Review: Kickin’ It by Rachel Van Dyken
SYNOPSIS:
Love breaks the offside rule in New York Times bestselling author Rachel Van Dyken’s irresistibly sexy Red Card romance.
Successful, high-profile sports agent Matt Kingston thinks he can handle anything. Then soccer player Parker Speedman shows up at his door. She is young and gorgeous, has natural talent, and is looking for a team. She’s also a hothead with a punchy past who floored her last coach on live TV. Despite his misgivings, Matt agrees to be both her agent and her coach. Professional common sense says she’s off-limits. But what can he say about the raw attraction between them?
Parker plays soccer with her heart and soul. But after the events of the last year, she’s shaken. She’s already seen what a powerful man can do to a female athlete’s career. And her beloved dream is in the hands of a sexy, gorgeous man with the uncanny ability to slip past her defenses…and into her heart.
Now Matt and Parker are about to learn that when it comes to love, the only way to win is by breaking every rule they know. And by playing nice. Real nice.
REVIEW:
*Book Received In Exchange for Honest Opinion/Review*
I pride myself on writing honest reviews, and there isn’t much I don’t love about Rachel Van Dyken’s books, but this book was an absolute miss for me, and I am devastated. This didn’t have the playful charm, or the comedic banter to break up the heaviness of the story. But in addition, I felt so disconnected from these characters that I couldn’t feel anything towards them.
So Parker has some heavy drama in her past (i.e. trigger warning type of stuff) that she needs to work through. I think my problem with her as a character is she doesn’t grow or go through anything without Matt holding her hand. Matt made her feel better, Matt made her realize her self-worth, Matt yada-yada-yada. You get the idea and this made me mad beyond reason. For a character that is proclaimed to be strong and stubborn essentially use a man as a crutch to move past her trauma was something I couldn’t look past. As a soccer player, she was a rock star, as a character, she was fickle and weak.
I really adored Matt in Risky Play so I was excited when I saw that he was getting his own book. But I didn’t see the chemistry between Matt and Parker. The bromance between Matt, Slade, and Jagger was that had me in fits of giggles in the first book, was non-existent in this book. And the book needed these moments desperately because it was so dry and serious otherwise. While Willow and Jagger provided glimpses of lighter moods, it wasn’t enough to combat the drowning, dense story line.
I my classic nit-pick moments, condoms and protection are only discussed after sex….TWICE. And we all know by now how I feel about that (HATE IT). And the last thing that bothered me was the entire story line was predictable. Rachel is a master at the plot twist and I knew exactly how this story was going to play out at around 30% and to say I was disappointed by the lack of surprise was an understatement. This is not anywhere near Rachel’s best work.
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