ARC Book Review: Cross-Check by Cala Riley

Cross-Check

Cala Riley

Walker University, #2

Publisher: Love N. Books Press

Published Date: May 13, 2025

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Fiction

307 Pages

Date Read: May 3-9, 2025

Format: 📱

Source: LoveNotesPR

This is book two in a five-part standalone series. As always, if you prefer a spoiler free review please read my quick review instead of the in depth review below.

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About the Book

Kellan Cooper is skating on thin ice and attempting to redeem himself. Cora James, the team captain's little sister, is off-limits and a complication that Kellan cannot resist. Cora is trying to get through college to claim freedom from her overprotective family. Kellan and Cora must decide if they should risk breaking the rules... are reputations, relationships, and futures work the risk?

Quick Review (Spoiler Free)

This is such a feel-good romance read. I was giggling and completely engrossed into the story the whole time. The two main characters are such a good match and even though they have some ups and downs in this book, they are still such a cute couple. It was hard to walk away from while I was reading it. I went into this story without reading book #1 so you don't have to read them in any order. While there wasn’t anything that stood out that I did not like, I couldn’t help but feeling like I wanted more to the story.

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Now, let's get into the details!!

The relationship with Kellan and Cora is definitely goals. They are so adorable and even through their problems have a super healthy relationship. The side characters in this universe were all great. The spicy was enough without being overdone (I give it a 3/5 on the heat level). The plot of the story was entertaining and allows for the expansion into other characters stories seamlessly. The only holes that the story had were filled in nicely as I read. I definitely will read Iced now that I've read this because I want to learn more about Grace. I'm excited for the fall when we get Peyton's story as well. 

I also did not realize until the end credits of the book that this author is actually a duo of authors. I did not get any vibes of the story being told by two people. It was completely seamless and the thoughts were cohesive and I feel that the authors did a great job of writing a story and it reading as if they were one.

There was an element of completeness that I felt was missing which is the only thing that kept this from being a 5-star read for me.

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I would like to thank LoveNotes PR and Cala Riley for this eARC opportunity!

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Ratings