Delay of Game by Catherine Gayle

(Image found on Goodreads)

“For me, it’s all or nothing. I can’t half-ass this. If we do this, I will pursue you like no man has ever pursued you before. And even after I’ve caught you, I plan to continue pursuing you like my life depends on it. If you’re not prepared for that, if you’re not ready to be treated as something special and treasured and precious, then I need you to roll over, go back to sleep, and pretend none of this ever happened.” -Catherine Gayle, Delay of Game

WARNING: This book contains mature content. Not meant for younger readers.

Sara is scared. She’s trying to protect her father, and keep him healthy and so she keeps her pregnancy a secret. And yet when Cam “Jonny” Johnson protects his team and earns a ten game suspension that throws everything out of the window. Cam feels guilty and tries to put things right but with Sara and Cam attracted to each other, it definitely makes things harder to keep from touching her. And yet Sara will do anything to keep them apart. Cam’s got to be quick on his feet or he’ll lose it all. Find the official description on Goodreads.

I was so excited to receive a copy of Delay of Game to review. If you haven’t already seen my reviews of the previous three books than you should give them a peek! The Portland Storm Series book reviews and here’s my review of Taking A Shot, a novella in the series. And yes, that is a bit of a longer quote than I would normally use,  but seriously, read that and tell me that it doesn’t make you want to sigh and pull out the ice cream because you don’t have a man like that. Or sigh and be thankful that you have a man like that. Either or.

While we’ve met both Cam and Sara in previous books, we also haven’t gotten to go as in depth with their personalities as we do in Delay of Game. I was definitely in love with Cam(and don’t hate me but he even overtook my love of Babs for like half a chapter! But no worries, my Babs love came back and overtook him again) because he was such a sweetheart and he was definitely stubborn enough to win Sara over. Plus he has Buster, who more than once served up an adorable moment. And then Sara. Well I felt bad for her situation, there were also several moments where I wanted to smack. Sure, she hasn’t had the best track record but some of that was her running them off and I felt like she was letting her fear talk. Which made for a very realistically portrayed character but also someone who frustrates the reader at times.

And we can’t forget that we do get some Babs time. And this time, he starts growing into a bit of a leadership role, at least momentarily. And that was great to watch. I feel that in one scene if I wasn’t at work on break I would have been cheering out loud. Yes, I can’t resist Babs. Read this series and see if you could resist talking about him. It's impossible I tell you!

At the same time as all of this was going on, readers are emotionally drawn into the book. Sara’s emotions were everywhere at points in this book and I felt everything she felt as well as Cam’s emotions. It was eye opening and definitely made me appreciate what I have even more than I did before.

Then there was also the feeling of the team. There was just this sense of family, even for players that we haven’t gotten to see more than a couple times or heard of. It just made it seem as if everything was a big, happy family and they would be there to support each other through anything. If someone were to get traded I might just cry a whole lot. That’s how connected you felt to that family throughout the book.

Delay of Game was an amazing addition to the Portland Storm series, and I can’t wait to get more! Delay of Game was released August 16th, and I strongly suggest you give it and the rest of the Portland Storm series a chance! I assure you, you’ll fall in love quickly.