Rave Romance Review

Brooklynaire by Sarina Bowen

 

First of all— this woman can write. Her stories contain well developed, believable characters that you just have to root for. And this one is one of my favorites. She manages to get a whole lot of stuff into one book. It’s set in Brooklyn, which is totally cool. It has a hockey team, which is totally hot right now.  And she’s got the billionaire, friends-to-lovers and hot nerd tropes all going at the same time— and all handled with her typical adroitness. Nice.

It’s also one of her best covers. In my opinion. Although I also like Moonlighter and Heartland, which I will display below for your viewing pleasure.

The Brooklyn Bruisers

I love this whole series: the Brooklyn Bruisers (that’s the Hockey team). Delicious professional athletes. Sign me up! Now, I am not a hockey fan. I can honestly say I have never seen a live hockey game. I squint my eyes and try to look through my fingers if subjected to one on TV. It just seems so violent. Oh, and way too fast! Who can even see that little puck? But rather than ignoring the violence issue, Bowen addresses it head on— explaining the purpose of those displays of testosterone (retaliating against unfair plays by the other team to warn opponents they can’t get away with that and thus protect their teammates). Okay, I can get behind that. They even have designated enforcers who are expected to do the fighting. Who knew?

So I mentioned the hot nerd— and is he ever.
He also has that shy, socially awkward thing going for him which is just adorable. He is the billionaire owner of the team. I loved that our billionaire was not an obsessive control freak who finds it necessary to tie up all his love interests and spank them. While I’m not against that if it’s done well, I do like a little variety in my billionaires, so this was a refreshing portrayal. Bowen also gets some delightfully clever references to both Pride and Prejudie and Fifty Shades seamlessly woven into the story, which is great fun.

Now our heroine is all kinds of spunky. She’s smart and sassy (in the nice way – not the annoying way) and has her own sense of style. She is the Assistant to the Manger of the hockey team. Basically, she does everything for the team. Makes sure they all get where they need to be, and that everyone is taken care of. She’s a really great character. But she’s dealing with an injury and can’t do the things she would normally take for granted— which messes with her sense of self. So that was an interesting twist.

Slow Burn Love Affair

This is a slow burn love affair that develops over years and rather than slow down the pace of the book, Bowen uses an interesting device that I haven’t see before in modern romance. While most of the book is in first person (present tense even, in the very modern style) she uses a third person omniscient narrator periodically to tell the backstory. Those sections read very much like a fairy tale. It’s quite nice actually, and effective. (Third person omniscient narrator just means that the person telling that part of the story knows all). Sort of like God, only for storyland.

Audible.com

Disclaimer: I listened to this book on audio, as I do most books—while doing the dishes and the laundry—because otherwise who has time? I’m happy to report the narration is very good for all of her books. As we all know, that makes a big difference. A bad narrator (reader) can totally ruin an audio book. But these are great – will worth the investment. I mean, everybody has to do dishes, right? Why not be entertained?

Other series by Sarina Bowen that I recommend

True North – about sexy Vermont farmers – yum! Yes, Heartland is one of them.

The Ivy Years – YA college romances that are excellent. Usually I don’t read YA because—kids today—so winy and entitled. Yuck. Not these. These are excellent. Truly interesting young people dealing with real problems.

So that’s my report on Sarina Bowen and Brooklynaire. Great title, no? Now, I know what you’re thinking. “But Elyce, what’s the book about? What happens?” I’m not going to tell you that! Read the book, people. You won’t be disappointed.

Let me know what you think in the comments. What was your favorite part? How did you like the ‘fairy tale’ narrator???

All my best and happy reading,

Elyce

Blog Header Photo Credit: Ava Sol – Unsplash.com