You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by weronika_airsicklowlander
Pass Interference by Rheland Richmond, Emerson Beckett
2.0
A second-chance, sports romance? Sign me up! And one of the MCs is a parent? I'm swooning.
Well, at least theoretically.
I loved the idea of the story, but it's delivery needs some work.
I didn't connect with the writing style: the prose seemed flat and straightforward, but not in a good way. Every emotion and feeling was stated explicitly; I felt there was no room for the reader to observe the scene and understand the characters through their actions. A lot of the book was a recollection of actions and reactions, all told with pretty much the same sentence structure, which soon got tiring to read.
The further in I was, the more bored I got. And it's not that I loved the first half of the story, but at least there was some sort of conflict there. Once the MCs get back together, there is no conflict, there is no drama, there are no issues to resolve. Things just happen. This is not something remotely interesting for me to read unless I am already invested in the couple. It could work for me if it was a book 3 of a same-couple series, where I just want to spend more time with the characters and I don't really care what they're doing.
I would have loved to see the relationship before the breakup (as in the original relationship that makes it a second-chance romance) developed more on page, especially more discussion of why Marcus left Aiden and why it took him so long to get back in touch with him. Yes, his reasons are mentioned multiple times in the book, but never explored more beyond 'my agent suggested it', 'I regret it'. Again, we're given mere statements of facts and very little emotional exploration, and scarce scenes to show us the MCs actually going through these emotions and not just talking about them.
So I never could quite connect with Marcus's feelings or understand his situation. And I never did understand why it took him two years (from the moment he decided he wanted to get back with Aidan) to actually make any contact with him. Aidan is the love of your life, you know you did him dirty, you want to have a life with him again, but you will stay back and do nothing for another two years? I am not buying that.
I also do not have any idea why the two MCs are in love. I know they are, they keep saying that over and over, I just never saw them fall in love, never saw them explore their feelings beyond 'I love him', 'he broke my heart / I broke his heart'. Why? Why are you in love? What makes the other one special? What do you love about him? What do you two like to do together (other than sex)? I still don't have any answer to these questions.
A lot of the book is reminiscing about the past or thinking about the future, with little focus on the present moment between Aidan and Marcus. And there shouldn't be anything wrong with that, but they keep going back to the same things and having the exact same thoughts about their future, with no variety, no value added. Words upon words of the same sentiment repeated ad nauseam. I would love to shave off a lot of it for actual exploration of their feelings, more interactions between the MCs that show us their love in a meaningful way.
At some point it felt more like an epilogue for Alex and Christian rather than Aidan and Marcus's story. I was told that it's recommended but not essential to have read what's come before. I would argue that to enjoy this story properly, book one is a must. I haven't read it and I expected some cameos of the couple from book one, but 30% of this book is essentially about Alex and Christian getting their HEA. And it was just difficult to keep track of the names of various characters who I'm sure were introduced in book one, to the point I didn't even realize one of the names refers to a dog and not a child
Well, at least theoretically.
I loved the idea of the story, but it's delivery needs some work.
I didn't connect with the writing style: the prose seemed flat and straightforward, but not in a good way. Every emotion and feeling was stated explicitly; I felt there was no room for the reader to observe the scene and understand the characters through their actions. A lot of the book was a recollection of actions and reactions, all told with pretty much the same sentence structure, which soon got tiring to read.
The further in I was, the more bored I got. And it's not that I loved the first half of the story, but at least there was some sort of conflict there. Once the MCs get back together, there is no conflict, there is no drama, there are no issues to resolve. Things just happen. This is not something remotely interesting for me to read unless I am already invested in the couple. It could work for me if it was a book 3 of a same-couple series, where I just want to spend more time with the characters and I don't really care what they're doing.
I would have loved to see the relationship before the breakup (as in the original relationship that makes it a second-chance romance) developed more on page, especially more discussion of why Marcus left Aiden and why it took him so long to get back in touch with him. Yes, his reasons are mentioned multiple times in the book, but never explored more beyond 'my agent suggested it', 'I regret it'. Again, we're given mere statements of facts and very little emotional exploration, and scarce scenes to show us the MCs actually going through these emotions and not just talking about them.
So I never could quite connect with Marcus's feelings or understand his situation. And I never did understand why it took him two years (from the moment he decided he wanted to get back with Aidan) to actually make any contact with him. Aidan is the love of your life, you know you did him dirty, you want to have a life with him again, but you will stay back and do nothing for another two years? I am not buying that.
I also do not have any idea why the two MCs are in love. I know they are, they keep saying that over and over, I just never saw them fall in love, never saw them explore their feelings beyond 'I love him', 'he broke my heart / I broke his heart'. Why? Why are you in love? What makes the other one special? What do you love about him? What do you two like to do together (other than sex)? I still don't have any answer to these questions.
A lot of the book is reminiscing about the past or thinking about the future, with little focus on the present moment between Aidan and Marcus. And there shouldn't be anything wrong with that, but they keep going back to the same things and having the exact same thoughts about their future, with no variety, no value added. Words upon words of the same sentiment repeated ad nauseam. I would love to shave off a lot of it for actual exploration of their feelings, more interactions between the MCs that show us their love in a meaningful way.
At some point it felt more like an epilogue for Alex and Christian rather than Aidan and Marcus's story. I was told that it's recommended but not essential to have read what's come before. I would argue that to enjoy this story properly, book one is a must. I haven't read it and I expected some cameos of the couple from book one, but 30% of this book is essentially about Alex and Christian getting their HEA. And it was just difficult to keep track of the names of various characters who I'm sure were introduced in book one, to the point I didn't even realize one of the names refers to a dog and not a child