Rowena’s review of The Friend Zone (Game On #2) by Kristen Callihan.
Gray doesn’t make friends with women. He has sex with them. Until Ivy.
The last thing star tight-end Gray Grayson wants to do is drive his agent’s daughter’s bubblegum pink car. But he needs the wheels and she’s studying abroad. Something he explains when she sends him an irate text to let him know exactly how much pain she’ll put him in if he crashes her beloved ride. Before he knows it, Ivy Mackenzie has become his best texting bud. But then Ivy comes home and everything goes haywire. Because the only thing Gray can think of is being with Ivy.
Ivy doesn’t have sex with friends. Especially not with a certain football player. No matter how hot he makes her…
Gray drives Ivy crazy. He’s irreverent, sex on a stick, and completely off limits. Because, Ivy has one golden rule: never get involved with one of her father’s clients. A rule that’s proving harder to keep now that Gray is doing his best to seduce her. Her best friend is fast becoming the most irresistible guy she’s ever met.
Which means Gray is going to have to use all his skills to get himself out of the friend zone and into Ivy’s heart. Game on.
Before I get into my review for this book, can we please take a moment to admire the greatness that is this cover? How freaking hot is Gray freaking Grayson? Yumm-o. Now, on to the review…
I’ve been looking forward to reading this book even since I finished reading The Hook Up. I adored both Drew and Anna and I knew that I was going to really enjoy getting to know Gray and Ivy. Kristen Callihan delivered yet another fabulous steamy romance that I couldn’t get enough of. I think I read this book in one sitting, it was so good.
Gray and Ivy are friends. Best friends, even. Gray has never had a friend that was a girl before but when he borrows his potential agent’s daughter’s car while she’s overseas, a friendship forms between Gray and Ivy over text messages. Weeks and weeks later, Ivy returns from overseas and their friendship is still in tact…only now they can get together whenever they want because they like hanging out.
Gray and Ivy’s first meeting at the airport was such a great one. I loved how anxious Gray was to get there and how disappointed Ivy was that nobody was there until Gray showed up and her frown turned upside down.
I really enjoyed getting to know both Gray and Ivy. They were both such strong characters and they made this story pop. I stayed up most of the night reading this book because it was just flat out good. I laughed the night away, waking up the kids in my household but I didn’t care because I loved this one.
I really loved the man that Gray grew to be. I knew that he was going to be a good hero when we first met him in The Hook Up and he made Anna some soup. One of my favorite scenes in this book was when Gray stood up for Ivy against those girls that were being shitty. I loved that he chose Ivy over and over again. You didn’t stand a chance with Gray if you made his friend feel like shit. She was important to him and he protected those that were important to him. Another scene that I really liked was at the end when he lands at the airport and sends a text message to Ivy that says, “Big Daddy has landed!” LOL. I love that his sense of humor stayed true to the character that he was throughout both books. I just adored the hell out of him.
Ivy was a great heroine as well. I loved that she was down to earth and she didn’t let Gray’s ego get away from him. She kept him grounded and I loved that she really came into herself. She found out what her passions were, what she wanted to do with the rest of her life and she grew some balls then went after them. I really like the way that her love for Gray grew over the course of the book and that she wasn’t a complete dummy over Gray.
Together, these two were great. I loved that they were legit friends before they started sleeping together and their romance was just too cute for words. You won’t be sorry to have read this book. It’s good stuff. Kristen Callihan shines once more with this book and I cannot freaking wait for Dex’s book. I’m so anxious!
Grade: 4.75 out of 5
This book is available from Kristen Callihan. You can purchase it here in e-format.
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