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kath12's review
4.0
I am reviewing this book for My Family's Heart Book Reviews.
I have been sitting here honestly flipping through stuff on my computer just trying to figure out what to say for this review. And trust me that doesn't happen a lot. Even if I claim that I don't know what to say, I usually do. But not this time, nope I jut kept trying to come up with something. And I am not saying that this book was in any way bad because it was good but it was just a book to me. It was nothing more, nothing less. And very few people know what to say about "just a book." So I am going to say what I can, the best I can.
I guess I will start with the characters. At first I thought I would like Gina, I mean she seemed to be a take no junk kind of chick and you don't always see that in these type of books. But the more I got to know her the more I just wanted her to take a chill pill and stop all the whining. I understand that this girl had something very tragic happen to two of her loved ones but eek, the way she was constantly flipping out on the poor hot guy was terrible. I felt bad for him. And that brings us to Kellen, the poor hot surfer guy. He is also suffering from a tragedy and of course like any damaged bad boy he is handling it with alcohol and numerous random girls. I seriously wish I could give him a cookie for having to deal with Gina. Anyways, so Gina is hired to fix Kellen's image after he gets into some trouble and from there, their rocky relationship starts. I honestly never really saw them as more than friends, I got no romantic warm and fuzzes when it came to them. Did they ever actually use the big "L" word? Did I miss that somewhere? So as far as the characters go I didn't like her and him I just pitied. Who wants to be with someone that is going to be constantly reminded of their murdered first love every time they look at you? Eesh.
So as I was saying, this to me was just a book. It's just there. The story wasn't bad, it did keep me intrigued though. I wanted to know the whole time what Gina's story was. You pretty much got Kellan's out of the way from the start, but her's you just had to wait for. Drove me nuts And when all the puzzle pieces finally fell in place, I was just like "eeh ok." The sex was luke warm to me and the romance was nada, I mean anytime you thought aww here we go, bam the crazy came out of the girl lol. I wished there would of been an epilogue also. What happened with them, we saw 2 months in and that was it. Did we have any surf babies? What happened with her brother Leo? Did Kellen take back to the waves? This book left me with no closure, sighhh. I still decided to give this book 4 stars because there wasn't a thing to give it 3.5. Great story idea even though there was no closure for me, I was disappointed with the characters and their relationship or lack there of. But I will say this, it was a great story idea and the parts that were good, were actually greaat. So hopefully that explains my rating.
My song for this book: Wasteland by 10 years.
I have been sitting here honestly flipping through stuff on my computer just trying to figure out what to say for this review. And trust me that doesn't happen a lot. Even if I claim that I don't know what to say, I usually do. But not this time, nope I jut kept trying to come up with something. And I am not saying that this book was in any way bad because it was good but it was just a book to me. It was nothing more, nothing less. And very few people know what to say about "just a book." So I am going to say what I can, the best I can.
I guess I will start with the characters. At first I thought I would like Gina, I mean she seemed to be a take no junk kind of chick and you don't always see that in these type of books. But the more I got to know her the more I just wanted her to take a chill pill and stop all the whining. I understand that this girl had something very tragic happen to two of her loved ones but eek, the way she was constantly flipping out on the poor hot guy was terrible. I felt bad for him. And that brings us to Kellen, the poor hot surfer guy. He is also suffering from a tragedy and of course like any damaged bad boy he is handling it with alcohol and numerous random girls. I seriously wish I could give him a cookie for having to deal with Gina. Anyways, so Gina is hired to fix Kellen's image after he gets into some trouble and from there, their rocky relationship starts. I honestly never really saw them as more than friends, I got no romantic warm and fuzzes when it came to them. Did they ever actually use the big "L" word? Did I miss that somewhere? So as far as the characters go I didn't like her and him I just pitied. Who wants to be with someone that is going to be constantly reminded of their murdered first love every time they look at you? Eesh.
So as I was saying, this to me was just a book. It's just there. The story wasn't bad, it did keep me intrigued though. I wanted to know the whole time what Gina's story was. You pretty much got Kellan's out of the way from the start, but her's you just had to wait for. Drove me nuts And when all the puzzle pieces finally fell in place, I was just like "eeh ok." The sex was luke warm to me and the romance was nada, I mean anytime you thought aww here we go, bam the crazy came out of the girl lol. I wished there would of been an epilogue also. What happened with them, we saw 2 months in and that was it. Did we have any surf babies? What happened with her brother Leo? Did Kellen take back to the waves? This book left me with no closure, sighhh. I still decided to give this book 4 stars because there wasn't a thing to give it 3.5. Great story idea even though there was no closure for me, I was disappointed with the characters and their relationship or lack there of. But I will say this, it was a great story idea and the parts that were good, were actually greaat. So hopefully that explains my rating.
My song for this book: Wasteland by 10 years.
nicole_reads_romance's review
4.0
So while this is an NA (Kellen is 24), it was without all that really dark angst that is so trendy right now - and I loved it all the more for that! While there were still certainly demons for Kellen and Gina to overcome they were a little more relatable to someone without an angst filled past of their own. And Kellen is still a smokin' hot book-boyfriend!
I really enjoyed the chemistry between Kellen and Gina, there was build and tension, with plenty of very well written sexy times. And as someone who knows nothing about surfing, those aspects of the book were totally relatable and fun!
The story, told mainly through Kellen's POV, really focused in on just Kellen and Gina without any major supporting characters, so I would assume this to be a definite HEA stand-alone.
I really enjoyed the chemistry between Kellen and Gina, there was build and tension, with plenty of very well written sexy times. And as someone who knows nothing about surfing, those aspects of the book were totally relatable and fun!
The story, told mainly through Kellen's POV, really focused in on just Kellen and Gina without any major supporting characters, so I would assume this to be a definite HEA stand-alone.
rosepetals1984's review against another edition
2.0
Initial reaction: This is one of those times when I feel torn about a rating because there was quite a bit in this that took turns away from the typical New Adult novel, but at the same time, it doesn't shed many of the stereotypes and some things had me feeling a little ragey at the consideration.
But for what it's worth, I liked Kellen and Gina's relationship, at least watching it in its better moments and for the fact that the two actually talked out their issues. That's far different than from what most authors do in this genre. Was it dramatic? In turns, yes, but not overly so for the situations and conflicts that were in each of the characters lives.
Still, I had a few bones to pick. Hopefully I can explain more in the full review.
Full review:
Anna Cruise's "Maverick" is the first novel I've read from the author. The premise in this is very promising, about a surfer grieving over the loss of a good friend and mentor, but as his grief consumes him, his prospects in his career fall by the wayside. A manager, Gina, is hired to help get Kellen's affairs in order, but the two of them embark on a much closer relationship than the professionalism of their careers demand. Likewise, they both have heavy measures of grief to carry and have to navigate through those trials.
This book started really sluggish, and I'll admit, the writing itself left much to be desired. I wasn't pulled into the narrative, and worst for wear on a collective perspective? This book is told in two perspectives that aren't delineated in the text as they come up. Rule of thumb: if you are writing from two perspectives in first person, NOTE the perspective of who's talking at the beginning of the chapter, otherwise it's very easy to get lost as a reader. I'll admit a few times when reading the narrative, I had to reorient myself as to whom was speaking, and that threw me out of the narrative, especially in the beginning.
The novel goes through Kellen's grief - he's also got attachment issues as evidenced with his actions in the beginning. I liked the descriptions of his being on the water, and I liked Kellen's attachment to the sport (being someone who is not only weak for any story centered on the water, but also sports). I did not like him as a character at first. I think as Gina came into the picture, the story became so much more interesting. Gina starts off as a no-nonsense agent that helps Kellen repair his public image in different ways. I definitely like the descriptions of Kellen working with the kids at the swim camp as well as Gina and Kellen's confrontation with the family of the guy Kellen punched at the beginning of the novel. I also appreciated hearing Gina's backstory and at the very least the interesting measure of grief that she had within the novel.
I definitely appreciated Kellen and Gina's ability to talk out their issues and own up to the things they did wrong. Was it a little quick for resolution? Yeah, but at least there was an attempt for the characters to be human and redeem themselves for parts of the palpable conflict. And I did like watching their relationship grow, at least the few parts of the novel where that was actually shown, rather than told.
But there's a lot of conflict in this novel that came across as contrived. I don't want to say that this book follows in the typical New Adult formula (abrasive hero, weak heroine, rape or attempted rape used a conflict plot point, instalove, etc), but it does hit a few of the aforementioned stereotypes. And it came across as really obvious that they were put in just to throw the conflict out there, so that the hero and heroine could reunite. That vexed me, especially with one last curveball towards the end.
I wish that the novel had a bit more vetting out, more showing than telling, and such for it to be a better experience. But it was okay, at least for an introduction to this author. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue reading Anna Cruise's novels at this point, but I will say there were parts of this novel I liked. But it still could've been much better than what it provided.
Overall score: 2/5 stars
Note I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, from the publisher.
But for what it's worth, I liked Kellen and Gina's relationship, at least watching it in its better moments and for the fact that the two actually talked out their issues. That's far different than from what most authors do in this genre. Was it dramatic? In turns, yes, but not overly so for the situations and conflicts that were in each of the characters lives.
Still, I had a few bones to pick. Hopefully I can explain more in the full review.
Full review:
Anna Cruise's "Maverick" is the first novel I've read from the author. The premise in this is very promising, about a surfer grieving over the loss of a good friend and mentor, but as his grief consumes him, his prospects in his career fall by the wayside. A manager, Gina, is hired to help get Kellen's affairs in order, but the two of them embark on a much closer relationship than the professionalism of their careers demand. Likewise, they both have heavy measures of grief to carry and have to navigate through those trials.
This book started really sluggish, and I'll admit, the writing itself left much to be desired. I wasn't pulled into the narrative, and worst for wear on a collective perspective? This book is told in two perspectives that aren't delineated in the text as they come up. Rule of thumb: if you are writing from two perspectives in first person, NOTE the perspective of who's talking at the beginning of the chapter, otherwise it's very easy to get lost as a reader. I'll admit a few times when reading the narrative, I had to reorient myself as to whom was speaking, and that threw me out of the narrative, especially in the beginning.
The novel goes through Kellen's grief - he's also got attachment issues as evidenced with his actions in the beginning. I liked the descriptions of his being on the water, and I liked Kellen's attachment to the sport (being someone who is not only weak for any story centered on the water, but also sports). I did not like him as a character at first. I think as Gina came into the picture, the story became so much more interesting. Gina starts off as a no-nonsense agent that helps Kellen repair his public image in different ways. I definitely like the descriptions of Kellen working with the kids at the swim camp as well as Gina and Kellen's confrontation with the family of the guy Kellen punched at the beginning of the novel. I also appreciated hearing Gina's backstory and at the very least the interesting measure of grief that she had within the novel.
I definitely appreciated Kellen and Gina's ability to talk out their issues and own up to the things they did wrong. Was it a little quick for resolution? Yeah, but at least there was an attempt for the characters to be human and redeem themselves for parts of the palpable conflict. And I did like watching their relationship grow, at least the few parts of the novel where that was actually shown, rather than told.
But there's a lot of conflict in this novel that came across as contrived. I don't want to say that this book follows in the typical New Adult formula (abrasive hero, weak heroine, rape or attempted rape used a conflict plot point, instalove, etc), but it does hit a few of the aforementioned stereotypes. And it came across as really obvious that they were put in just to throw the conflict out there, so that the hero and heroine could reunite. That vexed me, especially with one last curveball towards the end.
I wish that the novel had a bit more vetting out, more showing than telling, and such for it to be a better experience. But it was okay, at least for an introduction to this author. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue reading Anna Cruise's novels at this point, but I will say there were parts of this novel I liked. But it still could've been much better than what it provided.
Overall score: 2/5 stars
Note I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, from the publisher.
nixwolfwood's review
5.0
It's hard to put words to how I feel about this book. I can say this, what I expected from it was not what I got - in a good way. The story was captivating, in a "no time for sleep, I have to finish this!" sort of way. Even now, just thinking about it, is making my heart race.
It was a great story - truly. It flowed well, the characters were believable, and the story kept me guessing about what would happen next. Definitely recommend it.
5/5 platypires
It was a great story - truly. It flowed well, the characters were believable, and the story kept me guessing about what would happen next. Definitely recommend it.
5/5 platypires
anitalouise's review
3.0
Quick read if a bit formulaic. Likeable H and h. More telling than showing. I've read a few of these athletes in trouble/woman sent in to fix sorts of romances. This one was ok. Did have one quibble. I am woman of color and close to the beginning of the book, the author's rather stereotypical descriptions of the underprivileged kids (all dark hair and dark skinned) and the organization's leader (wearing gold chains with a gold tooth) just left a bad taste in my mouth. Quite jarring in this day and age....
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