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A review by maggiemaggio
Love in Straight Sets by Rebecca Crowley
3.0
This is a really difficult book for me to review because I am a big tennis fan. Since I am such a big tennis fan I can tell you that virtually nothing in this book that relates to tennis is accurate. Not the scoring, not the tournaments (which is fine), not the level of publicity tennis players' attract (at one point the main character is just wondering around the grounds of a major tournament which IRL would led to a stampede), not the nationality of the players (which at this time in the game are mostly continental Europeans), or really anything else. So for accuracy to the sport of tennis I give this book zero stars.
Then there's the characters in the book. At the beginning of the story, when I was rolling my eyes at all the tennis stuff, I was not a fan of Regan, the main female character. She is so cold, rude, and dismissive and Rebecca Crawley doesn't do a very good job providing us with Regan's background so I couldn't even force myself to feel sympathetic towards her. But, as the story, went on I found myself warming up to Regan, even though I never felt like I knew her that well. I was rooting for her in the end though.
Ben, the male character in the book, brings up some mixed emotions for me. In many ways I really like him. He's a former teenage tennis star who dropped out of the game after his father stole all his money and got Ben in trouble with the law. Ben ended up going to college and coaching teenagers, but he's been brought in as a last resort to help Regan win The Baron's, a Wimbledon-like tournament, that's her last chance at a major tournament before she retires. Regan is notorious for rapidly going through coaches, but Ben, with his mellow personality and good looks is good at disengaging Regan and breaking through her barriers.
I really enjoyed watching Regan and Ben get to know each other and how Regan came out of her shell and acted more normal around Ben, that was by far the best part of the story. But, and maybe it's just the #yesallwomen stuff I've been bombarded with this last week, but Ben's comments about Regan's body and the things he wants to do to her (the story is told through Ben and Regan's alternating perspectives) made me uncomfortable. In the end I do think he respects her as a woman and as an athlete, but still his comments rubbed me the wrong way.
Bottom Line: I could probably easily give this book two stars, but I'm giving it three because I did become really interested in Regan and I liked Ben throughout, minus his comments about Regan. Plus their romance was fun and enjoyable to read about and I suppose that is the whole point of the book. (Because it's certainly not tennis.)
I received an electronic review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley (thank you!). All opinions are my own.
Then there's the characters in the book. At the beginning of the story, when I was rolling my eyes at all the tennis stuff, I was not a fan of Regan, the main female character. She is so cold, rude, and dismissive and Rebecca Crawley doesn't do a very good job providing us with Regan's background so I couldn't even force myself to feel sympathetic towards her. But, as the story, went on I found myself warming up to Regan, even though I never felt like I knew her that well. I was rooting for her in the end though.
Ben, the male character in the book, brings up some mixed emotions for me. In many ways I really like him. He's a former teenage tennis star who dropped out of the game after his father stole all his money and got Ben in trouble with the law. Ben ended up going to college and coaching teenagers, but he's been brought in as a last resort to help Regan win The Baron's, a Wimbledon-like tournament, that's her last chance at a major tournament before she retires. Regan is notorious for rapidly going through coaches, but Ben, with his mellow personality and good looks is good at disengaging Regan and breaking through her barriers.
I really enjoyed watching Regan and Ben get to know each other and how Regan came out of her shell and acted more normal around Ben, that was by far the best part of the story. But, and maybe it's just the #yesallwomen stuff I've been bombarded with this last week, but Ben's comments about Regan's body and the things he wants to do to her (the story is told through Ben and Regan's alternating perspectives) made me uncomfortable. In the end I do think he respects her as a woman and as an athlete, but still his comments rubbed me the wrong way.
Bottom Line: I could probably easily give this book two stars, but I'm giving it three because I did become really interested in Regan and I liked Ben throughout, minus his comments about Regan. Plus their romance was fun and enjoyable to read about and I suppose that is the whole point of the book. (Because it's certainly not tennis.)
I received an electronic review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley (thank you!). All opinions are my own.