Book: CalPac Crew
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: Paul Richmond
Publication date: August 4, 2017
Length: 1500 pages
Reviewed by Morningstar
Synopsis
The men of the CalPac rowing team might not be looking for love, but love never needed an invitation. In Rocking the Boat, Coach Nick Bedford is trying his best to ignore his attraction to rower Morgan Estrada, but Morgan isn’t afraid to push for what he wants… until an anonymous complaint could destroy everything. In Tipping the Balance, Drew St. Charles is juggling one too many jobs, and he finds help in contractor Brad Sundstrom, but Brad has to make a choice: come out and support Drew or stay hidden in the closet.
In Burning It Down, after an injury, fire battalion chief Owen Douglas joins the adaptive rowing program and meets veterinarian Adam Lennox. But when Owen’s abusive ex returns, Adam has to decide if he’s willing to leave Owen to protect him or risk their lives to stand with him. And in Settling the Score, Stuart Cochrane and Philip Sundstrom’s relationship seems perfect, until pressure threatens to make everything cave in. Can Philip help Stuart while dealing with his own problems?
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Review
Rocking the Boat
I was really excited to start
this book series from a new-to-me author especially with a unique concept of
the rowing.
I know diddly about rowing so through
the beginning of the story with all the rowing references I was bit lost. I did eventually catch on, and that helped,
but there was a lot of rowing talk in the whole book that felt unneeded for the
story. There was also a lot of Nick Bedford admiring Morgan Estrada and vice
versa when they’d been crushing on each other from afar. For some reason, this felt excessive to me after the
first few times they did it. I loved each guy on their own. Nick was the coach
who really did have that leader persona about
him. I loved his friendship with Drew that itself gave me a lot of insight to who he
was. Morgan strived for the best as part of the crew,
and they came through to what type of personality he had. He wasn’t the typical college kid going out getting drunk
and partying, he was motivated to
succeed. This is one aspect that showed
these two were a perfect fit since they both had drive.
I loved, loved the slow build in their relationship. It gave us time
to get to know them apart and what their lives were like to truly connect with them before they got
together. They have some serious chemistry,
but I did end up skimming a few of the
sex scenes that felt it as sex for sex sake instead of adding to the story.
I loved Drew in this story, and
when Nick asks him to do the fake date with Morgan,
I knew it wasn’t going to go well. I wish Morgan’s reaction when he finally
talks to Nick was less glossed over or at least a bit more of him holding
onto his hurt for Nick pulling that kind
of crap.
The public sex scene didn’t make a lot of sense for Nick’s character, particularly when it had taken place since up to that point he’d been freezing
up even with simple displays of affection afraid they’d get caught.
Overall it was a good story, not one I’d re-read, but the author definitely gave me characters that I loved.
Tipping the
Balance
What I liked most about this story was the first half when the
friendship between Brad and Drew was being
developed. Brad had my heart with his realistic struggle with his sexual
orientation. Most especially because of the upbringing he had and the constant
drive to please his dad. That said, I lost a little respect for the story when
Nick told Brad not to come to the hospital. It didn’t seem like something Nick
would do in my opinion, especially with how close they knew he was to Drew even
with the fight they had. The whole situation felt forced to me and ended up
causing me too much annoyance to truly
enjoy them getting back together.
Just like with the first book in the series I did some skimming of the
sex scenes and some of the internal monologues since they seem a bit excessive.
Both books had strong starts, but the
last half of the book lost me. I did love Brad and Drew just not how the story was handled since he gave me the wrong kind of
emotions.
Overall it was a good story but
could’ve been better if the dad thing was handle
a bit more thoroughly and the separation was
handled without the “misunderstanding” aspect.
Burning It Down
I hate to think I’m repeating myself,
but again this book of the series had a solid
start, even with all the rowing talk, but fell off. Owen and Adam were like two
broken pieces trying to make a whole. Their backstories were sad and heartbreaking, and they have some serious
issues to overcome. The love that develops between these two was fantastic to
see and to feel right along with them. There
were even some cute moments that made me smile.
The ex-boyfriend part of the story actually
ruined a bit of the romance between these two guys for me. It was over the top
and too unrealistic for me to get passed. I never understood why Owen never
pressed charges if he could identify his attacker and then Adam’s
I’m-going-to-save-Owen plan. It was all a bit much for me to swallow. Mostly
because there were parts that felt so out of character that I couldn’t wrap my
mind around it.
It was odd since the beginning was such a strong book. I have to admit I struggled to get through this one.
Settling the
Score
Now this one was definitely a
much stronger story overall. The overall feel and flow of the story were much better than the previous three for
me.
I’ve loved Stuart right from the beginning of the series and to see
him get his HEA was great, and of course, it couldn’t go easy. These two were like watching a tug of war.
They pushed and pulled their way to their happy ending. Stuart with his dislike
for men with money or maybe just money and Philip with his loneliness. They had
their work cut out for them and what I
liked was the external struggles that moved along or rather with their
struggles of being together.
Overall the series had some great characters all the way through that
were easy to love and want more from.
Christopher has a great writing style even with the things that I didn’t like
in the individual stories I can say that he voice is strong.
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just finished locked in silence by Sloane kennedy and it was great
ReplyDeleteThank you for the post and review! Favorite read for September may be The Middle of Somewhere series by Roan Parrish
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review of the whole series. I have read the first two but have yet to pick up the last two. I think I will now!
ReplyDeleteI finally read The Alpha King and The Alpha Heir which were amazing!
Prophecy by AE Via and Hybrid by Shannon West were my 2 favourites for September
ReplyDeleteLocked in Silence by Sloane Kennedy, Gray for Me by Spencer Spears, Damange Control by Lynn van Dorn, The Easy Way by May Archer,
ReplyDeleteI read a new to me author Michael Ryan Webb.It was his first book and I really enjoyed it-How We Love.
ReplyDeleteAlso read in September that was published in August was Rainbow Islands by Devin Harnois.