Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Beginner's Luck

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Beginner's Luck by Kate Clayborn

2 reviews

analenegrace's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Once again, I loved a Kate Clayborn! From what I can tell, Beginner's Luck is her debut, and while it's not as great as some of her more recent publications, her writing style comes through, especially in how she writes her Men!

I loved the prologue and the setup for the series and I look forward to reading the other two soon. I once again loved all of her characters; even the side characters are super fleshed out, so I hope to see some beyond the other two girls in the other two books. Like River, I want more River!

While Ben was, as always, a wonderfully written man with an arc where he finds what he really wants, Kit shined for me as a Woman in STEM who is happy where she is in her life. Often today, women are encouraged to pursue careers to an extreme in a "girlboss" manner rather than encouraged to do what makes them happy; while for some, that's a high-paying career, for many like Kit, the work she does and where she does it makes her happy even if she isn't high up, I liked that she got more recognition and got to do more work on her own terms rather than for some big business!

Romance-wise, I did feel like Ben and Kit fell for each other really quickly but naturally and I loved the house reno plotline for them. Her romantic gesture at the end was so perfect and it really tied in the small-town feel that this book, and most of Clayborn's have!

Content Warnings

wilybooklover's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

3.0

I really liked Ben and Kit; I love reading characters who are competent at their job. It was great to see a heroine in a somewhat realistic depiction of working in STEM. I also enjoyed all of the home restoration parts and the portrayal of complex family dynamics (though I wish both Kit and Ben had realised they don’t owe their father/mother anything, respectively). There were so many great secondary characters in this but I think Ben’s dad was my favourite. And it’s so nice to read about a solid female friend group in romance that isn't just about setting up the next books in a series! The writing was not as lyrical or polished as it was in Love Lettering (which was published after this but which I read first), but still lovely and evocative.

However, it was a little bit too slow-paced at the start and then a bit too angsty and melodramatic at the end for me. It was such a quiet story for the first 80% that the conflict seemed a bit dissonant and out of proportion. The straight up refusal to communicate for a month was completely out of character and endlessly frustrating to read. I did like that the heroine apologised properly after messing up, but the conflict didn’t get resolved until 96% and that felt too late! I want to actually see the couple happy together for longer than a couple of pages at the end. There was also a part where Ben says to his friend, when he talks about the heroine disrespectfully, 'don't talk about her like that!'... the implication being it's OK to talk about other women like that, as long as they aren't the heroine? I don't know, it really rubbed me the wrong way.

Oh and what was with the Chekhov’s bondage?? You can’t just have the hero think that he might like the heroine to tie him up and then not show that on page!

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