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My Review:Title: Something So Unscripted
Author: Natasha Madison
Series: Something So #4
Published by: Indie
Release Date: March 31, 2018
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 231
Genres: Sports Romance, Romance, Contemporary
Potential Triggers: View Spoiler »
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge, Lenoreo's COYER With Friends
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:
Blurb:From the International Best Selling Series Something So
Zack
Finding my teammate in bed with my wife made the decision I had been fighting with for years easier.
It’s time to move on.
A fresh start and a new NHL team in a big city. Most importantly, it’s my son Jack’s best shot.
It would be both of our best shots.
Denise
After a bad childhood, I made sure I would succeed.
The problem is I die a little with each patient I lose. It’s part of my career at Hudson Children’s Oncology Hospital, but it doesn’t make the sting of loss any easier.
Seeking anything other than a life saved isn’t on my agenda until a NHL player walks into my hospital with his son.
We’re officially off script the moment we meet.
If this love is anything, it’s unscripted.
3.5 stars — After not enjoying the first book in the series as much, I skipped to this one because it was the one that initially piqued my interest. I think I might have been more critical if this had been my first book, but comparing it to book 1, the author has definitely improved. The writing wasn’t quite as clunky, and the characters were definitely easier to connect with.
While the writing was definitely better, I will note that there’s still room for improvement. She still uses odd words sometimes (like when he turned on the shower she wrote “He opens the water”). And her hockey knowledge still isn’t fantastic (if you’re a diehard fan, some things will irk you, but others won’t notice). And I hate to say this, but her steamy scenes were still kind of lackluster in the emotions department.
The biggest thing that didn’t work for me in the writing was when Denise was describing a traumatic event from her childhood to Zack. 1) It sounded ridiculous because it was written in story format, but was supposed to be dialogue. If the author had just tried to read that out loud with another person she would have seen that no one would speak in that way. 2) After describing this traumatic event, Zack didn’t really say anything, it was like it didn’t happen, and it quickly transitioned into a love scene…which felt kind of insensitive given the nature of the event.
On the whole Denise and Zack were okay characters. Denise started off pretty solid and I loved her sunny outlook and how affectionate she was with her family. By the end I was bummed about how unprofessional she was with Jack’s case. I don’t mind if it was harder for her since she was on the other side, but she came across almost stupid…it undermined how smart she seemed at first. Zack was pretty solid all the way through — I appreciated that he didn’t have any dickish moments, and I LOVED the way he loved his son.
I’m always going to be bummed when there has to be a villainous other woman in the story, and we got one in the ex-wife. At least it wasn’t as bad as book 1, but still made me sigh.
I found it hard to keep track of all the secondary characters if I’m being honest. If I’d read all the books, I doubt it would have been as hard, but there were a lot of M’s to keep track of (Matthew, Max, Michael). They were a pretty fun group on the whole though, and I loved how they supported one another. I also loved Zack’s Mom and Dad and how solid they were.
This review is probably seeming pretty meh, so you’re probably wondering why that extra half star. That’s all for Jack (Zack’s little boy). He was sweet, adorable, and my heart hurt for everything he was going through. Of all the relationships that developed in this story, I actually felt the one between Denise and Jack the most.
With that I’m going to write this author off as not a match for me. Too many things that I’m nitpicky about appear in her stories, and I just can’t get out of my own head for those, you know? Ah well.
I remember liking this one, but I can’t really remember it… I’m sorry this series hasn’t really been your thing. The weird thing is, I thought her writing got better as the series went on. But then some of her recent books have had some stilted writing parts like I’ve you said. Some of her books work for me and some don’t.
Her writing *definitely* improved in this book from the first one…which is always nice to see. I hope it keeps getting better! 🙂