Scan barcode
A review by entirelybonkerz
Quarterback Sneak by Kandi Steiner
2.0
Keep in mind, I don't usually read spots-romance, and maybe with this book I realized I don't love them? Or I just haven't found the right one yet.
The dramatization of characters being extremely worried about college football doesn't touch me in any way. Again, I think it's because I personally couldn't care less about sports.
They spend 80% of the book concerned about winning or losing, playing or not playing and none of these characters have any layers to them. They don't care about anything else. The complexity of these characters was so limited that they did add ONE SINGLE thing they were interested in outside of sports. ONE SINGLE hobby, just to say: oh football is not their whoooooooole life, they also like cooking sometimes.
I know that might sound unfair, because in real life, sports players do have to make practice and games their entire life/personality, because it takes a lot of effort. But again, it was so hard to care about these two.
I couldn't see a single reason why they should be together, they didn't have any chemistry, and they bonded over trauma. I don't think bonding over trauma is the ONLY thing a couple should have in common. It was very hard for me to cheer for them. It was like eating flour and sipping on water.
But I know a lot of people who love sports-romance, and love this book and IT'S OK! I understand, like I said, Kendi is a good writer. This is totally one of those: it's me, not you. If you enjoy characters with heavy/trigger filled trauma backgrounds, who find "love" because they experienced the same loss and make sports the reason for their entire existence, you might love this.
but here is a GLOBAL criticism I am allowed to make:
you ready?
not every dirty talk fits every character, in every book, just because you want people to make tiktoks of how spicy your books are.
Not every male character was meant to say shit like: "good girl". I know it's popular, and I know it's going to help you sell your book, but I don't have to love it.
People nowadays will write a goal oriented character, who takes sports seriously, who has a lot of trauma, is trying to heal daily, but he is SOMEHOW a d@ddy dom in the bedroom.
You can still write a sensual, sexual scene, THAT FITS YOUR CHARACTER, that is congruent with his story and background and give him realistic (and yet, still hot, lines)
But now, with this influx of romance books being written and published at the speed of light (me, the person who has read over 300 books in the last two years) as a reader, I am allowed to say:
Every romance book I pick up gives me the exact same sex scenes, with the exact same lines, and 85% of the time they don't fit the character. They just need to have SOMEONE SAY: "good girl" or the world is going to explode.
So yeah, I am getting tired of the rinse and repeat. I need more authentic romance novels. I need original storylines that haven't been done 300 times before and are not being written just so tiktoks can be made.
I LOVE the sexual freedom romance books have given us, and I think we should read whatever we want, and I will read some Jessa Kane from time to time when I am in the mood for brain-dead smut, but I am not always in the mood for that when it's a 400 page book and I am allowed to complain if the characters are not fluid, make zero sense and definitely feel like a walking/talking "pls tiktok buy my book"
