Float My Boat
HARRI BEAUMONT
Synopsis:
All's fair in love and rowing, including fake dating your handsome friend, but when searing attraction burns through the ruse, Miri and Andrew find themselves in deep water. Hopefully they know how to swim …
Miri spends EVERY spare moment training, talking about rowing, or planning logistics to get to a race. She only hangs out with people who row because, when would she even have time for anything else? Which limits her dating options.
So when Theo, a delectable member of the men’s first crew she’s been sort-of dating seems more interested in casting his net wide, her friend and fellow rower, Andrew, proposes a they should fake date for the summer season—it's sure to drive Theo wild. She agrees because she doesn’t have any better ideas, and Andrew's tall, smart, and has an impressive six pack of his own; it's not like it'll be a chore.
But as regattas roll by and the plan begins to work, Miri realizes there are two things that make her stomach flip. One is lining up for a race, and the other isn't Theo. Which means her problems just got a whole lot worse because for Andrew, the arrangement is fake ... right?
Content:
Language: Mild and strong language throughout.
Violence: Mentions of parents dying and a brief fist fight. While not violence, a panic attack is also depicted.
Sex: Allusions to sex and sexual conversations (including about who has slept with who, and a brief mention of orgasms), several kisses, description/admiration of bodies, and two back-to-back explicit sex scenes. Given the pacing of the book, they're relatively short. The fake dating plot point created lots of romantic and sexual pining.
LGBTQ: A male side character is gay. Another male side character is bisexual.
My Review:
I was given a free digital ARC by the author in exchange for my review!
PROS:
- It was short and sweet, and it was a nice break from my usual fantasies.
- Miri was a pretty good character. She was the most developed and I appreciated her journey as she figured out her life.
- She and Andrew had some really cute moments!
- The writing was easy and simple to read.
- I haven't read a lot of sports romances, but usually they're hockey or football. The rowing angle was fun and refreshing.
- I actually loved the fake-dating! I think I need to reconsider my stance on the trope—it's growing on me.
CONS:
- It felt more like a novella than a full novel. Which is fine, but I didn't go in prepared for a novella so the pacing was off in my head. Everything needed to be developed a little bit more.
- I wish we'd gotten to know Andrew more. For the whole book he felt kind of distant.
- The characters also read a lot younger than they were for the majority of the book (they are stated to be in their thirties, but it felt more like early twenties to me).
- Because the book felt more YA than NA/Adult, the steamy scenes also felt like they came out of nowhere—they were actually well-written, it just felt odd.
- It ended so abruptly! I would have loved at least one more chapter, or even an epilogue.
- I think the author is setting up for a series, since there were a lot of unanswered questions about the side characters.