Absolutely Not in Love by Jenny Proctor

Gracie grew up in a household where hockey was all. She's a good enough cellist that she's in a symphony and teaches students but her brother's hockey playing meant that her parents were always missing her big days because they were at her brother's practice or games.

Her neighbor Felix? He's a minor league hockey player. Handsome as all get out, a good cook, knows his classical music but Gracie isn't interested. Until her pipes break and she needs a place to stay. As her landlord (did he not tell her that yet?), Felix wants to make sure she has a place to stay. And that time together might mean that Felix finally has a chance to get to know his gorgeous neighbor and she might have a chance to look beyond his sport. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out October 12, 2023

ARC kindly provided by JPC Publishing and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Loverboy by Sarina Bowen

Posy and Gunnar knew each other once upon a time. They were both bartenders vying for the manager's position at Paxton's, a bar owned by Posy's father. Now, years later, the roles are reversed. Gunnar is a wealthy man while Posy is struggling to hold on to the last building her grandmother left her. She's opened a pie shop and needs a barista.

Gunnar needs access to Posy's shop because there are some posts coming from the dark web that are being posted from her pie shop. These posts contain information relating to a series of murders of various hackers. Also, there are a number of bad guys in town and Gunnar's company is dedicated to taking them down.

A little too much crazy in this book and it's all grouped at the end but it's not going to make me give up reading Bowen.

Three stars

This book came out December 1st, 2020

Follows Moonlighter

Borrowed as ebook from Hoopla
Opinions are my own

Moonlighter by Sarina Bowen

The last time Alex and Eric met each other, she didn't even recognize him as her childhood playmate. To be fair, he's filled out a little bit and a professional hockey player doesn't often look like an eleven-year-old boy. 

Now, he's been asked by his brother to provide some extra protection for her in the off-season, posing as her fake boyfriend. See, Alex is the head of this huge tech firm and she HAS to attend a conference to schmooze and find a provider for an important part but her ex is also going to be there. The ex that she is currently pregnant by.

Eric reluctantly agrees but finds himself attracted to Alex and reluctant to let her go. Even when matters get more complicated (i.e. a certain foreign power trying to make sure they are the ones providing her parts). 

This was an interesting story but parts were just too much over the top for me.

Three stars

This book came out October 22, 2019

Follows Superfan

Followed by Sure Shot, Loverboy

Borrowed as ebook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Sure Shot by Sarina Bowen

Oh. I was so disappointed in the ending of this book. The rest of it was fine and a nice addition to the Brooklyn series but the ending was so out of place with the rest of the book and could have been skipped.

Years ago, Bess Beringer fell into some pretty good insta-lust with Mark "Tank" Tankiewicz. She ended it when another sports agent told her that it wasn't good optics for female agents to sleep with male clients. Tank wasn't her client but she still decided to break it off. Now, he's been traded to the Brooklyn Bruisers and he's met Bess again. She is the only bright spot in his trade since he just came from the arch-rival Houston team and his style of play is very different from the man he is replacing. But they're just going to keep things light. Right?

Three stars

This book came out May 12, 2020

Follows Moonlighter

Followed by Bombshells

Borrowed as ebook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Superfan by Sarina Bowen

TW: spiked drinks

I don't love books that shift from the past to the present but this is the closest I've gotten to enjoying that conceit. Because we do get to see a glimpse not only into how this love story has been building for years but also how it derailed the first time. 

In earlier books, Silas has always been teased for his love of Delilah Sparks, the pop star. So when she shows up at a hockey game (not one of his), he tweets her and she responds. When he sends her a gift (with the help of Georgia) a 'ship is born. The two try to go on a date but are stymied by circumstance. However, they are able to spend some time with each other courtesy of Becca and Nate's uber-private wedding. 

There are some sexy times but not a ton of relationship building which made the flashbacks sort of imperative so that we can see that their time together isn't a flash in the pan. It was really more interesting to see Delilah's growth because Silas kind of starts and ends as the same person.

Three and a half stars

This book came out June 25, 2019

Follows Overnight Sensation

Followed by Moonlighter

Ebook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Wedding Date by Monica Murphy, Felicity Munroe, Stephen Dexter

While Kelsey has been a part of the series since the first book, we only met Theo in Rate a Date, the book right before this one. Kelsey is model gorgeous and has had problems in the past when men fall in love with her face without really figuring out who she is. The two of them have become friends and Theo needs help. His ex-fiancee is marrying his cousin (yes, the cousin she cheated on Theo with) and, in the way of romance novels, one of his cousin's groomsmen is in jail and he needs Theo to even out the lines. Theo needs a date so he and Kelsey decide to set it up. Of course, they'll need to attend a few family events first to really sell it. 

We do get to see Kelsey fall in love with Theo and with his family and we also get to see Theo finally confess his feelings but it's all sort of low stakes and I kept wondering why Theo said yes in the first place. And why Kelsey worked so hard to encourage him to say it.

Three stars

This book came out December 1, 2020

Follows Rate a Date

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Prime

Opinions are my own

Rate a Date by Monica Murphy, Emma Wilder, Patrick Zeller

What would you do if your friend set up a profile for you on a dating account? Would you keep dating, even if you weren't sure that meeting people online was the way to go? Eleanor Murray is trepidatious but goes for it. And she meets this guy Mitch. He's evasive about his job and never gives up his last name. He is also moving from California to Las Vegas. But he's hot so she's all in. 

There is not a lot of relationship development in this book so if that is your catnip, this is not going to be the book for you. Eventually it does come out what Mitch does but they get over it faster than he deserves.

Three stars

This book came out March 16, 2021

Follows Hate to Date You

Followed by Wedding Date

Borrowed as audiobook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

The Mistletoe Trap by Cindi Madsen

I love a friends-to-lovers story. It is my catnip. And this one starts off really, really well. You've got socially awkward pathologist Julie O'Neill who is definitely not in love with her bestie-for-life QB Gavin Frost. Even if their parents try to throw them together. Every. Single. Time. the two are back in Crytsal Springs for Christmas. Well, Gavin has been sent home by his boss (must read the boss's book, The Wedding Deal) because said boss is a believer in taking time off and resting. Even for a football star. Now Julie and Gavin will be thrown together in every conceivable way by their mothers. And it seems like this is the year that they might start noticing each other.
I liked most of this book. A lot. But the meddling. Oh my gosh. I like a meddling family but one with more of a deft touch. They see proof that Julie and Gavin are in a relationship and jump right into marriage. Who wouldn't that freak out? To be fair, having the family, rather than a protagonist, cause the last Big Misunderstanding is pretty unique. And I did like that the make up scene wasn't a spectacle but fit in with the story.

Three stars

Follows The Wedding Deal

This book comes out November 16th

ARC kindly provided by Entangled Publishing LLC and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Scoring the Player's Baby by Naima Simone

Kim Matlock got divorced from a football player after it came out he had been extensively cheating on her. Feeling burned, even a year later, she is excited to have a one night stand with a man she meets at a bridal show (I know, right? but he's there with his sister). And she's loving it ... until she learns he is also a football player. And she just can't handle that. Until they meet again and she becomes pregnant. Now he's trying to get past the guilt of loving someone other than the ex who died and she's trying to prove to herself that she's good at her job, even if her father (who has literally told her he wishes she weren't born) doesn't think so.
And, to some extent, it felt like these two characters were in different books. This wasn't as good as the first two books but not as bad as a two star book. I really wish we had seen Ronin's mom... at all. She seemed like she would have been a fabulous character.


Three stars

This book came out July 9th, 2018
Follows Scoring off the Field
Ebook from Kindle
Opinions are my own

Scoring off the Field by Naima Simone

Tennyson "Tenny" Clark has been in love with her best friend/boss for decades. She even confessed it to him one drunken night but he was so horrified that she immediately played it off as being a joke. But it's time for her to step out on her own. She needs to get away from Dominic Anderson and stop letting him break her heart every time he sleeps with another woman.
But this is when Dominic realizes that Tenny might just be a woman. And he doesn't want to let her go.
And he is kind of a jerk about it. He wants to have his cake and eat it too; Tenny should be his best friend but also have sex but not ever fall in love. I liked Simone's writing but didn't really connect with the characters.

Three and a half stars
Follows Scoring With the Wrong Twin
Followed by Scoring the Player's Baby
This book came out March 12th, 2018
Ebook from Kindle
Opinions are my own

Reread March 2023

Scoring With the Wrong Twin by Naima Simone

Sophia Cruz agrees to a one-off for her twin. Where Sophia is an app designer and intensely shy, her sister Giovanna is well on her way to becoming an internationally known model. But when Vanna needs help, Sophia agrees to step in.What she doesn't realize is that she's going to be working with football player Zephirin "Zeph" Black. Immediately attracted, she just can't figure out how to let him know she's not what he thinks. Especially since he's been burned by lies before.
This was a really quick and fun book. Easy to read but short. And the shortness means there are some corners cut in showing how either character got to the place of true remorse for their errors or that this would be a relationship with an HEA but it is worth a read, especially when you're having trouble concentrating on reading.

Three and a half stars

This book came out January 15th, 2018

Followed by Scoring off the Field
Ebook from Kindle
Opinions are my own

Reread March 2023

Anton (Chicago Blaze, #1) by Brenda Rothert (

A hockey player hero who's been celibate for a year (or two?) A heroine who is married for most of the book? To one of his teammates? Can Rothert make them work? Mostly.
I really enjoyed seeing Anton and Mia fall in love. He accidentally finds her working one night and realizes that her still waters might run even deeper than he originally thought. He slowly discovers that she might not be as attached to her husband as he thought. That does not make him automatically leap to the assumption that she is available or even going to be his but it does give him hope. And the more time he can get her to spend with him, the more she might see how perfect they are for each other.
This was definitely a slow burn book which I enjoyed but I actually wish it had been a bit longer so we could have seen more of their relationship after they were together.

Three stars
This book came out January 29th, 2019
Borrowed this from Kindle Unlimited
Opinions are my own

Check, Please! Book 1 by Ngozi Ukazu

Bittle is a former figure skater who is now playing hockey for Samwell University. He tends to faint if he thinks he's going to get checked. Amazingly, his teammates poke fun at him but it isn't

malicious. They are a loving family that we get to know through his first two years in this one book. I would almost label this an epistolary novel since much of it is told through vlogging and, at the end, tweets. It is utterly charming, though it lags in spots. The romance is barely in in the story, only popping up really in the last pages. Worth a read for sure.

Four stars
This book came out September 18th, 2018
Hard copy from Library

Reread as ebook from Libby August 2023

Good Guy by Kate Meader

After leaving the Special Forces, Levi Hunt is again playing hockey. But he's shocked when he's moved up to the pros after a series of injuries on the Chicago Rebels team. The press is ecstatic for the story but only one person has history with Levi, Jordan Cooke.

Jordan's husband was Levi's best friend. The night he was buried, Levi and Jordan kissed and Levi still feels a massive amount of guilt. Jordan is a little more balanced.
She knows that it was a strange time for them both and that grief can cause people to do things they wouldn't normally. But she's not back in his life to pursue romance; she has the chance to land time on a network if she can get a big scoop. But she's not exactly sure that she wants to be the one to do that to Levi. Sometimes the past is best left covered. Forced proximity and a simmering heat may not lead Jordan to the story of her career, but it may lead her to love.
This was a very frustrating story to read and the end was especially so. It relies on the trope of grown-ass people not just TALKING to each other and assuming that they know what is going on and what is going to be best for the other person. Plus, there is a pretty big bomb and it's sort of resolved but I wish there had been more.

Three stars
This book comes out July 30th
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Now or Never by Victoria Denault

Told in alternating first person, we get the story of Winnie and Holden. It starts when they are both teens and she decks him for saying something about her brother. We then come to the present day and Winnie's father has passed away and she's grieving. His death has opened her eyes to many things, including the fact that her relationship with her boyfriend has been over for some time. She just wants to stay at the family's summer home and lick her wounds. Little does she suspect that her brother has hired Holden to renovate the house while the family  is supposed to be gone.
Holden is shocked to discover Winnie in the house. While they have a past (and his is certainly dark), he is still attracted to her. They embark on a relationship that is just going to be physical. But this is a romance novel so...
This was an okay story but I didn't get a real sense of an HEA in their future and the last Big Misunderstanding wasn't really needed.

Three stars
This book comes out January 15
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley