The New York Times best-selling author Ana Huang released her first sports romance, which struck readers’ hearts, “The Striker.” Not only was it highly anticipated by Huang fans, but it also gave readers a new taste of what she offers.
The trope is a forbidden romance with the female main character, Scarlett DuBois, being Asher Donovan’s biggest rival’s sister. The breaking point conflict starts when the two soccer players Asher Donovan and Vincent DuBois are the reason their team Blackcastle loses the championship game.
This leads to them having to spend their off-season and summer training at a ballet academy with Scarlett, Vince’s sister, as their coach. Shortly after training begins, Vincent and Scarlett’s father seeks help from his son, leaving Asher and Scarlett alone during training.
Their chemistry and tension sparked before Asher knew she was his rival’s sister. However, this did not stop him from pursuing her anyway. The 592-page book was something some readers enjoyed, while others did not.
Having been a long-time fan of Huang and tuning in to all of her books, the days for the release could not have come sooner. The lengthy journey between the two characters felt refreshing, especially after her last release of “King of Sloth” which was 131 pages shorter than “The Striker.”
This book was rarely ever put down, the engaging banter and pacing of the book was something that Huang brings consistently. With “The Striker,” much like the release before this book started off the bat. However, Huang played off the fast start better than the previous release.
Asher is a refreshing male main character, although Huang’s men are usually the standard, Donovan’s mistake he made seemed realistic and forgivable. He was charming and caring.
Scarlett DuBois had a new feel to Huang’s usual main characters. She suffered from chronic pain from a previous accident. Reading about how Donovan takes care of Scarlett was one of the highlights of the book.
The other fun aspect was the cameos of other characters from her previous books from previous and/or ongoing series. To know they’re all intertwined in some way was amusing. Not to mention, the reason Donovan got a book was due to the previous female main characters mentioning the famous soccer player as their celebrity crush.
There aren’t any complaints about this book other than the mixed feelings about how long the book is. But this is always something to look forward to when it comes to Huang’s books. “The Striker” dabbled with a plethora of tropes throughout, sports romance, forced proximity, rival’s sister, damsel in distress (for both characters), etc.
“The Striker” brought a new feel to Huang’s legacy of books. Though her writing included plenty of similarities, the vibe felt different in a good way. The pacing, the storyline, and the way she made both characters so deeply complex altogether left the feeling of wanting more.
