Synopsis

A gym nemesis pushes a fitness influencer to the max in Amy Lea’s steamy debut romantic comedy.

Curvy fitness influencer Crystal Chen built her career shattering gym stereotypes and mostly ignoring the trolls. After her recent breakup, she has little stamina left for men, instead finding solace in the gym – her place of power and positivity.

Enter firefighter Scott Ritchie, the smug new gym patron who routinely steals her favorite squat rack. Sparks fly as these ultra-competitive foes battle for gym domination. But after a series of escalating jabs, the last thing they expect is to run into each other at their grandparents’ engagement party.

In the lead up to their grandparents’ wedding, Crystal discovers there’s a soft heart under Scott’s muscled exterior. Bonding over family, fitness, and cheesy pick-up lines, she just might have found her swolemate. But when a photo of them goes viral, savage internet trolls put their budding relationship to the ultimate test of strength.

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This book releases on 5/10/22, pre-order your copy today!

Review

This book was quite a surprise and I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed this story. I could relate to Crystal as a curvy woman and I applauded her career choice and the people that she was helping find a better fitness routine. Then she meets Scott who acts like a neanderthal when they first bump into each other. I loved Scott’s explanation once they got to know each other, that he was just bowled over by her and lacked the words to say something. I love it when a guy gets tongue-tied!

I enjoyed watching the relationship between Crystal and Scott grow. It wasn’t without its challenges and misunderstandings but for the most part, they worked through them. But there wouldn’t be some tension in the book without hurt feelings and disagreements. But these incidents are what help them grow as a couple and learn to navigate feelings and expectations. It also helps Crystal find her true path and what is or isn’t working for her as a fitness trainer and promoter.

They both care about their grandparents, so when his grandfather and her grandmother connect and end up engaged it forces them together until they find that rhythm together. You could say it strengthens the relationship that they embark upon.

There is a touching moment when Crystal confronts her father and his continual pestering for her to find a job. They are two different worlds when it comes to what defines success and neither is right or wrong, they just see things differently. However, there are some things that Crystal learns about her father that she didn’t know before which enables her to understand where he is coming from. The moment also helps her father realize that maybe she does have things together, more than he realizes.

This book will make you laugh out loud and perhaps get a little sentimental too at different times. Overall, I loved the book and can’t wait to see what the author comes out with next. We give it 5 paws up.

About the Author

Amy Lea is a Canadian bureaucrat by day and contemporary romance author by night (and weekends). She writes laugh-out-loud romantic comedies featuring strong heroines, witty banter, mid-2000s pop culture references, and happily ever afters.

When Amy is not writing, she can be found fan-girling over other romance books on Instagram (@amyleabooks), eating potato chips with reckless abandon, and snuggling with her husband and Goldendoodle.

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