Review: The Replay

The Replay by Leonor Soliz

Seattle Strike Series #4

Synopsis

Breaking up with Dominic Wright was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Working with him years later might be the thing that breaks me.

Dom even tried to stop me from marrying a man I didn’t love, but my family handpicked for me. Then he went off to become a pro football player, dating non-stop. Me? I got divorced and I’m on a mission to restart my career. 

One season running his team’s foundation and proving myself, before taking over my family’s charity overseas. But my success depends on resisting Dom…

The magnetic pull between us remains. We bicker and fight and promise the past is long gone. Only to end up back in bed.

Worse, with how Dom holds me, it’s like I’m precious to him again.

Career ambitions and distance broke us apart before. When I leave this time, I must do it with my heart intact. 

Nothing lasts forever. Especially not the kind of love we had.

Review

Ugh. Leonor Soliz - why did you feel the need to rip my heart out with this novel! In The Replay, we have Dom and Mariana who have quite the history. They met and fell in love while they were at university, but knew from the beginning that their love affair would have to come to an end because Mariana was expected to to return to England to continue living out her parents’ dreams for her. Although Dom is head over heels in love with Mariana, he decides that he needs to let her go so that she can live out those dreams, and in doing so, he sets the two on a path that will take them 10 years into the future where they find themselves on the same soil onceagain.

I found The Replay to be intense in a heartbreaking way. It takes the trope of “second chance romance” and increases its emotions and complexity. I did find a couple of spots where perhaps the story dragged a bit, but it always brought me right back with the emotions of Mariana and Dom. I absolutely loved those two even when they were making me angry. I needed them to “get it together” and listen to what each other was saying and also what they weren’t saying. As much as I love the formulaic means of romance novels, I was pleasantly surprised to witness the nuance of this story. Yes it was second chance, but it was much more than that. This story has our best interest in mind and it will not lead you astray as long as you love second chances and don’t mind some miscommunication in your stories.