Review of ‘Jackpot’ by Cade Haddock Strong
I thought this was about an average lesbian sports romance read. It had some issues for me but there were also parts that I really enjoyed. I liked the overall premise about someone winning the lottery and a hopeful Olympic skier; I just wasn’t crazy with all the story choices within that premise. I think there was a lot of potential here but it just didn’t all come together.
I loved the beginning of the book, the excitement of someone winning the lottery, and what happens when there is so much money involved. The book also switches POV to a skier hoping to make the US team. The mix of both storylines had me instantly hooked into the book and turning the pages. Unfortunately, the skiing storyline fizzled out and wasn’t what I was hoping for. The cover of this book is so cool looking that I expected a lot more ski competitions and the excitement that would follow. I then became more interested in the lottery winner’s storyline since the skier’s plot wasn’t that gripping anymore. The lotto winning stuff was interesting and some of the winner’s choices were fun, but there was so much put on the winner to be responsible that this storyline eventually fizzled too. I get being careful and not blowing your money but anytime she did anything for herself, like even buying a nice sweater, someone was on her case about spending her money. The nagging got old fast and now the two aspects of this book I liked the most had both lost steam.
The book really went into the romance stage next. It was a slow burn with the characters really getting to know each other before anything happened. I liked the speed and I enjoyed the journey of the characters getting together. I did think that the sex scenes could have used a little more spice. They were a little too short and didn’t quite show that emotional spark building between the characters that we were supposed to see. But, I did like the overall romantic feel for the most part.
While I liked the romance, I strongly disliked the big conflict. It is so obvious what it will be that you see it coming a million miles away. It’s one of those books where you are just waiting for the other shoe to drop and I don’t like that. I want authors to at least lull me into a false sense of hope that they don’t need to have an 80% conflict moment, since they are so overplayed in romance. And what was even worse here is that it wasn’t an 80%, instead it was way later and one of the latest I’ve read in a while. It was so late that the ending felt really rushed and I just didn’t have that warm feeling about the relationship that I should have had at an ending.
As you can see this was pretty up and down for me. I loved the beginning, liked the middle that was a little bumpy, but the last third or so I lost my connection. I was frustrated in parts but I think it was because I really liked the potential this story had. I think this book is very readable and that it will appeal to people that like a slow burn romance with lots of outdoorsy fun. I can’t give this one the glowing rec that I wanted to, but I would not tell people it’s one to skip either. It really is a nice average read. 3.25 Stars.
An ARC was given to me for an honest review.
