Game Point - Meg Jones (3.75/5 stars)

 

3.75/5

Tropes: Friends to lovers, athletes, tennis, grumpy MFC, competition.

I read this book without reading the first book in the series, so my POV is biased because the MFC is expected to be grumpy, bitchy, difficult to manage with angry issues. However, without the context of her behavior from book 1, I found her to be pretty normal. 

She has struggled with winning the finals of any of her professional matches and struggles to comes to terms with it. The reason why I gave it a 3.75 instead of 4.5 was because while some friendship moments were shown between the leads, I didn't feel like there were that many? I mean, sure they watch Twilight together, but I wish more of the banter was shown prior to Oliver becoming Dylan's coach. In my opionion the transition from friends to lovers happened really quickly, I would have liked them to have explored the friend zone more fully. 

The whiplash from the leads wanting to retire, retiring, realizing they don't want to retire, to not retiring was also a bit much, in my opinion. Also, how old were the MFC and MMC? I don't think it said and in my mind that was a thought. Sometimes, despite your best talent, and drive, injuries and age is the limiting factor. And I wondered if that would happen to the leads but I didn't get an answer to this.

Thanks to Avon and Harper Voyager and Netgalley for the e-ARC.

 

Homebound - Meredith Trapp (4/5)

 

Many thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books | Atria/Emily Bestler Books for providing me the e-ARC.

Tropes: Single dad, woman rodeo rider, forced proximity, childhood best friends, friends to lovers, he falls first, he falls hard, it's always been her, written in dual perspective.

Wyatt has been in love with Dakota forever, but she has always treated him like a friend over the 18 years that they've known each other. This time round, he will ensure that she sees him as more than a friend. It's a really sweet romance. Not a ton of action except that you get to see his angst and his yearning for her and that is really nice. The little baby in the book is adorable and Wyatt's anxiety about being a good dad is endearing. The heroine is very gutsy and strong although she is extremely anxious about her bull riding career and how it will be affected. 

I also liked that unlike other romances, the heroine wasn't a virgin. She had sex and a lot of it, and the hero still loved her. She wasn't emotionally involved with the other guys and it was mostly physical, but I liked that the author didn't shy away from making her really bold in this respect.

Could have been more fleshed out, but a sweet read nonetheless.