Title: Slam
Author: Holly S. Roberts
Series: Completion #4
Genre: Romance, Adult, Sports, Suspense, 18+
Source: ARC
Pages: 210
Rating: 3 stars
Available
at:
Blurb:
(via Goodreads)
Olivia Stradmore,
daughter to Senator Jonathan Stradmore, has one goal in life—win her fifth
grand slam tennis title in as many years.
Olivia doesn’t have time for problems with a stalker who disapproves of her less than modest life choices. She enjoys the occasional tennis pro in bed, short skirts, and the chance to allow her wild side out.
Her dreams take a turn when her stalker, known only as Ty, runs over her with a van and puts her in the hospital. Ty will stop at nothing to possess what he covets.
Enter bodyguard Brack Jacobs—hair too long, attitude too uptight, and body too damn hot.
Brack has a job to do and sleeping with a target is not in the target’s best interest. Doesn’t matter that Olivia is sexy as hell and bent on adding a notch to her bedpost with Brack’s name on it.
Life is not as straightforward as it seems and deadly consequences await them both.
Can Olivia change Brack’s mind and turn a spark of desire into a raging inferno? Will Brack survive the flames or would slam, bam, thank you ma’am be his safest bet?
Olivia doesn’t have time for problems with a stalker who disapproves of her less than modest life choices. She enjoys the occasional tennis pro in bed, short skirts, and the chance to allow her wild side out.
Her dreams take a turn when her stalker, known only as Ty, runs over her with a van and puts her in the hospital. Ty will stop at nothing to possess what he covets.
Enter bodyguard Brack Jacobs—hair too long, attitude too uptight, and body too damn hot.
Brack has a job to do and sleeping with a target is not in the target’s best interest. Doesn’t matter that Olivia is sexy as hell and bent on adding a notch to her bedpost with Brack’s name on it.
Life is not as straightforward as it seems and deadly consequences await them both.
Can Olivia change Brack’s mind and turn a spark of desire into a raging inferno? Will Brack survive the flames or would slam, bam, thank you ma’am be his safest bet?
My Review:
I was in the mood for a Romance novel, so
when I had the opportunity to read Slam in exchange for a review, I took it. I
don’t mention it a lot, but the Sport genre is actually pretty high on my
interest list, and sadly, I don’t read it enough. So, that was another reason I
was really excited to read Slam.
Let’s start with my loves. I loved that the
main character, Olivia, is a sassy, confident woman that has no understanding
of the word ‘shy’. She knows what she wants, *cough* Brack *cough*
and she has no issues asking, begging, and demanding him. Saying that, I love
that Brack was an Alpha male, to Olivia’s Alpha female personality. I love that
he refuses to give her what she wants, but he isn’t afraid to admit he wants it
too. The main characters and their development was definitely this novel’s
strongest aspect. For the most part, they were extremely well established and
they developed nicely with the plot. Saying that, I was a little disappointed
on how flat every other character was. They were mentioned briefly, had little
to say, and were only brought up when convenient. Unfortunately, that also
includes the stalker.
And speaking of the stalker, I felt that it
was such an integral part of the novel that was massively underplayed. Much
like the other secondary characters, he only appeared when convenient. Starting
right at the beginning, I felt like I was coming into the story half way
through. I would have really enjoyed seeing the build up of the stalkers
actions, but instead, I walked into the book right as the stalker got straight
to deathly violent. I would have like to see Olivia’s reactions when the
stalker first started to contact her, and see how those reactions changed and
developed all the way through.
Just as I felt the beginning was a little
too rushed, I also felt that the ending was a little rushed as well. It felt extremely
out of place, and it also felt as though it came out of left field. More hints
pertaining to who Brack is, or rather who his family is, would have been ideal
for the ending to make more sense. Additionally, I believe the author intended
a joke at the end of the novel (toward Brack and her father), but it played out
very awkward, confusing, out of place, and a little crazy white-girl for my
taste. The ending was definitely the weakest part of the novel. I think that 50
pages could have been added to both the beginning and the end to take away the
rushed feeling, and I would have felt a lot more comfortable with the novel as
a whole.
Lastly, one of the reasons I was so excited
about this book was because of the entire sport aspect. However, there wasn’t a
lot of tennis going on at all. HOWEVER, the author does give reasons for this
fact, and she does bring attention to those reasons so the reader understands what
is going on. So, while I was a little disappointed, I entirely understood it as
a creative choice and I didn’t let my disappointment take away from my rating.
So overall, while the beginning and ending
of the novel were very rushed, the middle of the novel was well established and
ran at a good pace. I loved the details and the dialogue that was included in
the plot, which really saved the book in my opinion. The main characters were
amazing and fun to read, but I would have liked to read about the other
secondary characters in more depth. And the ending? Eh, not the best I’ve read.
I wish that I had read the other books in the series so I could have had a
better understanding of the authors writing style, and to see if any of those
secondary characters had more of a lead role else where. However, I didn’t have
that opportunity, so I have to give this book a 3/5.
