Book Review: Whoa by Cambria Hebert

Reviewer: Tabitha Adkins
Book: Whoa by Cambria Hebert Format: Kindle
Series: Westbrook Elite, Book 6
Published by Cambria Hebert, LLC
Publication Date: December 08, 2023
Genres: Suspense, Romance, College Sports, New Adult Page Count: 433

The original synopsis can be found here.

Most people think I’m a moron. In actuality, I’m a man with a plan.
It’s one of those three-year plans that takes longer than three years.
Still, I’ve been making it happen. Checking off those to-dos and turning them into to-dones.
Everything is almost lined up.
And then my phone rings.
By the time I get to Jess, she’s unconscious and bleeding.
My carefully crafted plan blows up in my face.
I tell the hospital we’re engaged. We aren’t, but apparently, in that place, you need a permission slip to see your most important, so I do what has to be done.
I toss together an epic apology salad for when she opens her eyes, and when she does…
She asks me who I am.
I’m willing to overlook the insult since, you know, head injury, but then Nurszilla spills the beans on our pending nuptials.
And just like that, my friend turns into my fiancé, and I’m not even mad at it.
How could I be? Her curves fit in my arms perfectly. Kissing her is like whoa and makes me forget I’m living a lie.
I know I have to come clean, but someone dirtier than me is stalking my final girl, and until she remembers who, it’s on me to keep her safe.
The closer we get, the guiltier I feel.
When all this is over, will she forgive me? Or will everything I’ve done cost me everything I’ve always wanted?

THE REVIEW

“If you run off, I’ll chase you down.” “I won’t run.” “I’ll chase you down,” I repeated. I meant it. I’d chase this woman to the ends of the earth. – Kruger, Ch. 29

As usual with a Cambria Hebert book, it’s taken me a few days to get passed the hangover that I get sucked into. Whoa is a total 5-star read and it has me wanting to take a deep dive back into Westbrook, which honestly, I probably will after I’m done with Gearshark and Bearpaw… because of them being intertwined.

Now, like the other books in this series, you could read them as a standalone, but it really does give you the much bigger picture plus insight into other characters that come after, or even those that we’ve already fallen in love with. Besides, I don’t know about you, but I love the little inside jokes that come about because of things in the previous books.

Whoa is the 6th book in Cambria Hebert’s Westbrook Elite series. And boy does it get you going in the very first chapter. This isn’t my first foray into a book with a character that has amnesia, (if you haven’t read Cambria’s Amnesia and Amnesty duology, then you really need to!) but the way that the FMC gets it was new.

Benjamin Kruger is our male main character, we meet him first in Book 1, though we only know him as Kruger, and he’s awesome! He’s super sweet, protective… and growly. Not something that we see in the previous books, but once we get a deeper look I can totally see. As he’s grown he’s had two friends, Jess and Prism, and has gone to school with them both for years. However, Kruger wants more than just friendship with Jess and has been working towards that for a long time. And that time has finally arrived.

Jessica Park is our female main character, and we do see her a bit in the other books, but not as much as Kruger. She’s one of the lifeguards at the pool where our Bro’s the Elite swim and is generally there during their meets. Just being friends with Kruger is a spot where Jess believes she’ll always stay, not believing there is any other option.

Just like every other time, when something happens to one Elite member, it happens to them all, and they show up en mass to be there to help one another. When gets a call and has to rush out to help Jess, it’s put into the Elite chat and they all come running, trauma lattes in hand. (Can’t say I blame the guys for hating Caramel lattes, they seem to need them a lot!) These boys and their significant others rallied around Jess is everything, expanding their families to include her, not even because of Kruger, but because of her.

We also get to see a bit of Jess’s friendship with Prism (we find out his first name here too! It’s Matt). We’re told a bit about his past and why he does things, like wearing airpods everywhere. (P.S. I’m pretty sure that Prism is our next Elite member who will be getting a book!)

This one is more on the sweet than the spicy side, but don’t think you don’t get the spice in here too, because we do!

Until Next Time!

Tabby