ARC Book Review: Pastime Pursuits #2- Jay Walking by Tracy Krimmer

Title and Author: Jay Walking by Tracy Krimmer
No. of Pages: 212
Series: Pastime Pursuits #2
Publication date: 4th August 2015
Genre: Sports Romance, Romantic Comedy, Contemporary Romance
Language: English

Book Review:

Jay Walking by Tracy Krimmer is the story of a single mom, Chelsea who is trying to build a life for herself and her baby. She craves to get fitter and more appealing like her pre-pregnancy self. To get fit, she decides to starts walking and it is during one of her walks that she meets a hot and handsome runner, Jay. Sparks fly but their relationship is complicated with Chelsea’s ex’s return.
Will Chelsea make the right choice this time?
Or will she succumb to the mistakes of her past and lose Jay?

I read the first book in this series, Caching In: A Geocaching Love Story and this one, Jay Walking almost simultaneously and the main character in this book, Chelsea, first appears in the first book in the series.

However, despite this, both these books are standalone stories and can be enjoyed individually but still it is always better to read a series in order so as to get an introduction to characters and meet them outside of their own stories.

The cover of this book appealed to me right from the start with its catchy title and intriguing statement on the cover “The path to love isn’t always straight”. The blurb is also interesting and combined they are capable of catching the readers’ attention.

The plot of the story is good and the execution is admirably done. I loved Tracy’s simple writing style. She writes in the first person and gives us only Chelsea’s perspective. I would have loved to read Jay’s perspective to things too. However, the story is adequately paced and held my interest right till the end.

I felt frustrated by Chelsea and didn’t quite agree with her. Sometimes I felt like she lacked sense. Even in the first book although, she had a small role but still even in those few moments she sometimes came across as stupid, jealous and then repugnant. I wasn’t able to make up my mind about her. Here in this book, a deeper insight has been given into her life. While I felt sorry, supported, empathized with her single mother problems and felt touched by her love for her son, I didn’t agree with her decision of staying with a man who was already committed to someone. She had a pattern all through the book where whenever she started showing signs of having matured and sensible, she again went and did something stupid. I mean, she was educated, had such amazing parents then how could she be so foolish? She made the same mistakes again and again, took decisions that felt blind and insane and I just could not understand her reasoning behind them. Later, when everything went sideways, she agreed to those same suggestions from her family and friends that she had refused at an earlier point to go make these mistakes, on the first hand!

All through the book, at most points I kept siding with Chelsea’s parents especially her father who is so involved and very intelligent. If she had taken heed to his advice most of her troubles wouldn’t have happened but then she wouldn’t have discovered herself like she did! 🙂

Jay is sweet, has a strange sense of humour that didn’t appeal to me and while he started strongly and won my heart, I didn’t agree with his other actions. His feelings for Chelsea are strong but…(Read the book to know about the ‘but’). He played an important part in Chelsea’s journey of self discovery and had me sighing with his awkward but very sincere gestures to show his love and care for her.

I felt I missed reading about his background and his problems with his new venture. A little more should have been said about his family, his work and his elusive partner. I felt I didn’t get to know Jay as much as I would have liked.

Chelsea’s son, James became the highlight of the story for me. He is cute, funny and completely adorable. I also loved Chelsea’s parents who are stable, respectable and loving. Her friends both in office and at the gym had me smiling and liking them. Maybe, I’ll get to read their story soon.

Daniel, Chelsea’s ex, is a character I didn’t like and I don’t have anything good to say about him. 

The story engrossed me but the end came early. I wanted to see how James fared after meeting Jay?, what happened with Daniel? Did he stay committed to his son? Did Chelsea and Jay marry?

All in all, I enjoyed reading Jay Walking but felt there were things I wanted to know more about. However, if you are looking for a funny, light and romantic story that apart from entertainment also gives a good dose of daily struggles with some very lovable characters and whole lot of self discovery then this book is for you. 3.5 out of 5 to it. I loved Tracy’s style and will be checking out her other books too.

I received and ARC from the author and I am very thankful to her. The above review is my honest and unbiased opinion and in no way influenced.

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