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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Grumpy sunshine, slow burn, emotional layers—this one hit all the right marks for me. Erin Hawkins brings the charm with a fake marriage setup that quickly turns real in all the best, swoony ways.
Summer and Rory are delightfully messy in the most perfect ways. Their chemistry, banter, and the undercurrent of vulnerability gave the story both levity and heart. I loved the balance of flirty fun with deeper emotional stakes. And major points for avoiding the dreaded third act breakup or miscommunication trope!
This was my first read by Erin Hawkins, but definitely not my last. A perfect pick for your summer beach bag or cozy reading nook. Think golden retriever energy meets artistic introvert vibes set against a coastal town backdrop that feels like a warm hug.
If you’re into:
• Marriage of convenience
• Black cat/golden retriever dynamic
• Found family and team love
• Forced proximity and “my wife” moments
• Sports romance with a side of emotional healing
Add this one to your list.
A delightful romcom and series starter.
This book is for readers who like black cat x golden retriever pairings, small towns, and marriage of convenience trope. Hawkins did a great job creating a fun story with strong characters. I really enjoyed the romance between Summer and Rory. The banter and chemistry these two had was top notch. The tension alone was so good! I truly enjoyed how their relationship developed and how Rory always made sure Summer felt included. I found that super sweet.
A great beach or summer read!
This book is for readers who like black cat x golden retriever pairings, small towns, and marriage of convenience trope. Hawkins did a great job creating a fun story with strong characters. I really enjoyed the romance between Summer and Rory. The banter and chemistry these two had was top notch. The tension alone was so good! I truly enjoyed how their relationship developed and how Rory always made sure Summer felt included. I found that super sweet.
A great beach or summer read!
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you to PEN PAL PR for the arc!
Age Gap
Black cat x Golden Retriever
Marriage of convenience
Sports romance
Forced proximity
Found family
Summer and Rory light up the pages! 🔥
From the very start and their very swoon worthy first meeting, Summer and Rory had me in a chokehold.
Two people who couldn’t be more different on the outside, a golden retriever Olympic swimmer and a black cat dog loving waitress, Summer and Rory have more in common than they think.
An instant connection and insanely good chemistry leads to a marriage of convenience that is supposed to help the other out. Rory needs time to focus and get his parents off his back while he heals and preps for what could be his final shot at becoming the GOAT and Summer needs better insurance for her asthma because she cut her parents off and is struggling financially. The two help each other out but the rules come almost immediately as they both are aware of how easy it is to be around the other. No funny business and no falling in love.
That doesn’t last long because Rory is sensitive, sweet, understanding and attentive. All the things that Summer’s ex was not. Summer is strong and steadfast and doesn’t take shit form anyone. She is her own person.
The two are instantly attracted to each other and every step makes the other crush more until these crushes become full heart squeezing signs of love.
The banter was top tier. The two main characters had more chemistry than a high school science classroom. The quips and jokes they make around each tier, how honest they were together and with each other. No miscommunication or lies. The spice was dead on perfect. It left me wanting more and panting until I got another hit. The character development in both characters was so well written. The side characters were few and far between sometimes but were used just enough to leave you wanting more from their stores.
The plot was simple and easy to follow and allowed you to see each step in their relationship. You read it from the first meeting to the first sleepover to the first kind gesture to the first asthma attack and then the marriage. The trope of marriage of convenience goes so well with this plot because there’s a solid reason for them to get married that plays a constant role. The side characters were light and fun. The writing was wonderful and pulled on my heart strings at the best times. The character arc for each individual character was well thought out and the pacing of the book was so damn good.
Rory as a mmc was just something else and honestly, I thought Summer was going to annoy me but she didn’t. She was wonderful as well.
Overall, a beautiful love story that I’ll read again and again.
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Tropes: Black cat FMC x golden retriever MMC, sports romance, marriage of convenience, age gap romance, found family, forced proximity, first-person dual POV
Spice level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
First of all, I want to thank Pen Pal PR and Erin Hawkins for the ARC of this book!
This was such a perfect summer read! I absolutely devoured this book! I loved Rory and Summer so much! I really enjoyed the slow burn of Rory and Summer falling in love with one another. Their relationship didn't feel rushed. The pacing of the romance was really well done. Summer was very guarded, and Rory was so patient with her. Rory really is the perfect golden retriever man, and I just adored him. I loved getting to see Summer slowly get her confidence back. Rory and Summer's banter was also so good. And I'm a sucker for marriage of convenience, so I really ate this book up. Erin Hawkins just knows how to write compelling love stories with swoon-worthy men! This book was such a great first book in a series, and I can't wait to read the rest of the series! If you want a fantastic romance book that will have you hooked all the way through, this book is perfect!
Spice level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
First of all, I want to thank Pen Pal PR and Erin Hawkins for the ARC of this book!
This was such a perfect summer read! I absolutely devoured this book! I loved Rory and Summer so much! I really enjoyed the slow burn of Rory and Summer falling in love with one another. Their relationship didn't feel rushed. The pacing of the romance was really well done. Summer was very guarded, and Rory was so patient with her. Rory really is the perfect golden retriever man, and I just adored him. I loved getting to see Summer slowly get her confidence back. Rory and Summer's banter was also so good. And I'm a sucker for marriage of convenience, so I really ate this book up. Erin Hawkins just knows how to write compelling love stories with swoon-worthy men! This book was such a great first book in a series, and I can't wait to read the rest of the series! If you want a fantastic romance book that will have you hooked all the way through, this book is perfect!
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Both of the main characters are genuine, sweet people that work hard to provide for themselves and support their hobbies. I love how they were both in denial of their feelings for most of the book. I was frustrated, but in the best way because it paid off.
I wish we had gotten more of the dynamic between Rory and his teammates. They l talked about their weekly traditions at the beginning, but then it died off. I think it would have been helpful to have more insight of the other characters’ dynamic in moments Summer wasn’t in their presence.
One thing about Erin Hawkins is she will have great supporting characters. This gives the series potential to continue by having each character have their moment to shine and intertwine with the original couple’s story. The epilogue for Beyond the Stroke had me invested in what comes next!
Thank you PenPal PR and the author for my #gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
This was my first Erin Hawkins and I really enjoyed this one! Give me a marriage of convenience any day!
I loved the meet cute between Summer and Rory and how they just kept meeting. I enjoyed watching Summer realize that not everyone uses others and began to trust Rory. Rory was so sweet from moment one and you can’t not like his character.
I also enjoyed the swimming element. I haven’t read a lot of swimming books, but I really enjoyed it here! I can’t wait to see where this series goes!
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
9.5/10
Beyond the Stroke by Erin Hawkins is a perfect swimmer romance with plenty of smutty goodness and no third act breakup.
I literally devoured this book in 11 hours. Like started it late at night, took to bed and finished it in the morning. That’s how good this book is.
It instantly hooks you with the dual POV that introduces the characters perfectly and lets you know everything you need to, to start the book.
Then heading into the mermaid fiasco, into a tentative acquaintance-ship with a focus on good guy swimmer hero Rory with begrudging Summer and her perfect pug Edgar.
And then, boom fake marriage/dating that is actually realistic. (it’s also where my gripes are held in the book funnily enough)
To be fair, the gripes do not come off as unreadable, they’re simple little things if I were picking apart the book.
1. You literally never see Daphne again. And very little interactions with his parents.
2. The ending is a bit chaotic. With no clear third act separation, the ending resolves little plot points and swiftly comes to an end with little to no real resolution of the original plot. It focuses a lot more on their relationship as it has grown more so than the overall plot of how they got into it.
Now, onto my second favorite part of this book. The supporting cast of characters that I am DELIGHTED to see more of. The second epilogue with Connor and Rory? The teasing of Connor and Whitney???
And Logan and Eli and potentially Charlie??? It quite literally is so limitless to return to this series and I am already making mental reminders to watch out for more ARCs from Erin Hawkins. I personally CANNOT wait for more from this author and this town of Coral Cove.
I received this book early as an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Beyond the Stroke by Erin Hawkins is a perfect swimmer romance with plenty of smutty goodness and no third act breakup.
I literally devoured this book in 11 hours. Like started it late at night, took to bed and finished it in the morning. That’s how good this book is.
It instantly hooks you with the dual POV that introduces the characters perfectly and lets you know everything you need to, to start the book.
Then heading into the mermaid fiasco, into a tentative acquaintance-ship with a focus on good guy swimmer hero Rory with begrudging Summer and her perfect pug Edgar.
And then, boom fake marriage/dating that is actually realistic. (it’s also where my gripes are held in the book funnily enough)
To be fair, the gripes do not come off as unreadable, they’re simple little things if I were picking apart the book.
1. You literally never see Daphne again. And very little interactions with his parents.
2. The ending is a bit chaotic. With no clear third act separation, the ending resolves little plot points and swiftly comes to an end with little to no real resolution of the original plot. It focuses a lot more on their relationship as it has grown more so than the overall plot of how they got into it.
Now, onto my second favorite part of this book. The supporting cast of characters that I am DELIGHTED to see more of. The second epilogue with Connor and Rory? The teasing of Connor and Whitney???
And Logan and Eli and potentially Charlie??? It quite literally is so limitless to return to this series and I am already making mental reminders to watch out for more ARCs from Erin Hawkins. I personally CANNOT wait for more from this author and this town of Coral Cove.
I received this book early as an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
emotional
funny
inspiring
medium-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 am obsessed with Summer and Rory! They were so emotional, sweet and really brought out the best in each other. I was so wrapped up in them and I could not put the book down!
Rory truly is the sweetest man on earth! He became someone that Summer could count on and trust which was something that Summer never had. But don't let that fool you! He had quite the mouth on him! He was downright filthy! Summer was so beautifully supportive of Rory and his swimming career. She never made him feel like he had to choose between it or her.
These two did not know each other long before they decided to get married to help each other but the way that Erin wrote this couple, it felt like they have known each other forever! It is a testament to how much Erin's writing has evolved and grown. I adored this book so much!!!
Rory truly is the sweetest man on earth! He became someone that Summer could count on and trust which was something that Summer never had. But don't let that fool you! He had quite the mouth on him! He was downright filthy! Summer was so beautifully supportive of Rory and his swimming career. She never made him feel like he had to choose between it or her.
These two did not know each other long before they decided to get married to help each other but the way that Erin wrote this couple, it felt like they have known each other forever! It is a testament to how much Erin's writing has evolved and grown. I adored this book so much!!!
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No