Review: After the Game by Abbi Glines

After the Game – Abbi Glines

Author: Abbi Glines

Series: Field Party

Release date: 22 August 2017

Hardcover | 352 pages

Juvenile Fiction / Love & Romance

Synopsis (Goodreads)

Two years ago, Riley Young fled from Lawton, Alabama. After accusing the oldest Lawton son, Rhett, of rape, everyone called her a liar and she had no option but to leave. Now she’s back, but she’s not at Lawton High finishing up her senior year. She’s at home raising the little girl that no one believed was Rhett’s.

Rhett is off at college living the life he was afraid he’d lose with Riley’s accusation, so Riley agrees to move back to Lawton so she and her parents could take care of her grandmother, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s. But the town still hasn’t forgotten their hate for her, and she hasn’t forgotten the way they turned on her when she needed them most.

When town golden boy Brady Higgens finds Riley and her daughter, Bryony, stranded on the side of the road in a storm, he pulls over and gives them a ride. Not because he cares about Riley, of course, but because of the kid.

But after the simple car ride, he begins to question everything he thought he knew. Could Brady believe Riley and risk losing everything?

Review: 3 out of 5 stars

I requested After the Game not realising that it was a part of a series or that it had a storyline that I am usually not a fan of, but I have enjoyed a few titles by Abbi Glines so I decided to give it a go.

After the Game is the third book in the Field Party series and is told from the POV’s of Riley Young and Brady Higgens, both from very different walks of life and heading in different directions due to their circumstances. Riley was forced to leave the small town of Lawton after accusing the town golden child of rape, she was branded a liar and made to feel like a leper so she left town with her parents and ended up giving birth to a baby girl, Bryony. Brady is the popular school quarterback and an all-round nice guy, he was a part of the group that shunned Riley two years prior but after meeting her he begins to change his tune and believes the story that she had initially told.

I am usually not a fan of books where children are involved but Bryony was a sweetheart and Riley was a great mother! It also helped that she had the most wonderful support system from her parents to deal with what she had been through and also with the care of her daughter. All of the secondary characters were great but I did feel that Rhett, the boy who had raped Riley was let off too easily and without repercussion.

There were a few difficult subjects touched on such as rape, teen pregnancy and motherhood, family break-down, cheating and Alzheimer’s disease but I felt they were all handled very well by the author.

I did feel that the romance was a little rushed but overall I was satisfied how it all panned out in the end and couldn’t help but hope for a happy ending for both Brady and Riley.

I enjoy Abbi Glines writing style but there were a few errors throughout the book, they were easy to overlook such as names replaced (Bryony instead of Riley used) and it never overly bothered me.

Thank you to Simon Pulse via Edelweiss for the opportunity to read and review After the Game.