Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Behind the Net

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Behind the Net by Stephanie Archer

82 reviews

adelesbooks's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

So cute and relaxing, great read and exactly what I needed. Highly recommend if you need something to just relax and enjoy reading. Literally I was kicking my feet and giggling the whole time.

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whackettreading's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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meeklovestoread's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I've had this book on my tbr since like the beginning of the year. It's literally October now.😩 You know I tried to read this once before, months ago, but I only got maybe 3% in and then I stopped because I found the writing to be atrocious (which is really funny considering I'm not picky when it comes to writing). I could've easily taken it off my tbr, but I was curious considering a few of my favorite booktubers love it. Hmm............I wish I could say the same. 🥴

Now, this book isn't the worst thing ever, but it wasn't the greatest by any means either. I think I came in with the wrong expectations. I don't know why I expected this book to be deep and emotional. With the length and the way people gush about it, you'd think there'd be more to it; that was most certainly not the case.

For starters, this book took me AGES to get through (other factors contributed to that; I didn't really have time to read this month). Although I didn't really have the time for reading, when I was reading it I didn't really find myself intrigued with the story. I wasn't connecting to the characters. Especially in the later half, there were times when I just wanted it to be over. Again, I want to reiterate that this book wasn't awful. The way I'm talking about it makes it seem like it's a 2-star.

It's not. There was just nothing to this book. For starters,

We get into the plot wayyyyy too quickly for my liking. Like in ch.1 we're finding out all these things. That he found a dog in the alley, he adopts the dog, he moved to Vancouver cuz his mother has problems with anxiety and panic attacks, he has a problem where he feels he has to fix things all the time, he has problems with interacting with his teammates. And we're getting into the plot of him wanting an assistant very quickly as well when a few pages ago he was literally against the whole ordeal. All this is in chapter 1 which subjectively is fine, but me personally I like a little build-up when entering my stories.
In addition to that, this book is very insta-like/attraction and I really wish we build up to it more. Like I was on ch.5 and he was already SUPER down bad for her. Like can we slow it down a bit? I'm not even a slow-burn girly, but there's not much build-up to their feelings for one another aside from the fact that they went to high school together (which we don't even get enough information about to feel about their "larger-than-life" connection).
And to play on top of that, in the beginning, I was so annoyed with Pippa. I felt like she needed to get a grip badly. She's way too attracted to a guy who's been nothing but rude to her since they met.
Sis, gets fired and then decides it's a good idea to spend 2 hours baking cupcakes for him, like girl STOP! You're embarrassing us!😭

We're about to get into my main grievance with this book. Everything is just so surface-level. Nothing is expanded upon in-depth for me to really FEEL for these characters.

We know Jamie's a fixer and needs to fix cuz of the tumultuous upbringing with his mother and her episodes. Is that expanded upon through the book and how it can potentially affect his future relationships, no!
We mostly focused on Pippa's problems, but even hers was lacking for me. For (1), I feel like Jamie was forcing Pippa to come out of her shell a bit too much, especially in the beginning. Like you can tell she's not ready and instead of having a discussion about her trauma and the effects it has on her self-worth and value, he just immediately makes her jump into the deep end hoping that she has the ability to swim. Like I know it's supposed to be sweet and endearing that he believes in her and sometimes you really just need that little push to get you back in the running, but I don't think he's patient enough with her. Of course, towards the latter half of the book, I recognized how altruistic his efforts were, but still. (2) Pippa doesn't want to disappoint her parents and they're pretty unsupportive of her dreams of being a singer. That gets wrapped up very lackadaisically and that's all we get on it. (3) Same with the Zach storyline.
Another thing as I mentioned before, we don't get much depth on Jamie as an individual. Like in Pippa's POV, we see how she views him, but we don't see how Jamie views him. He doesn't recognize his faults. Also, there is a plot point about his former best friend and teammate, Rory Miller. And how they had a falling out and whatnot. That part of the book is definitely not expended at all. We don't learn more beyond the fact that they had a falling out. They have a few interactions here and there but nothing of significance that would provide any insight into their dynamic or if Jamie even missed Rory. All this makes their fight towards the end of the book very anticlimactic cuz it happens, but then nothing really comes out of it. In addition to that, we get this large tidbit of Jamie being so noncommittal that he only does hookups and can't commit to his last girlfriend but all that is solved once he realizes his feelings for Pippa. Alright.😒
And there are so many anticlimactic moments in this book due to the lack of emotional build-up.
(1) Like I stated previously his fight with Rory. There wasn't even a resolution towards the end. We're just going to assume that they're okay now. (2) Jamie finally has that conversation with his mother. Was it endearing, yes? But did they really go in-depth about just how much Donna's neglect affected him, no. (3) And the worst offender was Pippa standing up to Zach. She literally says like 8 words to him and that's it. (4) Pippa finally telling her parents that she doesn't want a generic job. Bruh! They accept it immediately and that's that. Why make these things plot points if you're not gonna expand on them? Ughhhhhh!

These are just small little things, not grievances per say, but just some bits and bob:

I KNEW from the get-go that Jamie was being self-centered into thinking that he ruined Erin's career. Like sir, you're not that special that she's just dropped off the face of her career because of you.
the sex takes away from the plot, there I said it. I don't care for smut in books as long as it serves a purpose, but the amount these scenes took away from the plot was unnecessary considering the smut scenes were not good (again, not picky on smut scenes either). I even note in my notes that "it's very convenient the amount of times they come into the apartment at the exact same time the other is masturbating (yes this happens)."

Again, I feel like I've talking only about the negative of this book. I usually have to get all that out before I harp on about the positives. There aren't that many😅 (I swear I didn't hate this book), but they outweigh a lot of my grievances hence the 3.25/5 rating instead of a 1-star. To reiterate from before, there really isn't anything inherently bad that goes on in this book (aside from Jamie's grumpy attitude; he annoyed me a lot in the beginning). The MCs are obsessed with each other. Love each other. Put each others' needs into consideration. They have good communication skills which can't be said for most books in this genre. Again, the book isn't bad, I just came in with the wrong expectations. And I just didn't vibe with the main characters (mostly the guy) and the way the author told the story is all. But if you want to give it a try. I would still say give it a shot.

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 (the level and quantity of spice is a 3/5; however, nothing crazy goes on in my opinion; I think penetration literally only happens once)

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emilyvannoy's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

3.0

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rainbowsandbookshelves's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes

4.75

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circe813's review against another edition

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emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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pthornbury05's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Someone call the fire department because this book was hot. Once the two man characters figured out their situation they went at it like rabbits. Outside of the numerous sex scenes in this book, it overall was a decent read. I felt there were a few places that lacked what Iook for in a traditional brooding MMC but it wasn’t awful. I did love the back and forth between Phipps and Jamie as I think it added to the storyline so much more that was lost.

Side note for myself to look up later: how big are Canadian high schools because if Jamie, two years older than Pippa, recognized her in school and then years later I’m leaning toward not that big. At least that’s the case for their school and if that’s the case, why did I only get snippets of this toward the beginning and end of the book and no random sharing of memories in the middle when their characters are developing.

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