Double Fault by Ella Wren
The education was far more competitive than Sabrina Howard had hoped for. With no job and now no place to stay, Sabrina must rely on her friends Lucy and Alyssa to help her out. Although grateful, Sabrina is no charity case and needs a job, asap. So, when Lucy helps her find one as a nanny for a travel pro-athlete, Sabrina leaps at the chance to earn some income and gain some experience. However, Sabrina was not expecting tennis player, Noah Baker. Noah is a widower with an adorable eight-year-old but his grumpy demeanor and undeniable attraction to her make it a challenge working for him. Still Sabrina makes the most of the situation. But Sabrina hadn’t expected to fall for him and now she must try to navigate these feelings as well as her desire to teach in a classroom. Should she and Noah try at a relationship? Can they make it work?
I picked this book because I liked the cover. Then once I read the description, I was hooked. I will say, I did come into this with my expectations a little high and kind of was waiting for the story to get good a little bit at the beginning. However, Double Fault was such a good read that before I finished reading, I already added the sequel, Drop Shot to my TBR list.
From the description, you know that Noah has a bit of an attitude problem because he doesn’t want to like Sabrina but he can’t help but like her. And his daughter, Maddie, loves Sabrina, so that makes it even harder to hate her. I didn’t like Noah’s childish behavior of being hot and cold towards Sabrina. However, when you read the ages of the characters (22 for Sabrina and 27 for Noah), you understand why they’re both a little immature.
Yet this doesn’t detract from the novel, it only enhances their character development as their feelings grow for one another. Sabrina can dish it as well as take it and matches Noah’s energy. She doesn’t take his attitude lying down, which adds to their banter and makes you want to see more of their interactions.
The biggest issue for me was the pacing. The characters moved from one scene to the next too quickly, not allowing the reader to sit in their growing affections long enough to feel them. So when they do finally mature and stop playing around, it doesn’t feel as rewarding as it should. It read as though they were fighting one minute and now, they’re together and the reader is kind of left to imagine the development, rather than see it and feel it. I wished their inner monologues lasted longer too so that I could really get a sense of how Sabrina and Noah felt and understood their struggles more. The pacing gave me emotional whiplash and I wished the pacing had slowed down so I could enjoy the characters more.
I will say, the ending was the best part. It wasn’t cliché and felt resolute. It didn’t feel like the book was trying to wrap up everything in a neat bow. For me, Sabrina and Noah really did grow and find a happy ending that realistically worked for them. I could believe their story. Double Fault is a 3 out of 5 and Ella Wren is definitely an author to watch.
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