Spring Tide

Coastal University, Book 1

By: Ki Stephens

Narrated by: Cole Rhodes, Stevie Rhodes

Harper St. James is the type of girl who thrives on the idea of life's simple pleasures: a half-melted ice cream cone on a summer's day, a puppy licking sand from a baby's face, and a gentle wave that crests and breaks on the ocean's shore.

For quite some time, Harper's been harboring a secret crush on Nate Gunderson, fellow Coastal U student and MLB-hopeful. In order to spend more time with him this semester, she finds herself spinning a ridiculous web of lies. Her first step: convincing her sports med professor that she's been dating a football player. After all, if she's romantically involved, it simply wouldn't be right for her to keep an internship with their team.

Unfortunately for Harper, this silly, frantic excuse to switch assignments quickly snowballs into an unstoppable rumor.

Luca Reynolds is the type of guy who prefers to set low expectations, both for himself and others, if only to avoid any inevitable disappointment. His football teammates would describe him as reserved, brooding, and occasionally stand-offish.

The truth? Luca doesn't feel like he belongs.

When an unexpected injury threatens to destroy Luca's long-term plans, he finds himself in need of help from a discreet professional—one who will assess his knee, provide some simple stretches, and assure him that everything's fine. Luckily, there's a scheming student intern that just might owe him a favor or two.

A secret for a secret. A lie for a lie. It's not really blackmail if she's the one who used him first.

©2022 Ki Stephens (P)2023 Ki Stephens

Such a sweet book and great audiobook!!

The audiobook was incredible. I had never heard either of these narrators before but they both did such an amazing job bringing the characters to life and were perfect for Luca and Harper.

I had been looking forward to this one for a while and it did not disappoint. This was such a good read.

I really loved Luca’s character. He wasn’t your typical love interest, especially considering that he’s a football player. I read so many football romances where the male main character is a cocky, arrogant jock - Luca was very much not that. He was quiet, reserved, and slow to warm up to people. It melted my heart to see him let Harper in little by little. I loved watching their friendship slowly form and then blossom into such a sweet romance.

Harper was also an incredible female main character. She had the best heart and was so generous with her time and knowledge. I loved her so much.

I appreciated how honest our main characters were with each other and really just the way they communicated with each other. I loved that (eventually) Luca accepted help and did what he needed to do for himself. AND it made me so proud when Harper stood up for herself.

Also loved the representation of neurodivergent characters. You could tell it was something the author was personally familiar with and it felt genuine.

All in all, this was a solid read and I can’t wait to read more from this author.

Really cute book

I haven’t read a good book in a while and this one was it for me, it was really cute and just overall adorable!

Cute!

Loved the duet narration on this one!! Super cute and sweet. Fake dating is one of my favorite tropes and this one did it so well. A quick and easy listen.

sooo good

it was a little to me at some parts but other then that a really amazing book

Love! Obsessed!

I absolutely love anything written by Ki! This was great to listen to and hear conversations as actual people instead of the made up voices I gave them in my head!!