2.5 stars rounded down. I was intrigued by the premise as swimming is rarely the focus of a sports romance and I swam competitively when younger, but…
Firstly, this was quite short and feels rushed.
The MCs were likeable and I liked Fallon & Remy together, but the enemies-to-lovers stage was brief, bordering on instalove. As such, we didn’t get the chance to see their relationship grow, and the MCs are never fully realised (they were just one way one minute, then a fully together couple the next). There was a bit of suspense and sub plot, but again, this was rushed and a bit nonsensical (eg. how on earth did Emerson meet F’s Dad? How did the Dad escape prison??).
There were just too many tangents left underdeveloped and not in a good ‘oh I can’t wait for the next book to address these’ way. Rather, it started to feel like the author had included them just to tick off another trope on a marketing checklist. Whether the poor parent/child relationships, the stepsibling issue (‘I fell in love with my stepbrother’ = umm, no, you fell in love with a guy who later became your stepbrother); the elite sports training/mentality and team dynamics that were touched on in the first third then suddenly disappeared, etc etc… and how the parents’ decision to marry without letting either’s family know… so much that could have been expanded and developed into a richer story, but was just dropped and another sex scene thrown in instead.
The earliest spice scenes between the FMC & MMC were also blurry in terms of dubcon/NC.
Oh and here’s a PSA: if ever someone needs CPR, and/or has drowned, don’t just hang out with them - they need a hospital ED, immediately (there’s a little thing called secondary drowning, especially, to worry about).
On a similar note, if someone is losing consciousness from blood loss from a stab wound (and only a few pages later, described as being in & out of consciousness for a few days & hospitalised for that very reason), having rough sex in a pool of blood is not hot & sexy, but life threatening.
Also, the MMC saying ‘you’re on the shot’ is not a discussion of safe sex!
Lastly, there were a few misspelled and missing words (better proofreading required).
Conflicted as to whether I’ll give the next book a chance when it comes out… I’m intrigued by the MCs but don’t want to be let down again… hopefully it’ll have a good editor…