abuse and body shaming/positivity issues, but they are handled well and is pro body positivity overall. Plus, pole dancing always adds some entertainment to a story.

This one’s out now, so if it sounds like your cup of tea, be sure to enjoy it over the Valentine’s Day weekend, or you know, anytime, because for me, it’s always time for some steamy romance.

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review of the story.

KC Richardson reliably delivers well written, interesting stories iui es oi f women fing love and realizing dreams.

In this story, Celeste has an ex who won't go away. The breakup was painful forcing Celeste to say never again when it comes to dating coworkers.

Lisa is a life long athlete, coaching women's basketball at a small but elite university.

When they meet, there are sparks if chemistry and tons of misunderstanding due to Celeste's preconceived notion of athletes.

Overcoming personal baggage to become friends with benefits finds Lisa and Celeste in over their heads.

The bottom line if the story - should rules be broken and do you really know what your heart's dreams are?

I enjoyed this story and look forward to the authors next book.

When Lisa and Celeste meet they both agree that they do not want to be in a relationship. Now if they could just stay away from each other.

Celeste is still feeling the effects from her last relationship. She has vowed to never get involved with another co-worker ever again. Then she locks eyes on a handsome woman across the room at a faculty function and immediately her interest is stirred.

Lisa takes one look at Celeste and needs to meet her. Lisa does not have time for a relationship though, she needs to concentrate on coaching. She spends most of her time traveling, studying, and coaching her team and that leaves no time for relationships. Plus, she does not plan on staying at the small college for long as she has her goals set at a larger university.

Now if Celeste and Lisa could just keep reminding themselves of why they need to stay away from each other.

K.C. Richardson gives me some hope in Taking A Shot At Love (Bold Strokes Books, 9781635555509, 2020). Shot is a great romance with realistic problems and characters that you want in your life and not on the page (laugh).

I am going to say that I want a friend like Olivia or Athena because these supporting characters bring humor and balance to this story. Lisa is a strong willed and competitive character who I would want to open my door.

I have to say that I really identified with Celeste. Celeste and I have a lot of the same issues and it was an illuminating read on this front for me. (Maybe I should take up pole exercising because Richardson makes it sound like a great time!) I do not react externally as Celeste does, but I do internalize the feelings so it was interesting to see how Richardson dealt with Lisa and Celeste dealing with the results.

When an author can make you feel connected to the characters and care about whether they get a “happily-ever-after” than you know the book is a winner. I read this in one sitting so that should tell you that you too should be Taking A Shot At Love this Valentine’s Day.

I received an ARC of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers, Bold Strokes Books Inc., of 'Taking a shot at Love' for affording me the opportunity to read the book and review it. This is the first book I have read by this author.

The backdrop to this novel will appeal to many readers. Two middle-aged career women working on a campus. One is an English professor and the other the head coach of the University Basketball Team. Both characters had interesting back stories and issues of insecurity, difficulty with commitment, and overcoming trust issues added to the otherwise fairly straightforward sweet romance.

The first eleven chapters read well and the story propels the reader along. However there is a bit of a hiatus in chapter 12, the writing is more stilted, idioms appear frequently and the punctuation and grammar make it harder to read. The story doesnt flow as well as the author tries to join up the loose strands she has in order to achieve her objectives. And then it picks up again and I was glad I stuck with it. At times I just found it lacked the dialogue that reresented each individual character and their actual ages that made reading in 3rd person hard going. But it's a great premise for a storyline and it's an easy going read. Women's sports and instant attraction. What's not to like? There was humour, romance, sport. angst and specifically Women's basketball!

This book was ok. Not great though as there are many more books out there and a lot are better. A lot are worse too. Which leaves me with a book that didn't do much for me. The characters were okay, the sex scenes were hot and the plot slightly interesting. Colleagues going to friends going to friends with benefits going to girlfriends. I liked the basketball tie-in, the believable insecurities but things just didn't add up quite right. They went from antagonistic but lustful to passionate to polite with eachother in short order and while the sex scenes were well written, they seemed like very distant and polite women outside from those to the point that I thought: where is the love?
Not a bad book, but well...don't care for it one way or the other. So, I am sorry to say I can barely justify going to 3 stars, I will cause I did finish it.

***an ARC was kindly provided by the Publisher in exchange for a honest review ***

This is a first author read for me (I have not read anything from Ms. Richardson before this), so was looking forward to the story and writing. First I enjoyed that the main characters, Lisa a basketball couch and Celeste an English Professor, were older (not that I don't like stories around 20/30 year old, but this was a bit refreshing). The book is set in a small college town, on the East Coast.

I enjoyed the very first start of the book in how they saw each other at a dean's gathering, and how the secondary character (Celeste's ex) made an appearance and you just knew was going to be trouble. From how the author wrote Celeste I could see she wanted her to be a bit damaged (body shape issues and low self-esteem), but I did have a hard time with how far the author took it, kind of bringing it up a lot throughout the story, just my opinion, but I understand she was trying to show why Celeste was the way she was, but the reader got that in the first half. I still enjoyed both characters, Lisa is a bit more rough around the edges, but love characters like that (some would call her butch but I hate labels).

The book has good up and downs with the character interactions, and the ex was a perfect touch and I am glad she got what was coming to her, even at Lisa's expense.

All and all the book was a sweet read, nothing heavy just a nice summer read if you have the time. I will be looking more from this author in the future.

I received an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, but would have written the same opinion if I had come across this author on my own.

To see my Amazon review, it is under CC-enjoyable