Reviews - Spiral | The StoryGraph

2.34k reviews for:

i really wanted to like this book.

in a sense, i did enjoy it. while i felt the characters and their flaws and main emotional conflicts felt juvenile and predictable, i understand that as a sports romance there’s only so much that can be done, and that lightheartedness is usually prioritized in this genre. i will say, i really enjoyed the romance between the characters and felt that they were a strong couple with good yearning and romantic moments.

the big reason why i can’t give this book 3 stars is because of the fmc, sage. as much as i would like to appreciate a non-black author writing a black mc, the way this character was constructed teeters on the edge of problematic and personally for me, made me uncomfortable and felt done in poor taste. i have two major problems with her character - her backstory and her fatal flaw. i heavily dislike sage’s past and struggles coming from her parents being abusive drug addicts considering the complicated relations hip between the black community and drug usage. even though the content itself wasn’t outwardly offensive, as a non-black author, i feel this topic should’e been avoided all together since the nuances can’t be addressed intimately from that perspective. it also makes me wonder about the other non-black characters in this romance series, and if their backgrounds are similarly so de stating or if it was just for sage. secondly, sage is the embodiment of the strong black women trope. this coupled with her background all together rubbed me the wrong way, because her character feels like a stereotype instead of an authentic person outside of her identity as black. it truly is a shame as the qualities sage exhibits outside of this have the groundwork to be an amazing character, but unfortunately i cannot bring myself to fully enjoy her as a character because of this.

overall, the romance itself is good, but the author needed more work and possibly feedback on writing a main black character.

reesefrancis_'s review against another edition

4.0

4.25 ⭐️ I love Elias. I love Sage. I love this book. The found family and the way that they reassure and encourage eachother is literally everything. I’ve got to say though it’s kind of criminal that there wasnt more smut with a man like Elias

emmanuellagladman's review against another edition

4.0

lighthearted fast-paced

I really had a good time with this. Sage and Elias were really cute and I loved getting to know them, especially after getting peaks at Eli in the first book. I really enjoyed the premise (I love a good fake-dating moment), but beyond that I loved the hockey player x ballerina trope because, hello. This book was exactly what I needed post Releasing 10, not too deep and lots of fun. At the same time, I think reading it immediately after R10 did it a bit of a disservice since I probably didn't enjoy it as much as I could have. Over all it was cute and I can't wait to see what comes next in the series!

justine_b_h's review against another edition

4.0

emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I grabbed this the moment I finished Collide because I couldn’t get enough — and it didn’t disappoint.
This sequel was fun, emotional, and genuinely enjoyable. Sage (the FMC) and Eli (the MMC) were both super likable, and I found myself rooting for them the whole way through.

While some sections felt a little too fluffy and the pacing dipped at times, i found myself skipping skimming a few paragraphs that just went on a bit much (id done the same in book 1 Collide) the story was a nice balance of character growth and plot development, which I loved.