Spring Tide (Coastal University #1) (2024)

4.5*

Nawwwhhhhh this book was ADORABLE
HarperLuca srsly taunted my love life with all their cuteness 😩💕

You get:
- fake dating,
- grumpy x sunshine,
- ND rep
- women in STEM
- And omg the slow burnnnnn was so worth it. 𝐒𝐎 𝐒𝐎 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐇 𝐈𝐓 𝐃𝐀𝐌𝐍𝐍𝐍𝐍…

Ugh their small moments were just 𝐦𝐰𝐚𝐡. Now I want a Harper AND a Luca for myself.
No srsly bc the forehead kisses are my KRYPTONITE. And the soft touches. The playful nudging. Ugh when will it be my turn?!

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍??!! That was an absolute beauty. I loved how they would actually come together and talk it out.

𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗽𝗲𝗿 was such a joy. She was so fun and caring and compassionate.
𝗜 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗼 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗳𝘂𝗹. 𝐒𝐎 𝐒𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐅𝐔𝐋. Ugh she did the most lovable things for him and she needs to be protected at all costs. She knew her self worth and stood up for herself when it mattered which I LOVED.

𝗟𝘂𝗰𝗮 was so freaking adorable. 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗵𝘆-𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲? 𝙂𝙖𝙝𝙝𝙝 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙎𝙊 𝘿𝘼𝙈𝙉 𝘾𝙐𝙏𝙀. 🤭💕🦋
I empathised so much with him and with everything he has going on in the book I just wanted him to be happy. I’m really glad that it ended the way it did bc I loved to watch him grow and have a fuller healthier life.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐊𝐢 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐢𝐝𝐞!

𝗜 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂! <𝟯

𝐒𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟓𝐭𝐡 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫! 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐢𝐭, 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨 <𝟑

𝗦𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲:
Eden and Fletcher need their own book!!
The cover is SO FREAKING BEAUTIFUL I can’t stop admiring it.

𝗦𝗼𝗻𝗴𝘀: 🎧
Okay - WYATT
Sunshine - Liam Payne
All for me - Vi Niq
Pull me closer - Deanz
Say you wanna - lo nightly
No right to love you - Rhys Lewis
I need u - yaeow
Moonlight - dhruv

𝗙𝗮𝘃 𝗤𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀:

“𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐩𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥. 𝐒𝐡𝐞’𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐲, 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐮𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭.”

“𝐈’𝐦 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥’𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐛𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬”

“𝗔𝗻 𝗲𝘆𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘆𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗱.”
“𝗢𝗸𝗮𝘆, 𝗚𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗵𝗶,”
~HAHAHAHH IM CACKLING 💀😭

“𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡, 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐬, 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭.”

“𝐇𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫, 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐛 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫. “

“𝗕𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀. 𝗨𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝗜 𝗺𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂, 𝗜 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱,” he says, the corners of his lips hinting at a smile. “𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙙𝙤 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙨𝙤 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙖𝙙𝙡𝙮.”

“𝐈 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐚𝐤 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐨.
𝘽𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥 𝙢𝙮𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛, 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢 𝙖 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩 𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙨 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣.”

“𝐇𝐞’𝐬 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝙮𝙚𝙩 𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮.”

𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝗯𝗲𝘀:
The kiss quotient - Helen Huang
Tutoring the player - Rebecca Jenshak

***

Omgggg I’m screaming I got selected to receive an ARC!! AAAAAHHH IM SO EXCITED!!

- first of all i just want to say I didn’t want to be a hater. I wanted to love this book. I even tried to convince myself i was loving it but I can’t lie to myself anymore 🥲

1) the book started really good but then it stopped and became so painfully boring. I kept going because I had nothing else to do and because I was hoping it would get better.

2) the whole reason of her fake dating Luca was really stupid. She said she was dating him so she can sweep her assignment with her friends to be closer to Nate ( her crush). So what’s the point of you being closer to him if he knows you’re dating someone else!! God give us brain for a reason guys please try and us it.

3) harper (the fmc) I like her she was very sweet and cute. overly forgiving and kind 🫶🏻 i thought she was mature until I figured out the reason she had a crush on Nate 🥲 it was because he reminded her of a puppy 🤡

4) I didn’t know what she wanted most of the time like one minute she was so into Nate and the next she wanted Luca to kiss her. Where did this even come from i have no idea. I felt like i was messing something. Like girl give your heart time to mourn and then you can move one!

5) Luca (the mc) i was told that this was grumpy x sunshine but what i got was rude,insufferable mc x overly sunshine fmc. Seriously i don’t get how anyone can love him. The guy judged her. Didn’t take her feeling and her problems seriously. He acted like he was the only one on earth that got problems. He was consistently rude to her. Was so fast to get angry and jump to conclusions. He never gave her the benefit if the doubt.
What i’m trying to say is that he was acting like a stupid little boy when he was supposed to act like a f*cking adult.

6) i felt like harper was the only one trying to make their relationship work. She was consistently sacrificing everything just to be with him. Her times with her friends. The parties she was invited to…. He didn’t even try to go to one with her or to met her friends please this was not cute this was f*cking toxic to be the only one who always puts effort to make things work. Have some standers for god sake 🌝

7) this little sh*t show that happened between him and his brother. What was the point of it if you’re going to make us know what happened next? What happened after that? How he worked things with him? How their relationship got back to normal? how his brother recovered from drugs? I have no idea 🤷🏻‍♀️ so what’s the point of making it in the first place.

———
To be fair there was so many cute moments between them but it wasn’t enough for me to overlook everything else.

I wanted something that is quick and cute, but I got a boring and bland mess.

4 ⭐️ review to come

I literally never review books but this one was just so bad I had to.

Somehow this book’s overall rating is like a 3.4 or something, and I love a good sports romance so of course I had to try it out. Thanks to a TikTok and this Goodreads profile, I was so excited to read!!!

And then I actually started reading. This was like a car crash where it’s so bad but you also can’t help yourself from looking? Moral of the story: I finished this book in like 4 hours but did I enjoy any of it? Absolutely not.

Let’s start with the main characters. The book is told in dual perspective from Harper and Luca’s POV. The book starts out ok, and I really love the original premise of the story. Who doesn’t love a good fake dating situationship that turns into lovers??

And then we meet Luca. He might possibly be one of the most toxic book characters I’ve ever met. Girls: if you’re reading this book and finding Luca attractive: GO GET THERAPY!!!!!

Seriously he wasn’t aloof or standoffish he was just plain rude. And Harper just lets him walk ALL over her and doesn’t ever get mad at him for being outright and rude and yelling at her. Like the man was so emotionally closed off and unavailable, and it made it so hard to feel the love and connection between the characters.

Also like, if he had told his coach about his knee from the get go he would have been healed like less than halfway into the season??? Like sir just take a breather for like 3 weeks and carry on? I can’t.

Harper is also just way too quintessentially “I’m so happy all the time” girl because I guess the author was going for a grump x sunshine moment but all you got was way too sunshine and toxic male rudeness. Harper is nothing but nice to this man and he’s constantly angry at her over nothing? But it’s ok bc he immediately regrets what he says and apologizes and everything is fine.

Even the “breakup” moment at the end where he breaks up with her literally because she wants him to see a doctor about his dislocated knee??? Get a grip dude. I get why he has no friends because he’s just insufferable.

Also can we talk about the random side plot of his brother being like addicted to drugs?!? And how we kind of just glossed over that part, especially in the epilogue? Why was that even in there? Why did we not see more development with Harper and her dad instead of the one scene we see of him being rude to her?

And just when I didn’t think it could get any worse: the epilogue. I was thanking god the book was over, only to find the dreaded PREGNANCY TROPE (cue the DUH DUH DUHHHHHHHHH) I just could not stomach knowing this woman had a child with this man (and the baby talk? Cringe city I had to skim over it) after everything he put her through.

So do I recommend this book? Not if you don’t want to waste 4 hours of your life reading the most toxic mentality a man could have. Glad he got therapy in the end bc my man was DAMAGED and not in a sexy way.

DNF @ 38% - meh - this dynamic doesn’t work for me. The h is the alpha and promiscuous. The H is hung up on his ex who dumped him for his best friend - he dated her 3 years and she’s his one and only, I can tell the h is gonna be the teacher and aggressor in the sexy times with the H being timid and unsure - all very pc #metoo - which really takes away from my fictional good time. 😬🤷🏼‍♀️

Sanitized chick lit be BORING

Safe to say that I'm in love with Ki's writing at this point y'all😭💗 The way miss maam delivered with the angst, smut and slowburn was just mwah *chef's kiss*
As I've already said before, Luca is MY man and MY husband now so y'all bitches better back off okurrrrr🤪💅🏻 There's just something about a grumpy, brooding guy falling hard for his girl that gets me ya know? Harper was literally perfect and such a sweetheart. I honestly hadn't anticipated loving these two this much but here we are heheh🥰 Also that epilogue y'all...that sh*t got me weak in the knees like ajahjsjsksk🥺💗 I absolutely cannot wait to see what else Ki Stephens has got in store for us for the rest of the series and look forward to reading more of her work!💙

P.S. HOW f*ckING PRETTY IS THE COVER?!?!?!?😩😮‍💨

*A massive thank you to Ki Stephens for providing me with an ARC of this book😍

The BEST book I have read in a long time! This was incredible, I never wanted it to end, it was just absolutely perfect. The setting, the characters, the plot, the writing style?? INCREDIBLE. I will sing my praises for this book forever.

I found myself laughing and crying with the characters, also found myself relating too them way more than I expected. I loved everything about this, EVERYTHING.

if you like:
fake dating
college romance
grumpy x sunshine
great rep
angst
slow burn
woman in stem
football player x sports medicine student

READ THIS BOOK!!!

“i told you i needed you, and i really do. right now, you’re pretty much the only consistent thing in my life.”

this book was good! ki’s writing was very easy to understand, and this was a quick read for me! although i didn’t adore the language she had used in intimate scenes, as “bundle of nerves” was used ...💀

𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐏𝐄𝐑 is quite literally the definition of a ray of sunshine, she would drop everything for luca, and is generally the sweetest girl ever.

𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐀 i really love him. his struggles with overthinking were so real, i saw myself in him so many times. luca is an overachiever, always going above his own needs to satisfy everyone else. he is my everything.

that was one of the cutest effing things i’ve ever read. crying because it’s over.

This book was so damn cute! I just had the biggest smile reading this. If you are looking for a feel good, fake dating, and grumpy/sunshine book, this one’s for you! I absolutely adored this story.

“Until I met you, I never knew what it was like to be the one in need, and I do need you, so f*cking badly.” 🥹🩷

Quite unforgivably boring. DNF 50%

someone paid steph bohrer to lie about this because there’s no way she actually thinks it’s good

Spring Tide is vanilla NA sport romance. Although not so much on the sport. Miss Stephens brings a potential plot/ story with likeable characters.

Sadly the writing is pretty flat in the middle. Harper is too much likeable with her conversation and banter. While Luca is too brooding.

3 stars

sometimes i’m too generous with my ratings

cannot remember anyone’s name = auto two stars

An adorable college sports romance perfects for fans of Hannah Grace ʚ🍓ɞ

Spring Tide follows Harper and Luca, two college students, who blackmail each other into fake dating. Harper is crushing hard on a baseball player, but when she's assigned to do her internship with the football team, she lies to her teacher and tells her she's dating a football player in the team in order to change her to the baseball team. She gets what she wants, but now everyone believes they're dating! Luca doesn't know in that moment, but when he finally finds out, he blackmails Harper into pretending just so she can help him with an injury he has.

Harper is literally a ball of sunshine. She's Golden Retriever coded lmao. She's rainbows and smile and all nice. And Luca? Luca is the black cat of the relationship. He's grumpy, quiet, and sometimes shy. He blushes easily with Harper and doesn't know what to do sometimes. He's lonely and has basically no friends, so when he starts getting involved with Harper, it's so cute to see him grow individually and with her. He smiles more often and starts communicating, because tbh thoughout all of his life, Luca has been shouldering a lot of stuff and the weight is HEAVY. It was so nice to see him talk with Harper and not feel alone anymore.

I cried like always. That last third broke my heart and I was crying with Harper so bad. Not going to lie, I needed that grovelling to be... MORE. You know? Like I felt that it was too easy. Luca said some hurful things and I needed Harper to hold her ground for a moment. But I get it too. They're meant to be, so it's also important to talk and figure out a relationship if you are commited to it. It's just me... I mainly like whenever the guy has to grovel hard and the main character is like "nope try harder" PLEASE I love when that happens lmao.

Overall, I'm excited to read more Ki Stephens books!

thanks to the author for providing me with an arc for an honest review!!!

-
i don’t wanna spoil anything for y’all bc it isn’t out yet so my actual review is coming when it publishes (december 5th!) buuuuut, this was a PHENOMENAL romance read!

if you like these things, you gotta pick this up AS SOON as it publishes, you will end up on your knees and say “omg milo! thank you!” i will answer with you’re welcome and a quick pat on ur head. anyways:

-neurodivergent rep! i loved it! i saw a lot of myself inside of some of these characters, loved how it was not at all the focus of the story but just what some people needed

-HEALTHY COMMUNICATION. bro this was hot af because these people knew how to communicate!! even the “bad” guy immediately apologised after saying something mean. this sh*t was refreshing!

-the sweetest romance. Luca is such a sweetie. he deserves the world.

and some tropes:
-fake dating
-grumpy x sunshine
-shy mmc
-college romance
-small coastal town
-sport romance
-slow burn (IT PAYS OFF)
-and it’s smutty😌
-also, women in STEM!!

4,5/5✨✨

4.5⭐️ I loved this book so much! The shy boy X sunshine girl is such a good trope and I loved in this book! Harper is majoring in sports medicine and tells a lie that she can’t work on the football team because she is dating one of the players (Luca). And then there is Luca who is on the football team with an injury, so the two fake date. Luca and Harper are so cute together and I love the little moments in this book.

This is the cutest book I've read this year.
HarperLuca are my new faves, I didn’t know I needed a sports medicine student and a football player romance until I read this.

I’m not the biggest fake-dating trope fan BUT the relationship was a good slow burn, Harper and Luca became friends before starting to date and that was so nice to read because they felt comfortable with each other, she was always there to help him with his injurand tried to be there for him when he had family drama.

He definitely fell for her first, even when she was still trying to get Nate to notice her. These two have some of the cutest quotes and I highlighted too many of those while I was reading.

What I hated was the fact that a few pages after his brother left him hurt on the ground and Luca called Harper to help he just dumped her??? And he was being so unreasonable bc all Harper wanted was for him to get better and he was so stubborn. But ok, he immediately regretted it and tried to get her back.

The epilogue was so cute and OF COURSE LUCA'S CHILD WOULD BE A LITTLE GIRL.

im OBSESSED 🫶

4.25⭐️

-fake dating
-football romance
-college romance
-ages: 21 FMC & 22 MMC
-dual POV
-bubbly FMC & shy MMC
-LGBTQ rep
-autism rep
-mental health rep

OMG!!!! I loved this book!!!! Stop because it was so sweet🥹 I LOVE LUCA!!!!! Listen... because he paralleled SO much to my real life crush I was like... this is unbelievable. Also, this book is dual POV which I loved!! I also really like Harper's character, she was so thoughtful and adorable. This is a college romance where she is a sport's medicine student and he's a football player.

Ok. First things first: Luca is SO sweet and so shy but he's a football player. OMG. They fake date at first so Harper can get close to her crush at the time buuuut we all know how that turns out.

This is exactly what I was in the mood for and I ate it up! In like 4 days which is really fast for me🤣 I couldn't put it down and I wanted to just keep reading!! I'm so glad I read this, and if you like shy boys who say "tell me how to make you feel good" then BAM read it read it read it.

There were SCENES you guys I was like oh.. my God. I want a Luca are you kidding?

I really like how Luca isn't described as super chiseled and "a body like a greek god" yet Harper still tells him she wants him to take his shirt off and that it's super hot. Because you don't have to have a six pack to be hot!!! I loved this :) He's 6'2" and like 230 pounds it said, because his position is middle linebacker. Here's one of his thoughts he had: "It's not that I'm not proud of my body, but it's far from perfect. I'm not lean or cut or perfectly chiseled... after all, it's a body built to tackle and defend". OhhhhMG hehehehe.

There's a second book coming out!!! It ties into this story a little, but it follows new characters :) so excited!!! When I read one of the character's names towards the end I was like AHHHHH!

💬Some of my favorite quotes:
"This life is too damn good, too beautiful, to cry over greasy boys with sloppy tongues."

"I've lived a thousand lifetimes, and I'll live a thousand more."

"He totally clams up whenever your name is even mentioned. Have you seen how red his ears get? So adorable."

"He's all sorts of soft. His hands are gentle. His heart is full. And his lips, they move in a perfect, tender rhythm against mine."

"[She's] the reason that I feel like smiling when I wake up in the morning now. For the first time in a long time, I have something to look forward to at Coastal other than football."

"Harper proves herself to be too damn good for this messed-up world."

"I want you." "Then have me."

"Loving Harper, the girl bathed in sunlight, feels as natural and effortless as breathing in my sleep."

⚠️spoilers ahead in describing my favorite scenes and thoughts⚠️ * some people like to know a little bit even if it's a spoiler. My friend wants to hear like everything before she reads it lmao.

-The communication got a little spotty there towards the end but PROPS to my girl Harper for sticking up for herself. There is a third act breakup and I thought everything was going swimmingly so I wasn't expecting it and I got a little upset cause I don't like it but I love how Harper handled it and the make up was ok.

-Their first real date, Luca packed a picnic with her favorite tacos and took them to the beach🥹 I loved it.

-The epilogue was so cute I almost cried😭 Luca in his uniform and a toddler, that is all.

-Harper said how she's always wanted to go camping but her parents never took her so Luca set up a fire pit and tent in his backyard for her🥹

tropes:

📚grumpy x sunshine
📚shy boy
📚fake dating

💌hablemos de la historia;

si me siguen por instagram sabrán que esta semana estuve pasando por una mala racha lectora. terminé un libro que odié, nada me atrapaba y de pronto este libro cayó del cielo.

lo tuve en mi tbr desde que salió y por alguna razón dije, tal vez es momento de leerlo. EXACTAMENTE. el destino me hizo prolongarlo tanto durante tanto tiempo porque sabía que hoy es cuando más lo necesitaba.

la historia es general es súper atrapante, al ser un libro corto narra las cosas a un ritmo que te engancha. pero más que eso, es la magia de la autora de enamorarnos de los personajes, pero sobre todo, de la historia y la química que ambos van construyendo.

así se siente, como una construcción lenta y encantadora de dos personajes que no pueden ser más diferentes pero al mismo tiempo, encajan de forma perfecta y se complementan como ningún otro.

el fake dating está muy bien desarrollado, y contrario a lo normal, yo aprecio el hecho de cuando los personajes tienen otro crush para después dejarlo botado por el actual protagonista. todo se siente más real y orgánico.

la historia al final se me hizo demasiado apresurada y no aprecié para nada como la familia de Luca lo trataba, no lo apreciaban lo suficiente al igual que la forma en que el padre de Harper la trataba a ella.

💌hablemos de los personajes;

casi siempre conecto más con los personajes femeninos y creo que eso es muy normal, pero esta vez luca se ganó mi total corazón. fue como ver reflejada una parte de mí en él. luca es un jugador de fútbol tímido y frío, que prefiere rodearse de verdaderos amigos con los que se siente cómodo, por lo que va por la vida cuidándose las espaldas. cuando explicó que él en la soledad florecía y que quería una pareja que lo hiciera sentir así de cómodo DIOSSSS es como si hubiera descrito todo lo que quiero. luca es el ejemplo perfecto de que un protagonista puede ser todo lo contrario al cliché y aún así funciona.

harper es la chica perfecta para él, como dije, pueden ser polos distintos en personalidad, porque ella es extrovertida sin pena de nada, pero logra entender a luca en todo momento y lo hace sentir tan en paz con ella que se gana su corazón. creo que harper ha sido una de las protagonistas menos egoístas que he visto, fue fácil enamorarme de ella por la simplicidad con la que miraba la vida. me encantó.

💌 hablemos de si lo recomiendo;

por supuesto que sí, háganse un favor y lean esta joya de libro. es muy ligero, sin mucho drama, entretenido y con un protagonista tan dulce que seguro más de una se va a identificar con él como yo lo hice.

3.8

𝐏𝐥𝐨𝐭: Harper St. James has a huge crush on baseball team player Nate Gunderson, wanting to spend more time with him she catches herself in a web of lies. Accidentally telling people she is dating Luca Reynolds, the football player, who is also suffering from a knee injury. Luca and Harper make a deal, if Harper helps him with his knee he will pretend that they are together.

𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬: grumpy x sunshine, fake dating, one bed trope, sports romance, college romance, dual perspective, forced proximity, small town near the sea, summer vibes

𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝:
- summer feelings since the Costal University (TOP NOTCH NAME) is in a beach town
- the TENSION AND SLOW BORN WERE SO WORTH IT
- Luca is a guy that tents to shut down, he has a lot of problems with his family and the communication was so special. He really put a lot of effort into their relationship.
- Some say that Harper was annoying? She was so sweet!
- Not gonna lie they had such a CUTE heated nice relationship I loved it

𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬:
“Rather, I learned that it’s okay to like something and then lose it. To love and then let go. Because something beautiful, something brilliant, is waiting just around the corner.”

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐬:
- take a shot every-time Luca says f*cking or f*ck (I dont really mind but I did notice that it was a very frequent thing)
- It was very clear that the author wanted grumpy x sunshine, it was kind of over done in my opinion.
- THE EPILOGUE. Just imagine the author writing the baby talk, nope. It was nice I guess but CRINGEY, I skimmed through the end if Im honest.
- No development of Harpers dad and their relationship? Maybe coming to better terms? It was just overlooked after talking about it once.

Spring Tide has the markings of what could be a good book but needs more polish to get it to be good. I had a lot of minor nitpicking problems with this book that made it hard for me to enjoy it more, such as:
1. The athletics aspect. Luca is supposedly a D1 football player at a large school but somehow has time to work a part-time job for multiple hours without failing his classes. Also, the author mentioned multiple times how Luca lost out on a full-ride athletic scholarship because he didn't put a deposit down - tell me how that makes sense.
2. There were way too many side stories and side plots happening that just didn't need to be included.
3. Although the story was told in first-person, we don't get a lot of insight into the characters' thinking.
4. The third-act conflict was honestly ridiculous and the resolution was extremely simple and underwhelming.

idk it was cute but holy f*ck luca’s behavior is so up and down it was borderline toxic

1:47 p.m.

surprisingly sweet!

4.5 stars. this book was so cute!

i’m proud of myself for getting through this tbh

are you KIDDING WTF? i read this during my entire work day. it is SO. GOOD. read it if you want all the fake dating grumpy/sunshine, family drama and angst and softness. this was perfect.

rating: 4.5

i did not expect to absolutely eat this book up overnight bc i tend to not read blurbs, but i did.

this was sunshine x grumpy to the max bc poor mmc has a major chip on his shoulder from taking on way more responsibility than a college student should. i loved that mmc was neurodivergent (and his family as well in varying degrees) and how it was addressed within a relationship.
i also loved how normalized sexual fluidity/queerness was in this as well, with the fmc being pretty open with casual references of "girl or guy" dropped in throughout.

it was adorable watching their relationship grow and was a breeze to get through.

coastal beach town setting, college, shy mmc, fake dating, women in STEM rep, sports, and some smut to boot (there was only one bed 😏), there's lots to love.