I liked the aspect of the gymnastics in this book, but immediately felt the ~gross doctor / Nassar vibes, and the ~questionable coach. It was creepy that he married one of his athletes. I liked how the ladies got back together, and created a support network. How they talked on the emotional and physical grief their bodies took growing up, and how they would starve themselves or hurt themselves to get better. I liked Avery's protective instincts towards her athlete. I thought getting her roommate to use yoga class to relax her athlete was a really smart idea!

If this was a fiction novel, and not portrayed as contemporary romance book, i'd call it pretty good. There was a lot of empowerment and building up women athletes, especially after the 2019 Larry Nassar expose. However, the entire romance with the coach was lukewarm and boring. There was no spark, no chemistry, and no heat to whatever the heck they had going on. Him not believing her also just ended him for me. BELIEVE WOMEN. It's really simple. Throwing money and a fundraiser at her, and Avery's entire justification thought process didn't work for me. Saying how people can change and how its hard when it hits home for them.

This should have been a DNF for me, but for some reason I wanted to push through and hope the story got redeemable. It didn't for me.

DNF

This was such a good book! I liked the women's suffrage angle, and persuading a Duke to think about women not as property. The back and forth banter between Sebastian and Annabelle was really good. Him starting off as this cold, analytical Duke with no interest to growing a soft spot for her outspoken truths was swoon worthy.

The ending was GOOD! For once, we see two characters that are standing firm in their beliefs, and the woman doesn't have to bend all of her boundaries and beliefs to fit into what her Duke wants!

Spoiler

Seeing him give up his status to marry someone under his social standing was HOT, and refreshing. I liked that Annabelle didn't bend to being his mistress. Loved it!