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A review by natscorner_
Hat Trick by Chelsea Curto
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
more of a 3.5 star read.
I was really enjoying this at first as I really like Riley Mitchell and I was interested in seeing how his accident and the loss of his limb was going to be portrayed and to be honest, I feel like it was done really well! Seeing his anger and the different stages of grief he went through felt so real and definitely mad me tear up. I loved seeing Riley get accustomed to not having his right leg and just get his spark back for life. All the characters were truly there for him and it was just amazing to see.
The things that didn't work for me were the length of the book, Lexi's portrayal and personality, and the pace at which the romance progressed. This book should not have been 520 pages and Lexi's reason as to why she never dated people seriously should have been revealed way earlier in the book, like 50% into it. I also felt like the only character trait that Lexi really had is being a man-hater and I got sick of hearing about her feminist views pretty quickly. Like yes, I love girl power but no one speaks like this in real life, do they?! I appreciated the additional spice to their sex life as there is a rope kink in this story (which again is not my vibe, but I did enjoy seeing something new in a romance), however, I wish we got see Lexi and Riley go on more dates and have more deep chats with one another as I feel like most of that happened off the page.
I'm really sad I didn't love this as much as Slap Shot or Face Off, but I guess not all stories will be for me. I am glad I read this as I enjoyed most scenes in this book, it just wasn't perfectly paced for me and one of the protagonists wasn't fleshed out enough for me to care about her as much as the male protagonist.
I was really enjoying this at first as I really like Riley Mitchell and I was interested in seeing how his accident and the loss of his limb was going to be portrayed and to be honest, I feel like it was done really well! Seeing his anger and the different stages of grief he went through felt so real and definitely mad me tear up. I loved seeing Riley get accustomed to not having his right leg and just get his spark back for life. All the characters were truly there for him and it was just amazing to see.
The things that didn't work for me were the length of the book, Lexi's portrayal and personality, and the pace at which the romance progressed. This book should not have been 520 pages and Lexi's reason as to why she never dated people seriously should have been revealed way earlier in the book, like 50% into it. I also felt like the only character trait that Lexi really had is being a man-hater and I got sick of hearing about her feminist views pretty quickly. Like yes, I love girl power but no one speaks like this in real life, do they?! I appreciated the additional spice to their sex life as there is a rope kink in this story (which again is not my vibe, but I did enjoy seeing something new in a romance), however, I wish we got see Lexi and Riley go on more dates and have more deep chats with one another as I feel like most of that happened off the page.
I'm really sad I didn't love this as much as Slap Shot or Face Off, but I guess not all stories will be for me. I am glad I read this as I enjoyed most scenes in this book, it just wasn't perfectly paced for me and one of the protagonists wasn't fleshed out enough for me to care about her as much as the male protagonist.