A June Goodreads Must Read Romance “Relatable, funny, and charming.” —Elly Blake, New York Times bestselling author of Frostblood In life, as in gaming, there’s a way around every obstacle . . . To pitch her new role-playing game at a European conference, developer Sierra Reid needs to overcome her terror of public speaking. What better practice than competing in a local bar’s diary slam, … speaking. What better practice than competing in a local bar’s diary slam, regaling an audience with old journal entries about her completely humiliating college crush on gorgeous Tristan Spencer?
Until the moderator says, “Next up, Tristan Spencer . . .”
Sierra is mortified, but Tristan is flattered. Caught up in memories of her decade-old obsession as they reconnect, Sierra tries to dismiss her growing qualms about him. But it’s not so easy to ignore her deepening friendship with Alfie, the cute, supportive bar owner. She and Alfie were college classmates too, and little by little, Sierra is starting to wonder if she’s been focusing her moves on the wrong target all along, misreading every player’s motivations.
Maybe the only winning strategy is to start playing by her heart . . .
“Relatable, funny, and charming, this gamingesque book delivers laughs and romance in a warm, satisfying bundle.”
—Elly Blake, New York Times bestselling author of Frostblood
“Sexy and delicious.”
—Kristin Wright, author of Lying Beneath the Oaks
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Funny, memorable, unique heroine.
Crushing It
by Lorelei Parker
Talk about crushing it! Well this book certainly did – the writing was fresh, fun and the characters were quite enjoyable to read about. This book stood out from other romcoms for me for the story line that had amazing characters that are totally relatable and addressed important issues in a wonderful way. I would recommend this book for a wonderful summer read. This is thoroughly enjoyable and should not be missed. I recommend this book.
“Crushing It” was an entertaining and funny rom-com /chick-lit with a little bit of sexy slipped in there.
This novel by Lorelei Parker was engaging and witty. I literally laughed loud a few times at some of the crazy adventures that Sierra had.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for fair and honest review
This book is absolutely fantastic. Parker’s voice is like chatting with an old friend. My own crippling fear of public speaking (although thankfully not based on a traumatizing event) and love of games made it easy to relate to Sierra. It was interesting to see her falling back into old patterns—because that’s what we do. Sierra was intensely human, and I love that about her.
The rivalry between Alfie and Tristan was very well-executed. And the end absoutely perfect.
Also, I want a dress with smiley-faced planets on it.
HaPpY #pubday + #bookreview
available for pUrChAsE now!
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#crushingit by Lorelei Parker, Kensington Books.
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RomCom, my favourite Genre!
336 pages (31 chapters) of a RoLLeRcOaStEr RiDe!! And damn did I love it!!
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Now this is a Romantic Comedy book but it is also iNsPiRaTiOnAl, feminist, entertaining and YES it is not a completely clean romance novel, it has descriptive physical intimacy, about 2/5but it’s so well written that it mingles effortlessly with the story.
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READ it if;
You are looking for a fabulous, fresh romcom;
If you like gaming, yes u heard it right, gaming. The protagonist is a game developer & the story moves while keeping gaming in the backdrop the whole time.
If you believe in true love;
If you feel real, loyal friendships are so precious,
If you wanna get inspired to wheel over your insecurities & also get some clarity of thought;
If you wanna smile, laugh & cry all along the journey;
If you want to read about how past events, school/ college crush can influence your present…
THEN READ THIS BOOK!
The PLOT is so innovative & refreshing!
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Catch the #blurb here
To pitch her new role-playing game at a European conference, developer Sierra Reid needs to overcome her terror of public speaking. What better practice than competing in a local bar’s diary slam, regaling an audience with old journal entries about her completely humiliating college crush on gorgeous Tristan Spencer?
Until the moderator says, “Next up, Tristan Spencer . . .”
Sierra is mortified, but Tristan is flattered. Caught up in memories of her decade-old obsession as they reconnect, Sierra tries to dismiss her growing qualms about him. But it’s not so easy to ignore her deepening friendship with Alfie, the cute, supportive bar owner. She and Alfie were college classmates too, and little by little, Sierra is starting to wonder if she’s been focusing her moves on the wrong target all along, misreading every player’s motivations.
Maybe the only winning strategy is to start playing by her heart . . .
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In life, as in gaming, there’s a way around every obstacle . . .
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Can’t thank @lorelieparker @kensington enough for this amazing arc!
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#noorthebookwormreviews
Sierra can’t speak in public after a bad incident in college. But she wants to be the one presenting her game in the convention in Germany. she can try overcome her fears entering a contest in a bar. But when she meets Tristan, her crush in college and the one that made the prank that blocked her, she is not sure she can do it. But then Alfie, the bar’s owner and a former college student too, will show Sierra what it’s important in life. Will help her overcome her fears and see herself and him. I received a free copy of this book by NetGalley and this is my honest and voluntary review
Imagine if ten years have passed since a public humiliation gave you an intense fear of public speaking and all of a sudden you see the root cause of your humiliation standing before you? And he looks gorgeous? Welcome to this book. Laugh-out-loud funny, even to jokes I knew were coming, with more depth as the story progresses. The first half of this book gave me a bit of a struggle, as every character seemed to be a bit of a walking stereotype (gamer girl, skater boy, creepy coworker, etc.) and the plot left little room for twists and turns. However when I thought the story was finished and realized it was actually only halfway, I knew that I was in store for a better narrative than expected. The book ended up exceeding my expectations from the first few chapters and clawed its way out of cliché and into charming. A sweet rom rom with a woman in STEM at the lead (yay!) that made for a fun, easy read, I just wish it would have had a stronger start.
I would add that the cover of this book doesn’t seem to match it’s contents–there is no way our quirky gamer girl heroine with multi-colored hair would wear a blue paisley dress with an orange clutch. Would love a cover that gave us a better taste of what was in store!
Thank you to Netgalley, Kensington Books, and author Lorelei Parker for providing me with a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review of this book! It will be released June 30th.
I have made a promise to myself over the last year that I won’t force myself to continue reading a book I’m not enjoying. After a certain page or percentage, if I feel I’ve given it a fair chance and I’m still not enthralled, I’m going to move on and let it go.
That happened with Crushing It.
So much potential! We had our gamer girl Sierra who attends an open mic night of humiliation where she reads through an old college journal. The entry she reads is about repopulating the earth with her comms class and which boy she adored and shockingly, he is the next contestant at this open mic night and they “reconnect.” Sounds good, right?
No.
First, there are tons of red flags surrounding this guy. Does Sierra pay attention to them? No. Her naivete and gullibility are hard to swallow. Plus there is going to be this weird love triangle happening between douche boy and sweet boy and I almost feel like I can predict what will happen. It just feels like a bad teen movie from the 90’s.
And I hated Sierra’s outfits and style.
And so life moves on. #didnotfinish
** 100% spoiler-free review **
I’m thankful to Netgalley for providing me an ARC of Crushing it in exchange to produce my honest thoughts.
During this crazy period, this book was just what I needed. Sierra is an accomplished young woman. She’s a game developer who pursues her dream by founding her own company with her BFF. Nevertheless, Sierra still has a weakness. She can’t speak in public, which prevents her from presenting her new game at the next convention. She got this fear from back in college when she completely lost it during an oral competition in her communication class.
That’s when the male protagonists come in. The gorgeous Tristan, her college crush, and Alfie, a college classmate she barely remembers.
The storytelling is very well balanced, and I couldn’t put the book down, always wanting to know how she’ll handle the next step. The twists were dropped appropriately to feed the reader’s curiosity.
I also enjoyed Sierra’s relationship with her best friend, Aida, who is an amazing headstrong woman. I loved that all the characters weren’t caricatures. Moreover, despite the angst, Lorelei Parker added humor and a pinch of sweetness all along with the story. For instance, Sierra’s yoga class always made me smile.
I’m not into video games, but it didn’t steer me away from the book, and that’s the best argument to say it’s a good one. I think a good writer can make me read anything.
Sierra is a video game designer, and gamer. She enters a contest at a bar that asks you to reveal your most embarrassing moments in order to help her get over her nerves for an upcoming presentation. The story she tells is about Tristen, the boy she had a crush on in college. She revealed all the embarrassing details of how she felt. What she doesn’t anticipate is that Tristen himself is the next contestant in the contest. The two y’all after, and eventually go out. As the contest continues, Sierra develops a friendship with the owner of the bar. And she starts to realize that he is sweet, and funny, and supportive.
This was a wonderful story. The characters were all well written and seemed like your friends. It was funny and sweet, and kept you interested page after page. I definitely recommend this book if you want a quick, sweet entertaining story.
I was given an ARC of Crushing It from the Author Lorelei Parker in exchange for an honest review.
If your a fan of Ready Player One you will love this book.
The minute I started reading crushing it, I was like this reminds me of the book Ready Player One. Few chapters into it The author starts talking about the book Ready Player One. And I must tell you I Love The Book Ready Player One. It had the games that were very popular in the 80s and 90s Mario Cart, Undertale, and Legends of Zelda. So it was like a fan girl moment lol.
Reason it didn’t get a five star review was mainly the beginning I felt like it rambled. Then there was the part about the characters period. It’s a human thing but it seemed a little extreme, Other then that I loved the book.
I really loved the triangle love problem that was going on. The two bottoms corner are the guys while the point was Sierra. Sierra had a crush on a classmate she had in college( I think it would have been better if it was high school and not college). While Alfie the other guy had a crush on Sierra. So when the trio reunite feelings are still there. Sierra is after Tristian, Tristian is after Sierra ( but is it for love or is there something else he has up his sleeve) and poor Alfie has been friend zoned.
I must say Lorelei Parker has a very great vocabulary. I don’t know if she had a Thesaurus beside her but she has a great word pallet.