bruna's Reviews > Mile High

★ 1.75 stars

I’M FINALLY FREE!!! this was one of the most boring books i’ve ever read. i wanted to dnf it so many times, but i stubbornly forced myself to finish it — why? i don’t know. guess i was waiting for it to get good, but as you can see, it never did. anyway... let’s get into it. this review is going to be a little long, so buckle up.

there are a few spoilers here, so don’t read this review if you don’t want to be spoiled!

first, let’s talk about one of my biggest issues with Mile High: the length. this book is over 600 PAGES LONG, and i really can’t see why. that’s extremely unnecessary. Liz Tomforde, with all due respect: get an editor. please! there were multiple scenes that didn’t add anything to the story, so this book could’ve (and should’ve) easily been 250 pages shorter. i don’t know if anyone would agree with me on this, but there’s literally no reason for a contemporary romance to have more than 500 pages. that should be a crime. i mean, i guess some might work if there’s a nice plot and interesting main characters — but that was definitely not the case with this one. the plot was... i’m sorry, is there even a plot? i didn’t feel like there was one. this book is marketed as a hockey romance and yet we had like one scene of the MMC playing hockey if i’m not mistaken. and the main characters were bland, they honestly didn’t interest me that much.

Stevie: was she an amazing character? no. but she was not really a terrible character either. there were times that she was funny and bold, and i kind of liked that. there’s also the fact that she’s plus size and i really think the author did a nice job of portraying her insecurities with her body. but, those things aside, there is nothing else to say about her. at the beginning of the book, i thought she had potential to be a great and remarkable character, but she isn’t. as i said, i don’t hate Stevie and i don’t think she’s terrible, but in general, she’s not a character that i’d call interesting.

and i have to mention that she was kind of giving i’m not like other girls at times. she drinks beer constantly, only buys thrifted clothes (even though she has money) and uses stained sweatpants and dirty sneakers almost all the time. she’s so different, right? and the weirdest thing is that there’s this scene where she goes out in the street with mustard in her chin — and yes, she’s aware, but she doesn’t even bother to wipe it. like, hello?!

Zanders: i was reading a few reviews and i noticed that almost everyone who has read this book is obsessed with this man, so i’m definitely in the minority here. i don’t hate him, but i don’t love him either. well... if i’m being honest, i hated him in the first half. he was absolutely insufferable and annoying at the beginning of the book. i swear, not even 10 pages in and the guy was already pissing me off. instead of explain with my own words, i’m gonna put some quotes here and you’ll understand why he annoyed me so much.

“There’s a different kind of thrill when it comes to pussy on the road. The unknown of who it’ll be, the excitement of where it’ll happen, the satisfaction that I don’t have to see them ever again if I don’t want to. That’s how I like it.”

“My Instagram is already flooded with messages from my Tennessee roster, and I can guarantee that if I want, my dick will be buried deep inside one of them tonight.”

“Her eyes are probably the most interesting pair I’ve ever seen, and her body is perfectly full, with plenty to grab onto. But unfortunately, her pretty outside that I like is tainted by the attitude I don’t like.”

“Why doesn’t she want to talk to me?
Just being honest here, I’ve never had someone refuse my attention.”

sir, you’re a grown ass adult, act like one.

“She might need a reminder that she’s working for me, but I’ll make sure she understands. I’m petty that way. I’ll remember that little interaction for as long as she’s on my airplane.”

mind you, this was just because in their first interaction he assumed she wanted an autograph, but she actually didn’t, so he got offended. how pathetic. 🙄

the worst in my opinion is that he had a list of all the the women he’s slept with in his notes app — and it was organized by city. it gets worse: he also described what they were like sexually. that’s beyond weird.

“Apparently, Carrie was a great lay with a fantastic rack, and Ashley gave one hell of a blowjob.”

but hey! apparently, he’s not a misogynistic asshole who doesn’t care about women! it was actually a PR stunt! shocking.

“People eat this shit up. We play it up for the media, but the truth is I’m not the piece of shit people think I am. I care about a lot more than just the women I take home from the arena.”

his agent pushed this narrative to make him gain more money and popularity, and it worked pretty well. he also needs to maintain this “playboy image” because he’s convinced it’ll help him get his contract renewed with the Chicago Raptors, the hockey team he plays for.

“Whenever you’re ready to let people know you’re not the dickhead they all think you are, you let me know, and we’ll stop the act.”
“Nah, I’m still enjoying it,” I tell him honestly. “I gotta get that renewed contract by the end of the season, so until then, we have to keep it going.”

to be fair, i don’t know why the author came up with this lame storyline. it doesn’t even make sense, why would his hockey team use his personal life to determine whether or not to renew his contract? be so for real. yeah, we discover at the end that it was all a lie from his agent, but still. and he might not be the bad boy that the media paints him to be — but he’s far from a saint.

he gets “better” (less insufferable) after a few chapters, which is obviously predictable so i don’t know why i’m saying this. and, even though i’m not Zander’s biggest fan, i can admit that there was a few nice things about his character:

1. he’s a co-founder of a charity foundation that supports underprivileged young athletes who don’t have the mental health resources they need.

2. the bare minimum, i know — but he never made Stevie feel insecure, and he was always worshipping her and trying to help her with her insecurities.

3. Stevie volunteered at a senior dog shelter, and there was this doberman there, Rosie, who had been there for almost a year. even though Stevie loved Rosie, she couldn’t adopt her because she was living with her brother who was allergic, but Zanders ended up adopting her. i found that really sweet. he also made a big and helpful donation to the shelter.

4.. he had a cute relationship with his best friend/teammate’s child, Ella. we didn’t get much scenes of them together but i enjoyed the ones we got.

and that’s about it.

the romance left much to be desired. did Stevie and Zanders had cute moments throughout the book? yes, and they had a bit of chemistry too. but overall, i felt like their relationship was lacking something. it wasn’t captivating, it wasn’t very well executed and sometimes gave me major ✨wattpad✨ vibes, they had so many cringe scenes i won’t even bother to quote them here. and there wasn’t enough buildup in my opinion, not even 15% in and they were already lusting over each other, and they slept together at 27%. it was so rushed. and there’s a third act breakup, which i don’t like, i mean, who does? and it dragged on for too long. their relationship was going well, but for a stupid reason he decided to break up things with her at 75% — so we had more than 120 pages of unnecessary drama and pathetic scenes that could’ve been avoided if they just communicated to each other. but of course, they don’t know how to do that! the lack of communication between them made me struggle so hard to read the last few chapters. seriously, imagine how tired i was.

all in all, i did not enjoy this book, not even a bit. i’m extremely disappointed because i had high expectations after seeing a lot of people loving it. i guess it was just not for me. i’ve heard the second book is way better than this one — it’s about Indy Ivers (Stevie’s friend) and Ryan Shay (Stevie’s brother). however, i’m not really sure if i’ll give it a chance. i liked Indy, she was a funny character, and Ryan seemed to be a nice guy, but i’m not excited to read their story. let’s see if i’ll change my mind eventually.