The Wingman by Stephanie Archer
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️.5
Genre: Sports Romance
Pages: 448 - Published: 26 September 2024
Dates Read: 26 Sep 2024 - 28 Sep 2024
Last month, I read my first sports romance (ever maybe?) and kinda fell in love with the sub-genre. I’ve always thought football players were hot, so why not read about dating someone in the NFL.
I read the next sports rom that I could find and this time, the MMC was in the NHL. I don’t know if it was the spice or what, but I’ve never been interested in hockey or hockey guys and ever since I finished this book, I’ve been seeking out hockey romances.
I’m not even a little bit ashamed about it.
That first one was okay but didn’t quite scratch the itch, and I’ve been trying to find the best of the best. After a few, I stumbled upon The Fake Out on Kindle Unlimited, the 2nd in this same series, and I LOVED it. Maybe it wasn’t super original, but it checked all of my boxes. That sounds dirty and the book was dirty, but I promise that’s not what I mean.
I was so excited when I found out that next book would come out on Kindle Unlimited in only a few days and when that day came, I put down the other books I had read a few pages of and dove straight into The Wingman.
About
Darcy and Hayden have been friends for YEARS, and for almost the entirety of their friendship, Darcy has been seriously dating Hayden’s best friend, Kit. After Kit and Darcy breakup, she moves in with Hayden to get a fresh start in a new city. Darcy is trying to find herself and get back out in the world to make up for all the lost time, but leans on “player” Hayden to show her the ropes. When the flirting lessons turn to practice kisses and more, the lines get blurry between friendship and dating.
Thoughts
The spice was good, the characters and the plot were just okay. This had a lot of potential, but felt half-baked compared to the Fake Out. Some of the characteristics or events felt borrowed from that book and I never felt like either main characters were fully formed people. So while you may be able to overlook some of the issues and just focus on spice and hockey, I don’t think its worth recommending more than other books (namely The Fake Out). However, if the next book is about Georgia, I’ll give the Vancouver Storm series another try.
At first, this book is pretty cute. I like Stephanie’s writing style and I know her spice is pretty well written. But then I came across my first of many icks.
The idea of Hayden helping Darcy learn to be a player and “let me practice on you” is just…tired. The way it’s written in this book just doesn’t feel realistic, even though I normally am easily persuaded to consider everything “book magic”. I think you can give tips on dating profiles or conversations, but it came across either fake, forced, or awkward. Sometimes, they took it so far that it felt ridiculous to keep up with the “they’ll never be into me”/miscommunication dance they were doing. Miscommunication to this extreme is becoming my pet peeve with each book I read that relies so heavily on this trope.
There were also things that felt repetitive and somewhere towards the end, I started to just feel bored while I was reading. This almost never happens! Their inner thoughts, “he’s just the wing man” or “don’t touch her, don’t ever let her see”, basically they were both repetitive—too much telling and not enough showing.
I don’t think the two MCs even really had that great of chemistry, it felt more like lust. I mean, sure, they had one shared interest—a fantasy book series, and they brought it up all the time. They also brought up the title more times than I cared to count.
Besides the characters from the previous book(s, I assume, I only read the 2nd one), Hayden and Darcy didn’t really have their own family or friends. Both of their backstories were a bit weak, too. Hayden’s being that no woman ever took him seriously or as a serious dating prospect and the reputation just wouldn’t let him find love. eyeroll
Darcy’s first job where she messed up and got her boss fired with her, meh. It wasn’t enough for it to have just gutted her confidence and make her afraid to take risks ever. Not in my opinion, at least.
Lastly, I just think as soon as they start dating, we move to full on love and engagement SO quickly. I think it’s okay to let characters just date, I don’t know if we always need immediate marriages. Considering the author plans to write about the love stories of more than a few more characters, that could’ve gone into the background of a later book.
Words I learned/looked up
Laconic: (of a person, speech, or style of writing) using very few words.
Quotes
“With every moment I spend with Darcy, she becomes more entwined in my DNA. She becomes a bit more mine.”
