A NATURAL is a really interesting, well-written novel. It is a coming-of-age story of dashed dreams, set to the background of the UK's intense football culture. (I know a couple of people who aspired to be professional footballers - one made it, for a while; the other didn't get far at all, so some of this novel reminded me of things I'd heard from others.)

A NATURAL includes all of the things that make sports entertainment (movies, TV, and other novels) so interesting: the human qualities of these athletes - the hopes, dreams, loves, losses, injuries, and more. How do you find yourself if you can't make it in the relentless, high-pressure industry you've chosen? How do you fit yourself into this world, if you are not the one in the driving seat?

Well-written, very good characters, and engaging. Recommended.

I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Tom has been training for years to be a professional football player. However, his boyhood Premiere League academy has let him go, and he is not sure what comes next. Only 19 years old, Tom finds himself playing for a small football club he has never heard of, and Tom hopes he can impress enough people to earn another spot in the Premier League. However, he fears if people find out who he really is, his career will be over before it has really begun.

Leah is the wife of Tom's team captain. She has followed him from town to town as he changes clubs, slowly losing sight of her dreams for herself. Now, she has finally started living her own life again, enrolling in university classes for clothing design. As she finds herself, however, she loses patience with her husband drawing into himself due to his injury.

*Warning: Spoilers ahead*

It took a while for the two plot lines of this book to intersect, and I found that I cared much more about Tom's story line than Leah's. I did not realize from the blurb what Tom's secret was, and upon learning it, it really depressed me to realize that there are still so few out active professional athletes, and this story could 100% still be taking place in 2019. My heart broke for the repulsion Tom and Liam clearly felt for themselves because they hadn't yet accepted who they are. My first impression of Tom and Liam getting together was that Liam deserved better than Tom, and unfortunately, Tom did nothing to change my mind by the end of the book. There is a lot of description of what happens on the football pitch, locker room, etc., so enjoying soccer/football would be a plus if you want to read this book. The ending seemed perplexing to me, in that I'm not sure it was believable.

I absolutely adored “God’s Own Country”, Raisin’s precious novel, but this was a bit of a slog to get through. I didn’t really connect with any of the characters, therefore didn’t really care what happened to them. Such a shame.

I love the realism and unfussiness of Ross Raisin's writing, as evidenced in his two previous novels God's Own Country and Waterline, both of which I rated as 5 stars. The only reason I didn't love this one as much was the football content (I have no interest in sport) but the storyline and characterisation were spot on.

Tom Pearman is a naturally gifted footballer who was tipped for great things as a youngster but at the ripe old age of 19 finds himself signed to a club in the lower divisions and even then usually consigned to the subs' bench. His lack of success on the pitch isn't the only thing that's troubling Tom, he is also struggling to terms with his sexuality and battling to reconcile his feelings for the club's groundsman with the boorish, macho culture of the changing room.

Although I'm not a football fun I could appreciate and almost recognise the claustrophobic and constraining atmosphere the young footballers were forced to live in, complete with bullying manager, homophobic and sexist banter and humiliating initiation rituals. Tom's struggle seems even more poignant in this environment.
As with Raisin's other novels there are no simplistic happy endings here, the characters and their actions are complex, not always likeable but above all believable. Another powerful novel from this must-read author.

A melodramatic, slow burn of a novel about a [spoiler alert] gay football (that's soccer to us Americans) 19 year old.
Tom is a rising star in the soccer world but is relegated to a tiny club in an unknown town. He's bullied by teammates and driven by feelings of isolation and loneliness.
Liam is the club groundsman who sees something in Tom and they fall in love.
Leah is the club captains' wife and best friends with Liam.
Chris, the club captain....is a self obsessed jerk.

This is an easy read...because there's no surprises. Anyone who has read a book will be able to figure out what happens next. It's not the next great novel.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is a book about football (European style). . . . kind of. It's also a book about coming of age, masculinity, love, being gay, and family relationships. The book is set amidst a struggling soccer team and the trials and tribulations of a young player as he tries to gain a starting spot with the club. From there it branches in a dozen directions. The character development of Tom (the book's leading man) is outstanding. If you're not put off by football, this will be an interesting read.

“A Natural” details the brutish life of an aspiring professional soccer player. Tom has been promoted after a promising start as a junior player, and finds life in the professional league to be much more difficult than he ever expected. The casual sexual brutality of the other players, life as a boarder, the complex politics of managers, trades, and injuries all take their emotional toll on a young player. Tom’s own unwanted sexual longings further complicate his story, and contribute to our mounting sense of dread, knowing that being outed will mean professional disaster for Tom and his partner.

Ross Raisin deals expertly and compassionately with a number of conflicting and overlapping themes in this quite fascinating novel. Most compellingly, he tackles football’s last taboo, homosexuality, through the potentially explosive situation of the relationship between the confused young starlet Tom Pearman, who is the novel’s central character and the club’s groundsman. How, in particular the players and the wider family of the club (referred to through out simply as ‘Town’ a struggling fourth tier club) deal with the issue when the story breaks on social media is both touching and inevitably at times cruel. That similar situations, have happened in the past and are currently happening at all levels of football is sadly quite thought provoking.

The second major theme is about what happens when a young person’s dreams and hopes are shattered when they’re released from their Premiership academy without a contract. As in Pearman’s case often the result is a nosedive to the lower echelons of the Football League amongst the journeymen, the has beens and a plethora of up and coming teenagers with only a modicum of talent. The strain this also puts on Perman’s supportive family is handled by Raisin with realism and sensitivity. Indeed, many clubs are beginning to question the value of the academy system where very few force their way onto the big stage and many young men are left broken and directionless. It doesn’t seem like good value when set against the enormous investments clubs are required to make. Without giving away spoilers Pearman just about survives his demotion but the physical and mental journey he endures is both frightening and at times memorable in the way that football can lift the human spirit from the darkest depths.

The other interrelated story concerns the veteran Chris Easter and essentially what happens when he undergoes a possible career ending injury. When a footballer sustains a multiple fracture the road to recovery is long, tedious, and hard with dangers around almost every corner. Not only has the injury to heal but the mental scars due to not playing, of being not-involved and of the necessity of self-imposed isolation have to be overcome. Easter’s story is both very sad but also a little heroic as he does devote himself to regaining his fitness but at the expense of becoming an introverted and self-obsessed passenger in his personal life and at the club. His preoccupation with social media (the fans forums) is the glue which cleverly adheres the plot together

‘A Natural’ is an intriguing if not compelling story and I will certainly be exploring more of Raisin’s work -he has an engaging style and develops the characters beautifully. However, I have a nagging suspicion that my enjoyment was coloured by my own interest in football. It is rare that one finds ‘football fiction’ which covers the game in such a gritty and realistic way as Raisin has achieved - in this respect it is beyond comparison! Unfortunately, I think the reader without an interest in football may struggle hence my decision to only award four stars.

Well written, honest story. The pages seemed to turn themselves. Good characters and well developed.

I.know absolutely nothing about football with the exception that Beckham and Pele are important so this was a bit of a slog for me in parts. That said, it can also be read as a coming out and love story between Tom and Liam. The idea that sports stars still hide their homosexuality, whatever the sport, seems ridiculous in this day and age but that's what we've. In this novel, there's a sort of class issue at play as well because Liam is a groundskeeper. This is well written and intriguing. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Try it for an alternative love story with sports.

I just couldn't get into this story. I love soccer and understand the American game. I've read books and watched movies that center around English football, but this one is apparently for a real fanatic. The storyline about a player relegated to the lower divisions and trying to earn his way back to the premier league was just too much football and too little story for me. I made it through only about 25% and finally gave up. The writing is passable, but there's just too much narrative and the only action is on the pitch or in the locker room. Not for me, but maybe for a true fanatic..

A Natural by Ross Raisin tells the story of a professional soccer player who wrestles with his homosexuality alongside the pressures of performing at the top of his game. The premise of this novel appealed to me and many of the plot points were on target for an engaging read. Unfortunately, the pacing of the novel didn't keep up with the promise and, overall, it fell flat for me.

I loved the two intertwined stories about Tom and his attempt to cope with starting afresh at a lower division club and the story of Chris and Leah whose marriage is falling apart and Chris struggling with his injuries and self interests whist losing his wife and child. I will be honest and admit I found the relationship between Tom and Liam difficult to read. I feel the book should have also been included in the LBGT category (the book may gain more readers by including it here). Overall it is a well written book about struggling to cope (be it sexuality, hazing, injury, needing a career, family, support, bad form) compared to the joy of love, career, team spirit and winning.