REVIEW by Jen B.
TITLE: In Your Court
SERIES: World of Love
AUTHOR: Reece Pine
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 120 Pages
RELEASE DATE: January 18th 2017
BLURB:
With a shot at happiness in sight, it’s no time to drop the ball.
A back condition ruined Ray’s basketball ambitions, but he wants one last opportunity to play before hanging up his sneakers. While volunteering as a coach at a special needs school in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, he meets Singaporean Xin, who works matching wealthy corporations with compatible charities. Xin helps the American navigate the local customs in order to see the smile Xin fell for at first sight, but Ray makes sure no one sees how hard it is for him to keep upright, let alone keep enjoying Vietnam and playing the sport he loves.
When Ray’s back pain becomes too great to hide, Xin accommodates him in Ho Chi Minh and in Singapore—and in bed. Ray wants to imagine a future for them but fears he’s damaged goods, and Xin’s obligations in Asia aren’t easily forgotten. Ray won’t be another charity of Xin’s, especially when Xin also needs someone by his side. Their romance will be cut as short as Ray’s basketball dreams unless he can close the Pacific-sized distance between them.
World of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the globe.
REVIEW:
This story starts out with Ray starting his one week volunteering at a school for handicapped kids in Vietnam, a position he hoped would look positive on his CV while allowing him one last shot at playing basketball before his back finally kept him from playing. He was doubling as an English teacher/basketball coach and had prepared himself physically to be able to withstand his last hurrah.
While there, he meets Xin, who turns out to be there in a charity capacity to secure contacts as a way to get his father to donate more money. I was a little bit unclear as to how this all worked, but the focus was more on Ray and his reasons for being there. Ray and Xin were roommates at the school, and since Xin only had a few meetings and chose to spend his downtime with Ray.
Ray hides his back issues, and while there is definitely some great chemistry, he believes he doesn’t want anything with Xin since he cannot do casual, can’t have a fling, and is only there for a week. Ray also believes he is damaged goods and that Xin deserves better. So, three are some issues going on, aside from the physical, but the two grow closer as they spend together, but it isn’t until the final day that they give in. I loved the banter and dialog when these guys got going, though some of it did get confusing with the differing languages and interpretations.
There were issues with Xin’s family – his father and stepbrother both seemed to dislike him, but other than his being gay, the reasons weren’t really detailed. This was one of the things I thought could have been expanded on, as it left quite a few unanswered questions and seemed to be glossed over, especially where Xin’s job in his father’s company was concerned. The same applied to Muy Lei, which felt rushed and shortchanged.
This was technically instalove, as it takes place over the course of a week, though it felt like much longer than that. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised I enjoyed this as much as I did, as it isn’t normally a story I would jump on. This is my first book by this author, and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more.
RATING: 
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