Book Review: The Striker

I read and loved Ana Huang’s The Striker over the past few days. It definitely lived up to the hype for me!

The novel follows Asher Donovan and Scarlett Dubois. Asher is a professional footballer (soccer) in England. Asher has made a few appearances in other Ana Huang books. He appears in the Twisted series and was mentioned in the Kings of Sin series including King of Sloth because he’s a client of Sloane’s. Scarlett is a former professional ballerina whose career ended too early due to a bad accident. Now teaches at a ballet academy in London. She’s also the sister of Vincent Dubois – Asher’s biggest rival and new teammate.

Asher and Vincent have been rivals for years and Asher transferring to Vincent’s team, Blackcastle, didn’t end their bitter feelings towards each other. After their poor relationship with each other costs them the league championship, their coach orders them to spend their summer break cross-training together at the ballet academy. Their teacher will be Scarlett. The chemistry is instantaneous between the two but they can’t be together for a few reasons – Vincent told Asher not to even think about flirting with his sister, Scarlett has had a bad experience dating a footballer and swore never again, and even if they did get involved with each other would they be ready to deal with the crazy paparazzi?

But will they be able to stay away from each other when they’re spending multiple days together all summer and alone once Vincent has to go take care of their father in Paris for the majority of it?

I loved this book! Asher was a top tier book boyfriend and Scarlett was a really great character too. I loved watching them getting to know each other better and allowing the other in as a support. Both had a tendency to bottle things up and handle things on their own, but they learn that it’s okay to lean on someone and even to ask for help. I just loved their story, their characters, and the spice was really good too.

I can’t wait to read more from this series!

Read this if you’re looking for a spicy sports romance with the forbidden love trope.