Long Shot - Special Edition (Hoops)

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With no escape in sight, I seek the only freedom left to me—my thoughts, my dreams, and my memories. I remember a magical night under the stars, under a streetlight on the eve of greatness. A night filled with laughter and confidences, pregnant with promise. And I see him so clearly, my prince, asking for a kiss. Sometimes, we stand at a juncture on which our path, our very life can turn. A fork in the road. Sometimes the heart speaks in whispers, and by the time we hear, by the time we listen, it’s too late and we don’t know. We don’t know that we should have turned right instead of left. Chosen one instead of the other. But now, in the retreat of my mind, I know. And I kiss him. In my dreams I choose him, my prince, instead of the fraud. In this parallel universe, at this second-chance juncture, I turn right instead of choosing wrong . . . and there, only there, we are together.❞ It's a reminder that there's always love, trust, and loyalty in this world full of evil. That persevering and believing in yourself will lead once again to a place full of happiness and moments to cherish rather than fear. There's a great man in this book who serves as a testament to true strength in uplifting a woman and letting her soar. There's a great man in this book who facilitates a transition from fear into something extraordinary thanks to his kindness, his patience, and his incredible heart. His strength and depth of character make this great man a man who for whom you'll forever be in love. Iris DuPree meets August West in a sports bar during her last semester of college. It's the conversation of a lifetime and sends sparks flying in every direction. The connection is undeniable…but the timing is all wrong. August is poised for the NBA draft, and Iris belongs to another man—basketball's "golden boy" and August's long-time rival. From award-winning author Kennedy Ryan comes the soul-gripping, unforgettable first installment of the Hoops trilogy.

Kennedy Ryan is officially on my list. Not only did she go the extra mile and put in that note and throughly explained why domestic abuse is wrong through her characters story's but she clearly did her research. I want to throw my metaphorical hat up in the air and rejoice because you can see that this woman is passionate not only about writing, but loving what she writes. It's not just some bullshit - it's a story within a story, where she took different testimonies and put it together to create what we now know as Long Shot. i read the book and waited for the audio version so I could do a re-read, and it was absolutely worth the wait. Long Shot cane to life with the narrators, and added to the intensity of situations and emotions. It cut straight to the heart. Life isn’t a road that forks or a line of numbered sliding doors. There is no alternate universe filled with only right choices. There’s just this one-just this life, and we go where are choices take us and grow wiser from our mistakes.” At times Long Shot was difficult to read because of the emotions it stirred in me. I raged a bit then steeled myself to face some more. And it was so worth it.

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Long Shot” is a modern masterpiece, a powerful novel that can be read on its own. This novel is written by Kennedy Ryan. She is a true storyteller, and Long Shot is her best book. It’s an epic tale of family, secrets, loss, marriage, betrayal, friendships, laughter, and regrets. Long Shot is a heartfelt novel written with compassion and hope, reconciling the past to pave a road to happiness and second chances. There are roughly, 172,000 words in the English language. The average person knows 20,000-30,000 words and uses 3,000 of them commonly. Out of all these words at my disposal, I can’t find enough of them to string together to adequately describe how important, how transformative and how utterly necessary I found Long Shot to be. So out of all of these words, my heart has finally settled on a simple enough word that doesn’t have a ton of pizzazz, but it does have depth and weight. Remarkable. Long Shot, the inaugural book in the Hoops series by Kennedy Ryan is absolutely remarkable and, frankly, astounding. I always know I’ve read something truly special when my usual hyperbolic thrill is throttled…I write this barely leashed, yearning to hurl every sparkly, attention grabbing adjective to capture, enrapture and damn near will you to read this novel. Long Shot is so vital. I want to nudge, shove and push it into every heart and emblazon it into the mind of every person I know. There is little else I want to do besides dissect, deep dive and have conversations about this book. I’m consumed by its audacity. Life is a constellation of decisions, connected by coincidences and deliberations, painting pictures in the heavens.” 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. I bawled, screamed in anger and frustration, and I just had to take it all in. This book brought me to my knees. August and Iris. The characters draw you into their lives. You feel their joy, their struggles, their pain, their successes, their loss and their love. "Oh, the feels." They are so real. They're human.

Kennedy Ryan opened my eyes with Long Shot. She took the unfathomable, the misunderstandings, the atrocious and presented it me in a way that I'll never, ever be the same. 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. With her concise and beautifully written story she's empowering women and urging us to all understand a little more, to believe in each other and uplift each other through love. While their paths go in different directions, they find out it's not as far as they thought. Their world is even smaller now, but their chance to be together seem to go further and further away. I’ll see her again. That thread that connects us, glowing neon, it’s still there. I may not be able to see it, but I feel it. It’s still wrapped around me. Wherever Iris is, I hope it’s wrapped around her, too.” August felt Iris, it was more than attraction so when he see's her again at a game he believes it's fate until he discovers the boyfriend she was taking about was his rival in the sport Caleb.The distinct, prominent, and important voice of author Kennedy Ryan speaks volumes in Long Shot. This book hails as an emotional experience in reading as Kennedy Ryan daringly takes a risk to stand up, tall and proud, and use her voice to enlighten, to prove love eventually conquers all, and to pay tribute to the strength and resolve all good men and women have within them. This book, gosh this book, it's not for the faint of heart. It's not all 3 pointers and dazzling smiles from hot ballers - that's there of course too, don't worry. But this one - it's dark and scary too. It's takes you to a place I hope you've never been but will understand more after reading it. It's really tough quite honestly. But it's also freeing and more than worth every single word. Iris and August have a few things in common; 1) they are both huge basketball fans, 2) that they both have troubled pasts that have impact on their lives as adults, and 3) they have this instant connection that can be seen from a mile away. Iris and August meet at a bar on possibly the eve of his biggest game ever. She is watching her favorite team and he is drawn to her like a moth to a flame. They have a wonderful conversation that is easy and charged with sexual chemistry. However, when the bartender lets them know they can't stay any long the two of them have a moment of do I stay or should I go. Because life is complicated they go their separate ways but that one brief encounter forever haunts them. Their story is not an easy one as a matter of fact it is hard, heartbreaking, and just painful at times.

It was beyond uncomfortable to read. I almost had to disassociate at times, I took many breaks in between to read something lighter and step away from the story. Fortunately, I had the luxury to do that. Before I get into it, I have to warn readers that this book has sensitive themes that may trigger some. It is told in graphic detail, so tread lightly.

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Iris is young when she first meets Caleb, she is swept of her feet by the golden boy in Basketball, she has her own ambitions, her own future to look forward to. Iris is a strong independent young woman with a mother who used men her whole life to get what she wanted and Iris is determined to break the mould, determined to go through life being dependant on nobody. All Iris's plans and ambitions are destroyed when she finds herself in a relationship with an obsessive, possessive man, a violent and destructive to the soul relationship she didn't see coming. Given that absolutely serious disclaimer about abuse - this book shook me up. I will say in the very beginning of the book when August and Iris meet, it's actually kind of boring to the point that I almost put this book down. And yet I am *so glad* I did not put this book down. Because shortly afterward it took a serious turn for the better (though for the worse for what the characters go through). I couldn't put it down! I don't want to give anything away, but just know that this is a romance story, but it is definitely about going through hell at first. I wish I had met MiMi, her wisdom and her clairvoyance guiding me too. Her cryptic support meant for Iris, could be helpful for Iris got her freedom because of her strength, determination, love for her daughter and support from her cousin and BFF Lotus. From her incredible man August. Long Shot (stand-alone). A bad decision, years of regrets, a love that could never be, but for the dream that kept them alive!