Contract Season

Trade Season #2

by Cait Nary

A heartbroken hockey player and an up-and-coming country music star fake it for the cameras (or do they?) in Cait Nary’s delightfully sexy new novel.

Brody Kellerman has a plan. First, become the best defenseman in professional hockey. Second, get over his ex-boyfriend so he can focus on his game. Hooking up with the singer at his buddy’s wedding was the perfect solution, but it was never meant to be more than a one-night stand.

Seamus Murry has never planned a thing in his life, including hooking up with a smoking-hot hockey player. Being ghosted sucks, but at least one good thing came from it—the breakout hit song of the summer. Now he’s one of country music’s brightest stars, but one slipup—or in this case, video—might cost him his career.

When their video goes viral, Brody and Seamus agree to fake a relationship. But soon it's impossible to remember what is real and what's pretend, and although Brody has no intention of falling for freewheeling Seamus's charm…life doesn't always go according to plan.

Genres: Romance, Hockey, Sports, M M Romance, Sports Romance, LGBT, Contemporary

375 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 6, 2022

Reviews

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Carina Press for providing a free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
===
I really enjoyed the first book in this series and was really looking forward to this one, but unfortunately, I can't say that I enjoyed it.

The writing, technically speaking, was solid, but I just could not get into the characters or relationship here. The entire book is incredibly frustrating, and partially that's because I do think the author does a good job writing both Brody and Sea's various issues and anxieties. They both have difficulty communicating with one another, and Sea in particular, is very self-conscious about his lack of experience, and gives off a lot of mixed messages. Brody is understandable confused, but I was confused, because I felt like the entire narrative kept trying to paint Brody as this amazing, understand, perfect guy, and I actually found his actions to be often pretty inconsiderate, and how I saw him just didn't match with what I kept being told. To be perfectly honest, by the end of the book, I legitimately did not think they should be together--I felt the author did a better job showing why they weren't a good fit than making me believe in them. They spend almost the entire book in a constant state of various miscommunication, and while it might actually be realistic/believable, it just didn't make for an enjoyable reading experience.

It's also relatively low steam--they essentially have sex at the beginning, then there's an entire book of frustrating miscommunication, and then they have sex at the end. It made sense for the story, but since I didn't particularly enjoy the story being told... Personally, I'm not a big fan of music books, either, and despite this being slanted as a sport book, the music focus was far more present IMO, with very little hockey. I don't want detailed hockey play info, but I had gone into this expecting more of a sports romance and I got more of a music romance.

So yeah, this one really didn't work for me, which is a bummer, because I really enjoyed book one! I'll certainly still be keeping my eye out for other books by this author, as I'm hopeful this is just an instance of a particular story really not working for me and not an overall mismatch of vibe.

[anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

rep: gay mcs, Indian American side character, aro side character, achillean side characters

Review also posted on Reads Rainbow. ARC provided by the publisher.

Everyone always has their own checklist that needs to be all filled out for a book to be considered a good romance. That’s why it is so difficult to be at all objective when rating romance novels: everyone will find something else romantic. And well written.

For me that list goes as follows: fleshed out, likeable characters; amazing chemistry between the leads; a lot of pining (no pain, no gain, my lads!!); ridiculous set-up but in a cool, ‘might actually happen, maybe’ way. Contract Season checks all of those, and more!

I really thought Nary’s debut novel would be my favourite romance forever, and then she went and outdid herself with this one! Every single thing about this book is tailored perfectly to my taste (and I dare say a lot of other people who grew up reading fan fiction.) (Yes, I keep bringing up fics every time I review a romance, but that’s only because I’m aware that good fan fiction is actually the pinnacle of romance to which all published romances should aspire.)

Contract Season takes the premise of fake dating and brings to life all its best features. It understood the assignment. If you need one book to explain to someone what the fake dating trope is all about, you should just use Contract Season. Because despite what some readers think, it’s not enough for the two people to pretend to date. Especially when they were strangers beforehand, which seems to be a common trope recently. There needs to be tension! It needs to be completely unbearable for the characters that they can touch the other in public, but not in private. It needs to be soulcrushing for them that they can kiss their ‘partner’ while on a date somewhere, but not do anything else when no one is looking.

In this particular case it’s even better: the sexual tension manages to remain unresolved, despite the fact that the couple does sleep with each other in the first chapter. That’s the magic of fake dating, though! Whatever propelled you to have sex for real at first clearly doesn’t count anymore, because now you’re just pretending to be into the other person for the public. It makes sense in their minds! And it’s a testament to how talented a writer Nary is that it does.

The thing is, Nary’s writing might seem simple at first glance, but it’s that simplicity that’s brilliant. Because it allows her to pierce you right through the heart with a single line you were absolutely not expecting. It’s extremely detail oriented and focused on the smallest changes in emotions. The (gay) devil truly is in the details.

Contract Season is undoubtedly one of the best romances of recent years, and it’s fascinating to think what Nary might gift us next. Whether you know a single thing about hockey or not, this has to be on your radar. You can thank me later.

[Bascal · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love giving writers second chances, so I snatched up this book hoping for the best. First times writers can stumble in the beginning and then get settled in their second book.
This was NOT the case with this book. I'm sorry to say that this one was worse than the debut novel.

I came to the conclusion that this author is just not adept at handling the topics she insists on writing about, and the whole book has an inauthentic, forced air to it.

The technical side of her writing is good, clear and crisp, but her pacing is just SO BAD. It just doesn't hook and I found myself skimming listlessly. The author overly depends on serious subjects like mental health issues and homophobia to give depth to the story, but absolutely fails to build a narrative to support those topics or give a satisfying read.

Just a complete meh of a book. I know I actually didn't pay for the book, thank god, but I came away feeling like when I'm super hungry and pay for a good meal and then it's just horrible and I'm SO disappointed....
I need a new hockey book with depth and sensitivity PLEASE LORD

[Bizzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The setup in this book is interesting and subverts the fake dating and forced outing tropes by having the characters fake date after they’re already at odds with each other and have been “outed” for a relationship that doesn’t really exist. Unfortunately, however, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

This book felt like I was reading a compiled fanfic serial and is an example of how applying genre expectations for fanfic/original fic to books often does not work. I’m not using fanfic as a pejorative; many fic writers are just as talented as the best published writers. But fanfic undeniably has different expectations for both authors and readers that can clash with expectations in other formats.

The characters in this book don’t get together until the last section of the last chapter – 93% of the way through the story. They have one conversation about how they’re finally ready to try being in a relationship -- not even that they love each other or are certain about being together, just that they're ready to try a real relationship instead of a fake one. Then they have sex and there’s an epilogue set a few months later to reassure you they’ve now worked out all their issues and fallen in love (off-page). The end!

This is pretty typical fanfic pacing but atypical romance book pacing. Fic is often written in a community of people thinking about the same characters or character archetypes who want to iterate out various scenarios for those characters so they can explore how the characters would react to being in that scenario, with readers filling in details based on what they already know about the characters/archetypes. Many of these scenarios are complete as soon as the characters enter a romantic relationship, because reader enjoyment comes from consuming the characters’ angst about wanting (or not wanting) to be together in serial installments read days, weeks, or months apart. Stories about what an established romantic relationship between the characters/character archetypes looks like are often a completely separate thing. For these reasons, if you write a fic that ends as soon as the characters admit their feelings, you’re safely within the bounds of genre expectations and the average reader isn’t going to be surprised by that pacing.

The average romance book reader, on the other hand, is not going to be satisfied by a story where the characters are together for exactly one scene and don’t work out any of their problems. Romance book readers have an expectation that characters will talk through their problems on-page, and that if (for example) a character is shown feeling uncomfortable about sex due to inexperience, he and his partner will be shown working through that issue in the book.

That’s not to say romance book readers are right and fic readers are wrong, or even that authors of romance books should be required to satisfy existing genre expectations. But I do think it’s the reason why the majority of reviews for this book, as of the time I’m writing this, mention being unsatisfied by the pacing: They wanted to see the characters together for more than one scene, and they wanted to see the characters working through some of their issues before the book ended. It just isn’t satisfying to learn in an epilogue that Sea is no longer uncomfortable with his and Brody’s sexual dynamic because they worked through it in the months between the last chapter and the epilogue.

The other major issue that seems like a fic vs. book problem is Brody’s lack of personality. Both he and Sea mostly have the personality of “horny overthinker” (they’re almost unbearably horny for each other), but Sea has more background – we learn more about his childhood, his family, the start of his career, and his professional relationships. Brody is just Serious Hockey Defenseman sad about a recent breakup (the ex-boyfriend isn’t given a personality, either). The problem is, because I don’t regularly read hockey fic, Serious Hockey Defenseman is not an archetype that already exists in my head. I don’t have a pre-existing set of character traits to apply to Brody, or any other character in a hockey romance; I need the author to supply those for me. If I regularly read hockey fic, I might be glad Nary hadn’t spent time on character description I’ve read in dozens of other works. But I don’t, so instead I was frustrated that all Brody does in the book is think about Sea’s legs and lips, and how he shouldn’t want to do things with them but does anyway.

The book is also extremely repetitive in ways that are probably necessary for something published serially but bog down a book. The same basic ideas are told to us over and over, always in the form of the characters ruminating on them, but they rarely evolve and we almost never see how they play out in the real world. For example, we’re told repeatedly that Sea was an awkward teenager and is now hot and doesn't know how to deal with that or the expectations people have because of his appearance. But we don’t really see examples of how people interact with him, we just know he gets a lot of people sliding into his DMs. This could have been an interesting conflict to play out – Sea wondering if Brody is attracted to him for more than just his looks – but instead Brody figures it out after one conversation and that’s that.

The book also tends to have the non-POV character in important scenes rehash the entire scene in their next POV chapter by ruminating over their actions. Oddly, however, reactions to key things seem to be missing. We know Sea writes a song about getting ghosted after their very first hookup, but the song is never described. Although I’m extremely thankful I wasn’t subjected to any song lyrics in this book, it’s not really sufficient to say that Sea was so bothered by getting ghosted that he wrote a whole song about it, but never describe those feelings on-page. There are also weird things like Sea getting multiple tattoos during the course of the book (I think??) yet never even mentioning them during his POV chapters.

I also agree with other reviewers frustrated by the lack of communication in this book. The characters spend so much time thinking about their past interactions, but in a shallow and self-centered way. The lack of communication is often the result of a lack of empathy towards the other character, which doesn’t fit the characters’ personalities and seems motivated by the author’s desire to draw out their separation at all costs. For example, it's extremely obvious from context that Sea is upset hearing about how Brody doesn't want distractions, so why does Brody only ever make a token effort to explain himself? Sea’s reasoning for never wanting to talk about it (because it’s somehow a sign of Brody being more experienced and good at everything?) felt contrived. It would be one thing if both characters were genuinely trying to move on, but they both think about these past events incessantly and have a strong desire to resolve things, but neither acts on it because the author has more will-they-or-won’t-they scenes to check off the list first.

Finally, I’m irrationally annoyed at the author for using the nickname Sea for Seamus. I simply do not believe people shorten Seamus to Sea in real life (and even did some Google searching to validate this belief). People spell it Shae, or Shay, or Shea, because if they spelled it Sea, they’d be constantly annoyed by people pronouncing it “see.” I was constantly annoyed by my brain automatically reading “see” and then having to mentally correct it to Shea. It’s clear the author just wanted to be able to use the wave emoji to represent Sea, for whatever reason (it truly adds nothing to the book). But the thing is, when Brody puts Sea in his phone as the wave emoji, he has no idea it’s spelled Sea (because no one spells it that way in real life!), and no one is going to think “oh yes, the ocean, a wave” upon hearing someone’s name is Shea. This problem seems symbolic of a lot of the book’s problems, because it’s an example of how the author was motivated by how things look to the reader instead of what makes sense for the characters.

This probably sounds like I hated this book, but I didn’t. I liked the setup and the outline of where the characters were going, I just wish they’d gotten there quicker and spent more time at the destination before the book ended. Above all, I wish about 30% of this book had been deleted during editing. I think Cait Nary is talented and has good ideas, but I hope when writing her next book she’ll get out of the hockey fic bubble because it really isn’t doing her any favors with the general romance audience.

I received an ARC in exchange for my review.

[the kevin (vaguely alive) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun slightly-non-typical fake relationship story, and I really enjoyed the emotions that were present on page.

Some unorganized thoughts:

• There are no lyrics in this book! Thank all the gods, alive and dead, there are no written out lyrics. The author instead focuses on showing the emotions evoked by the songs played, especially when its Sea playing the song. We get to see how Sea feels, and how Brody is affected by the songs which is what I like to see in general. Emotions!! So this was awesome.

• Homophobia, while present given the whole pro-athlete/country star setup, was not an overwhelming presence. It was there, it caused them issues, but it was not a Theme of the book and I appreciated that.

• I did not read the first book, and this read just fine on its own. Cameo by the first books couple is brief.

• I am a total sucker for fake relationships, and this one had a very smooth gradual arc of them going from hookup to contract to relationship.

• Side characters are relevant, with their own personalities. They also do not just tell the MCs how to feel, but help them along by having actual conversations. Like people. I liked that.

• I also liked Ian specifically - Sea’s producer/management. He was a whole person, not a one dimensional evil Go Getter type that I see a lot in band/musician books. A solid secondary character.

• Princess Kiwi sounds so adorable!!!

• There was no overwrought breakup, just people being people, and Sea being a drama baby (affectionate) musician. Sea had his own history and baggage he carried through and I felt like it was well balanced overall.

• Great interactions and pairing for the MCs too - older more stable Brody with his little passionate drama Sea. Many of their interactions played into this beautifully as well, the author clearly has a strong grasp on having distinct and individual characters and how to make that work well.

Sea made a face. “Are you, though? You seem like you’ve got it all pulled together. All the time.”

“Buddy, I have no idea what gave you that impression.”

“Are you, or are you not, the guy in the friend group that would get called to bail someone out of jail?”

• This did end up maybe a little heavy on the internal monologue, though I never felt like it was spinning its wheels. It was always moving forward, but it maybe could have trundled along a little quicker at times.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable read. It was very sweet, and a lovely slow burn (emotional). I could go on with more points and thoughts, but it's best if you just go read it!

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All the opinions are my own.



Read more reviews on my blog: 
https://horsetalkreviews.blogspot.com/

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Incredibly slow, and, unfortunately, just not good. There are a million better M/M hockey romances out there.

[Loli · Rating 1 out of 5]

What an uninspired book. It'll prob be popular because hockey romance is all the rage now but it really shouldn't.

The author uses real life issues like alcoholism and homophobia as a set up and then the main problem in the relationship is....miscommunication. Like, the frustrating type where you get detached from the characters because it's just not real anymore. She doesn't work the characters through their problems, doesn't explore any issues in an you meaningful way, just the most basic, boring, talentless romance trope out there.

Sorry, but I have no idea how this got picked up by a publisher :/

[Kathleen in Oslo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up initially, but the more I thought about it, the more the (non-)handling of Sea's drinking problem bugged me, so edited to round down.

There are a lot of things I really liked about this book. And there are some things that really frustrated me. And that leaves me a bit unsure how to rate it, because I always find it harder to review something that's almost hitting my sweet spot than to squee about something I love or rant about something I hate.

A bit of context: I really, really liked Cait Nary's debut novel Season's Change. Contract Season takes place in the same world as Season's Change ("world" here being exactly the same as ours, except that the NHL is called the NAHA and the team names and other details of this fictional hockey league are made up), but it is entirely a standalone: there is a cameo scene with Olly and Benji, the MCs of Season's Change, but otherwise there is virtually no overlap between the two books.

Although, not really. Because while the books don't especially interconnect in terms of the characters and story, in reading Contract Season I found that the things that frustrated me with Season's Change were both very much present and even more frustrating. I'll get to that in a second.

First, the set-up. Sea (pronounced Shay, short for Seamus) is an up-and-coming, young, very attractive country music star. Brody is a defenseman who's been in the league a while and is known for his extreme work ethic and focus. Both are closeted, although Brody is out to family and a select group of friends; he is also coming off a 3-year relationship that ended when his ex got sick of being in the closet and, crucially, Brody blames his implosion in the previous year's playoffs on the ex's poorly timed breakup. Sea is out to even fewer people and has never had a serious relationship or even much in the way of sexual experience; he struggles with the gap between people's expectations of him -- based on his looks, his fame, and the confidence he projects -- and his extremely limited experience, which makes him both self-conscious and ashamed.

They meet at the wedding of Josette, Sea's mentor and a megastar in the country business, and Alex, Brody's childhood friend and fellow NAHA star. Brody and Sea have an immediate, magnetic attraction; they hook up and exchange numbers; Brody then ghosts Sea, on the pretext that he doesn't want any more emotional distractions after his disastrous breakup; Sea writes a hit song about being ghosted; Brody gets traded to Nashville, Alex's team and Sea's town; they meet up again at a fundraiser; (holy crap this is long) they go to Sea's house to hook up again, but it goes sideways and Sea kicks Brody out; but (I promise this is almost done) suggestive pictures of them leak from the fundraiser, followed by a deliberate, cruel forced outing of the two of them by neighbors whose security cameras caught footage of them kissing. And then, the damage control, which comprises not just choreographed social media statements and the like, but also a scheme for Brody and Sea to fake-date. As with all fake dating plots, proceed to suspend disbelief (I mean, moreso). The rationale here is that, because both country music and hockey are conservative industries with conservative fandoms, the first openly gay country singer-songwriter and NAHA player would, ahem, be more palatable to the straights if they were in a more heteronormative, stable dating-type situation than just one-night-standing each other.

Tangent: THIS IS A HOCKEY BOOK WHY DOES THE PLOT SUMMARY REQUIRE SO MANY COMPOUND SENTENCES??? /Tangent.

So what we've got is insta-attraction; hockey romance; music romance; fake dating; slow burn; (kind of) second-chance romance; experience gap; and controlled-chaotic. Troperrific!

And sooo much of it works. The meet at the wedding is hot (although already the seeds are being sown for both of Sea's major issues down the road; there is a lot happening under the surface). The trauma of the forced outing is handled sensitively and effectively. The ramifications of being "the firsts" in their respective industries is well done. While the public/ to-their-face reaction from players, the league, other artists and producers, etc is overwhelmingly positive, or at least neutral-positive, neither Sea nor Brody are ever entirely sure if this is genuine, performative, or coerced by fear of social media shaming / being made a sacrificial lamb by the league. The supporting characters are strong and hugely likable, especially Party, Alex, Josette, and Lila-Rose. There is competence porn up the wazoo, not just from Sea and Brody but from pretty much every named character: these are people who work hard and are at the top of their game. And most importantly: Sea and Brody are both interesting, flawed, sympathetic characters, and their connection is believable.

Unfortunately, there are also some fundamental problems with pacing and the relationship conflict that left me super frustrated. Basically, Sea and Brody's inability to communicate eventually goes from "self-protective wariness to making yourself vulnerable to someone you're deeply attracted to" to "this-is-bordering-on-dysfunctional" to OH MY GOD YOU GUYS JUST TALK TO EACH OTHER, THIS IS NOT BLOODY ROCKET SCIENCE!!!

And this seems to be a theme in this author's work. In my Season's Change review, I wrote, "I do think that there is a point at which things slide into the 'if these two people would only talk to each other like mature adults, this would all be easily resolved' territory." That is even moreso here. The pattern is basically: meet, connect (emotionally if not physically), someone says something dumb and unintentionally hurtful, other person slinks off, they mutually ignore each other while obsessing over each other and over their own flaws/ how this non-relationship was doomed from the start, meet again due to the exigencies of fake dating, repeat. This goes on SO. MANY. TIMES. To the point where I felt like they really were too dysfunctional to get together. Because, really, people. Not rocket science.

And much like Season's Change, when they finally do get together, we get one little "yay, we're together, let's shag" scene, and then: BAM!, epilogue. Too much build up and not enough delivery. And especially in this book, where there is one huge issue in particular that is just sort of swept aside and never properly dealt with: namely that Sea is a heavy drinker who uses alcohol to avoid dealing with things and who is consistently drinking himself to very drunk or blackout status. Towards the end, Sea admits to his agent that he has a problem with his drinking as well as with other mental health issues and asks for help; there is later a reference that he starts seeing a therapist. But even after Sea admits a problem and asks for help, in the climactic relationship conversation between Brody and Sea, he still pounds down two whiskies before they even start talking. Which made me feel *yikes*.

And look. In fiction as in life, people have complicated relationships with alcohol that can change over time according to the person's life circumstances and support network and coping abilities. Just because someone has a problematic relationship with alcohol and social drinking in their early 20s does not mean that they are necessarily an alcoholic, nor does it mean that the only solution is to quit drinking cold turkey. But as written, Sea's relationship with alcohol definitely reads as (edging up to) a use disorder. And while it's great that he asks for help, we see literally no follow through on this very serious issue (although we're meant to assume in the epilogue that he's got it under control). I personally find this challenging as a reader, because I don't see him doing the work and I don't see his partner supporting him in that work.

And this is, again, why I wish that we could spend less time on all the mis/non-communication that keeps them from getting together, and more time on the actual relationship once they start communicating and commit to being together. Because this relationship has a lot of challenges -- two extremely high-profile, time-consuming, sacrifice-demanding careers, huge amounts of travel, both of them "the firsts," both of them with baggage -- and I would love to have seen some of that navigated, rather than the repeated cycle of "connect-hurt feelings-pine-repeat."

Also, I wouldn't really characterize this as a hockey romance. This is more hockey-adjacent. While hockey infused every page of Season's Change -- naturally enough, since both MCs were players and teammates -- here hockey hardly figures in the first third of the book (basically everything that happens up to the forced outing), and then afterwards, we split our focus between the music stuff and the hockey stuff. Don't get me wrong: where it appeared, the hockey stuff was good. I just would have liked more of it. But YMMV.

I realize I larded a lot of negatives into the last half of this review, but I really did enjoy this book for the most part. I think I felt the negatives and the frustration more because it was so close to hitting me in the squee spot. It kept edging up to yummy yum territory, and then backing away again. I suspect, as well, that "loading all the drama into the relationship buildup rather than the actual relationship" is just where this author lives, and now I know to price that in when I read any of her future work. And even though this didn't quite work for me, I'll definitely give this author another go.

Disclaimer: I received a free ARC of this book from Carina Press via NetGalley.

[Diane Dannenfeldt · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, I wanted to give this author another chance as I love a good hockey MM romance. I could have lived without the fake dating between our MC's. I would have rather they just dated. And don't get me started on the lack of communication; come one guys it's not that difficult. My other issue is they are not together as a couple for very long & then the book is done. And my last real issue with the book is that Sea is IMO an alcoholic or nearly one, and we don't see him doing the work to get well or Brody supporting him. I don't think I will be continuing on with this series.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley, and this is my honest review.

[ancientreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

WTF, how does this have under a 4-star rating? Okay, I got somewhat impatient with the dithering for a while about 75% in, but the "Ugh, would you communicate already?" didn't last nearly long enough to make me want to set fire to my Kindle, and hats off to Cait Nary for selling me on fake dating as a response to homophobia in country music and hockey both (yep, if you're being outed after hooking up, then Tastefully Dating Tasteful Gays are indeed more acceptable than Hot Dudes Hooking Up at Parties).

By the way, Seamus and Brody find each other hot, and I know some details about their bodies (Brody: thick, dimple, beard, earnest eyes; Seamus: hair tucked behind ears, soft skin at hip, good smell, tats), but may God bless and keep Cait Nary I have not been treated to another instance of cookie-cutter perfection, you all know exactly what I mean.

I had to forgive them eating oysters (did that once, never again) and also "Sea"-pronounced-"Shay" for "Seamus," but come on:

Sea flipped his hair and laughed like he didn’t feel the jellyfish sting of getting preemptively turned down.

...he was nervous all of a sudden, moth wings of tension beating themselves in the hollow of his throat like it was the light on his parents’ back porch.

He squeezed his eyes shut in the hiding place between his arms

Kiwi was a tidy little gray cat.

Sea had been a weird kid. Tall, gangly, awkward, singing songs to himself; crying over the strange-looking stuffed animals in the dollar store that he worried no one would ever take home and love.

Sea shoved back his hair with one hand. Brody hadn’t known it was possible to be attracted to the bones in someone’s wrist. [See what I mean about MCs finding each other hot?]

Brody, watching Seamus bound around after a performance: He also felt like he was some very slow, bumbling bug, stuck in a spiderweb waiting to see if the tall, enthusiastic spider was going to bound over and suck out his insides.

I mean. Just give me all the writing like this. All of it. I want to wash my face in it.

ETA: So, I read some of those 3-star reviews and ... no I'm sorry you are all wrong just wrong. For example, I do not need to read all about Seamus addressing his er overreliance on alcohol: I've seen him recognizing the problem, I've learned that he's started therapy, I see that it's months later and he's drinking like a normal person now ... I don't need the blow-by-blow, I've already DNF'd a million books with Inspirational Recovery Narratives and Supportive Partners and Affirmations and some stuff can go unspoken. I don't need to be with Seamus every time he gets a new tat, either! It's enough for Brody to see them each time they meet after a separation -- that's actually a nice way to mark the passage of time and the space between them.

I have spoken.

[Ch · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really didn't like this one, didn't dnf because it was through netgalley but holy hell this book is clumsy. Don't know why authors write books with miscommunication being third fourths of the plot, especially when you're adding stuff like mental health issues and homophobia in the mix. At that point just don't write?

[erraticdemon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! It was fun and the characters were very well developed. They both had their own lives and worlds outside of each other. I mean, one is a country music artist and the other is a hockey player so it's too be expected, but it's so easy for romance books to forget about the rest of the characters lives and only focus on them together. I appreciated the book allowing both characters to develop as separate people. And even with this, the story still focused on them and the slow burn relationship development.

The fake relationship was excellent too. It wasn't a super typical set up like for a high school reunion or because a great grandpa required the recipient to be married to get the money or whatever which made it interesting. The build up from the initial hook up, to them being outed, to using the contractual fake relationship to protect their careers seemed wild and felt very real at the same time. The romance developed very slowly through the fake dating and had a lot of domestic slow burn vibes.

Some other thoughts:

- Kiwi the cat was super cute and I loved a romance book character with a CAT instead of a dog.

- Absolutely zero on-page poetry or lyrics were present in this book. A+ work author would read your lack of lyrics again.

- Sea should have been shortened to Shea or Shay in the book. If it was Shea there was an opportunity for his contact name to be a stick of butter emoji in Brody's phone. Still cute inside jokey but easier for my brain to read the name correctly.

- Sea was a total drama babby approximately five times too many but he's a musician so being dramatique is what they're all about. I do wish some of the repetitive internal monologue was cut out but it didn't bother me much in the full scope of the book.

- Not too much on-page hockey! Reading hockey game play by plays in a book can get super boring and this book stayed away from it.

- Again, a pet CAT. Named KIWI!

- If you've read the first book you are aware there is a lot of on-page barfing. I am happy to report there is no on-page barfing here. Just a lot of casual mentions of throwing up.

Overall, a very enjoyable slow burn romance that had a very wild and unrealistic premise that still felt very real. Also, a pet cat!

I received an ARC copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.


Read this review and more on my blog: https://horsetalkreviews.blogspot.com/

[Lily Loves 📚 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately I could not get into this book. I felt like the relationship between Brody & Sea was forced. Sea was so immature I didn’t see what Brody saw in him. I didn’t get a good grip on who Brody was as a character either.

I loved the first book in this series so I will definitely read this author again. I missed the hockey that the first book had.

ARC provided via NetGalley for review

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/3 stars
I have mixed feelings about this one. I really liked the idea of this story with a professional hockey player and country star. I even liked the characters themselves and the side characters. It started out interesting and I was intrigued by them. And the thought of two very public people in not-so-inclusive professions possibly being outed is a setup that could definitely lead to issues and angst.

But the execution of the story with the pacing, starting fast and downgrading to super-slow burn, self-doubt, poor coping mechanisms and avoidance, complete miscommunication and inability to talk to each other wrapped up in a fake romance for the media just frustrated me. I just wanted to yell at my kindle for them to text, call, talk, or something and just be freaking real with each other.

The characters were likable and had depth and flaws. Sea thought Brody was Mr. Perfect and had it all together. Brody thought Sea was amazing and charismatic. But they not only had their own self-worth issues, but they were also horrible communicators and in their own heads most of the book. And even the handling of the expected homophobia situation in a lot of ways felt like it was glossed over and did not live up to the fact they had lived in fear over ever coming out. It rallied a bit at the end as we finally saw more vulnerability between them, but then it was not much time for us to see them as a real couple. So there were things I liked especially in the beginning and end, but the middle really frustrated me.

[Ay · Rating 2 out of 5]

...so this was an interesting one.

I asked Netgalley for this ARC to review because I enjoyed Nary's previous book so much.

Basically, I loved the writing, but not the story. The MCs were not having a good time with each other for most of the book. This is explored in their internal monologues, and I kept feeling that a relationship between them was not going to work. It also felt like the characters were not really seeing, connecting with, or trusting the other person, so the reader never did.

Oddly, in a mainstream published book romance (ie with presumably a proper editing process), the characters were not really fleshed out, and hockey was pretty much absent in the story. You could do a "find and replace" through the text replacing "hockey" with baseball or football and it would have made no difference to anything. In fact, we never really get a sense of Brody, the hockey player, at all. He is tidy and conscientious. In everything. That's pretty much it.

This book is a romance, so they end up together at the end, but I was not convinced by the ending, or that the relationship was desirable. Unusually for me, not because I disliked one or more of the MCs, but because they were not really compatible/capable of having a functional relationship. I never got any sense of love or connection between them.

Weirdly, the excellent writing really accentuated the flaws in the romance story.

[.Lili.]

28%

New to me writer- I actually jumped over book 1 to this one due to the premise.

I found it dull. I kept forcing myself to continue, but after a week and a half I gave up.

No rating.

[X · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay this was fantastic!!

Turns out all I had to do after DNFing this within the first chapter multiple times (lol) was invent a new backstory for Sea where his parents were hippies who loved the ocean.

Seriously!! Is it “Shay”? Is it “See”? Does the quote “Seeing Sea standing” (ch. 22) involve alliteration?? Why did what’s-his-name (Br-something) give Sea the wave emoji in his phone… oh god wait was it the 👋 emoji the whole time instead of the 🌊 emoji like I was imagining?!?

Yes this dilemma haunted me the entire time… luckily it turned out everything else about this book was excellent! Better than the first one honestly, can’t wait for #3!

Idk I don’t have much else to say, the characters really worked, there was the perfect balance of originality and comfortable familiarity vis-à-vis the plot, I feel like this author belongs to the KD Casey school of HFN HEA which I personally love, so… yeah basically a great read!


Original review lol:

Okay I had to stop when the other MC turned out to be named Shay, spelled “Sea”……………

[Mariah · Rating 3 out of 5]

ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley.
Though Nary's writing is strong in itself, I felt like the balance of this book was a bit off.
The beginning and ending didn't mesh with the middle, making the relationship feel like it took a backseat to the individual character development.

While I greatly appreciate both Sea and Brody as characters, I didn't get enough of them actually together.

The prose was effortless and thought provoking, I have an abundance of highlights for this one but I don't find myself revisiting this book.

[Amanda Middleton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I rarely rate books with low ratings but this book was the exception. I can’t get over how the author just glosses over some really difficult topics. There was a TW post at the beginning of the book so I knew what I was getting into. What I didn’t know is how poorly the author would do at properly addressing the issues.

I was given an Advanced Reader Copy by NetGalley for an honest review.

[charlotte, · Rating 4 out of 5]

On my blog.

Rep: gay mcs

Galley provided by publisher

Contract Season is a book that cements Cait Nary as one of my favourite romance authors. If I absolutely had to choose, I think I’d pick Season’s Change as my favourite of the two, admittedly, but this is a very solid sequel, and makes me excited to see what Cait Nary has to come.

In this book, we see Brody, a very bit-part player in the first book, and Sea’s story. After meeting (and hooking up) at a wedding, they happen to meet again at another party and, unable to help themselves, attempt a repeat. However, it doesn’t all go to plan, leaving them with a bitter parting. And that’s the end of it, they think, until footage from a porch camera is posted online, outing them and, for plot relevant reasons, leading them to faking a relationship.

As with the previous book, what makes this book stand out is the slowburning tension of it. You might think, given that the main characters hook up in the first few chapters, that the book would have lost what tension it might have (or at least, I would. I always find tension dissipates once characters get together). But that’s not the case here because, once they’ve hooked up once, it reverts back to being an incremental slowburn in the best kind of way.

I think it helps that the focus is on developing the characters over simply putting them into a trope-filled plot. That is, the characters come first. Yes, so they’re put into a fake dating scenario, but from that point, what happens does so if it feels right to the characters’ journey. That’s what I like most about Cait Nary’s books, how natural the progression of events feels. It’s not about putting characters into the plot, but letting the plot happen because of what characters do. If any of that makes sense.

If I had any criticisms whatsoever, it was that Brody and Sea do feel just the slightest bit too similar to Benji and Ollie for me. I say slightest, because it really was very slight. Just about noticeable to me but it helped also that they had a different story by far.

And, in the end, that hardly impacted on my enjoyment. Cait Nary is definitely an author I’ll be coming back to.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I loved this. Not as much as the first book, but still, I loved it so much.

This author makes me incredibly happy. I usually hate instalust but somehow the way these two started with hooking up at a friend's wedding worked for me.

And then, it's a long slog through their own insecurities and a fake relationship and the drama of coming out in a hetero-dominated world/profession...

I love seeing them grow individually and together.

I would have loved more time with them as a true couple and able to talk through things. They keep their fears and secrets for longer than I'd like. We hear that Sea gets therapy and we see the physical manifestations of it... but I would love to know more about what happened in his head.

Safety deets
- No OM.
- Neither were manwhores... and Sea was kinda a virgin (tho that's a whole thing in this book)
- HFN. We get to see them in an epilogue later that year. And we get a sense they're going to be together. But they're still living in separate apartments tho they both have stuff at the others.
- consent is good.

[Sam I AMNreader · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked that a character was prickly, unpredictable and hot, cold sexually and wasn't punished for it. But it was weirdly disjointed, felt a little like settling... And off pace.

I plan to read one more from the author.

[CrabbyPatty · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book features a romance of sorts between hockey player Brody and country music star Seamus (Sea) "Camp" Murray.

For a romance between a hockey player and a country music star, little time is spent in either venue. There is talk about Brody's conditioning and regime and perhaps one scene set in the hockey arena, but we never really get any on-the-ice action. In the same way, Sea talks a lot about the music industry, award shows and recording, yet we never get any lyrics of his songs, although his songs are supposed to be extraordinary. Each man is supposedly passionate about their craft, yet often we are told rather than shown.

Sea's hair is firmly established as a secondary character here - its curls, the length and texture and styling are referenced to often, as well as when Sea tosses his curls, shakes his head, pushes the hair back from his face, gathers it up and ties it back, ad nauseum.

At 375 pages, there's too much hair, and not enough page time given to developing either Brody or Sea's personalities or back stories. And that's a shame, because inbetween all the award shows and hair, there's the bones of a good story. After getting about halfway through this book, I actually went back to the beginning and tried to read it without obsessing about Sea's hair, etc.

I did appreciate how the author gives us some rationale for how Sea has a hard time coping with his sudden stardom but it is threaded through so much talk of afore-mentioned shows, industry events, etc.

Finally, there is just a few sex scenes here - basically one in the beginning and one at the end - and the whole sex thing is .... convoluted. Sea makes it more complicated than it needs to be, and again at 375 pages, after Sea's third or fourth tortured internal monologue, it all became a bit too much for me personally. 3 "did not really work for me" stars.

I received an ARC from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

[ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a lovely read with complicated leads and a fun cast of secondary characters who I could've happily spent a ton more time with. (Party is the guy. I would read a book just about Party with zero romance. A man who should be studied like a bug under glass.) I liked the role Nashville itself played and the glimpses of the music industry, though I'm so used to reading player/player sports romances, I did at one point wonder where the hockey was before I realized that having about half the usual was probably to be expected!

Fake dating really isn't my thing -- though this is probably the most buy-able version I've ever seen -- and there are a lot of elements here I'm not normally crazy about, but it was immersive and quick and I ended up having a four star time anyway, which, I cannot emphasize enough, is a massive testament to Nary's writing.

Thanks to Carina and NetGalley for the ARC!

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

(Thank you to NetGalley and Carina Press for giving me the chance to read this as an ARC Edition.)
First. this was better than the first in this series, Season's Change.
However, some of the problematic issues I found in that book still appeared in this one. Namely, it's a language thing. I don't know Cait Nary. I don't know anything about her other than what is on her website --which leads me to believe she is a cishet white woman. And I say this only because queer authors tend to let their readers KNOW that they are in fact also queer.

So, what were the problems? Page 510/717: "My apologies to this dude from DC's coconut water. Bi erasure is not a good look."
...No, it isn't. And neither is joking about it. Particularly considering that my accusation of bi-erasure in the first book of this series is a thing that exists. And I am certain that I was not the ONLY PERSON who brought that up. And this little inside joke is one of the reasons I wouldn't pay for this author's books..

There was an earlier instance of problematic language, but heck if I can find it now. That's on me. I should have made better use of the bookmark function.

I will also go on the record saying I don't like Seamus's name being shortened to Sea. I had to be very cognizant of the pronunciation, and honestly...that's a lot of brain effort for a romance. Especially when there was the caveat that there "was already a Shay in country music"....then just call him Camp FFS. Or give him a better name? How about that? There are literally thousands to choose from.

The trope here is "pretend celebrity boyfriends". Which...is so tired. There was nothing new about the way this trope was presented. I was really bored with Brody's continually referral back to his failed relationship with the mysterious London (...also a stupid name if you ask me, which you didn't, so I digress). I also find it highly suspicious to spend THREE YEARS OF YOUR LIFE with a guy. A guy you LIVE WITH. And just disappear? It seemed very disingenuous. Where were the shared friends? You know Brody's Mom either loved or hated the guy and is probably keeping tabs on him either way, That's just what Moms do. And Brody's mom became a throw away character from the beginning.

I am also concerned about how Sea's drinking is handled. Brody uses THC as a sleeping aid. Valid, if it works for you, and where it's legal (...I"m not sure it's legal in Nashville. Just sayin') Toward the middle-end, Sea seems to realize he is drinking a lot...and there is a little discussion around maybe NOT doing that and using drinking as a coping mechanism, and trying to avoid rehab...but, like...you're not a rock? And rehab isn't something to be ashamed of? Everyone needs help. Sea's agent, if he seriously had beef with his actions, had the power (and Sea LET HIM have that power) to be more strict around controlling that drinking to begin with. So...this was all a moot point and why even bother if it wasn't going to actually be an interesting point to the growth of the character??

So...yeah, I didn't really care for this. Nary has gotten some feedback from authors I actually have some general respect for, saying that she does a great job of writing hockey books for hockey fans. Meh. I'm not impressed. I am thankful this had far less broski speak in it than Season's Change did. But nothing else about this book made me ache for the next one.

Will I read the next one?
Probably.
Will I be just as disappointed as I was in this one?
Also probably.

There were minor improvements from the first book here, but this still isn't anything to write home about.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

[I received a digital arc for an honest review]

Contract Season by Cait Nary is the second book in the Trade Season series. Brody Kellerman always has a set plan and follows it to the letter. He doesn’t plan on meeting Seamus “Sea” Murray and their instant attraction and resulting hook up. Both men have high profile careers and aren’t ready to come out so they go their separate ways with minimal intention of seeking each other out again. After a second run in causes a media storm the two are forced into a relationship to protect the future of their jobs. Lines start to blur as the relationship struggles and the two men are forced to acknowledge that maybe it’s not all that fake.

Brody Kellerman is so focused on trying to make up for the bad ending to his season before that he doesn’t realize how short and rude he came off to Sea initially. When he manages to try and make it up to the man, Sea struggles to trust that Brody isn’t just doing damage control under the guise of their fake relationship. That being said I would say that more than ¾ of the book is spent with the two men questioning each other’s motives and no communication at all. Instead Sea drowns himself in booze and can only face talking to Brody drunk and Brody just pretends everything is fake to focus on his game. This became frustrating at half way and then by the 75% mark you started to not see a happy ending in sight for the two or if you even want one. That was kind of the kiss of death for me for this book because I am usually the MCs number one cheerleader for a HEA and I definitely didn’t feel this way with this book.

2 stars for Brody and Sea tolling away to see if there’s any truth in their fake relationship.

[kelly ♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the advance copy!

first things first, i really do love how cait nary writes - i think where i differ from some people in these reviews is that these are definitely the kind of romance novels i enjoy (because i have read a lot of fic and these read like those!) i am also a big fan of hockey (less so of country music) so these were always going to be up my alley. i also enjoy angst and the miscommunication trope, when it is played right.

however, i felt like though i enjoy that trope, even i found myself getting a little tired of it in this book. it felt like sea and brody had an intense meet-cute, then miscommunicated and angsted in solo for 3/4ths of the book, before having a happy ever after. i didn't feel like i really got enough interaction between them in the middle, and when they did finally talk to each other it always ended up going wrong in some way or the other. i appreciated the ending, but still felt a little cheated out of some cuter moments between sea and brody. i also found myself getting annoyed that they would keep repeating the same insecurities they had but not talking about them to any of the other characters (if not to each other!) until very near the end.

that being said, i will definitely read other books in this series if they happen as i do love these books!!! ALSO!! i loved seeing benji and olly again my darlings ♥︎

[Elle · Rating 5 out of 5]

cait nary’s writing continues to really, really work for me. there’s something about the way she puts words together that hits just right and really makes me feel all those big confusing feelings her characters are grappling with.

the journey to where these two characters end up isn’t an easy one, and yeah, sometimes a frustrating one. “just talk to each other!” is an easy thing to yell at my kindle at 1am but often a lot harder thing to do when we’re in the middle of figuring things out. in that way i sometimes find the miscommunication trope to be pretty (painfully) realistic. it’s hurts here in contract season but it hurts in that really good please figure it out because i’m here for the HEA way.

a note to say: the front porch light. the FRONT PORCH LIGHT. that’s exactly the sort of thing cait nary does that hooks me and keeps me fully invested ’til the end.

also, very nice seeing benji and olly again. just made me miss and love them even more.

can’t wait for the next book!

arc provided by netgalley for review.

[Caz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've given this a C at AAR.

Although Contract Season is book two in Cait Nary’s  Trade Season  series, it can be read as a standalone; the principals from book one, Season's Change, make a brief cameo appearance, but you don’t need to have read their story to understand this one. Like that book, this one gets off to a good start and I was quickly pulled into the story, but infortunately, and also like that book, things become repetitive, important issues are not dealt with and the pacing is wildly off because (once again) the HEA isn’t given time to embed; there’s so much build up and so little pay-off that it makes for a very disappointing ending.

Defenceman Brody Kellerman is known for his professionalism, his incredibly strong work ethic, his attention to detail and his intense focus. At the beginning of Contract Season, he’s recently ended a three-year relationship after his boyfriend finally got tired of hiding in the closet from all but Brody’s closest family and friends, and Brody blames his poor performance in that year’s playoffs on being distracted because of the breakup.

Seamus Murray is an up-and-coming country music star who arrived on the scene as a teenager when he appeared on an Pop Idol type TV show. Having been an awkward, gangly kid with zits and a face that took him a while to grow into, he struggles with the gap between his self image (of someone who was never particularly noticeable) and people’s expectations of him – which are based on his looks (at twenty-three, he’s seriously hot), his talent, his charm and the confidence he projects. He’s never had a relationship and he’s deeply embarrassed by his lack of sexual experience, believing he’s missed the window where it’s okay to be bad at sex and exploring. And as country music is “the one segment of the North American entertainment industry that was less queer-friendly than the Big Four sports”, Seamus – whose name is very annoyingly shortened to “Sea” – isn’t out to anyone other than his sister.

Brody and Sea meet at the wedding of two mutual friends. There’s an immediate and intense spark of attraction between them; they hook up later that night and exchange numbers before they part – but Brody, who is determined to avoid any distractions that might affect his performance on the ice, decides not to use it and ghosts Sea for months.

In the intervening time, Sea writes and records a smash-hit song about being ghosted, and Brody is traded to the Nashville Bucks – and moves to Sea’s home town. They meet again at a fundraiser and despite Sea’s hurt and Brody’s guilt over the ghosting, the attraction between them burns as hot as it did the first time and they head back to Sea’s house to hook up again. This time, it doesn’t go well and Sea – fearing he will somehow reveal his inexperience – kicks Brody out. They both think that’s that – until a couple of suggestive photographs of them taken at the fundraiser are leaked, followed shortly afterwards by footage (from the neighbour’s security camera) of them kissing outside Sea’s house. Their management teams immediately go into damage control mode, and suggest that Brody and Sea should pretend to date, the thinking being that two guys in a committed relationship may be more acceptable to the… conservative sports and country fans than two guys who were just hooking up.

A lot of this early part of the book works really well. The chemistry between Brody and Sea sizzles, the forced outing is handled sensitively, and I appreciated the attention given to the reservations both men have about being ‘the first openly gay hockey player/country singer’. I also liked that the author addresses the point that although the reactions from teammates and other artists are largely positive, Brody and Sea are never quite sure if that support is genuine or simply a way of avoiding being savaged on social media.

Brody and Sea are talented, hard-working individuals at the top of their game; they’re likeable and their connection is believable. But on the downside, Brody has practically no personality; all we really know of him is his tendency to single-mindedly focus on perfection to the exclusion of all else. The author tells us he’s understanding and amazing and well-balanced, but some of the things he says and does are very inconsiderate, and honestly, there were several points at which I thought Sea should just move on. There’s more depth to Sea, who is struggling with his professional image vs. his self-image and possibly an element of imposter syndrome, but he’s guilty of giving off a lot of mixed signals.

As I’ve said, the story starts strongly, but the more I read, the more I realised I was basically in the middle of one very loooooong Big Mis in which the characters would meet, connect and admit that they liked each other – and then one would say something dumb and hurtful, the other would bring the shutters down, they’d mutually ignore each other for a bit while obsessing over each other and thinking about how the relationship was doomed from the start because they’re so inexperienced/can’t afford any distractions – rinse and repeat. It goes like this for practically the entire book, so that by the time I was just getting into the second half, I was already mentally screaming at them to just TALK TO EACH OTHER. By two-thirds of the way through, I was thinking that they were so bad at communicating and so dysfunctional that any relationship between them was destined for disaster and that they probably shouldn’t be in one. Of course, this is a romance novel so they DO get together – but not until 93% into the story, when they have a single conversation about how they’re finally ready to give a relationship a try, they have sex and then BAM! it’s the epilogue set several months later in which they appear to have worked out all their problems and are in love. Er… what? After pages and pages of mixed signals, miscommunication and non-communication – I’m asked to believe these two are in it for the long haul without seeing them work through ANY of their issues or even saying “I love you” for the first time?

Sorry Ms. Nary – your readers deserve better than that.

In addition, I was really bothered by the way Sea’s drinking problem is glossed over. It’s clear he uses alcohol as a way of avoiding things, and that he frequently drinks heavily and often to the point of blacking out; the way it’s written, his relationship with alcohol is clearly poised to become a serious disorder. Near the end he confides in his manager about it and asks for help. (That he has other mental health issues is kind of hinted at but never really explored.) We’re told his manager gives him the names of some therapists, and later, that Sea is seeing one of them – yet he still knocks back two neat whiskies before he and Brody have their badly needed conversation! It’s great that he realises he has a problem and needs help, but because this happens so late, we never see him putting in any of the work to sort himself out and never see Brody getting to be a supportive partner.

There is so much the author could have done with this story. Brody and Sea both have incredibly demanding, high-profile, high stress careers that involve a lot of travel and time apart and they both have baggage they need to unpack, but instead of addressing those issues and having them working on communicating better and on how to make a relationship work, all we get is a continual cycle of misunderstandings, hurt feelings and ignoring one another until the next time.

One last thing that (probably disproportionately) annoyed me – the shortening of “Seamus” to “Sea”. The author has him explain that it’s pronounced “Shay” – so why not spell it like that? I know literally no one who shortens “Seamus” to “Sea”; a quick Google search found that Seamus is usually shortened to “Shay” or “Shae”or “Shea” as, presumably, anyone who spelled it “Sea” would get fed up with people calling them “see”. I can only guess it’s so Brody could enter Sea’s phone number using a wave emoji… which has no relevance to the plot whatsoever.

I looked back at my review of Season’s Change while I was writing this, and unfortunately, most of the things I criticised there are still present here; unresolved issues, poor pacing, repetitiveness and the really flimsy and unsatisfying HEA. I do still think Ms. Nary is a good writer, but there is too much reliance on issues at the expense of the development of the characters and their relationship – and when those issues aren’t even explored or dealt with properly, then it’s another nail in the book’s coffin. Contract Season is a second middling experience with this author (and earns an even lower grade than her début), so I’m not sure if I’ll be picking up her next book.

[Nora · Rating 3 out of 5]

thank you netgalley for this arc, i also just realized i haven't read the 1st book in this series? So maybe this is why my experience wasn't very enjoyable? I didn't hate this because it's got some fake dating and god knows that's like drugs here and it was kind of? new? not reused but again? i didn't feel the chemistry, at all. Idk if it's just me but it was hard to get through