Light-Hearted Romance: Links by Lisa Becker

by Donna Huber 

Lisa Becker does a great job of making a standard rom-com trope feel fresh and fun in Links.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free ebook was provided for an honest review.

August  2017; Desert Breeze Publishing;
ebook (229 pages); romance

I can be pretty harsh when it comes to overused tropes in romance novels and when Links started out I thought I would be rolling my eyes at the "been there, done that" storyline. Not only was a pleasantly surprised at how much I was enjoying the story, I ended up naming this one of the best romantic chase stories I've ever read.

If you read romance, you have read the nerdy high school girl that was ignored by the hot guy grows up to be the hot woman he doesn't remember from school story a dozen time. In a nutshell, that is the story of Links.

Charlotte tutored twin brothers in high school and had a crush on one them. Garrett thought he was God's gift to women and Charlotte was just the tutor. Many years later, Garrett is a professional golfer and still thinks he is God's gift to women. That is until a random run in with a beautiful woman, that his family all seem to know, makes him want so much more than a one night stand. Charlotte is a successful writer and has no intentions of being just another notch on Garrett's bedpost. However, she has never quite got over her crush. Will she be able to keep Garrett firmly in the 'friends' category?

The chase trope can usually go one of two ways. 1. The characters are just friends one page and then getting married on the next (zero chase). Or 2. Oh my gosh! Will they just get together already? (drawn out, with obstacle after annoying obstacle).

Lisa Becker nailed the timing. She didn't rush Charlotte and Garrett into a relationship, but it never felt drawn out to the point of boredom for the reader. It felt natural, how a relationship like this would really play out. There is still plenty of fun to be had while the characters get to know one another.

I had one fear while reading Links which you know often comes up in plots where the guy has a playboy past and the girl is still a bit insecure from her days as a nerd. So as to not spoil it for those not as familiar with romantic tropes I'll call it The Misunderstanding. I kept waiting for the shoe to drop and ruin the book for me.

The shoe did drop, but thankfully Becker didn't draw it out too long - she definitely has story timing down pat in this one. Unfortunately, The Misunderstanding wasn't believable and I was little mad that Charlotte would jump to that conclusion given the woman it involved. As the reader, you know what she is seeing is not what she thinks she is seeing. While she (and I) believed Garrett capable of it, I couldn't believe she thought her friend would do that to her.

Overall, Links is a great light-hearted story that would make the perfect book for wrapping up summer.

Buy Links at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour. 

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