Carrie Aarons is an absolute writing machine! She has put out so many books this year, it’s refreshing to not have to wait more than a few months for the next book in a series. The third and final book in the Rogue Academy series, “The Mighty Anchor,” is available now and free on Kindle Unlimited!

Official Synopsis:

A stoic force to be reckoned with.
The steady rock on which England is destined to lean.
Everyone’s reliable mate, at the ready to defend when called upon.

To the world, Vance Morley is the next great keeper for the Rogue Football Club, biding his time at the academy. The definition of tall, dark and handsome, his quiet confidence and mysterious persona only draw the public in. He’s their mighty anchor, both on and off the pitch.

But when it comes to the one woman he claims to love, he conveniently vanishes at the exact moment I need him. The first time I saw Vance, he was a ten-year-old standing on his lawn across the street. The first time he kissed me, we were sixteen and sitting on the very shores we grew up on. We crashed into each other like waves in a storm, fated to destroy everything in our paths. Including each other.

The first time Vance saw our son, by serendipitous accident, my little boy had already lived the first year of his life. And instantly, the man who chose football over me wants to have it all. There is no way I can trust his declarations of love and fatherhood, especially when I’m set to marry another man.

We’re a new game, one to occupy him until the world stage beckons. But the more I try to tell myself he’s not the one, the more Vance’s efforts to win us back increase.

How can I guard my heart against seeing my son with his father?
Can Vance really sacrifice his dreams in the name of love and family?
Is there a way that everyone else’s safe harbor can finally become mine too?

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Review:

With Vance and Lara’s story, Carrie Aarons has delivered a satisfying conclusion to her Rogue Academy trilogy.

The book is told from two POVs, Vance’s and Lara’s. For those of you who like to the know the ages of characters, I believe they’re both 22. It was nice getting to finally read their story after it was previewed in Kingston and Poppy’s book. Vance is struggling with still being at Rogue Academy, yearning to join Jude and Kingston on Rogue’s London team. Especially after having read Jude and Kingston’s books, it was so frustrating that Vance wasn’t playing with them! Without giving anything away, there is a resolution to that issue by the end of the book. Lara is in their hometown of Brighton, raising their son, Mason, and working as an English teacher at a high school. They have a tumultuous relationship from the start, but as the book progresses both characters grow and evolve both within the realms of their relationships and as individuals.

A solid 95% of my knowledge of soccer (or football, as the book takes place in England) comes from reading this trilogy. The other 5% is split up between R.S. Grey’s “Scoring Wilder” and its corresponding companion novel, and the soccer tests we had to take in high school gym class. I wouldn’t say this is completely relevant to the review, but I’ll but it in all my reviews of books containing sports anyway. (They’re one of my favorite types of books to read, but watching them in real life is another story…)

I will admit, I did expect there to be some sort of confrontation scene between Louis, Lara’s fiancé, and Vance, which never happened. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but could have added more conflict to the story.

I enjoy Carrie’s writing, and although the writing isn’t difficult to understand, there are a lot of descriptions; both in rhetorical devices such as similes, but also in the dialogue and the way she describes things. To be completely honest, as cute or romantic as some of Vance’s lines were, I would definitely start laughing if someone said them to me. As is the nature of most stories, sometimes the dialogue can be a little bit over the top. (Plus, the whole “sea” and “mighty anchor” thing was really driven home…it was mentioned a ton of times.)

That being said, Carrie is a wonderful storyteller. I adore her books, and I’m excited for her next one that comes out in January 2020! (I told you she’s a writing machine!) I especially love how she weaves in the characters from the first two books. Seeing characters from former books pop up in other ones is one of my absolute favorite things, so to get to catch at a glimpse into what Aria, Poppy, Jude, and Kingston are up to after their books end was great. Carrie also always includes an epilogue, which not only showed where Lara and Vance are three years down the line but also gave some more information on the other two couples.

Overall, I thought this was a great conclusion to the trilogy, and I’m sort of sad that it’s ending! It was one of the first series that I got to read all of the ARCs from. Luckily enough, Carrie has a new book coming out next month.

Check out my posts for the rest of the Rogue Academy series!

The Second Coming (#1) – Review

The Second Coming (#1) – Playlist

The Lion Heart (#2) – Review

The Lion Heart (#2) – Playlist

The Mighty Anchor (#3) – Playlist (coming Friday!)