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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
emotional
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:
Complicated
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
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:
No
FYI for the author, you can’t make one the FMC’s an irredeemable piece of shit in a romance.
The whole soulmark thing didn’t work in this sports romance, just made the author lazy in actually showing yearning, tension and relationship development bc they just got to say “but we’re soulmates!”
Other reviews seems to show other people like this book so maybe I’m just judgy idk
The whole soulmark thing didn’t work in this sports romance, just made the author lazy in actually showing yearning, tension and relationship development bc they just got to say “but we’re soulmates!”
Other reviews seems to show other people like this book so maybe I’m just judgy idk
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
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
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ok so first of all it is on me for not reading the blurb in it’s entirety and going head first because this is based on soulmate marks and all that stuff and I just an not a fan. Even on ao3, it’s my least favourite of tropes to read about. And so I was shocked and didn’t feel interested in that.
And now for the story in itself - two tennis rivals destined to be together by their soulmarks but avoiding each other at every chance for the sake of their careers? That sounds fun and intense. But it was such a disappointing read. The main characters were so petty and childish. Just 350 pages of constant - oh I want you but I also hate you but oh you’re so sexy but oh you’re my rival but oh we are soulmates but oh look at you!! I was so done with it by page 100!! A book hasn’t made me this irritated in a while. Where is the yearning? Where is the communication? Where is the part where we just sit and talk? Instead there’s just constant horniness and denial of said horniness which I just couldn’t get behind because I lowkey hated the characters, especially Juliette. Luca constantly telling her to back down but her just caring about her desire was such an annoying part to read. She never tried to put other people’s feelings first and when it caught upto her, she got out of it easy. Luca did have a bit more depth but I was so done with Juliette that by the time we got to her, I didn’t really care. The sex was hot though, I will give it that.
Also there’s like 20 tennis players featured in this book, and ok, I get the author wanting to let us know how they look, but must we know how many freckles one has. Move on. And also, yes found family and stuff and friends I get it, but having to know the soulmate situation of every one of them was so so boring.
I also really didn’t like the writing. The story is told in third person which I love but the way it was written idk I’m not a writer but when we are reading the story from one character’s pov, do we really need their name mentioned in every sentence. It just felt very exhausting. I know it’s a book in tennis players but the tennis matches describe at the start were so confusing (they are describe better later on).
The only things I loved was the Ricci sisters and the relationship between Luca and her coach Vladimir.
Overall, just very much surface level with insufferable characters and unnecessary details. Pick this up if you are into all of this 🫡
P.S. : there was so much whispering in the audiobook! I get the narrators going for the effects but it was hard to follow at times.
[TW : panic attacks, strained parental relationships, acrophobia]
And now for the story in itself - two tennis rivals destined to be together by their soulmarks but avoiding each other at every chance for the sake of their careers? That sounds fun and intense. But it was such a disappointing read. The main characters were so petty and childish. Just 350 pages of constant - oh I want you but I also hate you but oh you’re so sexy but oh you’re my rival but oh we are soulmates but oh look at you!! I was so done with it by page 100!! A book hasn’t made me this irritated in a while. Where is the yearning? Where is the communication? Where is the part where we just sit and talk? Instead there’s just constant horniness and denial of said horniness which I just couldn’t get behind because I lowkey hated the characters, especially Juliette. Luca constantly telling her to back down but her just caring about her desire was such an annoying part to read. She never tried to put other people’s feelings first and when it caught upto her, she got out of it easy. Luca did have a bit more depth but I was so done with Juliette that by the time we got to her, I didn’t really care. The sex was hot though, I will give it that.
Also there’s like 20 tennis players featured in this book, and ok, I get the author wanting to let us know how they look, but must we know how many freckles one has. Move on. And also, yes found family and stuff and friends I get it, but having to know the soulmate situation of every one of them was so so boring.
I also really didn’t like the writing. The story is told in third person which I love but the way it was written idk I’m not a writer but when we are reading the story from one character’s pov, do we really need their name mentioned in every sentence. It just felt very exhausting. I know it’s a book in tennis players but the tennis matches describe at the start were so confusing (they are describe better later on).
The only things I loved was the Ricci sisters and the relationship between Luca and her coach Vladimir.
Overall, just very much surface level with insufferable characters and unnecessary details. Pick this up if you are into all of this 🫡
P.S. : there was so much whispering in the audiobook! I get the narrators going for the effects but it was hard to follow at times.
[TW : panic attacks, strained parental relationships, acrophobia]
This is the story of FMC’s Luca and Juliette. I was expecting a FF sports (tennis) romance and what I got was a sports romance/fated mates mash-up. That was unexpected, as was the third person POV. Overall this book was fine. There was rivals to lovers, some good push and pull, and character growth.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The tennis itself was really well done, but the soulmates trope really needed to stay in fan-fiction and not a published novel. Eada Freisian’s Taming of a Rebel tackles soulmates in a less literal way that works well for a contemporary novel. Here it feels like it leaves loose ends for the large cast of characters (one protagonist has 3 sisters) and lots of loopholes to the rules of Literal Soulmates.
The protagonists could have easily faced the same challenges without having literal handcuffs on them and it probably would have made the writer up their game outside of the tennis.
The tennis itself is written with a real flair for dynamic tension of sports drama and athletic knowledge. Either a great consultant helped polish it or simply just a good writer of those kinds of scenes.
However the tennis is not enough to make this Romance worth reading.
The protagonists could have easily faced the same challenges without having literal handcuffs on them and it probably would have made the writer up their game outside of the tennis.
The tennis itself is written with a real flair for dynamic tension of sports drama and athletic knowledge. Either a great consultant helped polish it or simply just a good writer of those kinds of scenes.
However the tennis is not enough to make this Romance worth reading.
Sapphic romance, tennis, magical realism, what else could you need?
This book follows two tennis pros who are rivals but also soulmates.
This book is definitely heavy on the tennis at times which did not bother me. I really enjoyed how normalized the sapphic romance was, the conflict is centered around the rivalry instead.
I didn’t love the beginning of the book, rather than tension the characters just felt immature to me. There is a lot of growth but I struggled to be as invested with how the romance started. The ending was definitely my favorite part. I also think some of the side characters were interesting and would make a good spinoff.
Thank you to @netgalley and @atriabooks for my eARC.
This book follows two tennis pros who are rivals but also soulmates.
This book is definitely heavy on the tennis at times which did not bother me. I really enjoyed how normalized the sapphic romance was, the conflict is centered around the rivalry instead.
I didn’t love the beginning of the book, rather than tension the characters just felt immature to me. There is a lot of growth but I struggled to be as invested with how the romance started. The ending was definitely my favorite part. I also think some of the side characters were interesting and would make a good spinoff.
Thank you to @netgalley and @atriabooks for my eARC.