Book Review: The Game Changer by J. Sterling

The Game Changer (The Perfect Game #2)
by J. Sterling
Published: June 25th 2013 by Amazon Publishing
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
Format Acquired: ebook from Amazon
Purchase: Amazon

Jack & Cassie's story continues in the follow up to the Best Selling book, The Perfect Game.

Thrust into the spotlight, Cassie must learn how to navigate the waters of this sometimes unforgiving and cruel world. It's a lifestyle that makes you question your happiness and sanity as the past is never truly far behind.

How do you stay together when the world's trying to tear you apart?

This is a huge let down for me considering how stoked I was to read this. When I first heard news of a follow up to The Perfect Game I was confused but excited. I personally felt that the first book ended so good and that it didn't need a continuation. However I was missing Jack and Cassie so much that I was willing to spend for another book. I needed to read more about them!

Unfortunately The Game Changer did not satisfy my craving. I was meh about it. Maybe I just wanted their lives move on from all the craziness in the first book. Maybe I just wanted to see more of Jack the athlete and less of Jack the boyfriend. I don't know! I can't figure out what it was exactly that didn't get me to like this book. The fact that I have no freaking clue means it's a 2-star book for me. I liked parts of it but overall... yeah, not so much.

In the previous book Cassie takes Jack back when he shows up at her front door with a bunch of surprises after zero communication for six months. The Game Changer starts off here. Cassie asks Jack to tell her what he's been up to while he was away. And so he does. He tells Cassie about all the annulment drama and what he had to do to get Chrystle to sign the papers. He tells her everything. While I liked knowing Jack's end of the story, I didn't like how long the flashbacks were. It took up about 30% of the book. I feel like it was such a slow start to a book that plenty of Jack-crazies were eagerly waiting for. When the story did take off, I wasn't impressed either. I was surprised by how bitchy (or bitchier) Cassie is in this one. Has she always been like this? I know she has spunk but when did she get so temperamental? I guess I understand how jealous/insecure she got after what happened before but now she's all defensive and snappy. I... I think I like Cassie less here.

And Jack... gaaah. For some reason I didn't swoon over him as much this time. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? I missed him. SO MUCH. He appeared so... bland here. I don't love Jack less but I just didn't like him here. I did, however, like how he handled the conflict this time around. Unlike Cassie. She was all over the place!

If there's one thing I liked, it was seeing Jack's career in the major league take off. It's an entirely different world for Jack and Cassie. While some parts of it were a bit over the top (are baseball fans really that crazy?) I still found the entire story interesting. Everything else was repetitive drama.

It hurts rating this 2 stars but hey, at least I liked it on some level. I'm still going to check out the 3rd book. For sure.