kimberly ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡.'s Reviews > The Striker

“i've been here since day one, darling. i was simply waiting for you to join me.”

ah yes, the striker by ana huang. a sports romance that could have been SO SUCCESSFUL, but reading it felt like watching a football match where the players keep missing the goal, the referee's dead on the field, and you're just screaming for someone, anyone, to score so you can go home and sleep.


₊˚꒰ ⚽ ꒱ ⊹ i. plot and characters. ₊˚⊹ ꒱
starting off with the premier league's golden boy, asher donovan, who's just transferred to a new team, which creates absolutely earth-shattering tension with his rival, vincent dubois.

enter scarlett dubois, vincent's sister and the story's walking billboard for "tragic ballerina energy." she was once at the top of her game until an accident ended her career. now, she teaches little kids ballet, keeps thinking about her broken dreams, and suffers under the heavy weight of vincent's overprotectiveness. naturally, her life becomes even more complicated when her boss asks her to train her brother and his rival.

cue the romantic tension! asher's too confident, scarlett's kinda uptight, and she keeps telling herself that falling for asher would be absolutely catastrophic because of reasons, and of course, the SECOND they have a private moment, scarlett's resolve crumbles faster than the cookies rotting away in my pantry. the romance escalates quickly, quicker than the flash can run at this point, through secret glances, forced proximity, and angsty monologues about how asher is "different than all the others" and scarlett is "unique and oh so special."

scarlett's entire arc revolves around her career-breaking injury and her forbidden romance with asher. that's it. scarlett's supposed to be passionate, strong, and resilient, but do we see these traits in action? BARELY. imagine the beauty of this book if the readers get to see scarlett grapple with this loss of her identity, rebuilding her confidence, and then falling in love with asher along the way. instead, we see barely any character growth in her arc, and it almost feels like asher becomes the solution to all of her problems.

asher has his moments, but he's literally so forgettable as a character. I'M SORRY, but i was so bored reading this book. i literally cannot. he made me feel NOTHING. the romance made me feel NOTHING.

the book was also long for no reason, and was it a slow burn? NO.


₊˚꒰ 🏆 ꒱ ⊹ ii. conclusion. ₊˚⊹ ꒱
overall, the striker isn't a bad book. it's just aggressively mediocre. if you're a die-hard ana huang fan, you'll probably enjoy the book for the vibes and tropes. for me? it was extremely underwhelming.

— 2 stars. ⋆˚☆˖°


.° ༘🎧⋆ favourite quotes 🖇₊˚ෆ
“the past was the past, and the future was unpredictable. but the present? it belonged to us, and i wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“even if there were seven hundred thousand instead of seventy thousand people here, i would’ve found her just as easily because a part of me would always be connected to a part of her.”

“i looked at her, this beautiful, incredible woman whom i never would’ve expected would turn my world upside down, and marveled that she was mine.”

“if her smile was a burglar, her laugh was a fucking thief because i was pretty sure she just stole a piece of my heart from right out under me.”


☾⋆⁺₊🎧 ✧ ₊˚ʚ 🌱 ₊˚✧ ﾟ.


₊˚꒰ 🌷 ꒱ ⊹ pre-review: i rather pull a scarlett and get hit by a car to feel something at this point 😭😭

₊˚⊹ ᰔ pre-read: don’t like football players in romance, but there’s just something about ana huang men 😩