Kendall

Elena Armas hit another one out of the park! I absolutely loved this book. As per usual, the book places you directly in the action, but I didn't feel confused as I played catch up. When the book opens up, Adalyn is almost immediately banished from her job as a high-up executive at her father's soccer team, and it takes quite a while to find out what exactly happened to cause this extreme punishment. The reward, however, for the reader is worth it as it brings many of the characters in the book together the more details about Adalyn's "incident" gets revealed. The viral incident (No spoilers!) is equal parts funny and heartbreaking as you realize the implications of what it means. The best part of the entire book is the characters. Adalyn is portrayed as an uptight, Type-A personality, but it becomes clear that she has just never been given the chance to be herself when she meets Cam. Cam is an ex-pro athlete hiding out, but he brings Adalyn's personality (and snark!) to the surface with each explosive, yet humorous encounter. This brings be to the second best part of this book: the dialogue or should I say the banter? Adalyn and Cam had such good quips and comments that I flew threw the pages. While both the main character's personalities are very unique and intense, I feel that everyone will be able to connect to a part of Adalyn's personal journey throughout this book. Overall, I highly recommend this book, and I can't wait to read the next one!

I’m not going to lie….that was ROUGH. I have read other books by this author and absolutely loved them, but this one was not it for me. I would like to say that it was largely because of the premise, but it is also execution of said premise that made this painful. I’ll be the first to say that I didn’t read the synopsis too closely, so that is on me. I saw the author’s name and got excited. So imagine my surprise when the book was largely just a bunch of spicy scenes where she teaches him how to pleasure women. Not my jam to say the least.

That aside, there has to be some good plot points, right? EH…. sorta…sorta not. Its mostly chapter after chapter of her following him like a hopeless puppy to yet another indistinct convention or “con” as the fans say. It all blended together after a while. They would get on a good roll of talking about deep topics such as his OCD or her anxiety about her career and taking chances, but then it was undercut by yet another “lesson” in bed. The book was just trying so hard to be sex-positive by hitting the reader on the head with it, but it went way too far and now my brain is bleeding. I mean, they literally have conversations (yes… MULTIPLE conversations) about how she was a gender studies major so that’s why she knows so much about sex. Just yikes. I’m not even a gender studies major, but I got insulted that the entire field got generalized as just “being good in bed”.

I know the author can write, but the book just felt… disjointed and weird. If you said that the plot points were created largely through a spinning board and some darts thrown at it, I’d believe you. I’ll still try reading more from this author in the future, but I will definitely be paying more attention to what exactly it’s about.

I read the first book of this interconnected “world/series” of books (”You’d Be Mine”) forever ago. I had NO idea that this author wrote more in this universe. When I started reading, some of the names sounded really familiar, so I did a deep dive and lo and behold! This book is connected! I feel like it needs to be advertised more because I would have read it way sooner!

That surprise aside, I really liked this book. I enjoyed the dual POV and how you could see how much each character liked the other. I also liked the occasional flashback chapter as it just helped round out the picture of how long they have known each other.

In terms of plot, there isn’t much. A lot of the events are more small scale and largely internal conflicts in their thoughts. I didn’t mind though because I liked the characters and the world of country music. I would definitely read more books by this author and suggest that others read this and her others ones too!

This book was the definition of grumpy X sunshine trope, and I loved every minute. My favorite part was how the author wrote their respective POV’s. All of Elliot’s perspective was from the past while all of the present was written from Ama’s point of view. It added so much more depth to the characters and their interactions. I could truly feel how awkward and how laden with meaning every interaction was because I got to see his side first (and all his feelings he had). While I wish I could have known what present day Elliot thought, I think it wouldn’t have been as effective. I honestly wish more books (especially second chance romances) were written like this. I also loved the insane plot points that happened along the way. It was a perfect mix to show how hectic wedding planning is. The big event (and last few chapters) were full of surprises that had me gasping and laughing.

Finally, the chemistry… ooo these two definitely had chemistry. They had tension, good banter, and, most importantly, history. It was the perfect mix honestly. Normally, second chance romances are not my favorite, but this one is the exception. (also probably because there was no cheating involved here. … WHY do the second chance romances always seem to be because someone cheated?!).

I highly recommend this book. It took me by surprise in the best way. And get you a box of donuts before you read. Just trust me.

If I had one word for this book, it would be cute. The banter between Celine and Bradley was top-tier. There were many lines that made me laugh out loud. In fact, it was probably my favorite part of the book. I also liked the premise that they were both competing for the same scholarship. It really raised the stakes and added to the tension between them that was already there. I also liked the main characters, but the others fell flat. It is probably because many of the side characters weren’t in it for long enough for me to really like them. Celine’s supposed closest friend is really only in it for a couple chapters when Celine needs a warm body to talk to. I also wish that more of the competition had been shown. There was only one real challenge that I got to experience alongside the characters. For a competition that is the BASIS of the novel and which lasted a week (more if you count the second part of the competition), it was barely shown. It was more of a “fade to black” type of event which made no sense to me. As a result the book was a little too much inner narrative for me. I felt like the main characters worked things out in their head more than they talked to any one character. It felt hard for me to really see any personal growth that way. Overall, it was a cute book, but not my favorite. I wouldn’t steer anyone away from it.