Blocked
By: Jennifer Lane
Publisher: Self-Published
Published: Oct. 21, 2014
Genre: New Adult Romance
Rating:
College freshman Lucia Ramirez has a secret crush on Dane Monroe. He’s a tall drink of water — blond, brash, and one hell of a volleyball player. ¡Híjole! Lucia hopes her volleyball scholarship to his school will make him notice her.
Too bad what’s noticeable is Dane’s obvious hatred for Lucia. Her family’s politics contradict everything he stands for. And politics are front and center in both their families. Dane’s mother is about to face Lucia’s father in the race for US President.
When Secret Service throws them together, Dane can’t deny his frustrating attraction to Lucia’s athletic curves and sweet faith in the world. Amid the intense pressure of college athletics and presidential politics, can opposites not just attract, but overcome overwhelming odds to be together? Or do their differences block their match from the start?
My thoughts…
Lucia’s recent college transfer has definitely put her in an interesting position. Not only is she having to attend school with secret service following her around due to her father running for office, but her crush who goes to that school just so happens to be none other than the son of her father’s opponent. To make matters worse, when her last minute transfer results in her pretty much being homeless, she finds herself moving in with Dane at his place.
Blocked is sort of like those romances where the President’s daughter falls in love with her security detail, only Lucia and Dane are the children from opposing sides of a presidential election. Not only was it sort of a forbidden romance, but it also had a lot of obstacles to overcome. I mean, Dane and Lucia have two very completely different views on how the country should be run. So, it stands to reason that these two butt heads a lot in the beginning. However, over time they slowly call a truce, become friends, and that friendship turns into something more. It was really interesting seeing these two grow together.
Since these two are both volleyball players for their school, I was happy to see the author incorporating the games and practices into the mix. I kind of expected the story to revolve their romance but there was a lot of sports mixed in as well. The one thing I wish there was less of is all the political stuff. I get why it’s in there but I really did not need to read about the actual debate verbatim. I mean, I fully understood where each party stood on the discussions that Lucia and Dane had, I didn’t need a play by play of the debates.
One interesting thing is, I was surprised this book was written two years ago. I had assumed it was a recent book because the presidential candidates reminded me a lot of the ones we have now. I mean, Dane’s mom is running as a democrat and Lucia’s father is running as the republican. Not only that but her father is frowned upon by many due to his high opinions on immigrants, gay marriage, and pretty much his high-handedness. Apparently he accused the disabled of mooching off of the government and called women who got abortions “murderers.” He just screamed Trump to me. So, yeah, I was a bit shocked when I realized this was not in fact a play at our elections this year. I suppose it was just good timing on my part.
This was a quick and easy read. There’s light romance to it but considering the characters are 18 and 20, this is not your typical new adult romance. It’s actually really light on the romance and focuses more on their relationship as a whole. I’m a little bummed that we never actually find out who won the election. I mean, I even read the first chapter of the next book and still nothing! After all that political b.s. I at least want to know what came of it. Maybe I will find out in the next book. I definitely plan to read it since it deals with Lucia’s older brother and her best friend. I love me some best friend’s brother romance. 🙂
Favorite quote…
“His exit was swift, and my mortification complete. Why oh why did I have to fall for a crazy man’s daughter?”
Quick and easy with a light romance sounds good, just not sure about the political angle, because I am so not into that.
Ya know, Brandi, neither am I. I try to stay away from anything political both in books and real life. So, I was really surprised that I enjoyed this one as much as I did. I do think the debates could have been toned down a lot but other than that it was an enjoyable read.
Oh man, I’d think the politics were current too o_O
I definitely had to put my Kindle down and check the publication date of the book. I thought for sure it was published recently.
Oh thanks for the political heads up. I’d DNF this book so fast because of that. So appreciate knowing.
LoL Glad I could help. Nothing sucks more than getting a book only to find out it has triggers in it that you can’t stand. I’m like that with a few topics.
When I read the description I was like yeah maybe I’ll read this, then reading your review, i think I’ll pass. It was a great review and it was enough information for me to make an informed decision. I appreciate that. Thanks for the review.
Thanks, Jess. I love talking about books and helping readers decide whether or not a book is for them. 🙂