Liora Blake - First Step Forward

After eight seasons playing pro-football, Cooper Lowry knows all the right answers.
Is he stubborn, short-tempered, and impatient? Yes. Are jersey chasers more trouble than they’re worth? Absolutely. Has he ever imagined a life beyond the game? Nope.
Cooper has built an enviable career—the result of staying focused, working hard, and keeping his head on straight—even as his body takes the brunt. So when a hard hit during a Sunday home game leaves him in a dazed heap on the field, it’s nothing more than another day at the office. The only thing that’s different about this Sunday is a chance encounter with a certain fascinating, beautiful free-spirited woman. And some sternly-worded instructions from his coach to take a little time off and give his body the TLC it craves—before he does lasting damage.
Whitney Reed is a few months away from losing the organic fruit orchard she bought three years ago in the tiny town of Hotchkiss, Colorado. At the time, she was just looking for a place to get lost. Instead, she found a home, somewhere she could finally put down roots. Now foreclosure is knocking on her door—along with a grumpy, gorgeous football player who might be just what she never knew she needed.

Comment: I think I got interested in this book after seeing it would feature a couple who had different jobs and lifestyles and I was curious to see how the author would play with that. Unfortunately, I didn't feel any connection with the characters and decided to DNF.

In this story we meet hero Cooper Lowry, a professional football player who has a concussion and at some point that stars to cause him issues, he can't be as focused as before, among other things. Before he realizes he would need to make changes or think about what else is there for his life, he randomly meets Whitney Reed, a woman down on her luck, who is about to loose the orchards she has invested all her money and time into. Somehow they connect but their lives are too different and they go their separate ways. However, since Cooper's life is about to change, why not trying to recover in a beautiful place, and trying to help a beautiful woman... perhaps they can both trust and help each other, but are they truly ready for that, when everything else seems too much?

I feel I could not even give a decent chance to this story from the first chapter. The story is narrated in the first person, in alternate chapters, by Cooper and Whitney. I disliked how they thought about things, from the start. When I say this, i mean thoughts about other people, especially Cooper thinking about other women and experiences he had in the past. Perhaps he has reason and it is realistic to assume someone like him in real life has reason to be cynical and mean at times, but it put me off.

I've read until a certain point, practically half way if I remember well, and then skipped to the end. The formula of the story isn't hard to guess, Cooper would need to think about his life, his choices and since his childhood was also spent on a farm, it becomes obvious he will help Whitney with her orchard and her business.On her part, Whitney is someone who is hardworking but in the chapters I got to have her POV, I wasn't really moved by her nor her plights... which should be worrisome for certain.

Since I was feeling bored by how this was going, by how the characters spoke and interacted, I pushed on but it was becoming pointless, if what I was reading held no interest and I was distracted by other things. I've decided to skip to the end, whoch seems to have some grand gesture by Cooper that Whitney feels she must decline but of course she gets her wit back and they have their HEA. I know it is unfair, but I feel that I didn't miss much by not having read the whole thing. I also know it is unfair to the author and that perhaps I just chose the wrong book to get her "voice". Perhaps one day I'll try another one.

Grade: DNF