The Guy on the Left: The Underdogs, Book 2

I have to admit, I sort of liked Troy in The Guy on the Right. He was more than a bit shameless in his bad boy antics as the super football jock Adonis, until he truly messed with sweet Laney, sending Theo into a tailspin.But here, we see a whole new side of this wonderful guy…well, sort of. When he meets Clarissa in a lie and changes her life forever with an unexpected pregnancy, that is wrong for so many reasons. But his desperation to know her & his son from a distance just makes you wanna hug the guy.And gosh, the angst these two dish out is just torture. Plus, the details given about how hard these athletes work to try to make it to the pros is astounding. How a guy like Troy does it - school, ball, working all the time, and then trying to have a relationship with anyone - boggles the mind.I really loved the seamless meshing between these books. The crossover scenes are precise & very much needed to make these stories whole. And that technique really works!

Talk about being put through the emotional ringer!! Holy moly! I had been waiting for Troy Jenner’s story since we met him in THOTR. His reputation, his whole attitude made us a little unsure of him and then bam Kate Stewart dropped a bomb on us that set us up for this storyline and I couldn’t hardly wait. I assure y’all it was worth the wait. So.worth.it! Troy, Clarrisa and Dante’s story was an epic tale of letting past hurts put your future at risk. It was about letting go and learning to trust. It was a story of redemption and hope and true love and fighting hard for what you want. Full of sweet and funny moments, frustratingly hot moments, and some downright heartbreaking moments. Put that all together and you get the perfect roller coaster ride of feelings.Troy Jenner was a legendary wide receiver on the Texas Grand football team. Behind the scenes, he also was juggling so many hats that no one knew about. Hiding a baby mama and a son. It was amazing how he managed to keep it all together for so many years. He was wrong for what he did, but he was also a dumb high school senior, and he has been paying for his mistake for six years.When an opportunity presents itself and the house next door comes up for rent. He convinces Clarissa to let him be a part of Dante’s life and she finally starts accepting his help. He begins running himself ragged to prove himself to Clarissa and to make up for a lie that was told by a high school student.My heart does break for him because he has a reputation that isn’t 100% who he is. He doesn’t fight it, he lets people think the worst of him, while he’s working like a dog to provide for Dante and Clarissa. I think some of him thinks he deserves it or it’s to punish himself. He keeps his secret about Clarissa or His son, Dante for as long as he can. He just lets himself appear the “helpful neighbor.” It’s sad he was a stupid kid, but he was trying to do the right thing now, but redemption is a hard-fought battle. I loved the relationship Troy and Dante built. It was organic and real and so beautiful. There were no pretenses on Dante’s side because Troy was just the neighbor. They were best friends.Clarissa was a strong single mom. She didn’t have any family. It was her, Dante and her best friend Parker. I loved Auntie Parker. She was so protective of her son. She did a great job with Dante. She was scared Troy would leave and hurt him, but I think she also used him as a reason to continue to push Troy away to protect her own heart. They had so much chemistry it was insane. I loved whenever they were in the room together. She was beyond stubborn, but I really think so much of that stemmed from her own childhood and less from what Troy had done. I do feel like she made him suffer much longer than she should have for what he had done as a stupid teenager. By this point she was older and Dante was here and doing fine and had a dad that loved him and had been pining for years to be in his life. But of course that’s what gave this story the ability to emotionally beat you down before building you back up, so it was necessary for it to happen that way so our characters could have the ending the way they did.As much as I loved Troy and Clarissa and their love story, I absolutely loved getting to see so much of Dante. I want merch! He was precious and quirky and adorable. He was a mini Troy and I giggled many a times in scenes with him, and Parker she was hilarious. Her reviews, OMG her reviews. I loved that she didn’t mince words. She’s my favorite kind of character. I wouldn’t mind reading her book. Hint, Hint. I have loved this entire series and this book was another great addition. This one was way more emotional than Theo’s book, and totally different than Lance’s. But I loved it so much. You should definitely check out this book if you are looking for one that will check off everything you are looking for.My cr8zysockbookblock blog wrap up for this book!⭐️⭐⭐⭐⭐️ Single Mom/Dad Romance ✔️Laugh out Loud ✔️Slow Burn ✔️Steam ✔️Angst ✔️ALL THE FEELS ✔️🔥🔥🔥🔥- This is definitely a delicious SLOW BURN. There is tension for days though. When they finally throw down, it’s hot AF!!🌪Cliffhanger Warning-No cliffhanger! HEA! Talk about clawing, kicking, scratching, dragging your way through a mud drenched trench, just to then walk five miles in the snow barefoot to get home to find it burned down. Yeah, it felt like this for this poor couple to get to their well earned HEA! But stick it out, it’s so worth it!

“Troy,” I shake my head, still trapped beneath him. “We’re a train wreck.”“So what? Our story is messy, unconventional. We can be messy together, that makes us perfect.”The Guy on the Left was one of my most anticipated books of the year. I wanted this story so bad I could hardly stand it. After meeting Troy in The Guy on the Right, you can’t help but WANT to know him. He’s the playboy, the life of the party, the one person everybody wants to be around! He’s charismatic and charming, sexy and funny, and I instantly fell in love with him. So going into this, I had high expectations and a deep curiosity of who Troy really was on the inside. And OHHHHHHHH BOY, was his book EVERYTHING I ever wanted and SO MUCH MORE.Kate Stewart is truly an incredible writer. Story after story, she digs deep and meticulously and painstakingly develops her characters with an authenticity that can’t be matched. Reading her stories feels like you’ve just LIVED a FULL LIFE from beginning to end. It’s a journey. And The Guy on the Left was no different. Diving into this romance felt like an experience. A heartfelt ride filled with forgiveness and second chances.And I LOVED every minute. Troy and Clarissa’s are definitely a hot-mess. Their relationship is the definition of complicated. Honestly, you almost think it could never work out between them. Their start’s not a good one. The damage Troy’s lie has created between them feels so huge, it’s almost insurmountable. They both carry a lot of pain and resentment, and Clarissa certainly doesn’t trust Troy. But under all that darkness is a single ray of light, and that’s their son. Dante is the glue that binds these two together.And holy moly, is this little boy the most precious thing EVER. He is so funny, so quirky, so smart. The relationship he has with his mother is beautiful, but the relationship he builds with Troy is ANOTHER LEVEL. And gahhhhh, I don’t know what it is about men who treasure their kids, but for me it’s EVERYTHING. I think not having a present father in my life plays into that, but when I read about a male characters who would give absolutely anything for their kid, it’s my kryptonite. And that’s exactly what I LOVED so much about Troy! His dedication to his little boy lights you up. The man longs to be apart of his kids life and it wrecks you. Troy is so tender-hearted and vulnerable and real. And God, there’s this saying that there’s nothing like a mother’s love, but I think that there’s NOTHING like a father’s love too. And Kate brings that to life in The Guy on the Left.“I’ve memorized you, Clarissa, the shape of your lips, the lilt of your voice, your every smile, every mood, your everything. I used to think it was because I’ve grown so used to watching because of Dante,” he wipes another tear from my cheek, “but it’s not just our son, baby, it’s you. He wasn’t the only one I was falling for.”On top of Troy’s desperate desire to know his son, is his desire to fix what’s been broken with Clarissa, and it’s so endearing. Seriously, you guys, this story is so angsty and layered! It builds slowly, develops organically into this gorgeous romance that felt heavy at times, but all so real and raw and just beautiful. It was one of those reads that I couldn’t read fast enough and never wanted to end. I fell in love with every detail, from the brokenness between Clarissa and Troy and the need they had to fix it, to the relationship they each had with Dante. I fell for the realness of the writing, the comedic timing of Dante’s funny little lines, and of course the seriously hotttttt moments.Overall, it was just perfect. I felt like Kate Stewart brought every. single. thing in this companion novel to The Guy on the Right. It was so so so good. A must read. One I will be recommending over and over again. You can read it as a standalone, however, you can’t miss Theo’s story, so if you can, start with that first. The timelines in these books (The Guy on the Right – Bk #1, The Guy on the Left – Bk #2) overlap, so it works best if they are read in order. Other than that, GO BINGE. This is exactly what romance should be.

Definitely my favorite of The Underdogs, loved this book so much, especially Dante! Kate - you’re such a talented writer!!!

YOU GUYS!!! I didn't think I could love a character in The Underdogs series more than Theo... BUT I WAS WRONG!!! And who would've thought it'd be TROY to win me over?! Ugh, mY HEART, Kate Stewart!Did I think I would love Troy after book one? Mmm not really. I mean, I didn't hate on him as much as I thought I would but I didn't like his womanising ways; it was typical jock behaviour and nothing that I hadn't seen before when it comes to 'his type' in romances. Then we learn of the really bad thing he did at the start of this book and I was shook. Like REALLY, THIS GUY!? *the nerve* But then I kept reading and I soon found myself becoming more in awe of his character and getting more attached. You wouldn't think that the jock on campus and the football team's number one on that pedestal would be classified as an 'underdog' but y'know what? He was!Troy had so many layers to peel back and each one that's revealed has you tearing up just a little bit because seeing that raw and vulnerable side of him was just overwhelming and made me like him even more! There's no denying what he did to Clarissa when they first met was awful but he really stepped up and I was rooting for him SO HARD! He absolutely deserves all the good. I could not stop wanting more from his character (in the best way because we already get a lot, I just loved him so much?)! He was such a good guy despite the jock player exterior he had to project to everyone else.Clarissa's character was interesting. After what happened between them it's understandable she's shaken especially in the position she was put in as a new teacher. She's sassy, smart, and a hardworking wonderful mother to Dante, but she's obstinate as hell which became frustrating and worked against her in the end. I understand that kind of pain but it made the angst kind of unbearable. Both of them were wonderful parents to Dante though. You could feel their love for, awe of and devotion to him and it was really heartwarming. Dante is a riot of a kid and he made this book so enjoyable! Did I believe he was only 5/6 years old? Um... not really? He had a 'maturity' about him that had me suspending my disbelief but his smart aleck attitude had me cackling so hard! Also, Parker as Clarissa's best friend and Dante's 'yes' aunt was also a wonderful comedic addition.As a slow-burn redemption love story this was absolutely perfect. Yes, it was a bit intense on the angst and drama, and sometimes I wanted to slap Troy and Clarissa for being so stubborn but I loved how devoted they were to their son and really wanted to do best by him. Both their growth throughout the novel was really satisfying even though they took their sweet time doing it, especially Clarissa. This was a much slower burn than I expected but holy forking shirtballs, was it worth it! There were some mildly steamy scenes from the 50% mark on but everything really happens at the end and that build up... I'd go so far as to say this'd be a 6/5 on the steamy scale!OK I'm going to stop going on about this book now but it was such a great read! I gave myself too many "breaks" at work because I literally couldn't stop reading it and it was absolutely worth it. I think Troy might be my new favourite romantic hero with how much he chipped through my heart walls 💞 If you're debating whether to read this, don't debate anymore. Just read it!

Gah, I don’t know where to start. I mean, I hoped it would be as good as The Guy on the Right and do you know what? It was. If not better. Troy and Clarissa were amazing leads and from a readers POV you totally get both sides of their stories and why they held back for so long. The angst really put me through my paces.This book is excellently written, but what I found exceptional was the way the author incorporated the previous book’ storyline without naming names. You just knew it was Laney and Theo. The timeline flowed brilliantly but the story behind the leads was something else and very relatable.Hands down, the comedic moments fall with Dante and Parker. When they burst onto the scene, I really sat up and paid attention. (I really would like a Parker story somewhere in the future—even though her epilogue kind of settled any chance for one. It’s not often leads women are big girls) Parker is a lead.So yes, all in all, if I could give this book a bazillion stars I would. The writing was simply astounding. Cannot wait for Lances story.Thanks for making me laugh and cry—rinse repeat.

Troy Jenner is not the guy everyone thinks he is, well mostly not. He is the football jock looking to go professional, he has played around too. What no one knows is that he had a one-night-stand that resulted in a son. One that he can't have anything to do with. One he has been watching over from afar.Troy has managed to get a room in the house next door to Clarissa, he wants to get to know his son Dante, and to do that he is worming his way in as a friend. Clarissa is struggling with this new found father and son relationship, not helped at all by the fact that she is still very attracted to Troy - you can't help who the heart loves!Fab story of how an unconventional relationship develops into something special. Some heartwarming scenes with a lot of laughs thanks to the old head on Dante.

Troy Jenner is a football player that all girls want. Inside he hides a secret that is fighting to get free. As an 18 year old he told a lie that resulted in Clarissa Arden giving birth to his son, Dante. This secret is fighting to be free as Troy wants to claim both mother and child! What happens when Troy steps up? How will Clarissa let go of the grudge she's held due to the lie? Can they start anew and build on their chemistry? This book was a roller coaster of emotions and I'll admit to ugly crying in parts! A fabulous read

I was looking forward to Troy & Clarissa's story since book 1 (& of course the incredibly sweet & funny Dante). I liked the first half of the book but then it seemed to just go round in circles with no progress!!