Book Review - Oar Than Friends by Lulu Moore - #HolidayReading Cruise

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Title: Oar Than Friends

Author: Lulu Moore

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Michael Joseph

Publication Date: 14th March 2024

Rating: 5 Stars

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?

I was drawn to this book as it is set to the backdrop of Oxbridge and specifically the Boat Race, which I do tend to watch each year without any allegiance. 

So Arthur and Kate's enemies to lovers, rivals to friends' romance really caught my attention,  And I loved every second of reading of this. 

From the descriptions of the rigorous training the crews have to do, to the rivalry, to re-examining your dreams, just everything really worked for me. 

I was loving every page of this book, which certainly kept me entertained on my flight home from my holiday 

I kept rooting for our heroes, even when circumstances were making it really tricky for them both.  I also enjoyed getting to know their friends, and generally get more of proper feel about the rivalry.  And reading about the heists were entertaining too. 

I believe this might be the start of a new series, in which case I'm certainly keen to read more, as I was loving this so much.  

Thank you to Penguin and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.