These Battered Hands by Laurel Ulen Curtis
Date of Publication: September 29, 2015
Blurb
Callie
Blood, sweat, hard work, and a disconcerting lack of tears—my entire life—was meant to culminate in a flourish of glory and significance.
I’d thought I’d always known exactly what that meant.
But I’d had the timing wrong by about three minutes.
I knew now.
This moment wasn’t everything. The one person I found myself wanting more than anything during it was.
Nik
One preconceived notion can haunt you for the entirety of your life.
I thought I owed it to myself and to everyone who’d ever backed me to do what was expected. What was right. What I was supposed to do.
But nothing is forbidden in love. Not circumstances or propriety or the denial of the object of said affection.
I knew now.
This was it.
If I wanted it, I had to take it.
This gymnastics love story is more than grips, rips, and battered hands.
For Calia Nickleson and Nikolai Bagrov, it was everything.
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Review:
I have really loved reading sports romances lately and I have never read a gymnastics story so I was eager to read this book by Laurel Ulen Curtis. Nik and Callie’s story is a fascinating look into the world of competitive gymnastics, and is a very fast-paced, different story. The pressure that the athletes put on themselves and the peer pressure is incredible, and the author does a great job at writing about this world.
“I’m just wearing my bruises on the outside.”
Callie is both strong and competitive, as well as vulnerable. I really liked her character. I absolutely loved how the author ended each chapter in a way that flowed right into the next. This unusual formula worked very well here and I must say I have never read a book that was written in this way. I also love alternative POV’s and Ms. Curtis accomplished that perfectly in this book. Nik and Callie’s thoughts flowed into each other from one chapter to the next, and it kept me turning the pages until the very end!
“I was telling it…As us.”
If you a fan of sports romance, then you will love this book. You don’t have to know anything about the sport of gymnastics to enjoy this story. The author does a great job of explaining the moves and the environment of the sport. There is plenty of romance in this book, too, along with some drama that resolves itself very nicely.
Favorite quote:
“I learned to love those battered hands, but I learned to love you better.”
(ARC provided by the author in return for an honest review.)
Loraine Oliver says
Thanks so much for posting this awesome review so we could know if we would be interested in reading tis book or not and I say -Yes!