REVIEWED by Jen B.
TITLE: He Shoots, He Scores
SERIES: Skate to Love
AUTHOR: Tricia Owens
PUBLISHER: Tricia Owens
LENGTH: 398 Pages
RELEASE DATE: June 16, 2020
BLURB:
When superstar winger Neil Shannon is injured in the Stanley Cup Finals, he loses more than the hockey championships. With his confidence shot, his career begins to fall apart and an early retirement seems inevitable. Unwanted by his former team, Neil is traded to one that’s starting over. Even worse, he’s joined there by his biggest rival, the sexy Swede Adrian Magnusson. Adrian feels responsible for Neil’s fall from grace and is determined to revive his career, but Neil wants to stay far away from this Swedish temptation, or else he’ll lose the last thing of value he owns: his reputation.
REVIEW:
This is a solid start to a new series by one of my favorite authors. I love a good hockey story, and Ms. Owens has a habit of creating some solid characters that can go the distance. Neil and Adrian are not quite as strong from the get go as some of her previous characters, but they definitely have the potential.
Here, Neil and Adrian are both star players in their positions but on different teams. In one of the final games for the Stanley Cup, Neil is hit hard and suffers some serious injuries. He heals, but finds his mental scars are a bit more difficult to ignore. Unfortunately, his team is not strong enough to back or support him through his confidence issues.
Adrian, however, is at the top of his game and when seeing the issues Neil is facing, jumps on the chance to get him on his team. It doesn’t go over very well with Neil, as they have some communication issues that get in the way of things, and their heretofore rivalry to deal with, among other things.
Adrian’s faith in Neil never wavers, and his patience pays off in more ways than one when Neil works through his insecurities and pulls through for the team. He also gives in to Adrian where their relationship is concerned, but just when things start rolling in the right direction, the story ends and we are left longing to see how everything works out. Sure hope Ms. Owens doesn’t make us wait too long to find out. There is also a hint of something brewing with some of the teammates, so I’m looking forward to seeing that play out as well.
RATING:
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