The Perfect Stroke - Book Review

By Jordan Marie

Synopsis

It was one night. He wasn’t supposed to rock my world.

CC
Gray Lucas is everything I hate in a man.
Cocky, rich, entitled and a player.
He’s a pro athlete and his exploits are legendary—one of which was me.
We had a one-night-stand.
It was wild, passionate, exhilarating and a big mistake.
Except maybe it wasn’t.
Because the more time I spend with him and his crazy family, the more I want him to stay…
But men don’t stay…do they?

Gray
The moment I saw Claudia Cooper again, other women ceased to exist for me.
She’s smart-mouthed, tough-as-nails, and gorgeous. She’s perfect.
I’m the man for her, the only man for her. She just doesn’t know it yet.
I have a reputation for playing hard, fast and dirty.
Love ‘em and Leave ‘em.
What CC doesn’t know yet,
Is that I’m not playing. I’m claiming her.

Take a man who always gets what he wants,
A woman who has learned not to want,
A crazy mother and insane siblings…
And oh yeah add in a skunk just to make things interesting—
And you just might have The Perfect Stroke.

Review

I haven’t read anything from Jordan Marie before, but I was in the mood for a romantic comedy⎯ even if it was about a golfer⎯so I picked this one up. Sadly, while there were the occasional funny scenes, I felt that the mean, bitchy and cruel actions of a few characters really took away from the comedy side of things. Also, when referring back to my notes to write this review, I discovered that I hardly took any, which means that throughout the story, not a lot popped out at me. Overall, it wasn’t a bad read and I was happy to keep reading, but it wasn’t great either.

It took me a while to warm up to Gray, who starts out as a bit of a pig. In his first POV chapter, he admits to sleeping with thousands of women and is shocked that CC is turning him down when there are plenty of women at the bar prettier than her. Then when they meet again a day or two later and he doesn’t recognise her, he was just plain rude and condescending. However, as his feelings for CC grows, he does become more likeable, even though there were times when he would knowingly put CC in a bad situation to serve his own purpose. CC was a much more likeable character. She was easy going and down-to-earth, and for the most part she was able to take care of herself. What I liked most about her was that she was more than able to hold her own with Gray and made it quite clear she wouldn’t put up with his shit. She also had no problem keeping his ego in check.

“Well, I mean, if I was gonna have a one-night stand with a pro athlete, I’d much rather it was football or basketball…something. I mean, at least then I could brag a little. I can’t here.”

THE PERFECT STROKE is told in dual POVs and is the beginning of a new series. Book two will be about Gray’s brother, White, and his best friend, Kayla, and I’m assuming each story will be able to be read as a stand-alone. It’s important to note that this digital version includes two stories, THE PERFECT STROKE and UNJUSTIFIED DEMANDS, and each story takes up about half the book. So don’t freak out when your Kindle says it will take you ten hours to finish the book, because it’ll only take half that.