A stunning debut! I loved the dichotomy of grumpy, hard working Brit Lucas and sunshiney himbo American George. Their antics were laugh out loud funny while being balance perfectly with a lot of heartfelt moments. While it took a while for them to get together, it was worth the wait.

The whole idea of this plot was very cute, but I just didn’t like the main character Lucas.
The main character George was alright and he made the book more bearable.
I wasn’t interested in the side characters either and there were a lot of them that I didn’t like.

The spicy scenes were unrealistic and very uncomfortable to read and the only reason I’m giving the book three stars instead of two is because I really enjoyed George’s character development!

Okay, I don’t often dnf books, but I consider to dnf this one. Lucas was horrible (and I LOVE morally grey characters and even asshole, but Lucas was just… not very well written) and George stupid. But then something changed and the book became cuter. I think I would have go with 4 stars if not for the start.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

2 ⭐ ? 🌶️

DNF @ 31%

I just couldn't get into this one. Lukas is wildly unlikeable and George is so... Dumb. He's absolutely, ridiculously dumb and naive and just also, so unlikable. I was really hoping I could connect with them as they grew but now Lukas is sleeping with other men and can't stop thinking about his crush on an entirely different dude... I'm finally calling it quits :(

Good overall, cute story. For the rowing details, enough was explained to understand the dynamics of the sport, even if you aren't really familiar with it. The relationship was an interesting twisty path of exploring new feelings and figuring out what you think you want vs. what actually makes you happy. The book could've been longer as I did want to know more about their personal growth, but it's a light-hearted HEA with likeable MMCs. I received this as an ARC from Zando Slowburn via Netgalley.

See You at the Finish Line by Zac Hammett is a witty, queer sports rom-com.
An adorable romance that grabbed me right away.
This books was so good! The vibes were right. The story was great. The characters were interesting and relatable.
George and Lucas had chemistry that seeped off the pages.

3.75
Thank Netgalley and publisher for Arc
(Might be a bit spoilery sorry my thought are all over the place with this one)

So I have to say it’s lucky I’m not the type to DNF a book until I’m 50% into the book (something I’ve got to change about my reading habits) I’m going to be honest I wanted to quiet about 20% in, I didn’t like Lucas at all and don’t get me wrong I love bitchy Brit’s and their dry humor, I actually understand it and love it more than any other, but Lucas was not funny bitchy he was just plain mean and a bitch. Which in turn made it hard for me to care if he got a happy ending.
I found George to be adorable and I’m all for himbo’s but I hate how oblivious the author wrote him, I mean really for a guy going to Cambridge his “I don’t go to class and never picked up a book for my courses” just didn’t mesh well with the whole “I hate that people think I’m dumb” speech he kept giving. And I hated that people made fun of him and no one stuck up for him when he clearly didn’t understand, even Lucas at one point was being a bully and it just seemed off.

I’m glad I stuck it out to even see Lucas get knocked down a peg or two, but by the end I was just happy to see George stick up for himself and prove to himself he could do it!

I’m choosing to look at this book as a self love kinda book because the rest was just ok. Definitely not your typical romance.

Also I’m sorry when you’re writing an mm romance novel and your describing a sex scene I need for there to be prep and some form of communication about protection, shit I need that with any romance!

See You At The Finish Line is a fun, sporty, enemies to lovers story with some very funny and witty moments!

George and Lucas are in the same rowing team at Cambridge. After a bad race, they are both put in precarious situations. This time, George must get his act together and pass his exams. Easier said than done. Lucas is a good student, and he will help George pass his exams. But Lucas wants to learn how to be a seductive Casanova so he can get at Amir.

The romance is slow, but eventually, they get to really delve into their feelings for each other. The story is fun, witty, with lots of banter and Englishness!

Thank you, Netgalley and Zando, for this romantic ARC. All opinions are entirely my own.

I love the descriptions in this book!

I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected and found although it was a slowburn it was written so well.

Enemies to lovers romance story of two Cambridge, teammates of the rowing team

See You At the Finish Line by Zach Hammett tells the story of small man energy Lucas, the coxan, and US import stroke seat, George, who both row in the first boat for Cambridge and their relationship.

The rowing is the best part, the head of the river nostalgia and boys club was alive, kicking and well described.

At times, there was some clunky punctuation. I did wonder if it was an author choice for the characters? I'll give benefit of the doubt on this.

It was not quite the romance you might imagine.The pining/ angst wasn't there as we were ostensibly watching a bi-awakening through the lens of 'the other man' which didn't sit comfortably for me. We spend a solid 80% of the book with Lucas with another man. The 'soft' cheating/infidelity was not my cup of tea. Add in the discomforting " he's smarter than you think" refrain regards George, and I found it difficult to look beyond and enjoy these characters and their story.

Not a terrible read but not memorable. It's a great season for MM romances being published and See You at the Finish Line will find its audience without a doubt.

With thanks to the author, NetGalley and Zando for the opportunity to read See You at the Finish Line as an eARC ahead of publication.

I cannot believe See You at the Finish Line by Zac Hammett is a debut. Zac hooked me the very beginning and kept me enthralled throughout the entire book.

George and Lucas are teammates on the Cambridge rowing team and can't stand each other. See You at the Finish Line opens up with an infamous boat race in which Lucas, a cox, and George, a rower, have the most insane tension between two people that I've even seen in the opening pages. This race and the aftermath set the stage for some of the most epic banter-filled, steamy, and downright enjoyable moments between George and Lucas as they embark on the journey to each get what they want.

I've read dozens of romances and sometimes the main characters never quite connect like they're supposed to. That's not the case here. Zac set up the chemistry between George and Lucas from the very start and that chemistry only grew as the book progressed. I loved how we got to see George and Lucas have their own growth journeys as it made the ending all that more sweet.

I'm constantly looking for new authors and Zac's debut is one that you will not want to miss. Thank you to Slowburn for the e-ARC!

4.5/5 stars

Zac Hammett's See You at the Finish Line wins the race several lengths ahead of most nerd/jock and enemies-to-friends m/m romances. Highly recommended for readers who like a Cambridge/Oxford "Chariots of Fire" vibe with a modern edge, a slow burn relationship that you'll root for, and likeable MCs who make real mistakes and have real (but manageable) obstacles to overcome.

Lucas, a British scholarship boy whose mother is a cleaner at the college, is the edgy coxswain of the Cambridge crew; George, a golden retriever of an accidental American underwear model, is the charismatic captain of the team. Amid much crew drama and conflict, Lucas and George end up making a deal: Lucas will help George get the passing grades he needs in Economics and George will help Lucas win the affection of his privileged crush, Amir. Inevitably, this plan does not go nearly as smoothly as either of them thinks it will, but in the end Lucas and George learn to see one another, and themselves, in new lights.

Perhaps Hammett's greatest strength in this novel is characterization. Lucas and George alternate the first-person narration with distinct voices, and both protagonists feel fresh and alive. Hammett also brings the important secondary characters to life very effectively: I love Fran, Lucas's rival coxswain and teammate who has to contend with some rowers' resistance to a woman in the cox's seat. Among the "adults" in the story, the laconic crew coach, Deb, and George's tutor, Eleanor, are particularly well handled. And Hammett does a nice job with Amir, showing him through Lucas's eyes but making it very clear to the reader that Lucas's attraction isn't based on actually knowing Amir.

Hammett handles the Cambridge setting and the details of crew culture convincingly. He also deserves bonus points for making the spicy scenes realistic in all the right ways.

I'd gladly read more romances by this author.

With thanks to Zando Projects for access to a digital ARC on NetGalley. All opinions are very definitely my own.

Thanks to Zando for this e-arc! I enjoyed See You at the Finish Line, but I think it suffers from a marketing issue - it's not NOT a romance, but honestly, most of what was quite fun and interesting about the book had less to do with the romance and more about the antics that Lucas and George get up to as a but of an odd couple to save George's academic career and Lucas' love life while trying to bounce back from a crushing defeat in their big rowing race. I really enjoyed both of these characters, but there were some plot and pacing choices that made the reading experience a little bumpy for me - one was a little farfetched in the 11th hour and one was the amount of time we spend in this romance watching Lucas pine over and fall for someone we know is the wrong guy. That said, this debut made me excited to see what Zac Hammett writes next; I felt like there was a lot of potential for something better next time and this was still quite a fun read with a great ensemble cast and high in-team sporting drama which was very fun to follow!

3 stars and my thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the eARC.

The plot: George and Lucas can't stand each other - which makes it awkward being on the same Cambridge University rowing team. The uber-charming, womanising George got parachuted into Cambridge from America for his sporting prowess, despite his subpar grades, whereas Lucas worked for everything he's got - which sadly doesn't include a boyfriend. When George is told that this year he'll have to sit his exams fair and square, Lucas agrees to help him study - in exchange for help in wooing his crush, Amir.

What I didn't like: The writing felt very clunky at times and the conversation just didn't flow like real people speak.
"It's midnight in Cambridge. I'm walking up the spiral staircase. I arrive at the top to find a locked door. I step through it and emerge onto a stone balcony. I'm high up in one of the colleges, looking out across the skyline."
My guy, you don't have to write run-on sentences, but they should flow a little better than this. It's a hard stop at every period and there's so little description, it fully took me out of immersion to see if I was reading it correctly.

I also had several moments where I forgot these are supposed to be grown men in their 20s. George and Lucas both read as teenagers and it was hard to truly feel like they were teenagers.
"At least, as far as third base. I'd like to go all the way, but I don't know how to bring it up."
Please don't be having sex if you can't figure out how to actually talk about it with your partner.

What I liked: I really loved George and how he was trying so hard to be taken seriously, even in the beginning. I liked that he actually tried to better himself and really study instead of taking the cheater's way. I don't think I could have respected him as a character or the author himself.

All in all, it's a book I'd recommend if you like enemies to friends to lovers with a lot of sports lingo. The author really knows rowing, so if sports romances are going to be his forte, he'll shine. It's his debut novel, so I'd give him a little grace.

fuzzy but predictable novel. George was an absolute marshmallow of a person and it was really fun to read from his POV. However, we did also have Lucas, whose POV was, if not awful, at least quite annoying, what with the cheating and scheming. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.

Row-mance is the last frontier of sports romance and I am LIVING for it. The suspense the thrill the love of the race all come through just as much as the competition and relationship.

4 stars! For a debut novel, this was truly impressive! Thank you to NetGalley and Zac Hammett for the ARC.

I thoroughly enjoyed See You at the Finish Line. The characters are engaging and memorable, the rowing setting is refreshingly unique, and the romance is both witty and heartfelt. I really appreciated how the sport wasn’t just a backdrop, but actually played a role in shaping the tension between the characters. I had a lot of fun with this one!

Tropes woven into the story include:
🚣 Forced proximity
🚣 Opposites attract
🚣 Slow burn
🚣 Sports romance

Though it didn’t give me that full five-star feeling, mainly because I guessed some of the developments ahead of time, the writing style, character chemistry, and overall balance of romance and sport made this such an enjoyable read. For a debut, it feels polished and compelling, and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for whatever Zac Hammett writes next!

3.5 Stars

I have a lot of thoughts about this one, but unfortunately, it would be spoilerish if I said most of them. For the most part, I enjoyed this story, but there were certainly parts that didn't work as well for me. Starting with the things I did like, I enjoyed the rowing aspect and learning about what it's like to attend Cambridge. I know nothing about either of those things, so it was interesting to learn more about them. I have no idea if it was accurate, but as a reader, it felt like they were.

I also liked George. He was a bit of a himbo, dumb jock character, but it was sweet and a little sad how badly he wanted to please everyone (often to his own detriment). Yes, in a lot of ways, he's had an easy ride and had things handed to him just because of his looks and athletic prowess, but I thought he genuinely wanted to be better and work hard to earn what he got.

My feelings toward Lucas ran hot and cold. I didn't care for him much at first; he was kind of a whiny jerk. But once George pins him down and gets him to agree to tutor him in exchange for helping Lucas woo his crush, we got to see another side of him, and he wasn't so bad. I actually quite liked this portion of the book as George and Lucas's friendship grew. There were some funny and sweet moments here.

But then something happens (which I can't get into details on since it's a major spoiler), and I was so disappointed. In my mind, it was a genuinely unforgivable act, and I'm not sure there was enough grovelling for this character to earn the other's forgiveness. I wish the angst had been anything other than this.

There were a few other things I didn't totally love, but I didn't mind in the grand scheme of things. I did like how things turned out in the last chapter (despite my feelings that there should have been more grovelling before that point), and the epilogue was cute.

So yeah, this was a mixed bag for me, but I'm still glad I gave it a shot! The writing itself was good even if some of the plot points didn't hit for me.

3.75 stars

I really enjoyed this book, the characters the tension between them was really done really well.

The book is about MMC’s who attend cambridge university and compete the rowing competition. They may it opposite each other notice how the other is attractive but they hate each other. That is until they strike up a deal to help each other which then ends up them in some questionable tension building situations and feelings start to develop.

It is slow burn which i’m starting to like recently but it was done great the tension was built throughout.

The characters also show immense growth throughout the book making you feel proud of them.

However i did find it a bit cringe when they did get together with some of things they said but i guess it was realistic.

overall great book and i really enjoyed it.

thank you net galley for this arc :))

DNF at 19%

Right from the first chapter, I could tell this book wasn't going to be for me. The writing style was so scattered, and dialogue and events just jumped from one thing to the next in a way that was hard to follow at times. There was no like transition between things, plus minimal descriptions. It was a lot of this happened, then this happened, and so on. There were lots of jokes and humor throughout, but they all felt really forced and for me they felt completely flat. Add in the references that completely came out of left field, these characters felt very weird, and almost old but young? Like young maturity but old references. And they're supposed to be younger than me! My last critique of the writing is there was so much 4th wall breaking, even 10% in. I think referring to the reader in some way is very hard to get right, and in my opinion will pretty much never work in a rom-com setting. It completely took me out of the experience. And then when it happened again a couple pages later, it really irked me. As a side note, I know ARCs often have errors as they're not the complete version, but this ARC had the most errors I've ever seen - formatting, typos, even a whole paragraph repeated in another section of the chapter.

So clearly there was a lot I didn't like. I usually can persevere through an ARC I don't like but in the end, what really made me stop was when one of the main characters, who hasn't gone to a single lecture, decides to ask a question about something fundamental he should have known prior to even getting in mid-lecture. I am a recent graduate, and nothing makes me cringe more than a fellow classmate asking a question that's either completely unrelated or they should have know. And this was that on an extreme scale. I just couldn't handle the second-hand embarrassment. Which I think demonstrates the key thing that was really lacking for me, writing aside. I didn't connect with these characters, like at all. In fact, I kind of hated them. Lucas was unjustifiably rude and mean, while George was oblvious of this immense privilege he had.

I'm sure there are people out there that will enjoy this book. All the building blocks for this story would usually work for me, but alas they didn't. If you're a fan of queer sports romance, pop-culture references in books, and a large cast of characters, maybe you'll like this one more than I did!