Illegal Contact by Santino Hassell

★★★★★ 

Four and a half stars to this albeit not novel trope of hate-to-love but very well done execution of it

I reveived a free ebook version of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm probably a bit biased about the book because the author, Santino Hassell, is one of my favourites. I've yet to encounter a book of his that I did not love or would not read again and one of my all-time favourite books series was written by him. So ya, like I said, biased.

The trope featured in the novel is nothing new. Two guys who would rather punch each other in the face than talk or be in each others presence. The slow realization that the other isn't so bad after all. The turn from dislike to like and lust. The inefitable inability to not act on the growing attraction. Yes, it's the from hate-to-love trope. Nothing new, nothing extraordinary here that wasn't done a thousand times by different authors. Well, you can also get a coffee about anywhere that doesn't mean they are all equally good. Some are just lousy and taste about as good as dirty dishwater others are so heavenly you could drown youself in it and die happy.
Illegal Contact is the type of coffee that doesn't have ay fancy shit like vanilla syrup or stuff in it but you know it was made by someone who knows what the fuck they are doing. If you want something of quality but not necessarily anything new or daring this is a book for you. Even if sports isn't your thing, it wasn't Noah's either before he started working for Gavin but it grew on him. The characters will grow on you as well, we don't see an awful lot from the sidecharacters but hey, remember what I said about that good ol' coffee with no extra shit in it? Let's say it's a good black coffee with a spoonfull of sugar in it. It doesn't need anymore than that, it's perfectly fine the way it is. Good to relax and have a nice time with.

Okay, my coffee analogy has gone on long enough I'll stop now. Anyway, it's a good, solid and nice read for in between bigger books or just to have some relaxing quality time. I can recommend this book to anyone who doesn't despise the trope and doesn't say no to some descriptive steamy times.