Reviews - Contract Season | The StoryGraph

146 reviews for:

Contract Season

Cait Nary

3.69 AVERAGE

lotti_bi's review against another edition

4.0

funny lighthearted

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

muchmuchado's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

elenajohansen's review against another edition

3.0

emotional slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I said about the first book in the series that I was emotionally invested in the characters despite the poor quality of the writing on a technical level, but here I found the reverse was true. The narrative flow was much improved but I found the plot and characters lacking, mostly because this version of the fake-dating trope involves constant, unrelenting miscommunication.

Also I found Sea to be whiny and uninteresting, which didn't help.

But Brody was fine, and the story did go in-depth on the difficulties of dating (fake or real) in the spotlight. Since I actually don't read hockey romances for the hockey but because for whatever reason I've just managed to find some of the best m/m romances within that genre, I didn't mind that this hockey star/country singer pairing meant that there was a lot less hockey on the page, but that could definitely be a turn-off for bigger fans of the actual sport. In fact, this story could have been about any two different types of celebrity and very little would have to change.

I also feel like this is another rare example of a "romance" that ends up being far more about the individual journeys of the characters and less about how they're supposed to be in love. I don't think the importance of identity as a theme is a bad thing, but I do think the theme should support the love story instead of overwhelming it, which I think it did here--Brody and Sea both figured themselves out as people by the end, but the people they became aren't necessarily convincingly in love, or even better off together than apart.

claire_melanie's review against another edition

4.0

emotional funny lighthearted reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I actually liked this more the second time around so bumping it up a star.

emmascc's review against another edition

4.0

This was a fantastic addition to the Trade Season series by Cait Nary. I really enjoyed the dynamic between the main couple and enjoyed seeing them grow. Sometimes in romance series you can get recycling of traits and it feels like the same couple over and over with different names, but definitely not here.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review