Review: Roller Coaster Romance by Kate Moseman

Roller Coaster Romance
by Kate Moseman

My Rating: 3 stars

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: m/f

Blurb:
Love is the wildest ride…

Vanessa’s new job is a highly coveted management position at the world-famous Destiny Park. To succeed, she has to impress the big boss while simultaneously managing the crew of quirky employees who run the rides. She didn’t plan on one of them stealing her heart…

In between operating a mine train and a haunted house, Thomas is working undercover to unionize his fellow employees. But he isn’t prepared to go head-to-head with a new boss while falling head-over-heels for her. She’s everything he wants—and everything he’s fighting against.

Will love find a way, or will this romance run off the rails like an out-of-control mine car?

🎢 Must love theme parks

🎢 She’s his boss

🎢 Everyone’s in costumes

🎢 Union organizing is surprisingly attractive

🎢 Actual fireworks

This sweet romantic comedy is full of humor and heart, perfect for fans of light-hearted sweet romance who are looking for a palate-cleansing escape read. Readers say it’s “Upbeat, fresh, entertaining, and fun!” and “I loved spending time in this world!”

My Review

I picked this one up as there’s just something I like about books set at theme parks and this one sounded good. By the time I decided to read it I had no clue what the book description said anymore just that it was a romance set at a theme park. I had expected this one to be more of a romance, but it’s first and foremost the story of a new manager at a theme park who has to deal with her new boss wanting to make sure the employees don’t start an union while she understand their wishes for an union and is thus caught in the middle.

This one somehow felt way more political, if that’s the right word for it, than I had expected. A lot of the plot focuses on Vanessa’s struggles between keeping her job and doing what her boss wants her to, while also siding with the employees who want an union. There’s a lot about what the employees do who want the union to convince others to vote yes and what the higher ups do to encourage people to vote no. A lot of theme park politics? I don’t really know much about unions and how they work and especially not how that all works in the USA so there were some parts that kinda confused me. Mostly I just struggled with the fact this wasn’t what I had expected.

Besides that there were plenty of parts I did like. The writing is good and I would definitely read more by this author. The story pace was solid too and progressed nicely. I also liked the theme park setting, but the actual theme of the theme park was less interesting to me, I would’ve preferred something more magical or fantastical. There also wasn’t as much about the theme park as I had hoped, but I did like getting a feel for the theme park.

Vanessa and Thomas were both likable characters and I liked reading about them, I would’ve liked a bit more about them and their romance tough. I feel the basics are there, but I just wanted it to go a bit deeper. The romance is also very slow burn and takes a backseat to the union plot line. The ending feels kinda abrupt and I would’ve liked an epilogue to see the results of both the romance and the union plot line play out a bit more.

To summarize: This book wasn’t what I had expected. Instead of a romance story set at a theme park, this one feels more focused on theme park politics as the employees try to unionize and management tries to make sure this doesn’t happen. There is some romance, but I felt it takes a backseat to the union plot line. I liked the theme park setting, but would’ve preferred a more magical/ fantasy theme for the park and I wanted to see more of the park. I liked Vanessa and Thomas well enough and their connection was clear, but I would’ve liked a bit more depth. The writing style was good and the pace was well done, this was an easy read despite the issues I had and I do plan to read more by this author, this book just didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.