Wirklich ein tolles Sommer Buch! Perfekt für den Strand. Lässt sich sehr leicht lesen und es fällt einem echt schwer das Buch aus den Händen zu legen! Die Story ist sehr schön geschrieben und man verliebt sich richtig in die Charaktere aber auch in deren Umgebung (Portugal/ Australien). Durch das Buch bin ich selber sehr motiviert mal das Surfen auszuprobieren. Allerdings bin ich ein bisschen traurig, dass das Buch schon zu Ende ist, da ich gerne mehr über die Zukunft der beiden gelesen hätte. Bin aber gespannt, ob in dem nächsten Buch von Katherine Reilly Leo und Iris auch kurz erwähnt werden (wie jetzt hier Flora und Kieran).

3.75 “Ride the Wave” is an excellent summer read. Nicely written, great setting, lovely side characters, solid main characters. I do have to say that I was mostly intrigued by this book because of the sport. I feel like all I see is ice hockey and Formel 1 with the occasional tennis or swimming thrown in. Surfing though, haven’t crossed my path, which of course doesn’t mean those books aren’t out there. Now, Iris is a journalist and Leo doesn’t like journalists and so naturally these two make up a perfect pairing. In the first 35-40% of the book were several moments, when I thought both of them finally found common ground, but then almost every time Leo destroyed it with “wished you could have recorded that, right”. I kinda get it and I get that he has a certain level of trust issues, but found myself being annoyed at some point. There was a really lovely moment, when Iris wanted to learn how to surf and Leo finally opened up to her. The first half was rather fast and once the two of them actually admitted to their attraction and somewhat feelings for each other, around half way through the book, the pace slowed down. I went into this expecting that the main part would be Iris’s time in Portugal, which ended up being the first half of the book. The majority of the second half was spent with them as a couple during the competition in Australia. This book doesn’t have an epilogue, which sometimes can work, sometimes not. And I think this is a case where it doesn’t work, at least for me. I would have loved to see how Iris & Leo’s life in Portugal looks like. What’s up with the surfing school and the construction work that was supposed to take place in Burgau to attract more tourists? How, if so at all, did the relationship between Leo and his mom change after the competition in Bell’s Beach? I guess half of those points you can guess, but others and more were left off without some sort of conclusion. Thank you to Aria & Aries for providing this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I loved every second of this... I went in blind, this being my first book from the author to begin with. And OH MY GOD it was worth every single page. I loved the story, the characters and fell head over heals in love with Portugal ♡ I only suggest reading "Match Point" before this so you can enjoy the little cameos a bit more. 10/10 recommend