R.S. Grey is one of my favorite authors and a go-to when I’m looking for something light and funny to read. As part of my Kindle Unlimited binge this month, I wanted to catch up on her previous books published before I was avidly reading. I’m not super keen on sports romance novels, but I decided I’d give this one a go nonetheless, as it’s one of Grey’s most popular books and I do love watching the Olympics every four years.

BLURB:

As an Olympic rookie, Andie Foster has spent far more time in her cleats than between the sheets. For 21 years, her Friday nights have consisted of blocking shots rather than taking them. 

As Andie walks the line between rumor and reality, she’s forced into the path of Frederick Archibald, a decorated Olympic swimmer and owner of a sexy British accent–too bad he’s unavailable in a way that “it’s complicated” doesn’t even begin to explain.

In other words: off limits.

It doesn’t matter that he has abs that could bring peace to the Middle East and a smile that makes even the Queen blush; Andie fully intends on keeping her focus on the soccer field. But the Village is small. Suffocating. Everywhere Andie goes, Freddie happens to be there–shirtless, wet from the pool, and determined to show her a whole new meaning of the phrase “international affairs”.

Since we are almost two years away from the next Olympic games, it was fun to go back to the Rio Olympics. R.S. Grey did an amazing job of capturing what it must be like to be a young athlete in the prime of their life and career at the Games. The relationships created between the competitors and the partying that must go on were things I had not really thought much on prior to reading. It was interesting to consider the possibilities through this fictional story! I was also impressed with Grey’s attention to researching the sports she chose to highlight within this story. As a Texan myself, like the author, I don’t know much about the world of soccer or swimming and was able to learn a little about both sports through this story.

Unfortunately, however, this was not my favorite R.S. Grey story, and I did not think this to be a memorable book. I found the writing to be a little over the top in the sexual descriptions, which is one of my least favorite things when delving into the Romance genre (though the book’s description indicated as much). I found myself skimming these sections of the story, just to get through them and probably will forgo the second book in this duet based on my knowledge of its subject matter.

I decided to pick up this book to fill in the pieces about Freddie’s sister, who is the star of her own story, A Place in the Sun, which happens to be my favorite R.S. Grey book. Georgie was the highlight of this book for me and I loved catching up with her prior to the life I knew she would have in her own book later on. I also love the little Easter eggs, Grey puts into her books, tieing her multiple standalones together for her dedicated fans. It’s always exciting to come across these moments and catch up with previous characters I’ve loved in other books.

I decided to give this book three stars since I didn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped to. I found the characters to be slightly immature and was not able to form any real attachment to them. My feelings about this book will not prevent me from picking up everything R.S. Grey continues to write. I’m actually on to The Design now and am enjoying it tremendously more than Settling the Score. I’m sure I’ll have a review coming in the following week.

Purchase on Amazon!

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