ARC Review: Contract Season by Cait Nary (Trade Season #2)

Contract Season by Cait Nary

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Horse rating: 🐴 of 5 horses

ARC difficulty: escalator

Expected publication: September 6th 2022

This was a fun slightly-non-typical fake relationship story, and I really enjoyed the emotions that were present on page.

Some unorganized thoughts:

• There are no lyrics in this book! Thank all the gods, alive and dead, there are no written out lyrics. The author instead focuses on showing the emotions evoked by the songs played, especially when its Sea playing the song. We get to see how Sea feels, and how Brody is affected by the songs which is what I like to see in general. Emotions!! So this was awesome.

• Homophobia, while present given the whole pro-athlete/country star setup, was not an overwhelming presence. It was there, it caused them issues, but it was not a Theme of the book and I appreciated that.

• I did not read the first book, and this read just fine on its own. Cameo by the first books couple is brief.

• I am a total sucker for fake relationships, and this one had a very smooth gradual arc of them going from hookup to contract to relationship.

• Side characters are relevant, with their own personalities. They also do not just tell the MCs how to feel, but help them along by having actual conversations. Like people. I liked that.

• I also liked Ian specifically - Sea’s producer/management. He was a whole person, not a one dimensional evil Go Getter type that I see a lot in band/musician books. A solid secondary character.

• Princess Kiwi sounds so adorable!!!

• There was no overwrought breakup, just people being people, and Sea being a drama baby (affectionate) musician. Sea had his own history and baggage he carried through and I felt like it was well balanced overall.

• Great interactions and pairing for the MCs too - older more stable Brody with his little passionate drama Sea. Many of their interactions played into this beautifully as well, the author clearly has a strong grasp on having distinct and individual characters and how to make that work well.

Sea made a face. “Are you, though? You seem like you’ve got it all pulled together. All the time.”

“Buddy, I have no idea what gave you that impression.”

“Are you, or are you not, the guy in the friend group that would get called to bail someone out of jail?”

• This did end up maybe a little heavy on the internal monologue, though I never felt like it was spinning its wheels. It was always moving forward, but it maybe could have trundled along a little quicker at times.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable read. It was very sweet, and a lovely slow burn (emotional). I could go on with more points and thoughts, but it's best if you just go read it!

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All the opinions are my own.

Contract Season on Amazon

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