My Rating is:
Hello, my first book review of the year and of the blog! How exciting! I am attempting to keep this spoiler free, if I have slipped up I do apologise b ut it is not intentional at all – I am not a huge fan of spoiler reviews myself.After a few months break from reading (not intentional unfortunately) I have just finished The Defender by Ana Huang.
Now I absolutely love Ana Huang, the twisted series is what got me to fall in love with reading again, and was the start of the inspiration for my dream to open a bookshop. So I always have a soft spot for her books. They are popular for a reason. Her writing is so well writing and always leaves me struggling to put the book down! I finished the book in just over two days.
As made clear by the image above, I read the book on my kindle as well as the audiobook, opting for an immersive experience, which is often my preferred way to read as I get distracted easily in life let alone when trying to read!
About the Book
Second in the Gods of the Game series, The Defender is set in London and follows Vincent DuBois (Scarlett from the first book’s sister) and Brooklyn Armstrong (the head coach’s daughter, who is also a nutritionist for the team). It is an enemies to lovers, forbidden romance. With the additional trope of forced proximity. I loved their dynamic as their jokey/insulting humour to each other reflects how my partner and I are around each other! It was a slight slow burn in my opinion but I enjoyed the plot line none the less. It looks into the lives of people that were adopted as children as well as other parent/child relationships.
My Rating and Why
Unfortunately, I didn’t give the book 5*s as I wasn’t overly thrilled with subplot around the threats Vincent faces despite it being a key element to their love story’s beginning. Especially the ended. In addition a side character called Mason. I didn’t really understand the intention with his involvement in the book as it seemed random unless to be a red herring for I thought he was in the book for. Finally one minor reason demoting the book to a 4* was the football reality aspect of it. I was aware of the author’s note at the beginning about the exaggeration and fictionalisation of the football and the premier league… but my partner is a massive football fan and explaining some parts to him, he was more confused then I was! But in a similar situation I was able to look passed the inaccuracies in F1 romance books so I am sure it is something to easily get used to.
As those who know, Ana Huang is a spicy writer and a good one at that, in my opinion. There were scenarios I had not seen her write similarly before and it was interesting the way she always has something new for each couple! One scene didn’t make a lot of sense in terms of where it happened, but for the plot line it was romantic and hot, despite being highly unrealistic.
A lot of well-known romance authors are or based their stories in the US so having a series based on the UK and its culture, especially as football in the UK is the equivalent to American football in the US and the Superbowl is the equivalent to the premier league I believe (I’m not entirely sure!), is something I always enjoy! From a classic British pub to a cheeky Nando’s. Ana Huang has been capturing the essence of the UK rather well in my opinion.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book! Ana Huang is one of my favourite all-time authors, especially in the romance genre, and a football and UK based one has surprisingly worked really well as I haven’t read much sports romance. Even if it is exaggerated and inaccurate, it think my partner secretly wishes it would get me into football… ahaha! Unfortunately for him that will not be the case.
Thank you so much for reading and please post some book recommendations in the comments, slowly getting back into my reading and would like some inspiration! Also please let me know if this was a useful review to you and if not how to improve! I always like to be helpful where I can.
Please enjoy the rest of your time here. You are always welcome here.
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