Memphis by Ginger Scott

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Title: Memphis
Author: Ginger Scott
Published by: Indie
Release Date: February 23rd 2018
Format: Kindle Book, eARC
Pages: 287
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Sports Romance
Source: Wordsmith Publicity
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2018 #LetsReadIndie Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 New Adult Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 New Release Challenge, Lenoreo's COYER Winter Switch 2017/18
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks
My rating:

Blurb:

My mom always said it was just something about the way he moved.

The same swagger Archie Valentine wore in the ring when he took his opponents down followed him like a halo everywhere he went. But make no mistake about it—he was no angel. He was like a drug. My mother was his addict.

I never understood it…how love could make you blind and convince you to drink the poison. Not until I met Memphis Delaney.

At first, it was the familiar form. He’s a fighter, built like a god from the past, the kind of man the universe doesn’t make anymore. His eyes hide a story, and every time I’m in his presence I want to keep reading him until I get to the end. And then…there’s the way he moves. His boxing is violent but beautiful, and his body is a seductive weapon. When he’s in the ring, he wears the stare of a man committed to the battle until his very last breath.

He could end me; turn me into her. Too much of him will leave me as a shadow, and I’ve lost so much of myself already.

But I have discipline. It came the hard way. Lessons learned, scars left behind, and trust stripped away from life.

I will breathe his air, but I won’t fall for a man like him. The only boxer who’s ever going to break my heart is the one who gave me my name.

My Review:

I received a free copy through Wordsmith Publicity in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

3.5 stars — I love this author, but I had a hell of a time staying engaged in this book.  I honestly can’t tell if it was my mood, or the book, or perhaps a mix of the two (the book exacerbated by my mood).  I would find my mind wandering constantly, and I would have to reread and reread paragraphs and sentences.  If it hadn’t been an ARC, I probably would have set it aside and tried again another time.  Though quite honestly, I started a book right after I finished this one and had no such problems, so it was at least partially that the writing/plot wasn’t working for me.

I will say that I LOVED Memphis.  He was the shining light in this book.  He was such a sweet, almost adorkable hero.  I felt for his childhood, and for how it shaped him.  He was truly good and kind and dedicated, and I admired his drive.  I loved how sort of shy and awkward he was with Liv, but he was also persistent.  He made some missteps on occasion, but it didn’t take him long to course correct.

Liv was MUCH harder to love.  I think that’s a bit on purpose though.  It’s hard when she’s got this nasty streak that her Mom brings out in her.  I guess I understood it with her family, but I was saddened when she would also use it against Memphis in the beginning.  She was ungrateful, and rude to him at times.  I get that she was protecting herself, I’m just saying that apparently I was less forgiving with her.  But once she started letting him in, it got better.  I think Ms. Scott likes making her heroines harder to love.  Sometimes it pays off, sometimes the pay off is less big.  This was less big for me.

The chemistry was pretty good between Memphis and Liv, but Ms. Scott has done better in other books…I just wasn’t feeling a whole lotta tummy butterflies, you know?  What I did love was how solid I felt their relationship was at the end.  I loved their friendship chemistry.  I felt like they connected on a lot of levels that are often missing in the romances I’m reading, so this book excelled at that.  I think I just wished I felt the steamy chemistry a bit more, in a strange twist (since I’ve accused other books of focusing more on the steam, and less on the rest of the connections).

I felt like some plot threads got dropped, or that I didn’t get as much information about them, and when that happens I wonder why they’re introduced at all.  The Enoch stuff was odd…as was the court stuff.  The miscarriage too, why was that not addressed?  I feel like sometimes there are so many little other details that I start to get lost and confused and that can affect my enjoyment (mostly b/c I spend a lot of time waiting to find out more and not concentrating on what’s happening now).  The plot twist was interesting, but honestly I got a bit lost there as well…

One area where Ms. Scott always excels is in her sports descriptions.  No matter the sport, I always feel like she actually gives the sport and the athletes the respect and attention they deserve.  She doesn’t use it as some gimmick to get a hot muscular hero, she actually shows the dedication of the athletes, and she shows the good and bad sides of training and of the sport itself.  She makes the elements of the story where the sports are involved really engaging, and they’re often my favourite part.  I LOVED the fight at the end in this one.

I also really loved Miles.  He was a standout secondary character, and I loved his relationship with both Memphis, and then Olivia.  I was delighted with how his character was peppered throughout right until the very end.

So yeah.  A mixed bag for me unfortunately.  Ah well, some fit, some don’t.