Review of Red Card by Carrie Aarons

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Author: Carrie Aarons

Release Date: February 14th, 2016

Blurb:

She spent five years planning a future that will never exist. He spent five years trying to erase a past he can’t forget. 

London is Leah Watson’s fresh start. When she secures the perfect internship during her study abroad semester, with an infamous celebrity public relations firm, she is determined to forge her own path - one that is nothing like her life back in Oklahoma. That plan is tested when British football’s bad boy, Killian Ramsey, decides that she's the one he wants and he's playing for keeps. 

Will she put her future on hold - again - for the type of man she swore she'd stay away from? 

Killian is one bloody good football player. After a tragedy shattered his entire world, the cocky and arrogant face he puts on for the media is a complete lie. When he meets Leah, his heart starts to beat for the first time in years. But when the feelings get too real, his perfectly constructed facade starts to slip. 

Will he risk it all to be with her - taking whatever penalties are thrown his way - or will he play it safe?

Review

I’m a little embarrassed to admit, that my Kindle holds all the previous books in the Over The Fence series by Carrie Aarons…I just haven’t read them yet. Red Card was given to me as an ARC and I jumped in head first and not knowing what to expect from this author who was new to me.

I was in no way disappointed by her work.

Red Card takes off with a prologue that introduce the reader to Leah, and while it gives us an idea of her early relationship with the ex-boyfriend, I do find it’s a bit unnecessary. It had me re-reading the blurb for the male leads name to see if I had gotten it wrong.

Once the story really began in the first chapter (that’s right, action right of the bat) I was caught hook, line and sinker. Leah is an enigma of mixed feelings and no real identity. Slowly she finds her feet and figures out who she really is – she’s the kind of character you often meet in young adult books. However, Leah turns out to be mature for her age, with a good head on her shoulders and a temper to match the hair color of her redheaded, Irish roommate.

While reading this book I alternated between wanting to hug Killian and stomp on his foot with the highest, most pointed heel I own. I feel his pain caused by what he’s been through and I’m not surprised it affects him to such a degree (sorry, but that’s my professional opinion rearing its ugly head and explaining why he’s such a knob head). However, I wanted to scream at him for his behavior towards Leah and that tells me the author has succeeded:

Leah and Killian both leaps off the pages (or in this house my kindle) and becomes real life 3D people.

The plot does not as such bring anything new to the table: boy meets girl-boy is a complete wanker to girl-they break up-boy comes crawling back-they live happily ever after. I want to make it clear, that this is not a bad thing in my opinion – there is a reason it’s used over and over and that is because it works.

I fully recommend reading Red Card – it’s an absolutely enjoyable book. I can’t wait to disappear inside the previous Over The Fence books.