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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
relaxing
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:
Yes
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Picked this up because I was excited to see a tennis-themed sports romance. Like others, I found the "speculative"/magic realist aspects of soul marks and healing powers more distracting than anything else. I guess I'm an over-thinker, but I couldn't stop thinking about how people must get murdered daily in a society where most people have a soulmate's name clearly written on them, but some people have none, some have two, and some people simply choose not to be with their soulmate. Ouch. Oh, and the soul marks are sort of outing queer people?
The book would have been strong enough to stand without the weird magic, and indeed the story is stronger in the second half when it's mostly about the main characters and their emerging romance. A side note that I wish this author had done as much research about Italy and Croatia as she did about professional tennis. There were things here that simply didn't ring true culturally (i.e., the same grammatical error in Italian re: noun-adjective order is repeated throughout the text--a native speaker would know better. Also hard to believe that a Croatian character would not know a word of Italian--widely spoken as a second language there--or at least know what limoncello is.). Minor inconsistencies, too, like Juliette having a severe fear of heights/high rises that mysteriously disappears in the third act in NYC.
The book would have been strong enough to stand without the weird magic, and indeed the story is stronger in the second half when it's mostly about the main characters and their emerging romance. A side note that I wish this author had done as much research about Italy and Croatia as she did about professional tennis. There were things here that simply didn't ring true culturally (i.e., the same grammatical error in Italian re: noun-adjective order is repeated throughout the text--a native speaker would know better. Also hard to believe that a Croatian character would not know a word of Italian--widely spoken as a second language there--or at least know what limoncello is.). Minor inconsistencies, too, like Juliette having a severe fear of heights/high rises that mysteriously disappears in the third act in NYC.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Abandonment
challenging
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was really excited about this one but struggled to get into it. May come back later.
I don’t know if it’s because it’s an audiobook and I missed something but what is this random soulmate business? Normally I’d think a sapphic sports romance would be a perfect fit for me but this one I don’t care for :/
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
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
I struggled with this read because I found Juliette as a character so unlikable. The premise of rival tennis players was so fun, and the magical realism soulmate element had some potential, but I couldn’t get over how poorly I felt Juliette treated Luca. Plus, the soulmark part of the plot seemed to be used to explain the connection between the two, which I thought lacked chemistry. How are these two soulmates without some real sparks and connection? It just felt a little underdeveloped to me. Your mileage may vary, but for me, this was a big letdown.
2 stars
ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
2 stars
ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.