Review: Loving the Legend by Kit Grey (Chasing Rings #1)

Loving the Legend by Kit Grey

First off 5 Stars!!!

Lately I've getting more into sports "cough cough baseball lol (Go Yankees!)* and I decided to start dipping my toes into sports romance. I read a lot of MM Romance, and I felt like many of the popular sports romances in that category are really hockey-focused and centered on palm-colored folks.

Sometime in 2024, I'm sure how, but I found Loving the Legend by Kit Grey. I was really hype about it because it's an MM Basketball Romance with Black MCs by a Black author. I quickly purchased the Kindle edition and kept it pushing. I'm a big mood reader, so I didn't pick it back up until summer 2025 after I had a convo with one of my bookish friends to whom I had recommended the book before I read it, who loved it and let me know that book 2, Scoring the Player, was coming out in August 2025. (It ended up coming out a month early and I devoured Scoring The Player within 24-48 hours after release.)

That gave me the push to start the Chasing Rings series before book 2 released. When I began to read Loving the Legend, I felt so seen when I saw how Ty's depression was depicted. Kit put so much grace and care into how Ty and Sid's relationship developed. I avidly remember the fog of depression, and reading Ty struggle through his grief and depression hit me in the feels because I saw parts of myself in his struggles. There are moments when I want to shake Ty, especially when he quits therapy. It sounded like he was starting to make some progress, but he shut it down instead of processing it. Seeing the such a realistic depiction of depression floored me because a lot of times when a character in a book is described as the depressed the characterization is very surface level. So we do not get to see the depths of their depression and its not depicted properly. Kit took the time to delve into those experiences and Ty’s reality is informed and enriched by the care and intention that Kit writes with.

Sid and Ty start off as friends, and we feel the connection during their interview. We also get a glimpse into how they operate, with Sid coming prepared with questions and Ty deciding to wing it. Sid shows up for his family and friends, and we see that acutely when he sends flowers and a card to Ty's parents' graves. Sid loves hard and has a possessive streak, which we glimpse when Ty flirts with an actor and in his interactions with his agent. If I had not read Scoring The Player I would say that Sid is my fave book boyfriend but Salem exists so he has taken that spot.

Ty has a life-altering event when his parent are killed while he is in high school. This event is the catalyst for his grief and the mentality that he develops to direct his focus on getting into the league. He wants to honor his parents by being the best basketball player he can be. He is so tied up in that mentality that he’s not living for himself. He has another life-altering event when his Uncle Adam is hospitalized, and we see Sid step up to help him and Ishan with the medical providers, even though he is at the Olympics. Sid is such a green flag that I even understood the third act breakup of sorts where Ty moves out and works on himself. Even Sid stepped up wanting to help Ty through all his pain due to his experiences with his first love that time is a lesson for both of them that Ty had to hold himself accountable and be willing to the work to be a better partner and be a better person. Sid had to learn that you can’t love someone better you have to give your partner the space to seek care and he is not a failure for not being able to save Ty from himself. We see that Ty wants to help other players by his creation of a group for the players to get together and chat.

I’m writing this review after my audiobook reread back in January 2026. So I have to give kudos to Jace Hunter for bringing the story to life so vividly through his narration. I was able to connect with the story even more while listening to the audio.

Overall I loved Loving The Legend and it made Kit and auto-buy author for me and I joined her Patreon. Her Book Besties Discord is my fave bookish group. She has intentional curated my fave corner of the internet.