Britt DeLaney, $0.00
Contemporary Romance, 2021

Having read too many Torrid Tarot stories back to back left me feeling like the world has lost all meaning, so when I come across Britt DeLaney’s Free Wheeling, I hope it will be the perfect pick-me-up antidote for my reading blues. The premise sounds so whimsical, after all.

Crossing paths in a bike lane can send you crashing down – and lift you up in surprising ways.

Unfortunately, this story begins with Lina crashing her bicycle into Matt, and it’s not exactly love at first bleed. Matt and Lina meet again, and she learns that he’s a nice guy involved in a charity for kids while she has to ride a bicycle as part of her medical therapy. They meet again shortly after, and she learns that he’s a nice guy involved in a charity for kids while she has to ride a bicycle as part of her medical therapy. Since she has never ridden a bike in a long time, he offers to help her and give her a pointer or two. No, this is a wholesome contemporary romance, so despite all the innuendos one can make here about riding a bike, Matt and Lina are too G-rated for that kind of filth.

The author does the right thing here, with the relationship ending on a note that is just right. The pacing is perfectly fine, with no rushed, contrived plunge into an unrealistic permanent conclusion. From a technical point of view, therefore, this short story does many, many things right.

However, the first chapter—the one with the bike crash—is told from Matt’s point of view, and he’s understandably not too happy and isn’t exactly kind in his thoughts about her. This story therefore starts off on a negative note, so it will have to find a way to bring in some good cheer into the proceeding. Unfortunately, the rest of this super short story serves up instead a dynamic in which the hero is the teacher and the heroine is the student, and hence, half the time their relationship feels like a tuition class while the other half has the playing field being tilted with the hero coming off as having more brainpower and maturity than the heroine. Because of this, I never find the romance satisfying to follow. I would prefer a relationship that has the couple on a more level playing field, so that the romantic attraction between them will feel more natural and less of a “student has a crush on a hot tutor” thing.

All things considered, this one is alright, although I wish I could warm up to the romance more. Still, it is free at the time of writing, so I really can’t complain too much!