Reviews with content warning for Death - Simply the Best

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Simply the Best by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

4 reviews

intensej's review against another edition

lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No

2.5

The only thing I liked about this book were the references to Chicago and luxury chocolates. Although this book claims it is a romance, it felt more like women's fiction to me. The mystery was subpar, and it was clearly just there to drive the plot forwards. When the killer is finally revealed, it felt so arbitrary and random. The book had fade to black sex scenes, so all of the chemistry between Rory Meadows and Brett River (sports agent to Rory's professional football player half-brother) had nowhere to go. Sports romance fans should skip this book.

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readingwithjessica_w's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Some books peak early, but Simply the Best was a book that got better and better the more I read. As a writer, Susan Elizabeth Phillips excels at her craft. She chooses the perfect words for her dialogue and her characters’ thoughts and it’s so lovely reading a novel with that amount of attention to language.

This book opened with a one-night stand and quickly devolved into an enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity story where Rory, sister to a famous Chicago footballer, and Brett, his agent, unwillingly team up when they encounter an unfortunate murder. To be honest this really threw me. I was not expecting a heavy dose of who-dunnit in my romance and was initially worried. The murder didn’t in my mind seem to do much to evolve the romance except that it did force some characters to interact in ways they never would have otherwise. But I found myself really loving the family dynamics and forced proximity between Kristen and Rory, and Rory and Brett.

This was where SEP hit her sweet spot (pun intended), using the differences between the characters to draw them even closer to one another. Rory’s failure as a sweet shop owner is likened to Kristen’s failure as a stepmom and Brett’s failure to be anything other than a workaholic. I think the family dynamic was my favorite aspect of the book, surprisingly even more so than the romance. Although this definitely does has elements of a romance (a HEA, character conflict), I think this book might fit more squarely into women’s fiction—nothing wrong with that, but the romance aspect was just one part of the overall storytelling. As I mentioned, the story just got better and better the more I read. I found myself appreciating characters who initially I didn’t like or who gave a bad first impression and I loved the banter between Rory and Brett, especially the texts towards the end of the book (so simple and yet so funny). And the descriptions of chocolate? I could just imagine Rory’s truck and her bonbons—the descriptions made me salivate. This is book 10 in the Chicago Stars series but can easily be read as a standalone. I’d love to go back and read some of the earlier books because the world these characters emerged from is such an interesting one. I received an advanced copy from Avon and NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

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torilovesheas's review against another edition

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funny mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

SEP can write a phenomenal rom com. I know because I’ve read them. She’s been a staple in the genre (with good reason) for decades and her signature humor is always front and center no matter how many releases she puts out.

Unfortunately, I didn’t care for this one. I LOVED the premise of a surly sports agent falling for client’s sister. And the humor was spot on like usual. (The bit where they stumble on to a backwoods nowhere camp of gun toting idiots as Rory calls them was hysterical).

But these characters didn’t have the lovable qualities I’ve come to expect in The Chicago Stars series. Rory is too immature and wishy washy about her life. Brett is too full of stoic machismo. There were moments where I wondered if they were even romantically interested in each other because the chemistry wasn’t there.

And plot wise, for a story that centers around Rory’s brother’s ex girlfriend being found murdered at his house, there’s too many other plot lines going on at the same time to make this a satisfying read. Clint (Rory’s brother) mopes because his agent and his sister saved him from an admittedly disaster in the making relationship. Kristin, Rory’s sort of awful step mother, gets her own romance subplot that took up way too much of our time. And honestly, after reading about her being a verbally and emotionally abusive mother figure to Rory because Rory wasn’t her biological child (even though she raised her from age 5!!), I didn’t need to see her redeemed, forgiven, or end up with a happy ending. Her POV is pretty awful in how she talks and thinks about Clint like he’s the special one because he’s HER child. And poor Rory, whose only sin was not being her biological child, had to deal with her emotional abuse for years. No thank you.

There’s agent meetings and recruitment parties and a sorta kinda “we’ll just investigate this ourselves” subplot that was jumbled and grew clunky and choppy after so much skipping around.

And the romance really gets lost in all of that plus the internal pity party every character seems intent on having.

An initially promising but unfortunately flat entry into a beloved series.

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sarahsthoughtsonbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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