Review: The Change Up by Elley Arden (Arlington Aces #1)
Note: This ARC was provided by Barclay Publicity via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The Change Up is an enemies to lovers adult contemporary romance by author Elley Arden and is the first book in her new Arlington Aces sports romance series from Crimson Romance. This series starter is about forty-year-old Rachel Reed, an ambitious woman who has always striven to make her father proud of her. When he makes his Alzheimer's diagnosis known, he hands over the reins to Rachel, making sure she knows what's expected of her and detailing what it is he wants her to accomplish. One of those tasks happens to be connected with her father's latest purchase--a fledgling expansion baseball team called the Arlington Aces. Of course, with a sports team comes requirements, including the proper facilities for it. When all is said and done, Rachel hopes to find a buyer that will see the same potential in the Aces her father did and offer to buy it off them, which is what her father wants. Rachel already has the location and she knows what she wants to do with it. Only one thing--one man--stands in her way: landscaper and former minor league baseball player, and the younger brother of her high school boyfriend--Sam Sutton.
Sam's never been a fan of Rachel's, especially not after she dumped his brother, thinking he wasn't up to scratch for her lofty future. Seeing her again after more than two decades shows that she's exactly the way she's always been. She may be ready to railroad her way and do whatever it is she wants, but Sam has no intention of simply sitting idly by, not if doing so would mean the loss of countless trees in the are proposed for the facility for the Arlington Aces. The fact that it's a reminder of the career he thought he was going to take by storm is just another reason for him to stand his ground. Sam and Rachel engage in a game of one-upmanship, trying to be a step or more ahead of the other, neither one willing to give in. But the underlying attraction they have for one another is something they never expected or planned for. Rachel, after all, is his older brother's ex-girlfriend and Sam is five years younger than she is. They've also got opposing visions and have personalities that appear to guarantee conflicts galore. Add to that her living in Philadelphia and he in Arlington that it may take one major change up for them to have a chance.
This was a fairly engaging love story between two people who don't particularly like one another. I was glad that there wasn't some sort of underlying hidden love that they were keeping for decades, one they couldn't pursue because of Rachel being Luke Sutton's girlfriend. The family dynamics of both the Suttons and the Reeds were part of what made this book interesting as well as Sam's struggle with the premature end of his baseball career. I readily admit that I did NOT like Rachel over most of this book. She grated on me, and it was due to a combination of her abrasive personality and the way she was with her family, especially how she distanced herself when it came to her dealing with her father's illness. I get being busy, but come on. My gut reaction would have been to learn as much as I could about whatever it would be a parent or a sibling, or heck, even a friend, was going through. So yeah, it took me a good long while before she won me over. Overall, this was a light read and one that I was able to finish in a short enough amount of time. The Change Up is a promising start to the Arlington Aces series and it gets four out of five stars. ♥
Date Read: 19 May 2016
Learn more about Elley Arden.
Purchase The Change Up on Amazon | B&N | Kobo.
Sam's never been a fan of Rachel's, especially not after she dumped his brother, thinking he wasn't up to scratch for her lofty future. Seeing her again after more than two decades shows that she's exactly the way she's always been. She may be ready to railroad her way and do whatever it is she wants, but Sam has no intention of simply sitting idly by, not if doing so would mean the loss of countless trees in the are proposed for the facility for the Arlington Aces. The fact that it's a reminder of the career he thought he was going to take by storm is just another reason for him to stand his ground. Sam and Rachel engage in a game of one-upmanship, trying to be a step or more ahead of the other, neither one willing to give in. But the underlying attraction they have for one another is something they never expected or planned for. Rachel, after all, is his older brother's ex-girlfriend and Sam is five years younger than she is. They've also got opposing visions and have personalities that appear to guarantee conflicts galore. Add to that her living in Philadelphia and he in Arlington that it may take one major change up for them to have a chance.
This was a fairly engaging love story between two people who don't particularly like one another. I was glad that there wasn't some sort of underlying hidden love that they were keeping for decades, one they couldn't pursue because of Rachel being Luke Sutton's girlfriend. The family dynamics of both the Suttons and the Reeds were part of what made this book interesting as well as Sam's struggle with the premature end of his baseball career. I readily admit that I did NOT like Rachel over most of this book. She grated on me, and it was due to a combination of her abrasive personality and the way she was with her family, especially how she distanced herself when it came to her dealing with her father's illness. I get being busy, but come on. My gut reaction would have been to learn as much as I could about whatever it would be a parent or a sibling, or heck, even a friend, was going through. So yeah, it took me a good long while before she won me over. Overall, this was a light read and one that I was able to finish in a short enough amount of time. The Change Up is a promising start to the Arlington Aces series and it gets four out of five stars. ♥
Date Read: 19 May 2016
Learn more about Elley Arden.
Purchase The Change Up on Amazon | B&N | Kobo.
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