Review | Shooting For The Stars by Sarina Bowen

Posted April 16, 2015 by Asheley in review / 0 Comments

Review | Shooting For The Stars by Sarina BowenShooting For The Stars by Sarina Bowen
Series: Gravity #3
Published by Rennie Road Books on March 16, 2015
Source: the author
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five-stars

For one night she had everything.

Pro snowboarder Stella Lazarus has always loved her brother's best friend. But the one time she tried to show him, she was shot down faster than you can say "competitor disqualified."

Until one blissful night in Tahoe, when Stella finally gets her man.

Or does she? In the morning, Stella and Bear wake up to horrible news. The sort that sends them racing back to Vermont, and straight into the arms of guilt and family obligations.

For all of Bryan “Bear” Barry’s life, three natural laws held true: his best friend Hank was destined for greatness, Hank’s sister Stella was off-limits, and Bear would always manage to negotiate the rocky paths that life threw his way. In the space of two days, that’s all shattered.

Bear can't believe he slipped up so badly with Stella. Even if his best friend wasn’t lying broken in a hospital bed, it would still be unforgivable. Determined to do better, he devotes himself to his friend's recovery, denying himself the very person he loves. And the very thing he needs.

I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review:

Gosh, I love this series.

Shooting for the Stars by Sarina Bowen starts out on a day that is a big one for Stella – she wins a pretty big competition for freestyle snowboarders. She’s happy with her friend Bear and brother Hank by her side to see her win, she wants to celebrate. Her pro-snowboarder brother Hank has to leave immediately after her competition to compete in his own event, which leaves Stella alone with Bear…who has had probably the worst day in his entire career. Hank has asked Bear to keep an eye on his little sister – Bear has agreed. With Hank gone, Bear and Stella are free to have fun and talk and let loose a little bit, which means that they both can explore the feelings that they have for one another. Things are going really, really well for them until they get a devastating phone call saying that Hank has been badly injured during his pro-competition.

Immediately, things change. Immediately the two go to Hank’s side. But it is a really long time before they talk about what happened. And hearts are broken.

I think it is so interesting to read books and see movies with that guy-code-thing that says little sisters are off limits. This is an underlying theme with Bear and Stella. They both have had a thing for one another for their entire lives – it started out as a crush and it runs pretty deep now, but Bear isn’t able to do much about it because he doesn’t want to jeopardize his friendship with Hank. Stella, being the fiercely independent gal that she is, thinks that sucks.

Stella comes from an influential family, but she isn’t concerned about that. She is a great athlete, a tough competitor. She is shielded from things by her parents, though, and this really ticks her off. They want to protect her from…everything. They really suffocate her, and she is very much a free spirit. I have to admit that Stella’s behaviors annoy me a little every now and then, not only in this one book, I saw this in her in the other parts of this series. It isn’t really because of who she is — it’s because she feels so squashed that she is reactionary, but I can’t say that I blame her. She wants room to breathe a little and be herself and experience life without confines. And she completely knows what she is doing when her mood is a little off. I GET THAT. So, I really like her, but she does things that make me squish my nose up every now and then.

Bear, though – oh, this guy. Bear has always had it harder than his friends. His family life was tougher than Hank’s probably was, but he was able to get by with hard work and also because his friends were supportive. Bear has an appreciation for hard work, for everything really. He loves deeply and is loyal, sometimes to a fault. He is innovative and creative and hardworking, particularly when he has to make some big career decisions for himself and his friends, and he is serious in this book because he has to be. I really want good things for him because I like him so doggone much.

Bear and Stella almost drove me crazy with their super-slow burn romance, but not really. I actually really, really loved it. They were just-under-the-surface for a while here and there because they were stubborn about their feelings for each other, but I loved this about their story. These two had the hardest time communicating, and Bear’s added guilt about loving his friend’s little sister made for a story that I fell in love with. I loved their love, is that dorky? These are the type of characters that I want to squish together and make them kiss, which are some of my favorites, because when they finally do — I felt fireworks and explosions in my heart.

I love the way other characters from the Gravity Series show up in this story. I also loved the way snowboarding was shown from a filmmaking perspective – that’s really cool! I’ve heard of these action films, but I’ve never seen them and I’ve certainly never read anything that spoke of this side of this sport before – I loved it.

This is a series of standalone books – I’ve read them out of order, which is okay. I don’t feel lost at all with characters or events or anything like that. I recommend Shooting for the Stars (and the rest of this series) by Sarina Bowen to readers that enjoy contemporary romance and stories/series involving athletes and sports. This author is auto-read for me, her stories are delicious, and I’m almost sad that I only have one book to go in this series (but not really because these are reread status for sure).

Check out my other reviews in the Gravity Series:

Coming In From The Cold | Coming In From The Cold Audiobook | Falling From The Sky | Falling From The Sky Audiobook | Shooting For The Stars | Shooting For The Stars Audiobook – Coming Soon

About Sarina Bowen

Sarina Bowen is a New Englander whose Vermont ancestors cut timber and farmed the north country since the 1760s. Sarina is grateful for the invention of indoor plumbing and wi-fi during the intervening 250 years. On a few wooded acres, she lives with her husband, two boys, and an ungodly amount of ski and hockey gear.

Sarina’s books are published in a dozen languages on four continents. In 2016, The Romance Writers of America honored HIM by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy with a RITA award for Best Contemporary Romance, Mid-Length.

Asheley

About Asheley

Asheley is a Southern girl. She loves Carolina blue skies, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and NC craft beer. She loves all things history but prefers books over everything.

You can find her somewhere in North Carolina, daydreaming about the ocean.

Find Asheley on Litsy @intothehallofbooks!

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