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A review by bee_thebibliophile
Blurred Lines by Andi Jaxon
3.0
I LOVED Hidden Scars last year and have been so excited to get my hands on Paul and Brendan’s story after all their adorableness in the first book. But, I don’t think it all came together in the end to make this one work.
Paul and Brendan have been friends for years while playing junior hockey and now they’re roommates and teammates, playing on the same line for Darby U’s men’s hockey team. Brendan is goofy and outspoken but uses that outgoing personality to hide his trauma from playing hockey before juniors - something he hasn’t really dealt with in any way. Paul is serious and stern on and off the ice and also dealing with some trauma and neglect from his childhood all these years later. These two are best friends, but Paul has been in love with Brendan for years, something that’s harder to hide now that they’re living together, sharing a tight space and cuddling when things get hard. There’s a lot of mutual pining at the beginning of the book and I really enjoyed that - the will they, won’t they had me invested and I thought the lighter tone fit these two really well.
But, there were a few things that really didn’t work for me:
- The unnecessary angst and internal monologues. From the very beginning, they’re both really unsure of themselves and their relationship status and we hear all about it, in length, multiple times throughout the story. The first couple times, it was endearing and made me see them as more than just tough hockey players, but after that I was just annoyed - it never really stopped.
- Their wedding in Vegas. It happened too early in the book for me and nothing really changed after that? They continued to be wishy-washy about their feelings even after they were married and it drove me crazy. If it would have happened later in the book when they were more secure in their relationship and feelings, I think it would have worked a lot better.
- The random stalker storyline. Why was Nikki part of this book? I really don’t think she added anything to the overall plot or to getting Paul and Brendan together, so every time she’d show up on the page I’d roll my eyes and hope it would be over quickly. Then it just ended with a pretty unsatisfactory resolution. It really just felt out of place.
Overall, this one was very meh for me, especially after how great Hidden Scars was. Paul and Brendan had so much potential, but I definitely think the things that didn’t work for me overshadowed most of the good.
Paul and Brendan have been friends for years while playing junior hockey and now they’re roommates and teammates, playing on the same line for Darby U’s men’s hockey team. Brendan is goofy and outspoken but uses that outgoing personality to hide his trauma from playing hockey before juniors - something he hasn’t really dealt with in any way. Paul is serious and stern on and off the ice and also dealing with some trauma and neglect from his childhood all these years later. These two are best friends, but Paul has been in love with Brendan for years, something that’s harder to hide now that they’re living together, sharing a tight space and cuddling when things get hard. There’s a lot of mutual pining at the beginning of the book and I really enjoyed that - the will they, won’t they had me invested and I thought the lighter tone fit these two really well.
But, there were a few things that really didn’t work for me:
- The unnecessary angst and internal monologues. From the very beginning, they’re both really unsure of themselves and their relationship status and we hear all about it, in length, multiple times throughout the story. The first couple times, it was endearing and made me see them as more than just tough hockey players, but after that I was just annoyed - it never really stopped.
- Their wedding in Vegas. It happened too early in the book for me and nothing really changed after that? They continued to be wishy-washy about their feelings even after they were married and it drove me crazy. If it would have happened later in the book when they were more secure in their relationship and feelings, I think it would have worked a lot better.
- The random stalker storyline. Why was Nikki part of this book? I really don’t think she added anything to the overall plot or to getting Paul and Brendan together, so every time she’d show up on the page I’d roll my eyes and hope it would be over quickly. Then it just ended with a pretty unsatisfactory resolution. It really just felt out of place.
Overall, this one was very meh for me, especially after how great Hidden Scars was. Paul and Brendan had so much potential, but I definitely think the things that didn’t work for me overshadowed most of the good.