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Blogger Site: WhiskeyintheJar Romance
Guest Reviewer at: Reading Between the Wines book club
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Darcy couldn't wait to escape her hometown and all the small town gossip about her mother after high school. When her grandmother breaks both hips, Darcy suddenly finds herself thrust back into that world. There is one new addition, though, Robbie the new high school boy’s football coach. He served overseas with her cousin Logan and is not leaving Darcy alone in the feeling the attraction department. They're both wary individuals with their own insecurities but are still drawn to one another. If Robbie can open his heart and Darcy can decide on where home truly is for her, they both might get more than they ever bargained for out of this small town.
Slow and Steady is a debut book for Laura Trentham and while I highly praise the solid technical aspect of the writing, the story and characters fall a bit flat. The story reads as if it is an outline for a small town romance; it’s pretty dry with no spark. The heroine Darcy had an absent mother who the townspeople loved to gossip about behind and to Darcy forcing her to leave behind her loving grandmother and escape off to the big city. Darcy does her best to live a nice normal boring life as to not end up like her wild mother. Our hero Robbie went through the foster care system and guards his feelings, always too scared to hope for the best after being disappointed so much as a child. He was an Army Ranger who has a PTSD nightmare episode in the beginning, which is never really addressed again, and a dog bestfriend who shielded and saved him from a blast. Robbie is, of course, handsome as all get out and hounded by the townswomen but after reading Darcy's letters to her cousin while overseas and now seeing her in person is completely drawn to her.
As you can see, Darcy and Robbie have some past issues but they are never delved into or fleshed out enough to become truly interesting. These story lines have been done before so to become engaging or feel fresh the characters have to bring a spark to the table and I never felt that here. I know Darcy likes how Robbie's biceps look in his shirt sleeves and Robbie likes Darcy's, well, I'm not quite sure, her cooking and very general personality, maybe? Even their sex scenes had a bit of ho hum to them.
The setting of the small town and people was more interesting and showed the author's strength with world building; it felt true to the feeling and concept of herd mentality, importance of high school football, and living in a fish bowl the author was trying to create. The story line of rumors going around of Robbie being gay and the extra characters that brought along got a bit unwieldy at times but gave more depth. The villain of this piece (ok with murder because she was shunned?!) was way over the top and didn't feel natural, I felt like the author was going for shock value.
The story is a slower read but not slow paced, if that makes sense. Overall, our leads were ok but no real emotion between them, the secondary characters rounded out the story well, and the technical writing was solid. It's all very been there done that with an "ok" vibe but if you like this formula and want a calmer read with a good small town setting, then this could be a viable option.