Book Review Genre: Sports Romance

Disclaimer: Reading is all about exploring new worlds, but this Book Review does not shy away from spoiling specific scenes as this is more of my free-flowing thoughts about a book.

The Analysis:

You’re Invited, sent me into a small reading slump. I must’ve went through five books before I settled on reading this one. Annnd it went, okay. But, let’s book review it. First, follow me on Goodreads.

Here’s The Blurb:

A toxic ex.
A girl who lost herself.
A childhood friend helping her find the way back.

When Hailey finally ends her relationship with her narcissistic ex-boyfriend, she thinks all her troubles have ended. But what she doesn’t realize is that the wounds he inflicted aren’t on her skin, but in the way she sees herself. And the only person capable of helping her heal has been in her corner all her life.

Jax has had a soft spot for the younger Porter sister ever since his family moved into their neighborhood. It feels like the most natural thing in the world to go from helping her with math homework, to holding her hand through a rough breakup years later. But as he starts to show her how beautiful and worthy she already is, he himself starts to notice the incredible woman that she grew up to be.

While Hailey struggles to balance finding her strength with navigating her budding attraction to her older sister’s best friend, Jax has to decide if his new feelings for Hailey are helping or hurting her journey.

Can Jax and Hailey start something new while the past is hovering over their heads? Or will Hailey’s scars hurt them both?

Cover Critique:

It’s kinda basic for this genre. It hits all the marks. However, I can’t say that anything in particular stands out about it. This book is really popular on booktube and that’s how it came to my attention.

Now The Story:

Book Info:
Pages: 486
Author: Nikki Castle
Available: Amazon

This author is very self-aware. She clearly did a lot of research into verbal abuse and men with traits of Narcissism. Maybe that’s why I felt like in parts, the story was very paint by numbers. Like she didn’t want to miss anything, but it was obvious and less natural. She was overly explaining why the main character was choosing to stay in an abusive relationship. Now, this might be helpful to a woman stuck in the same situation that doesn’t know the signs or even a female that can’t understand ignoring them. Everyone else, might be a bit meh on it. Not that it’s not heartfelt because it’s very visceral and real, just that it is not new either and it’s a lot of explanation.

What did surprise me was the breaking down of this relationship. First let me acknowledge: Not every relationship has to end in physical abuse. However, I’ve heard plenty of stories where this quiet whisper of a ending is still unexpected. Like needing to get a restraining order, leaving because they learn the guys been secretly tracking their phones or cars, or learning about life altering lies like the tire blowout that brought them together was no accident. Or simply being replaced after being considered to insolent with a ready made gf stepford wife style. You know, the kinds of things that end up on reddit lol. But I’m sure this break up was just as realistic as the ones mentioned above. And someone will see themselves and be able to relate without the sensational ending.

Then we’re off to part 2. This book is titled, My Best Friends Sister and I was still surprised that Jax was our hero. For whatever reason, I never made the connection. Also, I think the interpretation of the title is a loose one. For instance, the sister in this book is not really the heros sister but a long time friend that he grew up with that he sees as a sister.

Meanwhile, our connection to the abusive ex is severed. He shows up occasionally, but he’s not a big villain in the second half of the book. It’s primarily about our couple. Which is not a bad thing. However, it does fall flat for me. This story ends up just being an average read. Together, our pair is too cute, but we lose the angst and emotion that connected me to the story in the first place. Her emotional recovery is far too…casual…easy.

This book is a steamy romance. Our couple do not have sex right away. I enjoyed the sexual tension, but it was short lived. They hit the sack a couple chapters later despite his declaration that he would hold out for her good. But shrugs, I skipped over the sex scenes when they happened anyway, out of personal preference. But it was during these tense moments that I felt the most chemistry versus when they were just hanging out sadly.

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Book Review At A Glance:

Recommendation:  3 out of 5

Book Cover Appeal:

🍓🍓🍓

Story & Narration:

🍓🍓🍓

Romance:

🍓🍓🍓

Character/(s) Personality:

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