I..... hmm.

I started off really liking this. It was cute and creative and overall enjoyable. At the 50% mark.... my enjoyment had a few cringes that turned into QUITE a few more. I'd learned that my desire to shake Sierra was unhealthy but she was infuriating. This became very repetitive and there were few types of love that could help me change my mind.

By the end of it, I just wanted to finish to be done, unfortunately. Sierra was an immature narrator and one that did nothing but bother me. She and Tristan were annoying, Alfie was sweet but like... grow up a little? I feel like this story was trying to say a lot but didn't have enough words to do it.
I'm sorry, I really did want to like this. I thought it sounded cute and loved a lady in the gaming world.... but it really fell short for me and therefore the rating reflects just as much.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was just okay for me. The main character Sierra needs to pitch a new video game at a conference in Germany but she has a fear of public speaking. There is a love triangle and there were some cute parts. The dialogue was witty and there were some funny parts that made me laugh. Unfortunately I didn’t really feel a connection to the characters or the plot. Sometimes I felt bored while reading instead if enjoying it.

I liked the concept of this book — female game developer who is trying to improve both her public speaking and anxiety talking to men, so she signs up for a ‘Grownups Read Things They Wrote As Kids’-type contest — but it unfortunately didn’t work for me. I didn’t really like any of the characters, there was no contest whatsoever between the two potential love interests (why did she even keep him in consideration so long?), the endless microaggressions started to get to me, and the writing style wasn’t for me.

I received a free copy from netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book was fantastic. I could barely put it down. Sierra is a game developer but she has massive anxiety issues when it comes to public speaking. Which wouldn't normally seem like a big deal, except she has a chance of a lifetime to present her game at a gamers convention in Germany. Aida, her best friend, roommate, and coworker, decides that the best way for Sierra to get over her problems is by entering a contest at the local bar. Each week she will get up in front of a crowd and relive her most humiliating moments. Week one reveals her crush on a boy in college, who just happens to be at the bar.
I really loved Sierra and she was relatable. While their is a central love story in the book, there is also a great emphasis on discovering your voice and moving on from the past. As someone who has spent countless hours reliving my embarrassing moments, which logically I know others have forgotten, this book hit home. I have barely slept because I wanted to see how the story played out. 4.5 stars.

I received this book from Netgalley as an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book "Crushed It"!!! Sierra brings her nerdy gamer life to the world where so many people can relate. Not your traditional romance as it it becomes a love triangle 10 years in the making. Tristan and Alfie went to college with Sierra at Auburn 10 years ago. Through a contest in Alfie's bar they are all reunited and secrets come out from journals written in a comms class 10 years ago.

While Sierra navigates her love life and her work life, she learns she is more confident they what she thought she was and is ready to conquer the world. I won't tell you who she picks in the end Alfie, Tristan, or herself but I will say she makes the right decision.

This book had me laughing, getting angry, and longing for the relationship and person Sierra becomes. I've never been a video game person but I'm intrigued to pick up a controller and see if my match is on the other end.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub date: June 30, 2020

Let me start off by saying that I really enjoyed the representation of the main character...a female boss in the gaming world! She still has to deal with her share of jerks along the way...and some of them are real jerks.

I had a difficult time believing certain relationships and reactions throughout this novel. The main romantic relationship seems to develop at warp speed, considering all of the other things happening at the time. Unfortunately the more graphic romantic scenes did not seem realistic and the sexual metaphors within them were a bit over the top.

This dropped from 3 stars to 2 for me after there were a few unnecessary and out of place religious references to bible verses. They came out of nowhere and added nothing to the story. The time would have been better spent explaining the Greek words for love more in depth.

Overall this millennial romance was a quick little escapist read.

Sierra wants to go to a gaming conference in Germany and pitch her company's new video game but every time she tries public speaking, she get nervous and blows it. Her best friend and co-worker, Aida hatches a plan. Sierra should enter a live lit contest at their local bar. The idea is that by telling her most embarrassing stories in front of strangers, she'll overcome her fear of public speaking and could also win $1000 to get her to the conference if her boss won't pick her to represent the company. She decides to read something from her college journal about the the huge crush she had on Tristan. She meets the bar owner, Alfie. Turns out she went to school with him but she doesn't remember him. He's really nice and encouraging. She gets up and reads her piece, not knowing that her crush from school was in the audience and also in the competition! It's been 10 years since they've seen each other. Will it be different this time around? Will Sierra finally end up with her crush or someone else?

So, the storyline was pretty interesting with the potential love triangle but there was just something about the dialogue and the way it was written that I hated. Maybe I'm too old to be reading about millennial love. I couldn't relate to or care about any of the characters. And the whole live lit thing didn't make sense. None of the stories seemed that embarrassing? There was some weird mention of Christianity and faith too, which didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the book. It just wasn't for me.

Sierra is a video game developer with a horrible fear of public speaking, which causes issues as she's trying to convince her investor to let her present at Gamescon to promote their new game. Her coworker and roommate Aida convinces her to go to an event being put on by a new bar near their home, a competition to get up in front of everyone and tell humiliating stories for the amusement of others. The catch is that it is for mostly alumni of their college, and the reason Sierra has public speaking fears dates back to college. When the source of her fears is in the bar, also in the competition, Sierra has to face all of her demons if she wants to further her career.

I liked the premise of this book a lot, and I really enjoyed the resulting romance. I liked the growth that the characters went through, and the strides Sierra made in overcoming her fears. I didn't enjoy all of the side characters, for reasons you'll probably understand when you read! I won't say who though, because it would be a bit of a spoiler for you all and I don't want to do that. I respected Sierra's investor for making her prove to him and herself that she can represent the brand and game how they want it to be represented.

This book was a tad predictable though. I could see where it was going, and what the big reveal would be. I still enjoyed it, but some parts were just too obvious and maybe could've been covered up better.

I would like to thank #KensingtonPublishing for sending me an #ARC of #CrushingIt by Lorelei Parker via #NetGalley, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Crushing It is definitely an all around, feel good, romantic comedy. The story was actually ... kind of original, which is a breath of fresh air in the romance genre. All the video game references were awesome. The story was great. My only two problems plot wise, was that I didn't truly get into it until 40% into the book, which is way too long in my opinion, and it was predictable. Once I did get to a point where I was invested in the story (specifically when our main protagonist started to develop feelings for Alfie), I couldn't put it down. Even though I knew what revelations we would get in the last few chapters, I wanted to know how they resolved it.

The characters in this book are very down to earth, and relatable, in my opinion. Sierra is a successful video game programmer, who has a lot of passion for her field. She is scarred from an embarrassing moment in her life, when a prank is played on her during a presentation, and now she has a crippling fear of public speaking, which gets in the way of her presenting her own game at Gamescon. In order to get over her fear, her best friend enrolls her in a contest at a local bar, that requires you to get on stage and read an embarrassing journal entry from your diary. This is where she meets our two potential love interests: her biggest crush in college, Tristan, and Alfie, who had the biggest crush on her in college. Both men complete opposites of one another. It's quick to see who is the perfect one for her. Alfie is probably on my most adorkable character list. Very easy to fall for.

Crushing It, while predictable and the set up is more drawn out than I like, was a super cute, quick read. It's a book that makes you reflect on change. How people change as they grow up, and how they don't. Makes you think about consequences to particular actions. All the while using fun video game references that will make the geek in your smile.

I adored this story, the main character, Sierra, being a game developer was something that really drew me into the book and I felt it was really well portrayed without being over cliche despite the fact she had a lack of self confidence. I enjoyed the love triangle though this is not typically my preferred trope and I thought it was really well done. The first person POV was wonderfully written, making Sierra feel real and well rounded. You couldn't help but want Sierra to succeed in all aspects of her life. I look forward to future books from this author

** 100% spoiler-free review **
I'm thankful to Netgalley for providing me an ARC of "Crushing it" in exchange to produce my honest thoughts.
During this crazy period, this book was just what I needed. Sierra is an accomplished young woman. She's a game developer who pursues her dream by founding her own company with her BFF. Nevertheless, Sierra still has a weakness. She can't speak in public, which prevents her from presenting her new game at the next convention. She got this fear from back in college when she completely lost it during an oral competition in her communication class.
That's when the male protagonists come in. The gorgeous Tristan, her college crush, and Alfie, a college classmate she barely remembers.
The storytelling is very well balanced, and I couldn't put the book down, always wanting to know how she'll handle the next step. The twists were dropped appropriately to feed the reader's curiosity.
I also enjoyed Sierra's relationship with her best friend, Aida, who is an amazing headstrong woman. I loved that all the characters weren't caricatures. Moreover, despite the angst, Lorelei Parker added humor and a pinch of sweetness all along with the story. For instance, Sierra's yoga class always made me smile.
I'm not into video games, but it didn't steer me away from the book, and that's the best argument to say it's a good one. I think a good writer can make me read anything.

Sierra is terrified of public speaking after a traumatic experience in college, so when she has to prove she’s able to pitch her new game to the investor for an all expense paid trip to gamescon, she is in full panic mode. Her best friend Aida convinces her to go to a chagrin contest at the local bar where she feels the grip of anxiety until the smooth talking bartender calms her nerves. She takes a chance by reading an embarrassing story about her college crush Tristan who just happens to be next up. Yikes! She tries to forget why she ever stopped liking Tristan in the first place but keeps getting reminded of how he sabotaged her and caused her fear of public speaking. Leaning on her new found friend, the bartender slash college acquaintance Alfie, she realizes Tristan is no good for her or her life and all he wants is to use her to get ahead. It’s got romance, laughter and video games. A perfect trifecta.

Lorelei Parker’s ‘Crushing It’ book summary: “To pitch her new role-playing game at a gaming convention, developer Sierra Reid needs to overcome her terror of public speaking. What better practice than competing in local bar’s dairy slam - her old entries about her completely humiliating college crush on gorgeous Tristan Spencer. Until the moderator says ‘Next up, Tristan Spencer!”
This contemporary rom com is a fun read! First time reading this author and one can tell she’s a gamer herself; has a lot of gaming references. I’m not familiar with MMORPG but I do know Mario Cart. The background setting is a small city that graduated colleagues from the same uni runs into each other. Main character-Sierra is lovable, quirky & witty. Even though she has a personal phobia, throughout the book we experience her anxiety to growth for self improvement. There is sort of a ‘love’ triangle at one point but moves on pretty quickly. The story plot flushing out pretty early in the chapters. So we, as readers can already guess the ending. There are some graphic sexy scenes if that’s not your thing - be warned. Overall, I like this novel about ‘What Ifs’ and second chances of friendship/romance.
*I was provided e-copy from Netgalley and this honest review is my own.

This was a fun and interesting book that drew me right in. The heroine is a video game designer. Even though I’ve never been into video games, I enjoyed having a heroine who was and who was talented in designing them as the main character. That was a nice twist.

Sierra’s problem is that she has paralyzing stage fright whenever she has to speak formally in front of a group. But she needs to overcome her personal weakness in order to represent her company at a gamer convention in Germany. So she accepts her best friend’s challenge to participate in a bar contest with people competing by telling their most embarrassing memories in a sort of American Idol-type competition.

And what a coincidence! The bar owner hosting the competition is a guy she had encountered and promptly forgotten from college. And one of the other competitors is the guy she had crushed on in college is also there and now he seems interested in her as does the bartender.

Sierra has to decide if her former crush is worthy of her attention ten years on or is the kind and helpful bartender the guy who really deserves her affections this time. And will embarrassing herself in front of a bar full of customers help her overcome her phobia?

I enjoyed her character and following along as she figures things out.

It's so nice to have a female main character who has an interest different from most female characters are into and to see her own it and it never be called into question by her friends and family. It's also nice to have a lead who embraces her quirky tendencies through her appearance and dress and to watch her really own that is so fun.All of these characters are so well-written and detailed. They all just seem like a group you'd love to hang out with, preferably at the local bar. The settings were so well done I was easily able to picture where everyone was hanging out and and spending their days. this book was so amazing i would read it all over again.

*Spoilers Ahead*

It was entertaining enough, but I did not love it. I love the representation of a nerdy girl lead who did not compromise on who she was. Sierra was living her best life living the nerd-girl dream of being paid to make video games. As someone who has been to a lot of comic book conventions I really appreciated this.

There was a good number of things that bugged me and the more I’ve thought about them the more they’ve bugged me. For example the “love triangle” was a bit too obvious. Is that the right word? It was very clear who she would end up with because the other one was an ass. Sierra’s continued feelings for the ass left me confused, because like yes he was hot 10 years ago in college but do you not see that he is a manipulative jerk? Also, I get that the plot was involved reliving past experiences, but like it seemed unrealistic for people in their thirties to be so obsessed with who they were ten years ago in college. And why did Sierra have such poor memory of a class that cumulated in a traumatic experience? Maybe this was just me not paying attention to earlier in the book, but why was it not mentioned until it was convenient for the plot that Sierra started and is part owner of the company she works for, like couldn’t she have just pulled rank and said she was doing the presentation without the drama of the contest? I really am probably overthinking this whole thing.

The book was a good fluff read. Would I read something else from the author? probably.

The story is enjoyable (some parts more than others) but I can’t stop thinking about the little details that bothered me. This is why I’m kind of undecided between 3 stars or 2’5 stars.

For starters, the characters weren’t my favourite. Tristan was a total jerk straight from the beginning, how could Sierra not see it? Is she so blinded by his good looks? Aida, Sierra’s best friends, is quite a unidimensional character whose only purpose seems to be criticizing every decision Sierra makes. Sierra herself was complicated… At the beginning, from her infatuation with Tristan and the nonsense of her fear of speaking in public but being capable of teaching a yoga class in front of many people, I found her a not very well-developed character. However, I will admit that her character growth throughout the book was quite satisfying. Quite honestly, sweet Alfred was the only character that totally win me over.

On the other hand, there were some situations difficult to believe, the main one being that Sierra barely remembers ANYTHING that happened to her in college. I mean, I can understand if you forget minor details, but she has (conveniently) forgotten every situation that would have made things clear in the current time of the book.

I appreciated the fact that Sierra is a game developer and a gamer herself, it’s a background not often seen in a woman, but it perfectly depicts many real women nowadays. I enjoyed the little references here and there to SAO, Ready Player One and Mario Kart.

One last thing I wasn’t able to appreciate was how, in the middle of a contest where the main point is explaining embarrassing stories about yourself, one man can explain an anecdote where he is masturbating and makes it to the next round but when a woman explains a story about unexpectedly getting her period, all men are horrified and she gets eliminated.

All in all, this book is a light escape, and I don’t regret reading it nor consider I wasted my time with it. I just know it’s not a story that will stick with me.

<i>*Thank you to Kensington Books & Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review *</i>

This book centers around Sierra, Alfie, & Tristan, who were all in a college comms class together and have reconnected at a bar open mic sort of competition.

I would probably put this closer to "it was okay" for me than "I liked it" (goodreads rating standards), but I do see a certain appeal for others that made me round it up to 3 stars.

<b>What I liked</b>

1) Sierra & Alfie were cute nerdy characters that had relatable characteristics. Especially at the beginning, I thought they each had potential.

2) I think this book will appeal to gamers because there's quite a lot of video game references.

3) The romance comes across as fairly realistic modern situation for the most part.


<b>What I didn't like</b>

1) I found this book to be pretty cheesy, particularly the further in I got. I felt like things that weren't that big of a deal got made into much bigger deals... For example, Sierra has this huge public speaking hang up from a presentation gone wrong 10 years ago..<spoiler>Here's the big event: While she was presenting, instead of her presentation deck, on the screen behind her there was a slideshow of pictures of Tristan being dumb & for some reason that made her SO MAD that she went fuming down the stairs – she tripped & fell and people saw her ass – ok that part is embarrassing but a) doesn't actually have to do with public speaking - she keeps saying it was awful having everyone laugh at her..they were laughing at pictures of someone else entirely, that makes no sense and b) it seems more embarrassing for Tristan than her? I felt cheated because there was this huge build-up to this major event from 10 years ago and then I was just like wow she can sure overreact and it made me lose respect for her character.</spoiler>

2) Following from that last comment, the big reveals in the plot were pretty lame in my opinion, so I wasn't that into the story or the characters by the end.

3) Sierra's crush on Tristan seemed really immature, particularly at age 29. I get it, it was a crush from when she was 19, but she sounded like she was 12, and then when she runs into him again, yes I get that it would be validating to have the cute guy now seemingly interested in you, but all the time dedicated to their interactions was annoying to me – I just wanted to fast forward through it. It seemed so obvious that he sucked – <spoiler>he called her Sara for days and was obviously trying to use her to get a job</spoiler>.

4) Sierra & Alfie's relationship felt kind of corny overall. I appreciated that there were some more realistic aspects, but I guess it just didn't feel very swoon-worthy to me.

I got this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review this book was pretty cute and the tile was interesting but I found that Alison got on my nerves a lot.
Alison green is a senior in high school and she wants to be valedictorian and gets roped into producing the school play midsummer nights dream which is my favourite Shakespeare play and I really wish we could have seen more of it. Though at some parts I wish it was show don’t tell, because you tell us something but not really showing it not really good.

I'm so glad this book exists. It's so nice to have a female main character who has an interest outside what most female characters are into and to see her own it and it never be called into question by her friends and family. It's also nice to have a lead who embraces her quirky tendencies through her appearance and dress and to watch her really own that is so fun.

All of these characters are so well-written and detailed. They all just seem like a group you'd love to hang out with, preferably at the local bar. The settings were so well done I was easily able to picture where everyone was hanging out and and spending their days.

Sierra and Alfie and Aida and all of the others are just so terrifically written. I really enjoyed this story and that it didn't have a super obvious story arc. I was genuinely happy with where everyone ended up.