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maryjayka 's review for:
Meet Your Match
by Kandi Steiner
Some authors tell you a story - and that can be really great! Others, like Ms. Steiner, make you feel the story. This book was the latter.
There are times with both of these characters when you want to give them a shake!
Vince is kind of clueless at times, but realistically, as a rookie NHL player, his life has been focused on nothing but hockey since he was at least 16 years old, and the first year in the league is a huge change in the speed of the game, the size of the players and the consequence of wins/losses. (Yes, I am Canadian and a huge hockey fan!!!). I think it's realistic that a rookie player might be a bit immature and clueless in some respects and feeling the weight of expectations. Finding love was not on his radar.
He also is not just a playboy, as his public image suggests. He is kind, thoughtful, generous, and has many strategies to stay grounded—like pottery. Most teams/players have sports psychologists in addition to physical trainers, and they help the guys manage the pressure, schedule, sleep disruptions, etc. so it makes sense that he is using different approaches. And pottery as a centring strategy is brilliant, actually. The more we learn about this hobby, the more context it gives to their initial meeting. He's definitely not what she assumes at first.
The great thing about how he is written is that the reader slowly comes to this understanding along with Maven. At first, it seems like he might be the playboy everyone thinks he is, so we get to take this journey with her slowly realizing who Vince really is. Because of this gradual unfolding, there were a few times before we knew all about him where I was going, "Um, girl, I don't know. Do you really want to do the whole athlete thing again? What about a nice accountant?" Of course, I eventually fell in love with Vince, but I really felt her concerns made a lot of sense at different points. Some reviews suggest she was all over the place or ambivalent, but I disagree, she had some very valid and real concerns.
Because this was dual POV we got to see how her reluctance impacted him. And there were a few times where he was being very respectful of her wishes and I was like "NO, dude, go after her!" But - at the same time, he was definitely respectful, considerate of consent, and had a valid point in letting her take her time.
Maven was a little stuck in the trauma of her past relationship, but I thought that was realistic too. I might have just avoided athletes after that if I was her. She has some great friends who are helpful in sorting this out, and I suspect we may see some of them in future books.
I really enjoyed the book and have already KU'd the next one in the series!
There are times with both of these characters when you want to give them a shake!
Vince is kind of clueless at times, but realistically, as a rookie NHL player, his life has been focused on nothing but hockey since he was at least 16 years old, and the first year in the league is a huge change in the speed of the game, the size of the players and the consequence of wins/losses. (Yes, I am Canadian and a huge hockey fan!!!). I think it's realistic that a rookie player might be a bit immature and clueless in some respects and feeling the weight of expectations. Finding love was not on his radar.
He also is not just a playboy, as his public image suggests. He is kind, thoughtful, generous, and has many strategies to stay grounded—like pottery. Most teams/players have sports psychologists in addition to physical trainers, and they help the guys manage the pressure, schedule, sleep disruptions, etc. so it makes sense that he is using different approaches. And pottery as a centring strategy is brilliant, actually. The more we learn about this hobby, the more context it gives to their initial meeting. He's definitely not what she assumes at first.
The great thing about how he is written is that the reader slowly comes to this understanding along with Maven. At first, it seems like he might be the playboy everyone thinks he is, so we get to take this journey with her slowly realizing who Vince really is. Because of this gradual unfolding, there were a few times before we knew all about him where I was going, "Um, girl, I don't know. Do you really want to do the whole athlete thing again? What about a nice accountant?" Of course, I eventually fell in love with Vince, but I really felt her concerns made a lot of sense at different points. Some reviews suggest she was all over the place or ambivalent, but I disagree, she had some very valid and real concerns.
Because this was dual POV we got to see how her reluctance impacted him. And there were a few times where he was being very respectful of her wishes and I was like "NO, dude, go after her!" But - at the same time, he was definitely respectful, considerate of consent, and had a valid point in letting her take her time.
Maven was a little stuck in the trauma of her past relationship, but I thought that was realistic too. I might have just avoided athletes after that if I was her. She has some great friends who are helpful in sorting this out, and I suspect we may see some of them in future books.
I really enjoyed the book and have already KU'd the next one in the series!