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A review by falulatonks
Best of Luck by Kate Clayborn
5.0
2022 reread: I was right!!
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FULL 5 stars - I had to knock down my rating of Book #2 because while I LIKED that book a lot (and the first one too!), I adored this. I think the best thing about this was Clayborn's writing - I'm not sure if I got used to her style, or if she got better over the series, but there were beats and little turns of phrase in this that gorgeously captured things I love about good romance writing, with a different spin to it. It helps that 'best friend's older brother' is a trope I generally really dig, and I really dug that this one didn't have them growing up alongside each other - it made the approach to them different, and honestly more mature than books with the trope usually manage.
I also thought both leads were enormously likable and so easy to root for, and their issues felt like things they could work at, that they could get better with, while still feeling tough at the same time - which I think isn't always easy for characters with internal conflicts. And sometimes the way you get better is talking things out, or lbr, finding a therapist (!), and I loved so much that this book did that.
Finally, the build to the climactic conflict felt good and well-paced enough that getting to it absolutely knocked me out and made me feel achy, and made me sympathise so much with both of them? That achiness, btw, is the thing I found most missing in the first two books - I appreciated them a lot, but it didn't bridge the last little gap I like having crossed when I'm reading romance. With this one, Clayborn not only knew what she was aiming for, she pitched it exactly right - no melodrama, nothing OTT, but earnest and simple and real.
Loved it. I can't wait for more from this author, and I super can't wait to reread this one a few months from now.
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FULL 5 stars - I had to knock down my rating of Book #2 because while I LIKED that book a lot (and the first one too!), I adored this. I think the best thing about this was Clayborn's writing - I'm not sure if I got used to her style, or if she got better over the series, but there were beats and little turns of phrase in this that gorgeously captured things I love about good romance writing, with a different spin to it. It helps that 'best friend's older brother' is a trope I generally really dig, and I really dug that this one didn't have them growing up alongside each other - it made the approach to them different, and honestly more mature than books with the trope usually manage.
I also thought both leads were enormously likable and so easy to root for, and their issues felt like things they could work at, that they could get better with, while still feeling tough at the same time - which I think isn't always easy for characters with internal conflicts. And sometimes the way you get better is talking things out, or lbr, finding a therapist (!), and I loved so much that this book did that.
Finally, the build to the climactic conflict felt good and well-paced enough that getting to it absolutely knocked me out and made me feel achy, and made me sympathise so much with both of them? That achiness, btw, is the thing I found most missing in the first two books - I appreciated them a lot, but it didn't bridge the last little gap I like having crossed when I'm reading romance. With this one, Clayborn not only knew what she was aiming for, she pitched it exactly right - no melodrama, nothing OTT, but earnest and simple and real.
Loved it. I can't wait for more from this author, and I super can't wait to reread this one a few months from now.