REVIEWED by Jen B.
TITLE: Coast to Coast
SERIES: Arizona Raptors
AUTHORS: R.J. Scott and V.L. Locey
PUBLISHER: Love Lane Books
LENGTH: 199 Pages
RELEASE DATE: September 29, 2019
BLURB:
When opposites attract, it’s not just the team that’s in for a shake-up.
When a stipulation in his father’s will throws Mark back into a family that disowned him, he has only two things on his mind; buying his way out of contractual obligations and running in the opposite direction as fast as he can. When neither option pans out, he finds he is now a one-third owner of the struggling Arizona Raptors hockey team, and that is just about the worst thing he could have happened to him. Not only does he hate hockey, but the Raptors are a bottom-of-the-league team, rife with jealousies and anger in a locker room that only knows self-pity. How is he supposed to help turn things around when the only way to start fixing things is to form an alliance with the estranged siblings he’d run from fifteen years earlier?
Then there’s Rowen Carmichael, a stubborn, opinionated, irritating man with superiority issues and questionable taste in music. Butting heads with Rowen, who he’d never even wanted to hire in the first place, is one thing, but there is no way in hell that he will allow the growing attraction to the new coach become anything more. Until with everything on the line, he has to make decisions that will change his life forever.
After years of collegiate coaching, Rowen is given an offer that he simply can’t refuse, although perhaps he should. When he’s presented with the chance to take one of the worst teams in the league and mold them into a future cup contender, the challenge is just too alluring to pass up. He leaves his beloved Ontario behind and moves west to the arid city of Tucson where he is faced with a broken team, shoddy management, and players overflowing with resentment and bigotry.
Never in his twenty years of hockey has he ever seen such a raging dumpster fire of an organization. Yet there’s something about this team and this city that compels him to roll up his sleeves and start dismantling. He has his eye on a new associate coach that’s bound to make waves and several key players who should be sent packing. Now all he has to do is convince the new owners of the team that his choices are for the best. If only Mark Westman-Reid, one of three siblings who now own the Raptors, wasn’t so damned rock-headed, so damned snooty, and so damned appealing his job might be a bit easier.
REVIEW:
I have equally been looking forward and not sure I was ready for this story about the hated Raptors, the mean team in the league, and home to the player who almost took out Ten in the Harrisburg Railers series. I should not have worried though because this dream team author duo came through again in this series opener. The story is basically twofold – Rowen and his coming on board to clean up the Raptors’ act; and Mark, being thrown back into the family he was thrown out of all those years ago.
Mark is a great character – forced to make his own way when his father kicked him out (while his mother and siblings stood by and watched). He went from sleeping on the streets of New York to modeling and becoming the successful owner of a modeling agency. His hostility toward the family who now needs him is completely understandable, and I loved how he held his own and that it took a while for him to give in. When he does, he grabs the bull by the horns and immerses himself in the task which puts him directly in front of the new coach, Rowen.
Rowen is equally fun to read. He is a go getter, set in his ways and take no crap attitude was refreshing and just what the doctor ordered to clean up the disease infested Raptors. Unfortunately, just as Rowen wasn’t easy to get rid of, as Mark initially wanted, but so to was the festering boil of a player on the team. You just knew he was going to make more trouble before he was taken care of.
Back to Rowen and Mark – crazy chemistry, didn’t want to like each other, but couldn’t resist. They carried on secretly while trying to do their jobs. They were a perfect match for each other in wits and personalities. Thankfully, the stereotypes were cleared up, some fences were mended, and things seemed to play out as they should have.
So, this was another win for me, obviously. I loved the previous series, and this one is shaping up as well with some interesting characters. I know I was worried for Ryker Madsen (Jared’s son and Ten’s stepson) having been drafted to a team he was dreading having to play for. But, he is a great guy, and that totally showed through here. He is exactly what this team needs and will hopefully have a chance to really shine in the next season. The colorful goalie, Colorado, is ready to really solidify his comeback as well, so there is a lot to look forward to. Let’s go, Raptors!
RATING:
BUY LINKS:
[…] room that only knows self-pity. How is he supposed to help turn things around when the only way to start fixing things is to form an alliance with the estranged siblings he’d run from fifteen years […]