[Book Spotlight]* Silence Interrupted by Sania Shaikh

Summary:

wo months before Troye Saavedra’s senior year of high school, his father’s drinking problem skyrockets. When Troye’s parents make an impulsive move to Georgia in order to “help” him finish high school on a positive note, he is forced to leave behind everything he knows. Things couldn’t get worse for Troye. That is, until he meets three enigmatic teenagers: Adelaide, an independent violinist with radical ideas; Zaidan, fiercely loyal and always funny; and Arabella, a girl who harbors secret struggles. Together, the four friends try to pick up the jagged pieces of their lives without getting hurt themselves. An insightful tale of perseverance, Silence Interrupted is a young adult novel about the beauty and peril of traversing the world as a teenager.

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Author Bio:

Sania Shaikh is a junior at Cambridge High School. Inspired to write from a young age, she worked on Silence Interrupted, her debut novel, starting in eighth grade.

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Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

Love in Straight Sets by Rebecca Crowley

 

Summary:

 

Regan Hunter came to tennis late in life, but she's worked hard to become one of the world's top players. Beating the odds has made her unstoppable on the court and neurotically controlling off of it. So when her manager hires a new coach, a has-been who left the sport after a scandal, Regan wants him gone, fast.

Ben Percy, a former Grand Slam winner, is well aware of Regan's reputation for driving coaches away—usually screaming. But working with the notoriously mercurial Regan could be just the break he needs to take his career to the next level, and he's never been one to scare easily. He must stick to only one rule: hands off Regan.

Keeping his distance from Regan is more difficult than Ben ever imagined. Behind her tough, sexy exterior is a woman he wants to get to know better. And Regan feels a connection with her patient, easy-on-the-eyes coach that's hard to ignore. But with the biggest championship of all on the line, romance may be completely out of bounds…

Summary & Cover taken from Goodreads.com

Length: 159 pages (Kindle)

Source: NetGalley ARC

Available Formats: E-book

Publication Date: April 14th 2014 by Carina Press

 

Last year I read and reviewed Rebecca Crowley's The Striker's Chance and absolutely loved how she weaved sports and sizzling romance together with great characters so when I was approved for this one I was so excited to read it.

 

I thought it would be similar to The Striker's Chance, and in a couple ways there were similarities, both books had some awesome male leads with women who were a little high strung but where the female lead in The Striker's chance had some great qualities about her, I found myself struggling with Regan in this one. I found her to be to rude, spoiled and self centered. She threw temper tantrums and I didn't like how her frugal upbringing caused her stress now that she was rich etc. She was a little too much "Woe is me" for me to really, really like. However in the end, I did like her because she was starting to mellow thanks to Ben. Even though for me she didn't deserve him as much as she thought she did.

 

Ben though, was fabulous. I've got to give it to the guy though. He was able to take all that Regan threw at him and he didn't even deserve a quarter of it. I thought he was incredibly sweet and I liked his sense of humour a lot but thought he needed to grow a pair and not be so calm and silent. I wish hed spoken his mind more but thought that he served his purpose in balancing out Regan's snarkiness.

 

I thought the story was good, but because I feel like Regan was over done that it lost some of the potential of becoming a really good romance. I just thought there was too much needless drama for my tastes. The good thing was that the author really excelled at creating chemistry between the Ben and Regan and trust me it got quite steamy in parts.

 

In the end I felt there was more that could have been done to make Regan more likable and I wasn't really thrilled with how this one ended so abruptly but other things like the passion between the two went a long way to make me enjoy this one. It was a good quick read, and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a cute read for the summer especially since it could be read in no time. If you're a contemporary romance fan looking for a hunky tennis coach, grab this one, sit back, relax and enjoy because Ben is awesome!

 

 

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my free and honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are 100% my own.

 

Liked It!
★★★

 

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The Striker's Chance by Rebecca Crowley

 

Summary:

 

Landing the PR contract for North Carolina's new soccer team could take Holly Taylor's career to the next level. Her task? Make Kepler "Killer" de Klerk, an athlete with a party-hard reputation, a star. But revamping the sexy footballer's image while battling her unwanted attraction to him is easier said than done.

The car accident that derailed Kepler's European career also gave him some much-needed perspective. He's ready to give up on fame and focus on the game he loves. The last thing he needs is a headstrong brunette pushing him back into the spotlight, even if butting heads with her is the most fun he's had in ages.

The more time Holly spends with Kepler, the more she sees how different he is from his tabloid persona. But when she's offered her dream job for a price, she finds herself torn between the career she's spent years building and the man she doesn't want to give up.

Summary & Cover taken from Goodreads.com

Length: 149 pages (Kindle)

Source: NetGalley.com

Available Formats: E-book

Publication Date: September 2nd 2013 by Carina Press

 

I'm not sure what it is lately, but I seem to be picking some pretty damn awesome books to request from NetGalley, especially since the books I've been having the best luck with are shorter than 200 pages and that typically doesn't fit well with me.

 

The Striker's Chance is author Rebecca Crowley's romantic debut and I have to say she made sure it was a fantastic one in my opinion. I haven't always had the best of luck with the sports romance sub-genre but this is the epitome of how they should be written in my opinion.

 

The book centers around South African born soccer player Kepler and his PR manager Holly. First off I liked both characters right off the bat. Usually I either really like the heroine or the hero from the get go so it's rare for me to like both main characters from the start, but Kepler and Holly were just so likable.

 

Kepler, is feeling out of place, old, useless and is trying to get back into shape and the swing of things when tiny Holly comes into his life and changes everything. They were one of those couples that just fit together so well I could envision them as a real couple, their chemistry was apparent right from the get go but it so wasn't a case of insta-love with these two. Their relationship was slow to build which I found surprising but the fact that the author was able to write a story spanning several weeks/months in such a short story was excellent and I wish I saw more authors take their time writing romances this way. Kepler was so sweet and a little brooding but it fit with him and his circumstances, he was smart too and he wasn't domineering and all alpha male which I loved seeing. Holly was funny, a little naïve, had some trust and control issues but those are some of the things I really liked about her because she was so normal.

 

I also really enjoyed the character's dialogue, both of them were funny and I loved how accurately the author was able to depict the awkwardness of certain situations that arose in the book, it seemed like a real love story that happened to two real people. Both had great personalities and I liked how they fit together as a whole. While the book was sweet at times when it counted things did get heated and I liked the way the author handled those situations.

 

Overall, I thought The Striker's Chance was funny, witty, realistic, charming and had a great pace and a really good storyline where soccer was actually a main element in the book and not something that is only mentioned once throughout. It had me smiling the whole time I read it and I'm really looking forward to reading more by Rebecca Crowley.

 

I would recommend this one to fans of contemporary romances with a sports theme and those who are looking for a shorter but well written story with two great characters with perfect chemistry.

 

 

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my free and honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are 100% my own.

 

I read this book for the following reading challenges:

 

2013 150+ Reading Challenge

2013 Sports Romance Reading Challenge

 

 Loved It!
★★★★★

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Play by Play (Play Makers #1) by Kate Donovan

Summary:

Former college football star Jake Dublin’s wildly popular sports blog also details his personal life. And lately it’s all about Sophie, the pretty young woman who just moved into his apartment building. His readers know her only as “Elevator Girl,” and they’re all rooting for Jake to score.

The blog posts and banter with his followers are all in good fun, and he fully intends to come clean with the woman he’s wooing and wowing. That is, until she confides that she grew up in a house full of jocks and even dated a few. Her verdict? Never again!

Jake knows he needs to confess. But somewhere along the line he fell in love with Sophie and can’t stand the thought of losing her. So he procrastinates, and blogs, and digs himself deeper into a hole, until it all leads to a showdown that’s so nail-biting, not even the best play-by-play guy could ever have seen it coming.
Summary & Cover taken from Goodreads.com
Length: 85 pages (E-book)
Source: NetGalley.com
Available Formats: E-book
Publication Date: September 9th 2013 by Beyond the Page

I'm going to be honest, since I got my Kindle up and running again I may or may not have relapsed on NetGalley. I also may or may not have gone crazy requesting some titles and I may or may not have been on the look out for new authors for me to read like Kate Donovan.

Since I decided to participate in the 2013 Sports Romance Reading Challenge I've been slacking but lately I've been trying to make progress with it so when I saw this was available on NetGalley, I downloaded anyway even though I was filled with trepidation since I don't have the best track record with novellas but recently I've been doing okay with them and I hoped my good streak would continue with this as well.

Unfortunately for me Play by Play just fumbled around for me. I didn't not like it but I didn't not not like it. It was one of those middle of the road novellas. My problem with the story was the characters. I liked the way that the story was told and the fact that Jake was a sports blogger who blogged about Elevator Girl (Sophie) was a neat way of setting up their romance but the characters and I just didn't vibe together.

Jake was sweet, I'll give him that but he was just so dull. I didn't find much to be excited about he's more of the guy friend not the boyfriend type. He was cute, sweet, mildly charming but I just didn't see the boyfriend potential that Sophie saw in him. As for Sophie, I didn't care for her much either. She was mediocre and far too insipid for my tastes. The girl couldn't make up her mind about anything and I didn't like the way she shut Jake out FOR NO REASON. But, I will say it added some much needed drama to the story. Plus, the chemistry between the two was there but I think it could have been expanded on and their sex scenes were just plain awkward and the dialogue was a little forced.

That being said, I didn't mind the novella as a whole. There were just 3 things I would have fixed and those were what I just mentioned. The actual premise of the novella was great and I enjoyed reading Jake's blog posts, and I really enjoyed that much of the story was told from his point of view (though it did alternate between him and Sophie). I thought it was so refreshing to see a romance from a mans perspective and I would love to see more romances written in the same way. Also, this was advertised as a sports romance and for once it turned out that sports were actually a big integral part of the over all story line not just some added in snippet so the author could say it was a sports romance.

Overall, this wasn't the best or the worst thing I've read this year but it' right in the middle. It was quick, and fun but there were some issues with it though it did have it's pros as well. I liked the fact that I was able to knock another new to me author off my list and I look forward to reading more by Kate Donovan soon.

I would recommend Play by Play to fans of contemporary romance and sports romances who are looking for a quick read in between novels. This would be a great little afternoon read while your relaxing after cleaning up or just in need of a little romance fix.

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my free and honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are 100% my own.

I read this book for the following reading challenges:

 

2013 150+ Reading Challenge

2013 Sports Romance Reading Challenge

 

 It Was Okay!
★★ 1/2

 

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