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After rereading Mister Hockey for the cozy feels, I knew I had to reread Head Coach as well. This is the second book in Lia Riley's Hellions Angels series. While I haven't reread this one as much, this is the 3rd time I've read it. I was able to use this for the Winter's Kiss prompt forced proximity.
Neve is a reporter currently covering the Denver Hellions hockey team. She has an antagonistic relationship with Coach Tor. When they are around each other in more casual ways now that Breezy, Neve's sister, is dating Jed, their relationship starts to change. Tor is all hockey all the time and is still hurt from the divorce with his first wife. When his sister gets injured in a climbing accident and unable to attend his ex's wedding, at the request of his daughter Olive, Tor wins a bet and the favor he takes from Neve is to be his plus one. When there's a mix up at the hotel and they have to share a room, with one bed, the tension between them finally snaps.
This is probably one of my favorite enemies to lovers books. I'm not usually a fan of the trope, but I think it's done so well here with the tension between them. The enemies portion really comes from the disparities between their jobs. Tor is known to call the reporters "jackals" and Neve is a go-getter herself. Now, in Mister Hockey there's representations of a plus sized woman and the insecurities she might have. Neve is shorter and slimmer and has what I picture as a figure skater's body, just not quite as show ready. She has insecurities of her own and I love that this book, especially when paired with the first, really hammers home the point that no matter what you look like, you are you're own worst critic and can have a myriad of insecurities. It doesn't help that Tor says some hurtful things before the dynamic changes between them.
One of my favorite scenes is when they go running up in Telluride and end up in the path of a moose. That scene has stuck with me and I think about that scene more than you would expect. The fright that Neve feels but also exhilaration and way that they connect afterwards is a good example of how adrenaline can push a body. I also love that it doesn't take too long for the dynamic to shift between them, but they both don't want to admit it right away. As the reader though you can feel the change. One reason I really struggle with enemies to lovers is the lame excuse that the hero or heroine has hatred for the other. A lot of the times it seems like the hate is more one-sided and the other is acting out of hurt. Here they both give and take and it makes sense why they are antagonistic towards each other. Tor is the tight-lipped hockey coach and Neve is the reporter that wants all his secrets and enjoys needling him. I also love that she's behind some of the memes about him. There's a lot of pop-culture references in the series, and while it might not age well, as of now I still enjoy them. Maybe because I grew up during the same time as Lia Riley. Also, there's a lot of Denver and Colorado things that I feel like Lia had to live in Colorado at some point. Her bio says she's in California, but she had to have been here. It's the little things about Colorado that she gets just right, down to complaining about all the California drivers and Californication of certain areas. There's also a discussion about how a lot of born and raised Coloradoans aren't going into ski towns frequently to ski and snowboard. I have been to ski towns a couple of times, but for school functions that were during the summer/early fall. I am a proud Coloradoan, born and raised, and have never been on a slope.
Anyways, these books just really hit me well as you can tell. There's a lot of things that just work for me. I do have to say, the first time I read the third book I rated it 3-stars. It just didn't work for me as well. I haven't tried rereading though. I don't know if I will next, but I do want to try it again and see if my thoughts have changed. I just loved Mister Hockey and Head Coach so much that it's hard to meet their bar. If you enjoy hockey romance, certainly check out this series. I love that we get the older characters and the coach. I feel like a lot of the popular hockey romances out there are set in college or new adult so I love that these are established men that know what they want in life outside of hockey.
Have you read Head Coach?
Bookishly Yours,
Stasi🍎
STATISTICS: Head Coach, Lia Riley, 5-stars, 1 day, Paperback, 224 pages, published in 2018
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