fitness trainer

The Shape of You by Georgia Beers

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I loved Georgia Beers last book. Loved it! This one I was a little more skeptical of. Infidelity is a super duper hard subject for a romance novel. You know going into this book that one of our leading ladies is in a fitness class to prep for her walk down the aisle. Red flag, dangerous waters ahead! Ruh-Roh!

Spencer Thompson is just going through the motions of life. She is unhappy but unmotivated to do anything about it. Not endearing qualities, I must say. When her fiancée tells her she enrolled her in a 12 week, three times a week, bridal boot camp, Spencer is pissed, hurt and annoyed. She internalizes all of her emotion, buys a pair of sneakers and goes to class. Come on Spence, yell a little.

Rebecca McCall is the personal trainer who gets handed the 12-week bridal class after another trainer falls ill with mono. She loathes the creator of this program and is not a huge fan of the concept of the program. No matter what she is stuck with it and it’s five brides-to-be. Rebecca is headstrong, confident and it totally throws her for a loop when she finds out one of the brides, Spencer, was told to take the class by her future wife. Throws her for a loop so much, she asks like a jerk for a third of the book.

Needless to say, Spencer and Rebecca totally get off on the wrong foot. They both think the other is smoking hot but Rebecca cannot get past Spencer being a doormat on taking this class. Therefore, Rebecca is overtly hostile to Spencer and everyone notices. Another endearing quality by a leading lady, yeah not so much.

While the book is good and it holds your attention, there is a spark missing. At times you feel like you’re in Groundhog Day because the majority of the time the two leads interact in a fitness class. Lots of gym talk, lots of she’s off-limits, plank here, a plank there and off to do it again. Plus Spencer is engaged and she is too lethargic and apathetic to stop the train wreck of a marriage. I like Spencer but at times you as the reader wanted her to wake up. I needed more passion, more heat and more qualities to endear the two characters to my heart. It just wasn’t there this time. A good book, I enjoyed it, I am glad I read it, but it is not one I will come back to.

3 out of 5 stars

Up on the Roof by A.L. Brooks

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Slow burns are one of my favorite tropes in romance. I love that will they or won’t they, the delicious pull that both characters keep denying for whatever reason. Totes love it! What you need though to make this work and really pull in the reader is that dazzling chemistry and allow the characters to really develop over the course of the book. Not an easy feat!

Megan Palmer is a new tenant to a Victorian conversion in London. Megan is a fitness trainer who is laid back and loveable but easily rolled over by dominating personalities. Enter her neighbor, accountant, Lena Shah. Lena is the direct opposite of her new neighbor. She’s a loner by nature, easily irritated and has OCD. Megan and Lena get off on the wrong foot and Megan does everything in her power to appease Lena, except with every forward step she takes she then will make another mistake in the eyes of her neighbor. A leaky roof forces these two to cohabitate and this changes the dynamic of their relationship.

I think what grabs me the most about this book is Lena’s character. She’s bitter, at times cold and prickly. She is not easy to love when she feels embarrassed or out of sorts she is quick to lash out. Megan takes a lot of lashes that would be hard for anyone to take. She has redeeming qualities, they just tend to be overshadowed by her other personality traits. She teeter-tottered right on the edge of unlikeable. What I did like about her is that she does have a great amount of self-awareness in regards to her behavior. She knows what she had done wrong she is a work in progress on changing her quick reactions.

More than anything I wanted more dialogue and a little less repetitiveness in regards to Lena and Megan’s daily interactions. A slow burn that just needed a bit more.

3 out of 5 stars

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