Book Review-Consolation Prize by Linda Kage

This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.

About The Book

Don’t you just hate it when someone destroys all your carefully made plans?

I mean, I had goals: college to graduate in one semester, a future I was working hard to reach, and an image of myself I wanted the world to see. My life was stacked into these precisely placed blocks. But then Colton Gamble came along and knocked them all askew.

I hated how he messed everything up, how he could hog all my attention whenever he was around, how he made my pulse quicken—but only because he ticked me off…not because I was attracted to him. Oh! And I hated how he knew how attractive he was too, the shallow, full of himself, doesn’t take no for an answer, too flirty, too cocky, extremely irritating jerk.

The boy had all the qualities that turned me off. Or so I thought.

One night he wasn’t quite the brainless, overconfident jerk I assumed he always was.
One night, he took care of me when I was at my lowest. He opened up to me and made me open up to him.

Now I’m learning maybe he’s not what I first thought he was. And maybe I’M not what I first thought I was. Maybe it’s okay to rearrange a couple of my perfectly set blocks. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll stop worrying about what I’m afraid everyone else will think and finally reach for something I really want. It’s possible some of my plans need to be destroyed, and Colton Gamble is exactly the kind of mess I need in my life.

What do you think? Should I give him a try?

Desperately seeking your advice,

Julianna Radcliffe

My Review

Consolation Prize is the 9th installment of the “Forbidden Men” series. This is also the last book of the series with a new couple (as book 10 is a rewrite of the male pov of book one), and I have been so curious to get Colton’s book. Its so fascinating that he is an adult now haha I remember the earlier books and him being so young. But I really wanted this book so badly, especially after “Priceless” in seeing some of the chemistry between Colton and Julianna. And I have to say now that I am finished with Consolation Prize, this book was EVERYTHING! I absolutely can’t believe that this author wrote another epic book in the series. But this book, might just might, be my favorite which is “Perfect Ten”.

Consolation Prize begins with our hero, Colton and our heroine, Juli who are brought together at a wedding. Colton’s brother Brandt, asks Colton to keep Julianna company as he feels like she is still in love with him and needs her distracted. So Colton, puts on his cocky sure mask and distracts Julianna, but what neither of them expects is for them to embrace the powerful chemistry between them which leads them into a forbidden relationship. For Julianna she has many reasons on why she shouldn’t do anything with Colton, there is a age difference, a race divide and she is divorced with an crazy ex. But Colton is determined to show Julianna what they have is worth fighting for. Throughout their journey Julianna and Colton find a endearing deep love…

Consolation was one of the most beautiful romances that I have ever had a chance to read by Linda Kage. My heart was all over the place within this story. I was worried going into this one as some of the reviews I read talked about racism being implemented so I was nervous in how the author would showcase it but she did it SO WELL! In fact, its one of the best romances I have ever read that showcases both sides of racism and enjoyed seeing the way in which this author delicately handled it within the story. There is something about interracial romance that just works so well for me and the emotions and depths that this couple connect to each other with was so poignant. I just never wanted to let these two go!

And I have to say that COLTON was a HOOT! In fact, I think he is a good contender for the entertainment as Ten (Oren) is in the series and I honestly can’t determine which one is more entertaining. There is such a journey that Colton has to go through with the trauma that he suffered as a child, and how he has to deal with how his family and friends treat him and how even how Julianna treats him in the beginning, just seeing the surface and not wanting to dig deeper into the man he has become. But seeing the redemption arc with Julianna and Colton, the way in which he faces up to his family about his truths and the manner in which he finds his own strength and capabilities was so empowering.

Overall I found Consolation Prize to be an endearing, laugh out loud intense feeling new adult romance that tugged at my heartstrings and delivered such a poignant message!

Title: Consolation Prize

Author: Linda Kage

Genre: New Adult

Format: eBook

Source: Purchased

Length: 407 Pages

Book Links

Amazon| Goodreads| LibraryThing| StoryGraph| Literal Club

About The Author

Linda writes romance fiction from YA to adult, contemporary to fantasy.

Published since 2010, she first went through a 2-year writing correspondence class in children’s literature from The Institute of Children’s Literature, then graduated with a Bachelor’s in Arts-English with an emphasis in creative fiction writing from Pittsburg State University.

She currently lives with her husband, two daughters, a cat named Holly, and nine cuckoo clocks in southeast Kansas.