Review: ★Sacked★ by Jen Frederick

SACKED
Series: Gridiron #1
Genre: New Adult Romance
Author: Jen Frederick
Release Day: September 6, 2015

What he wants he gets… 

Knox Masters is a quarterback’s worst nightmare. Warrior. Champion. And…virgin. Knox knows what he wants–and he gets it. All American Football player? Check. NFL pros scouting him? Check. Now, he’s set his sight on two things. The national title. And Ellie Campbell. Sure, she’s the sister of his fellow teammate, but that’s not going to stop him. Especially not when he’s convinced Ellie is the one.

…but he’s never met her before. 

But Ellie isn’t as sure. She’s trying to start a new life and she’s not interested in a relationship…with anyone. Beside it’s not just her cardinal rule of never dating her brother’s teammates that keeps her away, but Ellie has a dark secret that would jeopardize everything Knox is pursuing.

Knox has no intention of losing. Ellie has no intention of giving in.

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When you meet the girl who’ll be sitting on the front porch holding your hand when you’re eighty, you don’t let a thing like cool dismissive looks, big brothers, or fucking rules stand in your way.

Now before you start reaching for rotten tomatoes and pitchforks, allow me to clarify my rating here. See, here’s the thing, I liked this book. It was wonderfully written and being my first book by this author I already know I’ll be reading all her others. I’m also completely hooked on this series and absolutely loved the set up as well as all the secondary characters. I also truly enjoyed both MCs here. At this point you’re probably sitting there and thinking, then why the hell are you marking this only 3.5 stars?
Well…bluntly put…it was just too sweet for my tastes. *ducks flying tomatoes*
I know! I know! Clearly there’s something wrong me with me and obviously this is a case of me and not the book if ever there was one but it just wasn’t quite my cuppa and I’ll get to the exact reasons why now…
Knox Masters is the All American Defensive End, football superstar, walking wet dream…and virgin.
Now I loved that this wasn’t a source of shame or secret for him. He owned it. It wasn’t a secret and he didn’t make it one, nor does he make it a given to spread it around campus either. The problem? I just don’t buy it. Ugh. I’m sorry! It’s that damn cynic in me, but a college junior, surrounded by football groupies, all his teammates are male sluts, but he’s a virgin because…reasons.
But this was also wonderfully…refreshing. This is my second time reading about a male virgin and I believe Jen Frederick pulled it off very well. Knox is just one of those characters that you can’t help but love. He goes after what he wants with a single-minded intent and feels no need for immature mind games that you’d find with most heroes in the NA genre.

I’m not experienced, but I know when a girl is into me, and you’re into me. You want to play it casual, then that’s how we play it…for now. But fair warning, I’m bringing everything I’ve got to tear down your resistance. my specialty is reading plays and then overcoming the barriers.”

It also doesn’t hurt that the man is packing more than shoulder pads…uhem.
What ultimately brought my rating down was 2 specific things.

(1) The insta-love.
[

Right now, as the sun peeks over the top of the stands and lays a solid ray of love on the field of my greatest accomplishments to date, and the girl sitting by me waxes poetic about the greatest game in the world, I get it.
Her.
This one.
The universe is talking to me.

This was at 4%!
In the book’s defense I am not, nor will I ever be a fan of insta-love, no matter how well it’s pulled off. And it IS pulled off wonderfully here. It’s just not my cuppa. I can’t help it. I gave it the old college try (pun intended) but could never really see past it. Perhaps because he was also a virgin on top of everything else? Whatever the case may be, I suppose I just wanted a little more interaction between them before this came into the mix. Like say, at least 12%?

(2) The last 20%.
Oh the cheese of it all. Now before you toss the rest of your rotten tomatoes at me, I will say that most readers will love this. For me it was just too much. (view spoiler)[The reasons behind Ellie’s breakup with Knox, their “way around it”, it was just too much too soon. (hide spoiler)]

I believe most readers will absolutely adore Sacked. It’s just one of those light and sexy, sweet and easy feel good romances. It’s wonderfully written with endearing characters and it’s definitely a series that I plan on following. I just don’t think that male virgins will ever be my cuppa.

I highly recommend this book for any fans of New Adult romance. If you’ve avoided this genre because of the male manwhores and super angst, this is the perfect book for you. A guaranteed love 🙂