Review: Compelling tale of love, heartbreak, and complex characters
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 3, 2013
I have read many Liz Crowe books and love them all, especially her Stewart Realty series.  Red Card has a few overlapping characters due to the Black Jack Gentleman Soccer team that Jack Gordon is building.  This is the second book in this series but can be read as a standalone.Alicia and Melanie Matthews are grown women but were dealt heartache at a young age when their mother died.  Their father was so overwhelmed from the loss of his wife, he focused on work and left Melanie, who is several years older than Alicia, to take care of her younger sister.  Alicia has focused her life on soccer, while Melanie married, had a child, divorced a jerk, and had another son, all the while becoming bitter and a potential alcoholic.  When their father, Trevor, sponsors a group of soccer players on a trip through the US, Metim Sevin, a hot Turkish soccer player, meets Alicia at a party.  It is like instantaneous combustion between them.  Metim is mesmerized by Alicia, while Alicia fights the attraction, instead trying to keep her focus on playing soccer.  There is some RED HOT, erotic sex in the book and Liz is a master at writing those scenes! The push-pull of Metim and Alicia’s relationship and between family members makes you feel like you are a part of the character’s lives.  We all have various family dynamics and can understand the various feelings of love, jealousy, aggravation, guilt, etc.There are many family relationship issues throughout the first part of the story, but also many scenes of love and true happiness.  Then WHAM, an enormous blow hits everyone and I literally stopped breathing for seconds, with tears running down my face.  I thought ‘if only…’ and ‘what if…’, initially refusing to believe this turn in the story.  I flipped back several pages, thinking I surely had misread something since I read so fast.  I can tell you that I was NOT happy with this turn of events.I was heartbroken over this event about halfway through the story, and seeing how this affected so many, I cried and cried.  The writing makes you feel the emotions of each character and how this tragedy affects each one.  Two years later and everyone is still struggling, some trying to move on with varying results, while others seem to have lost their way.  Bitterness reigns and forgiveness seems unlikely.This overwhelming loss continues into the second part of the story and we see how it still affects all family members.  Jack Gordon wants Metim to coach his soccer team and eventually he returns to the US to take on this new responsibility, while still dealing with so much pain.It is difficult to write this review without using names and spoilers, but I really don’t need to summarize such a compelling story.  The character’s lives and personalities are written to a depth to where you feel that you know, love, and hate them, and some you want to smack upside the head.  Liz writes stories that are closer to real life and not just perfect people, with perfect lives.  And while I enjoy some lighthearted reading at times, this type of writing is what keeps me reading non-stop.  At the end of her books, you can’t help but keep remembering various scenes and characters, and after reading without moving for several hours yesterday, I went to bed thinking of the story.  It still affects me today, and like most of her stories, I expect it to still be on my mind for quite a while.  The ending wasn’t expected and, initially, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. Even the characters were conflicted with what they wanted, what was the right thing to do, etc., but after thinking more about it, I loved the ending.  But that’s what so good about Liz’s writing, she wants you to think, deny, and possibly accept the various events and relationships – not just lead you down a path.Liz Crowe is an exceptionally talented writer and each book is such a gift.  I know that I will be reading more of her stories and recommend that you try this book, along with her other books, and she will take you on an amazing journey.