Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️
So I think my favorite part of Winter Renshaw’s romances is her ability to draw heroes who, at first glance, are so internal and cut off from the norm of society that you both love and hate them in equal measure. Take The Match, her most recent story. In The Match, at the outset of the story, Fabian, a world-class professional tennis player, is decidedly egotistical. His life obviously revolves around him, and he isn’t considerate in his treatment of his coach, his assistant, and anyone in his sphere. Enter Rossi, the heroine of The Match. Rossi is independent, intelligent, and driven, and she takes her role as a mother seriously. On meeting her, you, the reader, know that she will bring Fabian to his knees, helping him find a side of himself that he has never really considered. Over and over again, Winter Renshaw crafts these heroes and heroines, and it never gets old.
She’s smart in framing it through different contexts. For example, in The Match, Fabian is Rossi’s unwitting sperm donor. Wanting a child, Rossi decides to be artificially inseminated, and it’s Fabian’s sample that allows her to get pregnant. When an accidental letter is mailed to her six months after her daughter’s birth, she is confronted with including him in her daughter’s life. The context of this story allows Fabian to meet Rossi and decide if he wants more in his life. And that leads us beautifully to Renshaw’s message: that an abundant life isn’t one lived with everything money can buy; it’s found in relationships. Rossi challenges Fabian to live a BETTER life than he lived before.
Now, that isn’t necessarily a new romance message. It’s actually one that we read over and over again because romance is ultimately about relationships, but Renshaw’s story feels fresh. Even though she relies on her typical unapproachable hero who is challenged by a heroine who is insightful and independent, she keeps the genre and its tropes fresh. Fabian and Rossi have chemistry from their meeting, and the challenges that Renshaw crafts in the wake of their journey invest you emotionally into her characters. Together, Fabian and Rossi’s chemistry is steamy, and their story pulls you in until the last page.
If you love the idea of a sperm donor falling in love with its recipient, then you will ADORE Winter Renshaw’s The Match. Rossi and Fabian are THE MATCH you’ll want to read today.
In love and romance,
Professor A
Professor Romance 