Title: Just Friends: A Football Romance Story
Author: Amber Heart
Publication Date: February 16, 2018
Format: Ebook (Kindle Unlimited)
Grade: C-
This book was a disappointment in several ways. For one thing, there was barely any romance in this romance novel. The two main characters aren’t even friends at the start of the story, and I’d barely call them friends when they embark on a ‘Friends with Benefits’ type situation. So nothing I expected given the title and the summary on the store description was really met. It started off good enough, I was hopeful. The female characters seemed interesting, even if the male characters didn’t. I wasn’t too thrilled with the explicit nature of the boys talk but I suppose it’s the characters and what has become expected for ‘locker room talk’.
It became an issue however when it came to the love scenes which despite the talk before hand seemed oddly fade to black. This story felt rushed, to be honest. Like Ms. Heart had been asked to published something by a certain time and this is what she handed them. It had potential at the start, but seemed to lack as a cohesive whole. Perhaps some of her other novels will show up better.
I also found it bothersome that things would be mentioned, and then forgotten about. For example, early in the first chapters it mentions that Heath (the lead male character) had an ex-girlfriend. Their breakup is what caused him to have his views on relationships and goals. Yet it is never mentioned again. It felt like it was given the impression of being an important plot point when it turned out not to be.
Also at the end of the story, I found out it’s really a three-novella book. I didn’t feel the need to continue onto the other two stories which were not summarized in the description. I suppose had I really enjoyed this story, I would have been more pleasantly surprised than disappointed that the story ended when it felt like it was missing the story itself.
I also wonder what Kindle Unlimited’s suggestion algorithm is because its been giving me some bad suggestions this year. Maybe in the future I may read another of Ms. Heart’s works, but this one did not impress me.
Sokorra Lewis 