Love Lessons by Sarina Bowen

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Title: Love Lessons
Author: Sarina Bowen
Series: Brooklyn #7, Brooklyn Bruisers #12
Published by: Indie
Release Date: July 12, 2022
Format: eARC
Pages: 298
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Sports Romance
Source: the author
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2022 COYER Summer
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

He needs an image makeover, she needs a mojo upgrade. A new lessons-in-seduction hockey romance from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Sarina Bowen.

After I’m arrested for throwing a raucous party, my hockey team says I have an image problem. And I need to fix it, stat.
Charity work? Check. Haircut? Sure. But I draw the line at hiring my neighbor to style me. In the first place “style” shouldn’t be a verb. And I’m tired of people who’d judge me on appearances.

Vera and I don’t see eye to eye on anything. She wants me to try on clothes, while I just want to remove hers. She's distractingly pretty, with soulful eyes and a sinful mouth that likes to argue with me.

But when management threatens my summer vacation, I grudgingly agree to Vera’s unusual proposal: she’ll give me an image makeover. But in return, she wants lessons in the art of seduction.

It sounds a little nutty, but I know a good opening when I hear it. Besides, it’s not like I’ll ever fall for her…

My Review:

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

3.5 stars — I was worried about starting this book, b/c I was getting over COVID and I didn’t want my brain fog to ruin my reading experience, you know?  But I should have trusted Ms. Bowen more, she seems to be able to cut through so much of that and always suck me in.  Vera and Ian were interesting and fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed their journey.

I will admit that I ended it feeling like I wanted something slightly more from them.  I definitely enjoyed their story, don’t get me wrong, but there were moments or circumstances where, personally, I just wanted…well, more.  I’ve read quite a few books recently where a character struggles with their dyslexia, and while it doesn’t take over the book, I feel like it’s a stronger part of the character than it was with Crikey.  With Ian, it felt tacked on…something to make him feel like a dumb jock, but there were opportunities to connect with him and I didn’t experience it.  There was Vera’s struggles with self-esteem and the very real struggle of achieving orgasm with a partner.  And that was kind of glossed over too…maybe it’s because, again, I’ve recently read a book that took a different track on it that I felt a little shortchanged with Vera’s journey.  *shrugs*

Vera’s self-esteem issues definitely got some spotlight, and I appreciated the uniqueness of her story — how her fascination with fashion came to be, how dressing well and looking her best stemmed from something deeper.  But she had a pretty strong inner critic, and I kind of wish we’d seen more of her own personal journey to quiet that voice.

And with Ian, we definitely got to see his struggles with some major events in his professional life that were affecting his mental health.  I feel like we actually got to see more of his journey to healing, and I appreciated that.  Especially since it still fit with who he was (very guy-guy).

In general, I think the opposites attract trope worked pretty well in this story.  I felt their genuine caring for one another, and they definitely had steamy chemistry.  I did feel their deeper connection, but personally I wanted a bit more from that.

As always, one of the strengths of this series is the cast of secondary characters.  Seeing couples I already fell in love with farther along on their HEA is always delightful.  And seeing their friendships with one another just makes my heart so happy.  Was especially excited to see more Doulie in this one, that was a surprise for me.

One of the things I really love about this series (and most series by Ms. Bowen) is that the main characters are VERY different from one story to the next.  So even though I may not have connected with these two quite as strongly, I know they are going to hit with someone else.  It’s kind of fun to have favourites, and be surprised by which ones those end up being.  And have them be different from reader to reader.  Basically, she writes something for everyone.

Side note: I LOVE that moment where you understand where the cover comes from.  I totally smiled to myself when I could fit it in to a specific moment.