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emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-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:
Complicated
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-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:
No
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Note: I've edited my review. Bold part are the updates.
Both of the main characters are likeable. I didn't feel torn choosing between either two like how some books make me feel.Although, it's so cliche, it the character dynamic works really well between Bryce and Hunter. Upon reflection, there's so much insta love between the two. We weren't even shown much of their development. 80% of the time they hung out on their own that weekend the scene just faded to black, and we were stuck with a few sentences of recollection from one of the characters. And it literally happened in 3-4 days.
I'm also now finding how they both sucked so hard after the weekend to be a bit unbelievable. Hunter I could believe, but Bryce? He's supposed to be the super professional.
I wasn't expecting for Hunter to be traded so early on, though. I thought they'd have a flash forward to the next season and Hunter would be traded then. Poor Hunter's old team. They already suck, but they also lost their best player. I would've liked a mention on how the team went on after the trade. I'd imagine a lot of jobs were lost after that trade.
Hunter should've really been traded at the end of the season. Going back to the insta love thing, it really just didn't make sense to me that a weekend would affect professional athletes. They could've gone their separate ways after the All-Stars weekend, then kept in touch, met up during the rest of the season to give us more of a buildup of their relationship. They could also show Hunter improving greatly after the All-Stars, enough for him to be scouted by the Etoiles.
Speaking of the trade. Now, I may not know a lot about sports politics, but I think it's a pretty hard sell to trade in a player from an unknown bottom-tier team mid-season just because of a good weekend.
The first 20% of the book felt a bit sluggish to me. Things moved really fast up to about 80%. Then it fell off again until about 95%.
Overall, it was a great read. This is technically my second Tal Bauer book. The first one I didn't finish because of personal reasons. I found out I have a low tolerance for the hygiene of the characters.
Edit/Update:
After sitting on it for a bit, I came to the conclusion that I really didn't like how the book ended.
The time between the accident and the last game felt so vague. I just can't wrap my head around letting your injured star player in a game where the opposing team are dead set on murdering your team, and the refs aren't doing anything. The narrative kept hammering the fact that just a little injury would set Bryce back a lot.
I would've honestly preferred they didn't win. Because there's always next year. There was no mention of anyone from their core team retiring so it wouldn't be an impossible scene. Everything just happened so quickly (the pacing towards the end felt like it was dragging though). Hunter getting traded mid-season, the games post-accident, and Bryce playing in the finals.
Another thing I'm a little bit nitpicky about. I know they're being obvious with their relationship, but I would've liked a better/bigger reveal to the team. It's like one of Bryce's biggest obstacles was just swept under the rug. It felt anticlimactic.
Another update:
How could I forget about the French!!!
It takes you out so much if you don't know the language. You have to decide if you wanna stop reading just to bring up the dictionary to have any idea what they're saying, or just completely ignore the word/sentence (which was what I did).
Both of the main characters are likeable. I didn't feel torn choosing between either two like how some books make me feel.
I'm also now finding how they both sucked so hard after the weekend to be a bit unbelievable. Hunter I could believe, but Bryce? He's supposed to be the super professional.
I wasn't expecting for Hunter to be traded so early on, though. I thought they'd have a flash forward to the next season and Hunter would be traded then. Poor Hunter's old team. They already suck, but they also lost their best player. I would've liked a mention on how the team went on after the trade. I'd imagine a lot of jobs were lost after that trade.
Hunter should've really been traded at the end of the season. Going back to the insta love thing, it really just didn't make sense to me that a weekend would affect professional athletes. They could've gone their separate ways after the All-Stars weekend, then kept in touch, met up during the rest of the season to give us more of a buildup of their relationship. They could also show Hunter improving greatly after the All-Stars, enough for him to be scouted by the Etoiles.
Speaking of the trade. Now, I may not know a lot about sports politics, but I think it's a pretty hard sell to trade in a player from an unknown bottom-tier team mid-season just because of a good weekend.
The first 20% of the book felt a bit sluggish to me. Things moved really fast up to about 80%. Then it fell off again until about 95%.
Edit/Update:
After sitting on it for a bit, I came to the conclusion that I really didn't like how the book ended.
The time between the accident and the last game felt so vague. I just can't wrap my head around letting your injured star player in a game where the opposing team are dead set on murdering your team, and the refs aren't doing anything. The narrative kept hammering the fact that just a little injury would set Bryce back a lot.
I would've honestly preferred they didn't win. Because there's always next year. There was no mention of anyone from their core team retiring so it wouldn't be an impossible scene. Everything just happened so quickly (the pacing towards the end felt like it was dragging though). Hunter getting traded mid-season, the games post-accident, and Bryce playing in the finals.
Another thing I'm a little bit nitpicky about. I know they're being obvious with their relationship, but I would've liked a better/bigger reveal to the team. It's like one of Bryce's biggest obstacles was just swept under the rug. It felt anticlimactic.
Another update:
How could I forget about the French!!!
It takes you out so much if you don't know the language. You have to decide if you wanna stop reading just to bring up the dictionary to have any idea what they're saying, or just completely ignore the word/sentence (which was what I did).
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
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:
Complicated
emotional
funny
hopeful
emotional
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
inspiring
tense
medium-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
emotional
hopeful
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
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
probably one of my top reads of the year! i absolutely adored this story and the characters!!! it was very emotional at some points and extremely sweet at others! i normally don’t enjoy instant love, but i think it worked with them.