Head Coach by Lia Riley

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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

Mister Hockey by Lia Riley

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Struggling with my book hangover from The Front Runner, I wanted something cozy that I knew I would love. I have been meaning to reread Mister Hockey by Lia Riley since the summer and knew now was the time to pick it up. This is the first book in her Hellions Angels series. This is the 5th time I've read this book. I was able to use it for Winter's Kiss covering the prompt hockey.

Jed West is the captain of the Denver Hellions and is recovering from a nasty hit during the playoffs. They ended up winning the cup, but he's struggling with what to do next. When he is getting interviewed for a sports podcast by Neve Angel, she gets an emergency call from her sister Breezy. Tor, the Hellions' coach, was supposed to do an event at the library she works at and was delayed by weather. Neve asks Jed to replace him and he agrees. What Jed doesn't know is that Breezy (and the women in her family) are huge Hellions and hockey fans. Jed is her favorite player and she has a lot of his memorabilia. When they meet, Breezy is completely tongue tied, but pulls it together. After a wardrobe malfunction occurs and Jed offers Breezy his jacket to cover up, she freaks out and runs. Jed gets her address so he can get his coat back (his wallet is in it) and ends up staying to help her with her leaking roof. He's very attracted to Breezy and her curves and they can't help but act on the spark between them.

Guys, this was such a comfort read for me. I was so happy to finally get to my reread. There's a lot of things that I can connect to Breezy with. Not only am I a big fan of hockey myself (thanks to my Mom), but there are a lot of family situations that really hit me. While the direct situations that cause strife between Breezy and her Mom aren't the same thing I experienced, the way that Breezy feels are so similar to how I feel with my father. That might be a little too open, but it's hard to constantly feel being compared to siblings and found wanting. I also love that Breezy is a child librarian and all her bookish and nerdy comments are similar to things that I enjoy and collect as well. Even down to the funko pops (although we have different collections).

I also love the way that she discusses her body image. While she is curvier and loves her curves, her insecurities still come out. Especially when she's around her family. There is one thing that I don't like quite as much, and that's that it feels like Breezy grovels more than Jed. While she does have things to make up for, hiding that she's not only a hockey fan, but a Jed stand, but he also hurts her as well. I still love this book and the feeling of acceptance that Breezy finds with herself, her family and with Jed always hits me in the feels. There's just something about finding that person that helps you be a better version of yourself and has your back through thick and thin!

I don't know if I'll continue rereading the series, I usually reread the second book Head Coach as well, just not as much. It's probably my favorite enemies to lovers, which is saying something since it's a trope I usually don't enjoy. If you like hockey romances, definitely check this series out. As I said earlier, it's my favorite hockey series and I love this book the most. There's just so much that I connect with. I haven't read anything else by Lia, but I do have a couple of her other books on my kindle to try. Someday I finally get to them!

Have you read Mister Hockey?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Mister Hockey, Lia Riley, 5-stars, 1 day, Paperback, 222 pages, published in 2017

Blindsided by Amy Daws

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The July book for the Smart Women Read Romance Patreon Exclusive Live Review was Blindsided by Amy Daws. The genre this month was rom-com and this was the poll winner. While this is considered a stand-alone; there are connections (which I found out at the end of the book in the author notes) to her Harris Brothers and London Lovers series. I was able to apply this read to the Summer of Swoon board 2 prompt starts with the letter "b."

Our English heroine Freya is a seamstress and best friends with Scottish footballer (we're talking England here, so Soccer) Maclay. There are connections through marriage and friendship to the football players and the boutique shop she works at. They became friends over a year ago and have a lot of netflix and hangout. They like to watch Heartland together. Mac ends up dragging Freya to a party and she plays never have I ever the opposite way and ends up super drunk. Things happen and it eventually comes out that Freya is still a virgin and wants to lose it before she turns 30 in a couple months. Mac decides to help her out as a love coach and eventually sex coach.

I was really torn on this book. There were parts I really liked, but others I didn't. I'm still not quite sure if my 4-star rating is too high. I liked that Freya was plus size, but I wish that she wasn't quite as hard on herself throughout so much of the book. Even after sleeping with Mac for weeks and understanding how attracted he was to her, she still felt she wasn't the "type of girl" he would be with. There was some good conversations between them about if she's being pragmatic or derogatory to herself. Where I have issues is how much she pushed against going public with Mac. Not with the paparazzi and stuff, but just with their friend group. She felt different from everyone else and constantly was counter herself out. Another conversation I loved was when they were all together in Scotland and all the women were hanging out together. Freya came to realize that she wasn't the only one with a disparaging inner voice. It just emphasized the point that you really can't know what someone is dealing with internally based on how they look or act.

Mac was very sexy and I like how into Freya was. I did wish that they conversed more and were both patient with each other during their conversations. There were a couple moments though when I wanted him to be a little more introspective, especially since he was touted as being in touch with his emotions. Another thing I want to mention, I don't think I laughed at all during this book. It wasn't a rom-com to me. It was definitely more angsty than I expected and was tearing up a few different times in the latter half of the book. I wasn't able to participate in the show last night live since my Aunt is visitng from California, but hopefully I can get the chance to watch it this weekend and see everybody else's thoughts.

I have had Amy Daws on my tbr for awhile, specifically her Wait With Me series. I don't think it's connected to this book. Based on the list in the back of the ebook I think there's at least one more connected standalone to this and the London series I mentioned above. I'm intrigued to read her other series as well. We'll see when I get to them though. I was excited to finally try her out though. I feel like I would've felt more connected to this book if I had read the connected series first since there was a lot of what felt like fan-service for the side characters.

Have you read Blindsided?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Blindsided, Amy Daws, 4-stars, 1 day, eBook, 305 pages, published in 2019

Off the Record by Chelle Sloan

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After finishing my binge of Sophie Lark, I wanted a little bit of a change of pace before getting to some book club books. Instead of just going full mood reading, I looked at the prompts I had remaining for the Romancing Summer Challenge and tried to find something that fit one of the prompts as well as met something for my other summer challenges. And also fit my mood. After looking at several options, I decided to go with Off the Record by Chelle Sloan. She is a new author to me and is a fairly new author, having published only 3 books so far (and one more later this month). This is the first book in her Nashville Fury series. I was able to apply this to the sports romance prompt for the Romancing Summer Challenge, recommended by Shelby prompt for the Summer of Swoon and reporter prompt for the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo!

Our heroine is Sadie, a reporter covering the Nashville Fury football team. She's the only woman reporter on the team, but is also one of the best. She's known as asking the best questions that really cause the players and coaches to think and not just be the same ones always asked. She is really focused on her job. One morning she runs into Hunter, former college player and now coach, before his interview for the Offensive Coordinator position. She breaks the story as they sit across from each other at the same table while flirting. They are immediately attracted to each other and so starts their fun romance. 

This was such a great, light read. I couldn't put it down and stayed up late to finish it. Sadie had me laughing and I even teared up a couple times. I liked is that this is a romance with a coach and not a player. You don't see coach romances too often in the sports romance genre, but I feel like there's more here lately. They both know that there is a lot at risk if they move forward with their relationship, but I loved how emotionally mature they both were most of the time. Even though secretly dating isn't necessarily the best plan, they do want to get to know each other first and if they can make it through the season with no mishaps on either end, let their respective bosses know. That way they'll have proof that they can do it without damaging either of their ethics. 

I also loved how even though they'll keep something to themselves sometimes, if it was something related to their relationship they both pushed to be open and honest. They could read each other so well and were really attuned to the small details of each other. A lot of the times I'll see that type of connection one way, but it was nice that it was on both ends. Did I see the third act conflict coming? Yes. It went down a little different than I expected, although I still assumed that Hunter would assume the worst about Sadie. It did bother me how long it took him to realize he was wrong and had really hurt Sadie. I don't think his grovel was quite what I wanted, but I did like that there was mention that they had a conversation in private afterwards that was hard, sad but overall good for them. I just wanted to actually see that conversation. This was also steamier than I expected. It was decently written, but there were a couple times where it seemed the foreplay was more explicit and then the full intimacy acts were glossed over. In later scenes it was more explicit. Not that it's bad that it wasn't explicit, but it just seemed odd to switch halfway through the scene, but then later go full bore. 

Overall I loved this book and am excited to see there's a second book in the series set around Sadie's sister Bethany and Davis, a fellow coach. We see Sadie and Hunter set them up in this book and I'm intrigued to read theirs despite it having the surprise baby trope. It's not a trope I usually enjoy. I'm definitely going to keep my eye on Chelle Sloan and will definitely try her other works. If you enjoy sports romance, definitely try this book!

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Off the Record, Chelle Sloan, 5-stars, 0 days, eBook, 322 pages, published in 2020

The Hook Up by Kristen Callihan

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If you've been with me for awhile, you probably know that I'm a big fan of the Smart Women Read Romance podcast and am a patreon member. Every month they have an exclusive patreon live review. April's theme was New Adult and the book that won the poll was The Hook Up by Kristen Callihan. This is the first book in her Game On Series.

I haven't read too much new adult, but looking through a lot of new adult lists I feel like most the new adult I read is also sports romance. I don't usually read New Adult, because even when I was in that time myself, I never really went through the normal issues that a typical New Adult goes through and I struggle connecting to the books. I was pleasantly surprised by this book and am definitely interested in reading more from the series. I think it helped a lot that they were both seniors in college.

Our heroine is Anna, a fiery red-head. At the start of a philosophy class, she meets one of her new classmates, Drew the star quarterback. They instantly feel a connection, but Anna fights it for a good chunk of the book. I really Drew and how into Anna he was. He was constantly getting shut down and rejected, but he stayed patient and persistent without turning into a stalker. I really enjoyed Kristen's writing and could feel the visceral connection between the two. 

I also really enjoyed the choices that Kristen made throughout the book. It took some turns that I wasn't expecting. I also really enjoyed that it was spread out over a longer time than previous books in this sub-genre that I read. It just felt more realistic. Drew was 100% all in on Anna from the first time their eyes met and I loved how sure he was that she was it. It was also a nice change of pace that it was Anna pushing that they were just "hooking up" and avoiding the relationship word. They were still so drawn to each other despite her reservations. 

I found it interesting as well that she wouldn't let him kiss her on the mouth. Anna knew it was too personal and that as soon as she let him, she would be completely lost. I found myself rooting for their first kiss (despite having slept together quite a bit before it happened) and really enjoyed the scene that led up to it as well as when it finally happened. It was so sweet and steamy and you could feel the connection growing that much stronger. It just was written so well and was definitely swoony. 

What brought this down to 4-stars for me was mostly Anna. I completely understood her reservations and insecurities, but I wish that she would've opened up to him more earlier and not let him misunderstand things so much. Like I said, I understood it and could see it coming a million miles away, but since I was get turns I didn't expect throughout the book I almost wish that she would've done the same when it came to those scenes. Another issue I had is just the stereotypical "hot girl." I loved Anna a lot, but it bothered me a little bit that she was very well endowed, had a tiny waist, but then a big butt. I don't know, but people aren't shaped like that naturally very often. It also didn't seem to fit with her being chubby in high school. I know that a lot of times there's some growing into your body, especially if you're a late bloomer, in the late teens and early twenties, but it just seemed unrealistic to me. I 'm glad that it was too focused on, but every time one of his teammates or other jocks mentioned it, it rubbed me wrong. At the same time though everyone was all confused on why he was with someone that looked like that. It just was too opposite ends of the spectrum.

I also enjoyed Anna's best friends and really want Iris to get her HEA. I glanced through the other books in the series just to see if Iris was in a pairing, but I didn't see her mentioned. Maybe Kristen has a connecting series or something? If you know please let me know, because Iris needs to be with someone that will support her love of Bieber. Even though I am not into Bieber at all, I am a boy-band fan and still absolutely adore K-pop and J-pop boy bands. We all need someone that will accept our fandoms. I connected to her on that aspect and need Iris to find her person. I will probably pick up other books in the series and had other Kristen Callihan books on my tbr already, so I'll definitely move them up my list since I enjoyed her writing so much. I can't wait for the live tonight! I also should mention this book definitely helped keep me from entering a slump after DNFing Shanna earlier that morning.

Have you read The Hook Up?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: The Hook Up, Kristen Callihan, 4-stars, eBook, 0 days, 362 pages, published in 2014