As a fan of sports romances, I knew I needed to sign up to review this one. I’m happy I did! It’s a good combination of sports, romance and suspense. I had never read a sports romance with snowboarding before, so this was pretty new, but so good. I was also curious to see if this Rhys was just as interesting as the other one I’ve read about.

Cover

While I think this cover is beautifully done, I have imagined Rhys in a different way. To me this guy is a little too old to be him. That is only my opinion though, I still love the effects of this cover.

Plot

This was the first book I read by Stacey Marie Brown and I’m happy I had the opportunity to read one of her books. Buried Alive is a unique romance book that takes us into the professional snowboarding world. I have never read a romance book with snowboarding and I wasn’t disappointed. Rhys is a young attractive snowboarder who has had a hard few years. He isn’t proud of it, but he’s using his brother’s story to get another chance at the Olympics. To not think of his past he sleeps with a lot of women, or when lonely and drunk, he destroys hotel rooms. Hannah decided to go home again after nine years, but she’s not so sure what to do with her life. The last nine years haven’t been easy and she’s worked hard to put her past behind her. It’s not working like she thought, but she just wants time to think. She helps her father out in the kitchen and ends up having to serve Rhys. There is an instant connection (and Hannah knows who he is and hopes he doesn’t recognize her) and she tries her hardest to ignore him. Rhys thinks there’s something familiar about her, but all he can think about is the connection he feels. I liked how the story built up, they didn’t end up sleeping together right away. There was a lot of fun flirting and Hannah had some anger, haha. I loved the setting of this book. The author made me feel like I was there. I would love to spend the day with a book and hot chocolate in one of those cabins. I also like that even though Rhys is working to go to the Olympics, the book isn’t all about the sport. It has the perfect combination of information about his training and goals and the romance. Not all writers can pull that off! I also love that the story is told from two POVs. I’ve learned to love getting a look into both characters’ minds. The only reason this book didn’t get five stars, was for me it took just a bit too long to find out the big secret. I fully understand it’s not something given in the first few chapters, but I think I would’ve understood the book a bit better or been able to relate to Hannah a bit better knowing more sooner. I think it would’ve also helped understanding her mother’s behavior towards her. I have to say to me it was kind of a plottwist as well. I did not expect the story on the mountain to go the way it did. The author really surprised me with this. All in all, still an excellent romance book and I know for sure that I will be reading more books by this author in the future.

Characters

Hannah is finally home after nine years and this isn’t easy for her. All we know in the beginning is that something terrible happened before she moved away to California. For her it’s hard. Part of her is really happy to be home, but part of her wants to run again. Hannah feels a lot of guilt about what happened on the mountain and sometimes wishes it was her who didn’t survive. Seeing Rhys surprises her. She knows who he is, but he doesn’t remember her. Even though she tries to stay away, there is just something about him that keeps drawing her in. For the first time in a long time she can be herself. That’s what makes it so hard, because she wants to tell him the truth, but doesn’t know how. When we finally find out what she’s been keeping secret all those years, it made me think she’s incredibly brave. Keeping that all to herself, so no one would think different of her brother or ex-boyfriend. When she finally opens up it’s a way for her to finally start to heal.

Rhys hasn’t had an easy life. Whil both he and his brother Jonah loved snowboarding, his parents treated Jonah differently. They were never all together and he was shipped away with his trainer Shaun instead of being with his parents. Finding out that they never really wanted him didn’t help their relationship either. Losing his brother the way he did and shortly after his mother, destroyed him. The fact he has to use his brother’s death to get another chance at the Olympics makes him feel terrible. He’s fighting for it though. Normally he just sleeps with girls and never calls them again, but seeing Hannah opens something in him he didn’t know was there. Rhys has become a different person. For the first time he’s actually in love. Only the secrets Hannah has kept from him nearly destroy him. But the love for Hannah also makes him better in many ways and even more than he realizes.

All in all, a good book! Hopefully I can find some more sportromances with snowboarding. Do you know any good ones I shouldn’t miss?