I wish I liked this more but it was all one note
Under Pressure by Lauren Ashley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
NOTE: 8/10/19 – I’ve just received an updated ARC with an edited ending, so I shall see what has changed and report back accordingly.
Okay, I’ve read the edited version and my original review and rating still stands.
Both things I was WTFing about still come out of nowhere and, while there’s a bit more follow up for both, it still feels like a heavy handed way of setting up book two and wrapping up the issue with Scott’s parents and niece.
***
Original Review This was okay and I was liking the sweet nature of the story until it went a bit bizarre at the end.
I’m going to come back when I’ve had time to think about it more.
***
Righty I’m back.
So, the biggest issue I had with this one was that it was all one tone, there were no highs and lows to bring tension to the narrative up until the very end – like I’m talking at 96% ish! when all of a sudden there’s a huge plot point for what I suspect is going to be book two in the series.
I won’t say it came from nowhere, there’d been a tiny hint that the person involved might be singing from the same hymnsheet, if you see what I mean, but nothing even close to the revelation that comes out.
Then, in the EPILOGUE there’s a throwaway line about Scott’s parents and his niece which was an absolute cop-out imho and basically made me just shake my head.
Unfortunately, for me, there wasn’t anything which made this one stand out in a sea of similar sports romance/fake boyfriend/I’m never going to fall in love, oh look whoops I did books on the market.
Not to say it’s badly written, it’s a fairly tightly paced book and the characters are decently drawn and I loved Drew’s madcap extended family. I’d have just liked a bit more light and shade as we used to say in the dance world, to give depth.
Everything was just a bit too simple, a bit too easy, a bit too telling and not a lot of showing and most of the details were sex scenes not emotional connections between the two. Also, I felt they read much older than they were supposed to be (23-year-olds).
#ARC kindly received from the author in return for an honest and unbiased review
I absolutely adored this romance from Andrew Grey which focussed on two men who needed to get out of the spotlight for a short time – one from the bull rodeos which just cost him his best friend, the other from a country music tour which had killed his creativity.
