Book Reviews, English Book Reviews

Book Review: SETTLE THE SCORE / HUSTLE PLAY by Tara Frejas

Posted by Shabana Mukhtar on

Book Details

Title: SETTLE THE SCORE / HUSTLE PLAY

Author: Tara Frejas

# of pages: 66

Author Profile

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Tara Frejas is a cloud-walker who needs caffeine to fuel her travels. By day, she works in project management and events, and she writes down her daydreams at night. She began publishing fiction for public consumption in 2004, posting her pieces on various online channels like fan forums and Blogspot, eventually exploring other avenues like Livejournal, Soomp!, Tumblr, and most recently, Wattpad.

Aside from her obvious love affair with words and persistent muses, Tara is very passionate about being caffeinated, musical theatre, certain genres of music, dancing, dogs, good food, and romancing Norae, her ukelele. She owns a 6-month-old male bunny named Max who sometimes tries to nibble on her writing notes.

Fun fact: She’s a Piscean. Go figure.

Synopsis

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SETTLE THE SCORE

College senior Garnet Figueroa lives and breathes basketball. A reliable asset to her varsity team, she is equipped with the skills and smarts to get the De La Sierra Lady Hunters closer to this year’s championship title. But Garnet soon finds out that her good friend (and long-time crush), cheerdancer Charles Crisostomo, is being cheated on by his girl, and she lets her emotions get the best of her.

Will she be able to come up with a game plan to save herself from heartbreak before the buzzer signals Game Over?

HUSTLE PLAY

Running on pure adrenaline and working with game strategies is something a basketball player like Garnet Figueroa is trained for. On the court, she is unbeatable. Off the court… that’s a completely different story.

Because falling in love is trickier than a ball game, and Garnet finds herself fumbling over her feelings for Charles Crisostomo. The fact that her attention gets divided between him and rival school hard-court hottie Chris Barcelo doesn’t help.

Or does it?

Plot & Review

I write about people and things I love, and about lives that I will never live—like I’m running out of time.
That’s how Tara describes herself. I became a fan simply by her introduction. Short, and sweet. And that’s exactly I feel about my passion for writing. I don’t describe it so well, do I?
Coming back to the story.

 

The book is a duology. Two short stories about Garnet and her best friend Charles. They have been friends for a long time. And she has known that she likes him more than as a friend.

She finds out that his girlfriend Nica is cheating on him. After a cheerleading competition, she kisses him in front of everybody present. There is a hide-and-seek of ‘I like you’ but they eventually get together.

My first reaction was, “Oh my god! What a gem I have been missing.”

Things I loved
  1. It is witty, oh so witty.
  2. The length of the book was perfect. I love books around 60-80 pages.
  3. The book isn’t simply about the couple. The story incorporates some technicalities of basketball. I liked it. It reminds me of Play with Me by Piper Shelly, becuase that was also surrounded around sports.
  4. Their friendship, wow! I always feel that the friendship is more important than romance between the hero and heroine. The previous sentence sounds so weird, I don’t generally call them that.
  5. I loved that there was no third wheel angle. I feared that when Chris was brought in.
Things I did not agree with
Their reasons of not beings together
  1. It is going too fast (please, it was only kiss and holding hands)
  2. I don’t want to be a rebound
  3. I don’t know if I am good enough for you.
Because of the witty narration, I still enjoyed it throughly. The story is cute and clean.

A solid 3.5 stars from me.

Until next review, stay blessed.
Shabana Mukhtar

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Published by Shabana Mukhtar

Software Developer, Certified Overthinker, Decidedly Underachiever, Amateur Writer, Sitcom Lover

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