*I received a copy of this book in eBook format via NetGalley in return for this review. All reviews published on Yours, Chloe are completely honest and my own, and are in now way influenced by the gifting opportunity.
Title: Oar Than Friends
Author: Lulu Moore
Genre: Romance
Rating: ★★★★★
Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
She's rowing for
Cambridge. He's rowing for Oxford. But they just can't keep one another at
oar's length . . .
Arthur Osbourne-Cloud has his future mapped out for him –
graduate Oxford and follow his dreadful father into politics. Except Arthur
wants anything but that. He’d rather spend his days rowing for gold at the
Olympics,.
And this year he has the Boat Race to win.
Kate Astley also has her future mapped out. Fly half-way
across the world, and win a scholarship at Cambridge University to study
medicine. Oh, and crew for the legendary Boat Race. Seems simple enough.
But then she meets Arthur.
For Arthur, this feisty American challenges everything he's
been taught to believe, while Kate battles between what she's expected to do,
and what she wants to do.
The bitter rivalry between their universities ought to
destroy them. Or will it just be a matter of time before they surrender to the
sizzling chemistry between them?
But In The Boat Race, there can only be one winner. Who will sink and
who will swim?
Oar Than Friends
is the latest sports romance from author Lulu Moore and the first instalment
in her new Oxbridge series. It is the love story between Kate and Oz, two
athletes competing for rival university rowing clubs, set against the backdrop of
the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.
I grew up around 30 miles
from Cambridge so have followed the boat race for years and it was the perfect
backdrop for a rivals to lovers sports romance. If you’re unfamiliar with the
Boat Race, it’s a set of rowing races between the Cambridge University
Boat Club and the Oxford University Boat Club which take place on the
River Thames in London and has been an annual event since 1856. Lulu Moore
nailed the blend between the story being focused on the romance but also
including a good amount of rowing content leading up to race day.
If you’re a
sucker for a romance story where he falls first and harder, you’ll absolutely
love Arthur Osbourne-Cloud (or ‘Oz’ as he’s known). I very quickly fell in love
with Oz’s charm and when he said he had known Kate for “fifty-six hours, and
I’d thought about her for every single one” he awarded himself the award
for my absolute favourite book boyfriend of 2024 so far. He was a swoon-worthy
MMC and his nicknames for Kate and little romantic gestures throughout the
story completely stole my heart. Hearing his girlfriend cry on the phone and
instantly jumping in the car to drive two hours to see her? Now THAT is what we’re
talking about! I was really rooting for Oz and Kate right from their brilliant
meet cute scene until the end of the book; they were a brilliant match.
Our story is told
through a dual POV narrative and I LOVE this in a romance story. Hearing the MMC’s
POV adds something so special to the story, particularly when it’s a ‘he falls
first and harder’ story, and this was perfectly illustrated by Oz who spoke
about Kate in the sweetest way. Oar Than Friends does also have some fab open-door
spicy scenes but these felt really realistic which I loved.
Kate was a
brilliant strong FMC and it was great to see her grow in confidence as the
novel progressed and begin to really advocate for her own needs and dreams. The
loss of her elder brother was well explored, as was Oz’s difficult family
dynamic.
Oar Than Friends
also has a fantastic cast of supporting characters who brought so much to the
story and I’m excited to potentially return to them later in the Oxbridge
series.
In Kate and Oz we
have an American FMC and a British MMC and I loved this dynamic. It does mean
that we see Kate use American terms rather than British ones (e.g. dorm,
campus) which could be a bit grating for a British reader but I didn’t really
mind it at all.
Humour was woven
into the story brilliantly and I particularly loved how British the humour was.
Kate and Oz had brilliant banter and we had some fantastic flirty moments in
the early stages of their relationship. I also loved the individual chapter
titles and they often made me giggle.
Overall, Oar Than Friends is a fantastic rivals to lovers sports romance novel which is packed full of witty banter, charm and loveable characters.
