Updated to add audio book review!
British accent for me every time! 🤭 loved it
Thank you NetGalley, hatchett audio and of course the one and only Maren Moore for this!


There isn't a story maren can't write! My god this was a banger, literally and figuratively! She can write some sports romance with added spark! Thank you for allowing me to read this amazing story early! The banter and chemistry Cillian and Rory had was exceptional! The character growth was excellent too just what I love to see in a story! Well done!

I love a good sports romance and this one did not let me down at all! Can I just say that Cillian's voice was the most sexiest thing ever...!! I might just need to add him to my list of favorite book boyfriends. This was also the first book I read where rugby was featured and its also something that drew me to the book. The ending did feel a bit rushed, but did not change anything to the overall story!

Read this book if you like:
❤️ Sports RomCom (Rugby)
❤️ College Romance
❤️ Forbidden/Secret Romance (coach's daughter)
❤️ Bad Boy & Good Girl
❤️ Found Family

Thank you to NetGalley, author Maren Moore and Hatchette Audio for this digital advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

Cillian has been kicked off his rugby team in London, but the coach at a prestigious American University owed his former coach a favor, so he is able to walk onto the team in October. The rest of the team does not take this very well. Additionally, the coach's daughter, Rory, seems to rule the team. Sadly, incredibly sexy Rory is tired of no dude wanting to bone her, so she proposes that Kill, a ladies man, teaches her how to pick up men. Instead, they begin an epic trip to Pound Town. Can they make it work?

Okay, I had some issues:
1) In what world is a student able to transfer universities in the middle of a semester?
2) Even if they would allow an athlete to do so, why would they also accept his younger sister?
3) How did this younger sister get a full-ride scholarship in the middle of a semester?
4) Am I honestly supposed to believe that none of the other rugby players noticed that Rory was hot?
5) Why does Cillian act like his sister, an adult, cannot manage her diabetes without him? It is already a stretch for her to have been diagnosed so late (most cases develop between ages 4 and 6 or 11 and 13).
6) Why was diabetes either used as a plot point or not mentioned?
7) Why did all of the actual conflict and resolution occur at the very end?

Now, while those were things I pondered, I overall enjoyed this book. It was almost cozy, and if the end hadn't contained the slightly ridiculous conflict, it could have been classified as cozy smut. ;)

If you like college sports romances, there is a good chance you will like this!

The audio is excellent, especially the Cillian narrator. What a gorgeous and sexy voice!

Thank you to Net Galley, Forever, and Hachette Audio for the ALC. All opinions are my own!

Rating/Recommend:
4⭐️/3.5🌶️/Yes

My thoughts:
This was an incredibly cute college sports romcom. If you are looking for a quickly paced romance that checks all the happy romcom boxes this is great!
I felt the story line had the perfect pacing and everything flowed really well. I loved both Rory & Cillian. They had great banter and getting to read their story where they go from strangers to friends to lovers was great. I loved watching Cillian process all his grief and learn to let other people in again. And I loved that Rory really found herself and her confidence throughout the book.
I listened to the audio of this and loved both of the narrators. I felt they really brought both characters to life. And their voices suited the characters incredibly well.

Tropes:
- College Rugby Player x Coach’s Daughter
- Dating Lessons
- British Bad Boy MMC
- One of the guys FMC
- Found Family
- Friends to Secret Lovers

CW:
- Adult only read
- Adult language & innuendos
- Explicit Open Door Scenes
- Previous loss of a parent/Grief

Thank you netgalley and Hackett audio for the ALC

This book was a 4 ⭐️ read!


If you are looking for a woman who “runs” the show this book is for you!
We love a good book where woman don’t take stuff from anyone. I devoured this book! It was fantastic.
I did the audio and the male narrator perfection. 😩😍
If you love a good sports romance I highly recommend this one!

Wow, this book took me by surprise. It was so good and the characters were so captivating. Rory is such a firecracker and the fact she can boss around big rugby players without any hesitation but is an awkward mess around guys outside the team is hilarious. I loved how she brought out the soft side of Cillian when he was such a grump in the beginning. Cillian fell hard and fast for Rory, it gave me butterflies when he fell first. The story was great and the narration made it so much better. I listened to this book in two days, it sucked me in. Both narrators had such emotion in their voice that I felt those feelings. I teared up a few times. Phenomenal!

I ended up Dnf'ing Red Card at 17% in because the writing style felt incredibly disjointed. I said this on my instagram story and I had a couple people respond and say they agreed with me so I don't feel totally crazy in saying this. I was hopeful for more because Maren Moore is a beloved author on bookstagram - just unfortunately wasn't for me.

Red Card by Maren Moore
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
348 pages
Publishing August 12th, 2025

Leaving it all on the field is one thing. Giving his all to love? Terrifying. British bad boy Cillian “Kill” Cairney is ruthless on the rugby pitch. After getting a permanent red card from his team in London, the only team that will have him is an Ivy League school in New Hampshire. But the guys hate him, his coach doesn’t trust him, and worst of all? His starting position is in the hands of his coach’s fiery, rugby-obsessed, very off-limits daughter. Not only does he have to earn his coach’s respect, but Kill has to earn Rory’s-and nothing has ever seemed more difficult. That is, until she approaches him with a proposition that could benefit them both... Rory St. James has
spent all her life immersed in rugby. Which is ….. part of the problem. She’s tired of being friend-zoned. She wants to get the guy, and to do that, she needs the frustratingly charming Cillian to teach her. But the more time they spend together, the more lines begin to blur. In a game where trust and loyalty are tested, who will be the winner? Or will love be the final red card?

When I first heard about this book, I was so excited! I know absolutely nothing about rugby & know of no other rugby romances so I was excited to read a new to me sports romance! Now enters Cillian, broody bad boy English rugby player in town for a fresh start. Except… when meeting his new team, it doesn’t go as planned. Now enters Rory, coach’s daughter, willing to help Cillian make friends with his team while trading time with him for a sweet deal. I love the banter, the angst, the spice. I am a huge fan of Maren’s work & can’t wait for more!

Read if you like:
🏉 Rugby Player x Coacher’s Daughter
🏉 Secret Relationship
🏉 British MMC
🏉 Found Family
🏉 Reformed Bad Boy
🏉 Dual POV

Thank you @authormarenmoore @netgalley @readforeverpub @grandcentralpub @hachetteaudio for the gifted ARC/ALC of this book!

Congrats @authormarenmoore on your first traditional published book, I am so proud of you!💕🎉

#marenmoore #romance #rugbyromance #foreverbooks #tropes

Audio Narration: 4/5 Solid performance. No issues with pausing, or inflection. Pacing: I do think it sounds a tad slowed down at 1x and the female and male narrators speed isn't quite the same, so I found myself having to adjust the player speed at each POV switch.

DNF @35%

I really wanted to love this but I fear I may just not be a sport romance girlie, I found myself really bored anytime the sport was brought up. Again, I don't think this is a book issue but rather a ME issue. I also didn't vibe well with the MMC. I get the tortured male love interest that this was going for but it really just read like a guy who can't form a single sentence without cursing (and i say this as a person that loves to fucking curse) - especially in the beginning of the book. I rolled my eyes a ton anytime we were in his POV.

In the end I'm DNFing. I don't think this is a bad book but definitely wasn't the right book for me.

Red Card is pure fun with just the right dose of drama. Cillian’s the kind of grumpy, too-hot-for-his-own-good rugby player you can’t help but love, and Rory’s fiery, smart, and totally able to hold her own. Their banter is hilarious, the slow-burn romance is delicious, and by the end, I was grinning like an idiot. If you’re into sports romance with heart and heat, this one’s a win.

This book was just fine. Cillian seemed like a good enough guy who was committed to working on himself. Rory was a little flat and boring. Her whole personality is that she is “one of the boys”, but the reader is never shown that. We are simply told.

Also, the anger from the team toward Cillian is never really built up. It just is there and the reader is meant to understand why these boys are so mad that their team has a new player. They’re said to be upset about it because he just “walked onto the team”, but he clearly has a record of working hard and playing for another team in London.

If you are a rugby fan or rugby player admirer, this book may be fun for you. Otherwise, I think there are better written sports romances out there. I had fun but also didn’t really care about these characters.

Audiobook comment: I think the MMC narrator would be better suited for a fantasy book. His voice was just very deep and not what I’m used to from a male romance narrator. He did a fine job, and maybe it was just the accent, but at times his voice really took me out.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
3.5/5 stars

Rating: 3.5⭐️ rounded up

This was my first book by this author and I really enjoyed her writing & will be reading more books by her! I love how the characters had some complexity while also having a lot of funny moments and the spice was good!

The side characters also piqued my interest which was good since this is the first in a new series; I can’t wait to see who the next book is about and their story!

As for the narration, it was really good! The only thing that threw me off was when the male narrator would switch to an American accent when doing Rory’s dialogue. I think it would’ve been better to keep the British accent since it is from his POV.

I loved this book! Rory is such a cool character, very involved with her father’s rugby team, but unfortunately not very good at flirting. Cillian is a British bad boy rugby player who needs to prove his place in the team. Their interactions were incredibly fun, I was so happy whenever I could find some time to continue with the story. The narration by Matt Sykes and Stella Hunter was SO GOOD! It kept me entertained, the spice was hot and the plot was really good. Would recommend for everyone who would like to try out a college sports romance anytime soon.
Thank you to Netgalley and Hachette Audio for giving me the opportunity to listen to the audiobook early.

Thank you Hachette Audio for providing me an early copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

This was a really cute listen!

Rory is dreadful at flirting. Cillian is new to the team, and needs finding his place with them. They decide to help each other out with their problems, and helloooo flirting lessons!

Look, I always enjoy this trope, so this was definitely a book for me. I loved how they slowly realized how well they got along, and how much they actually loved spending time together, and it really did seem like their relationship organically came together from there.

Their lessons were cute (and, eventually spicy) and the spice was very good. 🙂‍↕️

Cillian has a bit of trauma from his past, and his bad reputation follows him across the ocean, and I loved that he was able to talk to Rory about it all.

I thought this was a great start to a new series, and I’m hoping this means we’ll be getting stories with some of Cillian’s teammates. 👀

Audiobook notes: Loved the audio! Both narrators were great, especially with the accents. Stella Hunter is always a favorite of mine (and her voice for Cillian was 🔥.) Matt Sykes was a new voice for me, and I thought he did a fabulous job bringing Cillian to life.

What this book is giving:
✅ Sports Romance
✅ College Rugby
✅ British Bad Boy
✅ Coach’s Daughter
✅ “Just one of the guys”
✅ Flirting Lessons

Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5
🌶️🌶️🌶️ / 5

The narrators and production team did such a wonderful job! Matt Sykes voice for the British bad boy was exactly what I imagined and Stella Hunter did such a great job bring Rory to life. I especially appreciated how many different voices she managed for the rugby team.

Such a fun college sports romance with heart. Cillian’s grief and family obligations added such a depth to the story. I love how Rory and Cillian worked together and the elements of found family.

Cillian and Rory are both trying to do what they need to do to succeed in life. Cillian just wants to fit in and be part of the team, in order to keep him and his sister in America and taken care of. Rory wants to stop feeling like 'one of the boys' so that she can find a boyfriend and feel girly for once. Teaming up seems to be the only thing that will help them both. However, things don't exactly go the way they intended! The more they get to know each other, the blurrier lines seem to get.

I absolutely loved both Cillian and Rory!! Both characters brought so much to the story and you couldn't help but fall for them both. Rory is loved by her whole team and Cillian is a misunderstood bad boy - match made in heaven if you ask me. Even with this book being about a Rugby player, this isn't heavily rugby based, so if going in you have no knowledge of the sport it will not hinder you one bit.

The narrators also did a fantastic job and I loved the way they really enhanced the listening experience!

I want to first off thank Maren Moore and her publishing staff for giving me the chance to listen to the Audio ARC. The voices! Gods I think it was the best audio book I've ever listened to.

LOOK FOR TRIGGER WARNINGS! (I believe they have it stated in the beginning of the book, but this is more for the author than anyone else; please if you have trigger warnings please state them in the written version as well...

How can I be jealous of a sport that's not even MINE!?

I want this school to be real, I want everything about this book to be real...

I'm completely obsessed, also can I have the next book on ARC please?!

Red Card is the first college sports romance in the Prescott University series. Rory St. James is the rugby coach’s daughter at Prescott University and close to the whole team. When Cillian Cairney transfers in mid year from London he just wants to fit in and long enough to get on another team in London. That’s hard to do when the other players seem to hate him. Cillian and Rory come to an agreement, Cillian will help Rory with her flirting and Rory will help Cillian get in with the team. This new arrangement works well for both of them, but will it still work if feelings start to form?

I love college sports romance and was excited to start this one. I wasn’t disappointed and was quickly pulled into this romance. Cillian and Rory were great together and I loved the big teddy bear behind Cillian’s bad boy facade. I loved the chemistry between them was fully engaged in the romance. The side characters in this story were also great and left many options for possible spin off romances in this series. I enjoyed the book from start to finish and can’t wait to see what else comes for Prescott University.

4.25 ⭐️
2 🌶
🎧 dual

❤️ coach's daughter
❤️ rugby player x trainer
❤️ dating lessons
❤️ secret relationship

Cillian is the new rugby player, recently transferred after getting kicked off his previous team. He has a lot to prove to his coach and teammates.

Rory is the coach's daughter and a team trainer. Rory is constantly friend-zoned by guys, so she approaches Cillian for dating lessons in return for helping him connect with his teammates. Dating lessons expand into hanging out together as friends and eventually get hot.

Red Card is sweet & a bit of a slow burn to the spice. Rory & Cillian develop a beautiful relationship based on friendship and trust. Cillian is eventually able to open up about his mom and past mistakes. Cillian is the protective big brother to Ashlyn, caring for medical needs.

Narrated in Dual by Matt Sykes & Stella Hunter. They were wonderful narrators. Matt Sykes is new to me and had the perfect accent for Cillian.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4.25 stars, rounded down)

Thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a fun sports romance—especially because it barely focused on the sport itself (my favorite kind!). I really enjoyed the deeper themes woven into the story: dating struggles, grief after losing a parent, managing having a sibling with Type 1 Diabetes, and finding strength in a chosen family.

The spice? Chef’s kiss. Just the right amount and so well done.

Also, the audiobook narrators were fantastic—Cillian’s accent was absolutely divine and brought his character to life in the best way.

If you’re looking for a quick, emotional read with depth and heat, this is it!