Wow! I absolutely adored this contemporary romance. Author did a great job making these characters relatable and funny. Great character building!

It was a bit uneven, but the parts that I liked, I REALLY liked. It took me a bit to get into it, and one of the end "reveals" made no sense based on the rest of the book - the one about her being part owner (and I really wish the occasional morality paragraph would have been pulled, like the last paragraph before the epilogue). But overall, I really enjoyed the storyline and I really liked how everyone saw "10-years-ago" differently.

If you are interesting in finding love as a quirky, game loving, self appointed nerd, then this book is for you. I could not relate to the main character, but I still enjoyed her story and following her path to rediscovering her confidence.

This is a sweet rom-com about a video game designer her college crush and the guy she overlooked. It's definitely on the predictable side but in the best possible way. I flew through this book in two days, and it had a satisfying ending. Perfect for anyone looking for a light read. I really enjoyed that the heroine was a gamer and designed video games. The gaming references were easy to follow even for non-gamers. Really lovely.

I love a good romcom, and Crushing It by Lorelei Parker is that. A good romcom.

A main character who is a gamer girl and develops video games in her own company? And plays Mario Kart? And loves fandom outfits? And hates public speaking especially because her body makes weird noises when she's nervous? Ah, a character I can definitely relate to - except for her dyed hair, and that's only because I have a job in the corporate world that keeps me from going full lilac.

There were a lot of funny moments in the light and fast read. I have to say that the thing that annoyed me the most was how gullible Sierra was, and I totally vibed with Aida and felt like I would totally be her in the same situation,. Don't we all have a friend who is exactly that gullible when it comes to guys (or girls) who don't deserve them? Aida, I feel you girl. I wish their friendship had been fleshed out more though.

The romance between Sierra and Tristan did not move me at all, and while I definitely felt more of a spark between her and Alfie it still wasn't that convincing. I also felt like they went from 0 - 100 real fast.

My favourite parts were when Sierra would go on and on about her favourite games and during the contest when they would all try to humiliate themselves. I just wish we got to read more of the humiliating stories because they were the funniest bits.

The cover is beautiful, though I wish they had chosen to design the dress after Sierra's favourite dress in the book.

All in all, funny read. Not the most memorable romcom I've read but not bad.

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

I have made a promise to myself over the last year that I won’t force myself to continue reading a book I’m not enjoying. After a certain page or percentage, if I feel I’ve given it a fair chance and I’m still not enthralled, I’m going to move on and let it go.

That happened with Crushing It.

So much potential! We had our gamer girl Sierra who attends an open mic night of humiliation where she reads through an old college journal. The entry she reads is about repopulating the earth with her comms class and which boy she adored and shockingly, he is the next contestant at this open mic night and they “reconnect.” Sounds good, right?

No.

First, there are tons of red flags surrounding this guy. Does Sierra pay attention to them? No. Her naivete and gullibility are hard to swallow. Plus there is going to be this weird love triangle happening between douche boy and sweet boy and I almost feel like I can predict what will happen. It just feels like a bad teen movie from the 90’s.

And I hated Sierra’s outfits and style.

And so life moves on. #didnotfinish

This was a light and fun book to read, definitely something I could see being made into a funny rom com. I've actually been reading so much heavy fantasy lately that I forgot how much I enjoy the simplicity of contemporary books. I was drawn to this book because it discusses a very relatable fear of mine which is public speaking. Sierra was a really cutesy character who had quite a history to her in terms of relationships or lack thereof. I enjoyed slowly watching her build her confidence in her product (for her video game company) and herself, and of course her journey to find love along the way. The writing style was nice and sweet, although the fetishes with body parts like the neck, were very strange at times, at least for me personally. I appreciated that this book solidified how women can go into men dominated fields such as video game designing and succeed. Hence, I also appreciated Sierra's best friend Aida who pushed her friend to face her fears and continued to believe in her abilities even when Sierra herself didn't. I think my favorite part of this book was during the journal readings at this bar, things would be reveled from ten years ago when Sierra and some others were in college together. Those parts made this book interesting and added a little more background to the characters, who weren't really flat, but were lacking some substance at times. Overall, I did enjoy the book. It wasn't the best contemporary story I've ever read, but it was a nice escape. 


Writing: 7/10
Characters: 7/10
Plot: 6/10
Ending: 7/10
Originality: 7/10
Overall: 34/50
Cover: /10

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this eARC

This was a book that I initially didn’t have high hopes for because it sounded So similar to every other book I’m this genre, and it mostly was but I loved the story of the public speaking phobia and how the one bad incident that affected Sienna for 10 years was able to be overcome in a pretty unique way.
I didn’t like the way that Tristan’s character treated both Sienna and Alfie but he was a character that a reader would know in real life.
Overall I really enjoyed this story and will look forward to reading the authors next book

I enjoyed this book. I thought the contest set up was original, though a bit far fetched. Setting the lead in the world of video game design was unique as well. But it’s also why I felt there was a huge disconnect between the cover and the content. I know we aren’t supposed to judge a book by its cover but while I like cover it doesn’t fit this story, in my opinion.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
If you are a gamer, or game developer, the book is suitable for you. The book is not my cup of tea. I enjoyed reading it for the first 40%, the remaining was just struggling to finishing it.

Game creator Sierra has a big public speaking event looming, but an embarrassing incident in her past gives her extreme stage fright, to the point that she might miss this huge opportunity. To ease herself into making the speech, she starts competing in a local bar event, telling stories from her life, based on her college diary. Both the bar’s owner, Alfie, and one of her competitors, Tristan, witnessed her embarrassment long ago; Alfie is supportive and helpful, while Tristan uses it to his advantage during the competition.
While it seems this is going to lead to a love triangle, that’s taken care of pretty early on, since it’s clear that one of the guys is only interested in Sierra because of her job.
I liked that the romance was a bit of a slow burn. Sierra, used to quick hookups, is surprised by Alfie’s insistence that they date a while before sleeping together, which is a nice change. I also like that Sierra is good at her job and confident in most of her abilities except public speaking, but that’s a VERY common fear, and she’s willing to work on overcoming it in order to pitch her passion project.
I thought the book was charming and funny.

Thank you netgalley and to the publisher for this fun ride !
Calling all gamers , ready, set —go!!!
I crushed this book in one day because it was so good I just had to know how it was going to end !
Sierra is a game developer with a fear of public speaking ! Her best friend Aria talks her into entering a open mic type contest to help conquer her fear ! Throw in high school crush and old friends and you’ve got yourself an amazing read that will bring you right back to your teenage years !!!
I challenge you not to run to your game station and play some Super Mario after you read this one!!!! Wonderful and fun read !

This book with it's game developing representation left me in awe. I loved how Sierra was passionate about her game and also how for presenting it she entered into a contest to gain her confidence back. The fear of public speaking was also represented so nicely in this book. It is something I loved the most reading it.
Alfie was a sweetheart throughout the book. I really admired how he boosted confidence into Sierra.
Overall,the book was a sweet fluffy romance book with a love triangle trope. It's a charming read which doesn't fails to put a smile on your face with it's quirkness. I really see it as a movie lol. I would LOVE TO SEE IT one day!
Highly recommend it!

3,5
<i> I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. </i>

This was my first time reading something by Lorelei Parker, and I’m glad I got to know her.
I really enjoyed this book, it has some comic moments but at the same time it dealt with a couple of serious issues.

The protagonist, Sierra, has to deal with her fear of speaking in public in order to win the chance to present the new game her company developed at a comic con in Germany. To do so she enrolls into a competition where you have to read/speak about some of the most embarrassing moments of your life.
This was the part I liked most about the book, more than the romance, what captivated me was the protagonist tentatives to overcome her fears. Especially when her past comes knocking on her door and she also has to learn that she might have misjudged a few things she gave for granted.

Also, bonus for all the geeky content, Sierra is a real nerd and that’s adorable.

Only thing that lowered my rating was that I had no problem putting this book down. Usually with similar books I am unable to stop reading until I finished. Though I enjoyed Crushing it, it did not completely hold my attention.

But it is still a really good read that I would recommend to the lovers of the genre.

I requested this book on Netgalley because lately I’ve been in the mood for some romances and this book seemed like a hit. Video games? Cute bartender? The book was just calling my name.

Sadly, it fell short for me.

I considered DNFing this book multiple times before I finally finished. I really enjoyed the first 25% of the book, but then it went a little downhill. It started getting really boring and repetitive.

Let’s get into the story.

Sierra is a video game developer who has a massive fear of public speaking after a particularly bad presentation in college caused by Tristan, her old college crush. Sierra wants to go to GamesCon to promote a new video game she has produced, but her boss doesn't feel like she has the confidence or speaking skills to make it happen. 

To try and overcome her fear, her best friend Aida convinces her to participate in the Chagrin Challenge a local bar is holding. She would just have to read an embarrassing piece of writing from her past. 

To start off, there was an abundance of video game references that just felt a little too forced. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a crazy nerd when it comes to those sorts of things, but even for a mega-nerd like me, it was too much. 

Characters:

The main character Sierra was probably my biggest complaint about the book. She was just too flat of a character for me. I never really felt invested in her journey, because she kept doing the same things over again. While she did have a decent amount of character development by the end, it just didn't feel like enough. 

Don't even get me started on Tristan, the supposed supermodel of everyone's dreams. He was the worst character and had zero redeeming qualities, so by 50% of the book, I kept wondering "Why?". The fact that Sierra kept making excuses for him drove me crazy and it just didn't make any sense. 

The thing that kept me interested the most in the book was Alfie, the sexy bartender and love interest. I honestly would’ve loved way more about Alfie and his past. Alfie also had his problems, but he came off as more real. But sadly, because his character wasn't fleshed out, he also felt a little flat.  

The relationship with Alfie and Sierra had a dash of insta-love to it. While they did know each other in college, Sierra never gave him a second glance. But after remeeting him at his bar, she definitely fell for him very fast. 

Sierra’s best friend Aida could’ve been SO much more. I am always a sucker for a great best friend's side plot, but it wasn't there. The only dialogue she had was mostly criticizing Sierra and telling her to get her life together (I mean, same) and I was really missing a loving best friend moment. Whenever Sierra told Aida about the problems, it was written as “I updated her on the situation.” I feel like more dialogue between the two of them could’ve made their friendship mean more as well as made Aida a way more interesting character.

Plot: 

Some of the storylines just didn’t make sense to me. How did Sierra forget THAT much about college? And when she was confused about some of the events being talked about, she didn’t read through her journal until the later half of the book.

I also felt like the scenes and interactions happened so fast. There was no depth to the arguments or the problems happening between Alfie and Tristan. One of the main fights with Tristan happened over a single page and it was just too quick to make me feel anything for either character.

I ended up giving the book 2 stars.

Overall, the idea of the book is great, but the characters were too stereotypical to give the book any depth. The bar contest got a little too messy, and by the end, I didn’t really care what happened. I think if the characters were more fleshed out and the scenes had more depth to them, it could’ve been a really great book.

Hmm.. I have a lot of thoughts on this one.. Crushing It by @loreleimparker is a bright and breezy book for the most part. There were a lot of laughs and a lot of steam and I generally enjoyed it.
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I really like how the main challenge Sierra faces is for work rather than romance. Not everything in a woman’s life revolves around finding our other half! And Sierra really crushes it. She’s smart, she’s good at what she does, and she knows what she’s weak at and has the courage to meet it head-on to improve. That’s someone I want to be friends with.

Personally, I didn’t like either of the two male leads. At first, Alfie felt like a shoo-in to me, but in the end, I was screaming for Sierra to just move on from both of them. But that’s just me, maybe I’m not so much of the forgiving type. What do you think though?

Still, this book was a fun read overall and I would love to have others read it so I can find out who people were rooting for and why. Let the discussing begin!

Diversity meter:
-

"Maybe life would be easier if it came with prewritten dialogue."

Diverting a bit from a conventional romcom, Sierra is a gamer girl trying to overcome her fear of speaking in front of audiences by entering in a contest where the contestants reveal their embarrassing stories. Little does she know, her crush from college, Tristan, is sitting in the audience as she tells her story about her college crush. Awkward.

I related to Sierra because I am absolutely frightened of speaking in front of an audience. I enjoyed how Sierra's character was written with her gamer analogies which at times I had a hard time understanding but gave another level to her already unique character. I loved how relatable Sierra's character was and how in the end Tristan gets what he deserves. I truly enjoyed this read!

🍿This romcom is author's debut novel and I immensely enjoyed reading it. The story is about an online game developer, Sierra, who enters a pub competition to overcome her fear of public speaking. All participants are meant to share their embarrassing stories from the past. What did Sierra decide to talk about? Her crush from a decade ago, only to find him participating in the contest too!

The plot unfolds where she befriends her crush and gets to know Alfie, the owner of the pub who encourages and motivates her to achieve her dreams.

Do you smell a love triangle? Who will Sierra chose?

The plot came with a twist where one was Mr Nice and the other was The Nemesis. The gamer terminology used brought freshness to the narrative and it was an easy going, fun read.

It also handled the serious issues of being an introvert and not fitting well with the crowd really well and showed how to come out of your shell in a constructive and practical way. There was also reference to LGBT which was handled appropriately.

Thank you #netgalley and @kensingtonbooks for the eARC!

Pub date 30 Jun 2020 and I would recommend you to pick it up if you are looking for a light read!

This sweet rom-com has nerdy game developer Sierra re-examine the most embarrassing moment of her life in order to gain confidence as a public speaker again so she can attend her dream gaming conference in Germany. A competition set-up at a local bar for people to bare their most cringe worthy memories is the setting for Sierra to rise to the challenge. The competition gives Sierra a chance to reconnect with people from college that both had a major impact and played a minor role, or so she thought, during one particular semester. Those old connections lead to new romance and love in the most surprising places.

2.5 crushed STARS ★★✬✩✩
This book is for you if… nerdy gamer content and stubbornly gullible characters are more your vibe than a well developed arch of suspense.

⤐ Preface.
Y'all. I've had this gut feeling for a while but now embraced it fully. I've abandoned my old rating system because I found it increasingly difficult to make the digits coming out of it fit my heart's impression of the books I'm reading.

⤐ Overall.
Let's not tiptoe around it. I considered dnfing Crushing It multiple times, yet some small pleasant details kept me from doing so. Undeniably, Lorelei has the soul of a poet as I've found myself marvelling at her rich writing on multiple occasions:
‘We twined together in the deceptive belief that forever was granted to mere mortals and drifted into a quiet place between the real world and some alternate reality of our own creation.’

Together with the numerous absolutely delicious opportunities to cringe yourself into another dimension, there was only one thing missing to make this contemporary romance a hit. That's right, a soft boi. I love 'em to death, you guys. Can't resist them. It's like physical law or something. Thankfully, Lorelei delivered.

Think this book is for you? Well, I'm not done yet. Sierra's naivité was downright implausible and infuriating. There's only so much a reader can take before feeling betrayed. There was nothing genuine about her gullible character and the same is true for her lack of character growth. She never truly seems to shed her nice girl attitude and I'm just not down for it in this case. There was nothing graceful or otherworldly about it, except if you mean otherwordly idiotic. Tristan is the picture-perfect douchebag and her not seeing that after multiple actions that proofed his foul character made it not only hard to stick to the book but also created a terribly flat arc of suspense.

⤐ What’s happening.
‘Tristan had a way of turning me into a personification of Murphy’s Law.’

Sensible people make a run for the hills after meeting a person like that and letting themselves get run over by a said toxic person repeatedly. Not so Sierra. Even after multiple red flags and against the better judgement of her closest friends she somehow channels her inner Betty and puts up with the drama of the f***boy. Thereby she misses out on multiple hawt make-out sessions with soft-boi Alfie, and if you don't think that doesn't qualify her as legally unaccountable you should definitely give this a try.
_____________________
3 STARS. Decent read that I have neither strongly positive nor negative feelings about. Some thinks irked me and thus it does not qualify as exceptional.

2 STARS. Definitely a disappointment. It might not even have been worth to finish for a variety of reasons.
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Many thanks to the author Lorelei Parker, Kensington Publishing and Negalley for providing me with this eArc in exchange for an honest review.