Stroked by Meghan Quinn

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Title: Stroked
Author: Meghan Quinn
Series: Stroked #1
Published by: Indie
Release Date: July 20, 2016
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 363
Genres: Contemporary, Romantic Comedy, Sports Romance
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2018 Beat the Backlist Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon
My rating:

Blurb:

Reese King: Olympic medalist, underwear model, Greek god.

His body is chiseled from rock, sculpted by the weight room, and refined by water.

On a daily basis his skin is completely bare for everyone to see, tan and defined, only covered up by a minuscule piece of spandex. There is no denying his sex appeal.

I hate to admit it, but I’m head over heels infatuated with him.

There is one HUGE problem though. His achingly gorgeous abs, inked up arm, and cocky swagger belong to my boss, the high-profile, reality star bitch from hell and certified heinous human being, Bellini Chambers.

What I think is going to be an easy job assisting a glorified wench turns into a cluster f*ck of epic proportions.

DNF @ 38% — I was really excited for this one, since a) it was recommended by blogs I follow; and b) I LOVE the sport of swimming.  Unfortunately I was turned off almost immediately by the inclusion of a ridiculously over the top and horrific secondary character, Bellini.  I’m assuming she is modeled after Paris Hilton and Kardashians or something, but I actually abhor that kind of reality TV specifically b/c I don’t find people behaving badly to be either a) funny; or b) intriguing.  BUT, I figured, it’s just a secondary character, maybe it won’t be a big part of the story.  WRONG.  The author chose to occasionally throw in a chapter here and there from Bellini’s POV.  If I thought just observing her was cringe-worthy, it was nothing compared to reading her thoughts.  Now, I’m not judging anyone who found her hilarious, it’s merely a mismatch to my own sense of humour.  That’s just not the kind of comedy I enjoy, WHATSOEVER.

And I tried to push through b/c she *is* just a secondary character, but I wasn’t captivated by Reese or Paisley either.  Which is not to say they didn’t have endearing qualities…trust me, I’d have DNF’d much earlier if they hadn’t.  I would see these glimpses of depth and sweetness, and some of their interactions were really adorable.  But unfortunately just when I was thinking I was starting to like them, they would fall flat for me…and I would start to question what they were each attracted to in the other, besides the physical.  For me the strong focus on lust took away from any other connection they might have had.  Combine that with a slight edge of crassness to the humour involving their attraction to each other, and I just gave up.  And again, I’m probably just sensitive to it, I’m not saying it’s bad — just not for me.

I’m a bit bummed, b/c I love both swimming and Olympics and was looking forward to more of that, but when you’re avoiding reading your book, it’s time to throw in the towel.  I will check out another book by this author, as perhaps this one was just not right for me.  We’ll see.