Gokce G's Reviews > The Striker's Chance

3.5 stars

I think I love sports centered contemporary romances more and more, and when they involve a sport I know about, all the better. Now, I'm not a huge fan, but I do like my soccer. I know its rules and I love to watch a competitive game, so this book, with its on field pages, was enjoyable for me.

Holly Taylor is the PR manager for a small town soccer team, and her new assignment is the thirty year-old South African striker Kepler de Klerk. With the previous sports contemporary I've read and loved, The Winning Season, I truly believe that a PR manager and a sports player make a good, balanced couple. On the one hand you have the manager trying to salvage a reputation gone bad, and on the other, you have the player who's really a good guy acting the part of the bad boy. It makes the story fun, this kind of relationship, and it makes way for possible sub plots.

In addition to the general plot, I also liked the characters, although in Holly's case, the love wasn't exactly at first sight. Don't get me wrong, I liked her, but for the first one third of the story I found her a tiny bit hard to relate to. I couldn't understand her character fully and that worried me for a while, but thankfully with more page time, I was able to overcome this problem.

Now, Kepler was another story. I took a liking to him instantly. He was a man who knew what hardship was, and he was very open about what he wanted or what he thought. With the exception of the car accident in his past that rattled his psyche, he was an open book. He was honest with his feelings towards Holly, and I found him sweet both as a man and as a partner.

The general plot was good, there were a few flashback scenes that confused me but for a second because they weren’t clearly marked, but since this was an advance copy, this might not even be an issue for the published version.

A fun book with likable characters that mingles sports with romance that I'm sure would be enjoyed by all who love this genre.