It was so heartbreakingly beautiful and was similar to It Ends With Us as they both have the topic of Domestic Violence. There are so many things I want to say about him but I can’t because I do not want to give away any of the story. On more than one occasion this book took my breath away, but I am no spoiler giver so I’m not even going to mention what got me so raging but I will leave this review with book quotes.

Long Shot is a sports romance, my first time reading NBA, and it has also has the aspect of forbidden romance too. I told myself I was done a few times, but curiosity and a friend pushed me to pick up the book again, and again until I just couldn't. When they finally reconnect, the pull they've always felt towards one another is too strong to deny. Kennedy Ryan’s writing grabbed hold of me from the beginning with a connection between Iris and August that spans years. Kennedy Ryan has a way with words and when I listened to this book in audio, the words either went straight to my heart or sat at the forefront of my mind for me to ponder on.In this parallel universe, at this second-chance juncture, I turn right instead of choosing wrong… and there only there, we are together.

Seven words to describe Iris DuPree: Naïve, lonely, meek, impressionable, stubborn, conflicted and patient. The story tackles a tough topic in a way that reminds the reader that there's more than meets the eye when judging someone else's journey. They end up spending the night talking and sharing more with each other than they're used to, but the night ends with Iris confessing that she has a boyfriend. Iris, our heroine, is one of THE BEST, one of the strongest and most resilient female characters you will ever read about. I had to take a break and remember that it wasn’t real, that I really didn’t need to find someone and smash their head in.

I usually read books in one sitting, but with this one, I had to stop for a few times because I was overwhelmed with feelings. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. A story of true survivors, though it’s fictionalized, it could be anyone we come across everyday in our lives. The harrowing brutality of Iris's story left me torn between not being able to put it down and wanting to take a break.

I didn’t read ANY of the early reviews and I barely read the synopsis, because once you see this author’s name next to the title, there really is no point. This read is not easy or light, but it very importantly talks about taking back your own body after someone has been forcefully taking it for so long. It truly opened my own personal thought process into the judgments I may have made about someone like Iris prior to her experiences being so vividly depicted.

That doesn’t happen to me very often, but the story was so profound, it took me a while to find my words. It doesn't build anything up, it doesn't use seductive or what I would say is intimate language, it's brash and short and trying to be sexy and failing by sounding vulgar. I decided not to read the synopsis, the tropes or anything else, I just knew that August was a man who would bring me to my knees (which, by the way, is true). What I got was an amazingly well thought out story that gripped me from the start and did not let go. It’s been days since I finished reading this book and I still have NO IDEA how to put coherent words down.

This is a story about growth that just so happens to feature a romance, so the romance does take time. It boggled my mind by the fact that YES, this book is FICTION, but the circumstances and the events that go on within the story is someone else’s reality, and that my friends, is scary as hell. I am wife to the love of my life, mom to a special, beautiful son, and a friend to those living with autism through my charitable foundation. It starts out suddenly, with Iris being told what to wear, then telling Iris how her future should go, to eventually trapping Iris into something that changes her life forever. This was a crushing and, at times, unhinged story, but it was also filled with so much hope and worth.

She created a shift in my own personal bubble that allowed me to see more sides of issues that are vital to understand as a woman who wants to breathe compassion most of all.