Taking Shots Review & Giveaway

In ‘Taking Shots’, Toni Aleo brings us a romance between a hockey player & a sports photographer.

            Elli Fisher, a successful photographer, begins a new job as the photographer for The Assassins Hockey Team. While doing a team photo shoot, she meets team captain, Shea Adler. Although Elli is convinced he’s out of her league, Shea finds her interesting & pursues her. What will happen between them? Will it become love or grow cold as ice?

            At 700 pages, lengthy is an understatement. But, I have never been deterred by page numbers.

            I will say, though, that word choice in this book was an issue for me. Obscenities, as well as countless misuses of God’s name, are thrown around freely. Freedom of speech-yes- and unfortunately, not uncommon, and I’m no prude, but I found it distasteful. It was a true distraction from the storyline. I will usually pass on a book with these used. If neither of these are an issue for you, then it won’t be a problem.

            Another issue I had was the TREMENDOUS amount of emphasis placed on the heroine’s weight. I don’t know at what point a size 10 was deemed ‘fat’. For a female entrepreneur, who is successful, she is portrayed with a depressing, low self-esteem. At one point, the author describes her as ‘not plus-sized but not skinny.’ I suppose, to me then, she’s the average woman. Why isn’t she capable of having an athlete be attracted to her? Or, perhaps, we are to assume that all athletes are that shallow. I believe if these details hadn’t been repeatedly referenced, than I would not have become mildly offended and had more respect for our main character. Instead, she comes across as whiny & depressed.

            During character dialogue even Shea got frustrated with her self-deprecating talk. Shy was the term used by the author. Really, it was just poor self- image.

            Sex sells & it certainly isn’t as if we don’t know it happens. But, you need more substance than the sexual tension between a famous athlete & an average-sized woman who thinks she’s too fat for him, in order to be a best seller.

            This novel had incredible potential. Its basic premise is fantastic. But, when you tally the score, it misses the goal. I hand it a generous 3 of 5 stars.

I received 1 e-copy of the book for review purposes. No other compensation was provided.

           

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