Long Shot by Kennedy Ryan | This one is heavy.

Y’all! Whewwww this one broke me for real.

Let me start by saying my first dive into Kennedy Ryan’s universe was the Skyland Series. Then people started talking about Reel so I listened to and read that one as well. Then came The Close Up and shortly thereafter, Score.

While the author note literally told me to read Long Shot, Block Shot and Hook Shot before diving into The Close Up, I was obsessed with Takira from Reel and just had to read her story. She was so fierce and fabulous to me. I LOVED The Close Up so much.

Anyhow, I wasn’t interested in the HOOPs universe at all. I know, I know, super strange since I’m a basketball fan. But for some reason, when I stumbled across them, I didn’t feel the pull to dive in. Until now. Those damn prime day audible and kindle deals reeled me in.

Ok so Long Shot is book one of the HOOPS series. We learn in The Close Up that Iris is a domestic violence survivor married to baller August West. This book gives you their backstory.

The night before August plays in the biggest game of his NCAA career, he meets Iris at a bar near where he was staying. She was watching her Lakers play and literally screaming at the TV. She knew who August was, even in disguise, but she wasn’t like other women who fall all over him. Baby the way she gave him his stats and told him his defense needed work SENT ME! They really and truly connected that night until she let him know she had a man as they were leaving.

After winning the championship game, August heads up to celebrate with the boosters and who does he see? Iris. Now clearly, it’s fate, right? But why is the boyfriend she referred to his nemesis Caleb. The two of them literally hate one another and have been in competition since they were kids. Caleb sees the connection between Iris and August and intentionally throws it in his face that he has what he wants. Caleb controls Iris’ every move and doesn’t support her dreams. He wants her to marry him; she tells him she’s not ready. When she finds out she’s pregnant and has to be on bedrest the entire pregnancy, she has no choice but to move with him to Baltimore where he’s drafted to play for August’s home team. Yet another thing he throws in August’s face. Iris’ cousin Lotus warns her about Caleb, but it falls on deaf ears.

Caleb constantly taunts August on the court, especially after seeing him and Iris looking at one another at a game. Not only does he take his anger out on August, he also brutalizes Iris when they’re alone. He’s isolated her from everyone she loves so she has no one to turn to. He cuts off her access to money. Hires a bodyguard to watch her 24/7. She is living in a literal nightmare but will do anything and endure anything to protect her baby girl. Every chance he gets, he makes her regret not simply dying.

I’m not gon’ lie this one was so very painful to read. Hurt me to my core and I cried so much. She and August were so drawn to one another that even though she knew any type of closeness with him would result in her being beaten, raped, or even killed, she still had to be near him when she could. The one thing she never did though was tell August or anyone else what was happening to her until it was almost too late.

I love that through it all, August remained so patient with her and let her know he understood that she and her baby girl were a packaged deal. How he wanted nothing more to protect them both even though he didn’t really know her at the time but sensed something was wrong. Her grandma Mimi and cousin Lotus were everything to me. The connection they had and the fire in them was in and of itself protection from harm.

This one was a tearjerker on so many levels and please, please, please heed the trigger warnings. Caleb does some unimaginable things to Iris.

If you or anyone you know is a victim of domestic violence, please call 800-799-7233.

TW: rape, assault, battery, domestic violence, gun related violence

Rating: Iris deserved August from day one. I’m happy Caleb got what he deserved, too.