Beginner’s Luck by Kate Clayborn (Chance of a Lifetime #1)
Contemporary Romance
October 31, 2017
Lyrical Shine

Reviewed by Kini

Favorite Quote:

“What does that mean?” I’m intentionally vague with my question. Maybe I’m asking what it means for Beaumont’s pursuit of me. Maybe I’m asking what it means for him and his job. But maybe I’m asking what it means for him and me. Because when I think of being “involved” with Ben, I think about his clothes on my bedroom floor. I think about all his weight on top of me, that chocolate-sweet kiss. “It means,” he says, looking right at me, looking right through me, really, “that if you say okay, I’m coming in this house with you and finishing what we started. It means I got Sharon to stay with my dad tonight, so I have every intention of taking you to bed and keeping you there all night. It means I haven’t stopped thinking about your mouth since Saturday. It means that right now, I don’t give one good goddamn about anything other than making sure I have you every way I can before you have to go to work tomorrow.”

I saw this book blurb earlier this year and I was really interested in reading this book. I finally got a chance to and I was not disappointed. This is a take on enemies/opposites to lovers trope. Kit is an amazing scientist who is undervaluing herself and Ben is a recruiter looking to get Kit to come work for a corporation doing sciencey things.

I really liked this book. It is told from dual POV and I think Ben is a near perfect romance hero. He is handsome and sweet and handy and he falls so very hard for Kit, almost immediately. At first they are both tentative to move forward with their attraction. He’s trying to recruit her for a job so there is a conflict of interest at play. It was a lot of fun to watch their friendship and romance grow. This book is a little bit of a slow build to the romance and I loved the way it work. Kit has just bought a fixer-upper home and Ben’s dad owns a salvage yard and Ben and Kit bond over repairs. It was really wonderful to see Ben be a helper, but not take over with repairs and telling Kit what to do. I really loved the way that Ben loved Kit and really wanted her to shine and excel in her career. He was never afraid of her intelligence or abilities. It really felt like he wanted to be her partner.

Kit was a great heroine. She is incredibly smart and works as a lab-tech at a local college. She and her two besties won the lottery a few months ago, but she continues to work. She didn’t have a great childhood as her mother was absent and her father has addiction, gambling, alcohol, issues. She has some trust issues and issues with pushing herself outside of her comfort zone. She strives to be independent and build a home for herself that she didn’t have.

Seriously, the way Ben swoons over Kit was wonderful to read. I want all my romance heroes to behave like this. Here are a few examples of Ben falling for Kit.

I think if Kit looked at me that way, I’d probably confess sins I’d never even committed, just so I’d be doing what she wanted— she’s that persuasive, at least to me. In the warehouse, I’d wanted to bring her every single piece of hardware we had so I could see the look she got on her face when she opened something new.

AND

Two texts and I’m way outside my pay grade in terms of the science, but I don’t care. I’d read her texts about crystal structure all night— I’m that excited she’s talking to me.

ONE LAST ONE

We head toward her neighborhood, Kit making an occasional moan of satisfaction, and I decide that I am, despite all the knowledge Kit has dropped on me in the last two hours, actually stupider than I was when I began this day, if I thought watching Kit eat a hot dog was a good idea.

I really enjoyed this story. I loved watching Ben and Kit fall in love. The only small issue I had is the conflict felt a tiny bit forced and I am not a fan when one something happens and one of the characters immediately jumps to a conclusion and refuses to hear the other person out. Especially after they have built a bond and some trust to not give the other person the opportunity to be heard is something that really annoys me. However, I also understand why it happened in this instance. But after the conflict occurred, I would have liked to seen a little more apologies from each character.

There was a great cast of characters in this book, but Ben’s dad Henry really stood out. Ben is a great man because his dad is a great man. Kit’s friends are amazing and I love seeing great female friendships in books. Kit is a scientist and at times it got a little too technical for me, but I skimmed through those parts. I really loved how quickly Ben became enamored with Kit. My small issues with the conflict wouldn’t hold me back from recommending this book. I look forwarding to reading the next book in this series.

Grade: B+
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