Reviewed by Jess
TITLE: The Captain and the Cricketer
SERIES: The Captivating Captains #2
AUTHOR: Catherine Curzon and Eleanor Harkstead
PUBLISHER: Pride Publishing
LENGTH: 235 pages
RELEASE DATE: July 17, 2018
BLURB:
When an uptight countryside vet and a sexy TV star meet on the cricket pitch, they’re both knocked for six!
Henry Fitzwalter is a solid sort of chap. A respectable rural vet and no stranger to tweed, he is the lonely inhabitant of crumbling Longley Parva Manor.
George Standish-Brookes is everyone’s favourite shirtless TV historian. Heroic, handsome and well-travelled, he is coming home to the village where he grew up.
Henry and George’s teenage friendship was shattered by the theft of a cup, the prize in a hard-fought, very British game of cricket. When they resolve their differences thanks to an abandoned foal, it’s only a matter of time before idyllic Longley Parva witnesses one of its wildest romances, between a most unlikely couple of fellows.
Yet with a golf-loving American billionaire and a money-hungry banker threatening this terribly traditional little corner of Sussex, there’s more than love at stake. A comedy of cricket, coupling and criminality, with a splash of scandal!
REVIEW:
While the first book in this series took us back to the harrowing days of World War II when nothing was certain, this book veers more towards the cozy village mystery path. It’s a little sweeter and a little funnier, but in turn, it lacks some of the high-stakes drama I so enjoyed in the first book. All in all, it ended up working pretty well as a small-town mystery with colorful characters.
The village of Longley Parva definitely seems at home on a British program like Doc Martin or Rosemary & Thyme. It is full of rich history and eccentric characters, providing an excellent backdrop for light drama and fun mishaps. Some of the side characters are a little too two-dimensional—too evil, too silly, etc. But they serve a purpose, and they certainly paint us a vivid picture of a town that is happy to celebrate Captain George, the only person who ever seemed to make it out of the village and make something up themselves. And seeing poor Henry react that to that hero worship is always a pleasure.
If you tend to fall for stuffy, uptight men who need to pop a button loose once in a while, you’ll definitely enjoy Henry Fitzwalter in all his sputtering glory. He was a bit too much for me at times—too concerned with appearances and propriety, too angry at all the wrong things then too spineless when things got difficult. He goes through some great character development at around the halfway mark, but it took me a while to warm up to him, especially after seeing him next to George, who is a much more enjoyable character with his camera-ready smile and hidden depths.
The romance between the two men is pretty swoon-worthy, but also pretty uneven. Their rocky backstory involving a childhood rivalry and possible petty theft intrigued me right away, and I thought we’d be settling in for a long, slow-burning journey towards the two men trusting each other again. But their make-up and romantic relationship begins fairly quickly, draining some of that tension out of the story in a snap. It turns into a very traditional romantic arc when I expected something more unorthodox. They have excellent chemistry, but I wish there was more tension there.
I’m definitely enjoying what the authors are doing with this series so far. I like how the stories highlight differences between the titular “Captain” and the man he falls in love with—how they see the world, how they’ve changed for the better and worse. And despite some rocky storytelling choices in this book, it was a super fun and accessible romance.
RATING: 
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