ARC Review: Anything But Minor by Kate Stewart

“She’s a nerd.”
“Heyyyy!”
“Okay, she’s a flight instructor.”
“Better.”
“He’s a ballplayer.”
“The best that ever was.”
“Technically, you aren’t according to MLB stats.”
“See? Total nerd. She also has no filter.”
“He’s no southern gentlemen.”
“I had one last season to prove my worth.”
“I’d never seen a game.”
“He told me he was a player.”
“She told me she was a lesbian.”
“But you fell in love with me anyway.”
“Yeah, baby, I totally did.”

There are some books that just end up taking over your life – and there could be many reasons for it! But only the rare few has everything you could ever WANT from the book – romance, characters that worthy of your affections, a wee bit of drama and a fun that is reminiscent of reality that we all wished we lived in. 

So if someone asks me if I have to describe the perfect book, then let me tell you, Anything But Minor will have to be THAT book for me! 

I will tell you in detail, why that is 😀

I’d been doing it my whole life…watching crowds that belonged together congregate before my eyes and feeling like I didn’t belong. I’d left the bitterness behind with my schoolgirl age. It was a whole new world for me.

Alice is a transport from Ohio to South Charleston, (and having never been to the country of US of A) something that is a total cultural shock for her – she has been living a sheltered life ever since her father left her mother. She has done her best to actually live without the amount of freedom she has been given, but she still wants more and she isn’t afraid of going after it!

And it was so easy to identify with Alice – she is like my fictional version – coming from a background where freedom wasn’t given freely, it was something that I actually had to claw my to and therefore I could GET her, right from the start and that doesn’t happen to me quite often!

Rafe ‘Bullet’ Hembery is a local baseball star – and is on the way to the big ground – at least that’s what he keeps telling himself!

The last thing he needs is a woman distracting him from his focus, but then again he never really counted on a woman like Alice, coming into his life!

“What the fuck, woman!”

“You don’t go barging toward a woman who doesn’t know you and scoop her up, moron!”

“Well, you don’t throat punch a man for trying to keep your stubborn ass from drowning!”

Both Alice and Rafe have an instant chemistry – but while one expects to have a simple physical relationship, the other is just wanting to experience life – and she makes no bones about!

I adored their interaction – mostly cause Alice is a female who holds absolutely no bars to getting what she wants, and that is just a simple life with people she cares around her. Is dating something she wants to try? Oh yes, but it isn’t exactly dating that Rafe has in mind.

I also adored their connection with each other – there is something sizzling just behind the screens that Alice has “almost” running for the hills – but does she? Nope. She gives it right back to the cocky player in Rafe and makes him sit up notice HER!

This woman was insane, but the kind of insane you gravitated toward. There was nothing generic about her. She didn’t hold back on anything, not her wrath, her opinion, or her compliments, which she gave freely.

I have to be really honest here – this again is a slow burn romance – not that they don’t consummate their relationship – they do (OH GOD! DO THEY!), but they also take their time falling for each other!

You have NO IDEA how refreshing that is for a reader like me (especially considering I took almost a year and a half to fall for my guy!). They both have their issues and insecurities to deal with, and they do – they might not do it together, but they definitely do and while it might have irritated some, I was spellbound, for IT WORKED FOR THEM!

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for communication in a relationship but I am also for keeping true to yourselves and boy do both Rafe and Alice do – most importantly, they keep true to each other and that was fine balance that could have gone badly, but instead was executed perfectly!

“It’s time you knew. You were made for me. You fit me like a glove. I want you always to remember that.” “I love you. I love your body. I love being inside this pussy. You. Are. Everything. My everything.”

Alice is my fictional Soul Sister – she embraced every part of herself, no matter how weird, how nerdy, how different or even how quirky it could be, she embraced it – wholly and made no apologies for it.

Do you get how rare that was? Don’t get me wrong, it’s okay that authors went ahead and made insecurities that heroes/heroines battled with – I get that – seriously, I do – it makes them more human but sometimes, I just need a heroine, who shows up and goes “you know what? I am different from the rest. But that’s okay, ’cause I ain’t wrong and I am proud of who I am” – because we need that kind of inspiration and not just somebody to identify with!

Alice is that heroine – and trust me when I say this – we readers NEED her in our lives – so even if you aren’t exactly a romance reader, GET YOUR HANDS ON THIS BOOK, JUST FOR ALICE!

She was everything I’d ever wanted and never thought I would find in a woman. And as she slipped her arms around my neck and returned my kiss with the same gentle fire, my heart solidified. It was Alice. It could only be Alice.

Rafe.. Rafe.. I have no words describe the beauty that I found within him. And the beauty I got to experience through him.

I have book boyfriends, of course, I do; any reader worth her salt will have book boyfriends. BUT ONCE IN A BLUE MOON, you come across a hero that you just fall for, not because he is hot, not cause he lights you up from inside, but because you just know that your reality would henceforth never be same after knowing him.

Rafe is that hero.

You won’t get why I am being this philosophical over a fictional hero, but I am not even going to try and do justice to hero that he is in my review – just know that he is one hero you shouldn’t even think of missing out on! 

“Rafe?”

“Yeah, baby?” Tears threatened as I realized he was just as pensive as I was. “I need you to teach me how to play it cool.”

His lips brushed my temple as my chest finally exploded, and I stifled a sob. Soft lips brushed my shoulder before he moved to whisper softly in my ear.

“I can’t.”

“Why not?” I heard my voice shake as he pulled me closer and whispered again.

“I fell for you the way you are.”

“That’s selfish.”

“And I always will be when it comes to you.”

When you the awesomeness of Alice and the amazing hero that Rafe is, and combine it with the talent of Ms. Stewart – you get a book that you just aren’t able to put down – no matter how hard you try – because this romance is just a romance, it’s a journey, filled with humor, angst and loads of trivial facts that only Google Goddess would know!

Then again, the fact that even with a rich background story and some ah-mazing secondary characters, they aren’t able to steal the show that is purely Alice and Rafe’s! Although, I wouldn’t mind getting their HEA’s (maybe Andy or Kristina’s?) – I have high hopes from Ms. Stewart!.

Just know that while I SHOULD BE shouting out from the rooftops that Rafe is mine, I won’t!

Want to know why? Because Alice and Rafe belong together. And i will slay anyone who tries to keep them apart.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐