Draw Play (Tia Lewis)

Jake:

I can’t believe my coach assigned me a tutor. I’m all that on the field and between the sheets — who cares about my stupid grades? 

But Claire doesn’t treat me like I’m dumb. When we’re not busy fighting, she actually encourages me. And with those sexy curves of hers, I know just how to thank her.

Claire:

I hate football players, but I need the money. Jake is just as cocky and arrogant as the worst of them … but his touch sets me on fire.

I have to believe he’s different, that he won’t use me and break my heart. Because I can’t stop wanting him. I just hope I survive the ride.

---

A couple of days ago I came across this book on Netgalley and shared the link with Cátia. After seeing some reviews we came to the painful conclusion that maybe we wouldn’t like this one, because the reviews weren’t that stellar. She controlled herself, but I didn’t. I was in the mood for some college romance, so I thought “eh, it can’t be that bad, right?!“. Yeah… I shouldn’t really have requested it.

The writing and pacing of the book were OK. I saw the potential there. The problem – and this had more to do with the characters than the writing itself – but sometimes the language was just a bit too much, you know?

Now, I wasn’t a fan of either of the main characters, to be honest. Let’s start with Jake… I thought he had potential, with his horrible background and all, but he comes off as a bit jerk at the beginning, and that’s mainly because of the way he talks about women. At one point he calls some girls sluts, just because they are inhibited and like to get around… dude… you need to learn a lesson from Dean Di-Laurentis, because he knows that people are free to do what they feel like and should not be judged.

But I also had a huge problem with Claire, because she was so judgmental… all the freaking time! Either it was because joks can’t be smart, or every guy who plays football can’t be trusted, you get the drift, right?  It was too much. Also, she had a tendency to misinterpret EVERYTHING that would come out of Jake’s mouth… not good.

I didn’t feel the romance either =/. I saw the beginning of a good friendship, but then I thought things went a bit too fast, and I didn’t see them connecting as much as I thought they should. On another hand, I did like the conflict, and the fact that it wasn’t solved easily.

A few things that bothered me a lot in this book: the foul and demeaning language, the slut shaming, the fat shaming, the stereotyping. Also, I have to say that Claire cried a lot for my taste?! I feel bad writing this, because there is absolutely nothing wrong with crying whenever you want and feel the need to, but she got offended by the stupidest things, and she would start the waterworks… it was a bit too much.

Another thing that I thought was weird was the sex. Ok, wait a minute, not exactly the sex, but the timing of it. I’m gonna drop a couple of SPOILERS, so look away for a bit, ok? Let’s just say that Claire is hugely unexperienced in the sexy business, but she and Jake sleep together right after their first kiss… which came out of nowhere too. I don’t know… The moment would have felt more natural to me, if that wasn’t just her second time, and if her first experience would have been better.

I was kind of disappointed that Jake only truly noticed Claire after she had a makeover, and even so, he kept her hidden from everyone he knew, and wasn’t keen on being seen out with her. I hated this, and I thought it was a huge missed opportunity. I thought it would have been more interesting if there was no makeover, at least not before they got together. If Jake had showed interest before, and had helped Claire see herself like he did – beautiful – BEFORE, I think it would have made their bond stronger and the relationship more believable.

Also… have I mentioned how much I hated the fat shaming? I could not understand it though, because Claire is curvy, but she’s not fat!

At the end of the day, the bad outweighed the good by a long shot on this one, so I can’t really recommend it. Sorry =/.

The Hard Count (Ginger Scott)

Nico Medina’s world is eleven miles away from mine. During the day, it’s a place where doors are open — where homes are lived in, and neighbors love. But when the sun sets, it becomes a place where young boys are afraid, where eyes watch from idling cars that hide in the shadows and wicked smoke flows from pipes.

West End is the kind of place that people survive. It buries them — one at a time, one way or another. And when Nico was a little boy, his mom always told him to run.

I’m Reagan Prescott — coach’s daughter, sister to the prodigal son, daughter in the perfect family.
Life on top.
Lies.
My world is the ugly one. Private school politics and one of the best high school football programs in the country can break even the toughest souls. Our darkness plays out in whispers and rumors, and money and status trump all. I would know—I’ve watched it kill my family slowly, strangling us for years.

In our twisted world, a boy from West End is the only shining light.
Quarterback.
Hero.
Heart.
Good.
I hated him before I needed him.
I fell for him fast.
I loved him when it was almost too late.

When two ugly worlds collide, even the strongest fall. But my world… it hasn’t met the boy from West End.

---

I’ve read a few Ginger Scott’s books, and I liked them all, so I was so excited when I was approved for The Hard Count on Netgalley. This one is, without a doubt, my favorite Ginger Scott book, and I just want more!

I really liked how this book was narrated, with Reagan being the main POV, in the present, and with a few chapters from past Nico. Reagan was an awesome narrator, funny, witty, nervous and smart. I loved the way the book was written… so damn deep!

I loved both main characters to death. Reagan and Nico were amazing characters, so smart and dedicated to what they wanted out of life. To be 100% honest, I ended up loving all the characters in this book, and I loved how they personified the meaning of family. All of them. The friends, the families, all of them, really!

The romance was seriously cute and awesome. I really liked how how Reagan and Nico took their time, and got to know each other better before becoming a couple. I liked that there was never any doubt about it. I liked that once they were in it, they were in it 100%. I loved that even though some problems were anticipated, they managed to overcome them all. I loved the support and love.

I honestly don’t know what to say more about this book. It was kind of perfect. The massage was perfect. The characters were perfect. The romance… perfect. Nico and Reagan? Perfect! The football, team and school themes? Also perfect.

People, you need to read this book. Now! It’s that good!

EURO 2016: PORTUGAL, WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

What a wild ride! I’m still high from all the emotions from last night, and I still can’t believe it… I’m ecstatic. WE WON!!! If you follow football (soccer) at all, you know by now: PORTUGAL IS THE NEW EUROPEAN CHAMPION!

I suffered a lot in 2004, I’ve been suffering a lot since then, but this European championship made me suffer for a lot more than our 23 player on the field. We saw a slander campaign against us. For a whole month we endured all criticism, people saying we didn’t deserve anything, French reporters saying that our game was disgusting. They belittled our people and the 2 million portuguese immigrants living in their country. We saw coaches from another huge national teams saying that we stood no chance. They wrote articles saying how bad Ronaldo was. There was an overall lack of respect and sportsmanship in regards to the Portugal National Team.

Because of this, I have to say that our win tasted all that better.

It’s true we didn’t play the most gorgeous football ever. Yes, we went through the group phase with only draws. We played more minutes than any other team on the competition too. We also used all our player (apart from the other 2 goal keepers) because we had injuries and our scheme wasn’t settled. We also had a coach that always believed! He said from the start that they would only be back to Lisbon on July 11th, and damn him, he was right :D. We had a group that wanted it more than anything, and that had a great chemistry and relationship. We had a huge cohesion and a group that worked always towards a common goal: go through to the next phase and the next. And we had an amazing group of immigrants in France, who never gave up, who were there all along for our national team, supporting our boys and making them feel like they were at home.

Then we had such a tough game last night. The field was in the worst conditions ever, our captain, Cristiano Ronaldo was badly injured right at the beginning of the game, and he was in so much pain that he had to leave the game.

We suffered through the 90 minutes of the game, where Pepe and Rui Patricio were heroes. Then 30 minutes more and we finally did it. Eder, against all expectations, scored and everyone went wild. And then we did it!

WE WON! We’re the European Champions for the first time ever.

We have a Captain that is a TRUE CAPTAIN. Something has to be said about this guy, because his dream was to win something for Portugal, but he got injured and had to leave. He still did his job even outside the field. He supported them in the half time. And he was in the bench for all the last 30 minutes, supporting them, giving directions, helping his coach. He was motivating them! HE’S THE BEST CAPTAIN EVER! (and I might have cried when Nani gave him his Captain bracelet again).

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS (of Europe), and I’ll be happy for awhile! 😀 A huge congratulations to these boys, they deserve this :D.

Musical Mondays: La Roja Baila (Himno Oficial de la Selección Española)

Last week I posted the official song to support the Portuguese National Football Team, and this week I thought it was only fair to post the spanish song. I’m not a huge fan of the Spanish National Team. But I do live here, and the song is pretty great. Enjoy!

La la la,la,la (Red One)
La la la la la …

Gritaremos con más fuerza una vez más,
Vamos a ponerle ganas.

Pon tu alma, pon tus sueños a volar,
Ganaremos la batalla.

Sobre el campo y el terreno está el color
Que nosotros defendemos.
Por la ‘Roja’ moriré, soy español.
Con orgullo lucharemos.

Soñaremos por tí, lucharemos hasta el fin
Y te haremos sentir que la ‘Roja’ juega y canta.

España ey ey!
Cantamos todos
España ey ey!
La roja baila

España ey ey!
Cantamos todos
España ey ey!
La roja baila

Tu bandera es mi bandera y la razón
De expresar lo que yo siento.
Mis estrellas brillarán y alcanzarán,
Tocaremos el cielo.

Alegría, grito y llantos de emoción,
Junto lo defenderemos.
La esperanza no se pierde,
Hay que luchar para conseguir los sueños.

Soñaremos por tí, lucharemos hasta el fin
Y te haremos sentir que la ‘Roja’ juega y canta.

España ey ey!
Cantamos todos
España ey ey!
La roja baila

España ey ey!
Cantamos todos
España ey ey!
La roja baila

Musical Mondays: Tudo o que eu te dou #Somos Portugal by Pedro Abrunhosa

Today I’m doing something a bit different. In case you don’t know by now, I’m a huge fan of football (or soccer, if you’re from the USA), and right now the Euro 2016 in France is in full swing. Portugal is having its first game tomorrow, Tuesday, so I’m sharing our official support song today. This music has been around for over 20 years, but has been adapted to support our national team. the first video is the cut version that runs on TV, while the second one is the complete song.

Eu já sei
Que mais podemos ser,
Hoje ser rei,
É esse o teu poder.
Somos mais fortes
Coragem, ambição,
Voamos mais alto,
O meu nome é Seleção. 

Eu já sei
Que mais te posso dar,
A minha voz
Como um rugido de mar,
Gritos de dor,
Gritos de prazer,
Que um Homem também chora
No momento de vencer.

Foram tantas as noites sem dormir,
Tanta dor, tanta glória, suar e cair
E a cada vitória
Uma certeza no ar
E logo ali eu sei, 

Que tudo o que eu te dou,
Tu me dás a mim,
Tudo o que eu sonhei,
Tu farás por mim
Tudo o que nos dás,
Nós damos-te a ti,
Somos Portugal!

Enquanto houver caminho
Passo a passo lá chegamos,
Ninguém joga sozinho
Tu entregas, nós cantamos

Mais, peço-te eu,
Já nos sinto a conquistar
Levanta, Desafia
Há milhões a acreditar,

Todos somos um,
Neste mar que se abriu,
Há vitórias, Descobertas,
E o que a História construiu,
Há vontade de conquista,
Há saudade e coração,
Há jogadas de loucura,
Futebol e Paixão,
Hmm, essa força
Leva-me à Final,
Mata-me de Amor,
Viva Portugal!
Deixa-nos cantar, voar, enlouquecer…

Que tudo o que eu te dou,
Tu me dás a mim,
Tudo o que eu sonhei,
Tu farás por mim
Tudo o que nos dás,
Nós damos-te a ti,
Somos Portugal!
Tudo o que eu te dou,
Tu me dás a mim,
Tudo o que eu sonhei,
Tu farás por mim,
Tudo o que nos dás,
Nós damos-te a ti,
Somos Portugal! 

Somos Portugal!
Leva-me à Final

Best news of the day! Sepp Blatter resigns!!

 

Best news of the day… maybe the week! In all honesty, he could go right now, better yet, he should never have run/accepted this elections… oh well…

 

(http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32983398)

Portugal National Team: 2000-2012

I love the International Football tournaments! I’m a late bloomer in regards to football, I always watched the occasional game, rooted for my team (Sporting) or the National team, but it wasn’t until Portugal hosted the UEFA Euro 2004 that I really started to pay attention – me and most of my generation.

Four years before, however, is where the dream started. The UEFA Euro 2000, organized between Belgium and the Netherlands, saw the epitome of our “Golden Generation”. We won our three games from the group stage, winning with Romania and England, and given that we already had enough points to pass on, our coach rested some of our biggest players for the match against Germany, and we played with our so-called B-team, where Sergio Conceição, in a match that i still vividly remember, made an hat-trick, and we won 3-0!

That year we went to the semi-finals, where we played with France, and unfortunately lost, with a penalty converted by Zidane at the 117 minutes mark, due to a “hand” from Abel Xavier. To this day, this is probably still one of the most heated discussions you can have with a Portuguese supporter, because there’s no doubt that there was a touch, but what was in question was the intentionality of that touch, and the referee decided that Abel Xavier willingly put his hand in the trajectory of the ball, in order to stop its progress. And just like this, the Euro 2000 was over.

The 2002 FIFA World Cup is not even worth mentioning… it was that bad! And then came the UEFA Euro 2004, which was incredible, and most importantly, we had a kick ass national team!

Back then, Cristiano Ronaldo was just a 19 year old kid, playing in Manchester, that still wore the number 17 and didn’t have a permanent spot on the main team. The real stars were other names, such as Luis Figo, Rui Costa, Pauleta, Fernando Couto, Ricardo Carvalho, Rui Jorge or Ricardo. Just a year after he arrived to train the team, the brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari encouraged the people to believe and for the very first time really, we did! And we did so well!!! We got to the Final, having lost only 2 games throughout the whole competition, the first one and the last, both against Greece. On the way, we won with Spain, England or the Netherlands.

 

Two years later, we managed to qualify to the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany. Once again, Luiz Felipe Scolari managed what no one before him could: unify the country in front of the TV screens! Everywhere you went in Portugal, you would see the flags flying from the windows, scarfs in the cars and everyone supporting their players. This was going to be the goodbye to the last members of our “Golden Generation”, such as Luis Figo.

So, taking advantage of the fact that Angola also qualified and was on Portugal’s group, me and a big chunk of my family, flew to Germany, where we watched the first two games of Portugal and Angola.

We won all the games in our group stage and went to the round of 16, where we won with the Netherlands. Next was England in the Quarter Finals, and, as we were used to by now, we had to go to penalties. The country stopped! The man of the hour was our goal keeper, Ricardo, who not only kept 3 balls from coming in, he also did it without gloves! Unfortunately we lost with France in the Semi Finals, and then again with Germany and ended in 4th place.

In the UEFA Euro 2008 we stayed for the Quarter-finals, losing to Germany, and shortly after that we said goodbye to our coach, Luiz Filipe Scolari.

Four years ago, at the South Africa FIFA World Cup 2010, we stayed for the Round of 16, losing to Spain, who would become World Champion that year. The team, now over the direction of Carlos Queiroz, failed to reach the unity that had once had, and the coach had enough problems of his own with FIFA after the World Cup.

Soon after, Paulo Bento took over the team. The now coach is none other that number 17 in the first photo of this post! At the UEFA Euro 2012, in Poland and Ukraine, we reached the Semi-finals, losing again to Spain, who would become, again, European Champion.