ARC Review – Slap Shot by Kelly Jamieson

I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Slap Shot by Kelly Jamieson
Published by Loveswept on October 17th, 2017
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Sports
Pages: 276
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley
Goodreads
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Apple Books

My name’s Max Hall, and I need to f***. As a pro hockey player who’s been away from the game for over a year, my libido has picked one hell of an an inconvenient time to come roaring back to life.   After my wife died from a rare form of cancer, sex was the last thing on my mind. Same with hockey, the other love of my life. Now, after fifteen months of eating too much, drinking too much, and generally just feeling sorry for myself, I’m facing a steep uphill battle to get my ass in shape and play my way back onto the Chicago Aces.   So I’m not looking for a relationship. Just sex. Yeah, I know how that makes me sound. But the truth is, I’ll never love another woman the way I loved my wife. When I meet a sexy bridesmaid at my teammate’s wedding, I decide to scratch that itch. A fling with Kendra Armstrong in her posh hotel room could be just what the trainer ordered.   Not only is Kendra smokin’ hot, she’s dynamite in bed—one of the perks of being a sex toy designer. Since she lives in New York anyway, we agree to keep things casual, no strings attached. The arrangement is perfect . . . until one of us falls in love. And it’s not me.  Kelly Jamieson’s USA Today bestselling Aces Hockey series can be read together or separately: MAJOR MISCONDUCT OFF LIMITS ICING TOP SHELF BACK CHECK SLAP SHOT  Don’t miss any of Kelly’s alluring reads: The Bayard Hockey series: SHUT OUT | CROSS CHECK The Last Shot series: BODY SHOT | HOT SHOT The standalone novel: DANCING IN THE RAIN  This ebook includes an excerpt from another Loveswept title.

Kendra Armstrong is my new book girlfriend. She’s amazing. Confident, knows what she wants, what she deserves, and she’s not going to settle for less than that. I’ve been on a streak of shy, retiring wallflowers, and Kendra was exactly what I needed. I don’t know why there are so many shrinking violets on my Kindle right now, but Kendra was a breath of fresh air.

And Max. I’ve read some of the Aces Hockey series, so I knew Max and remember that his wife was dying. Writing a book around a grieving spouse can be tricky, but I think Kelly Jamieson did a good job. It’s been fifteen months since Max’s wife died, and he’s finally in a place where he feels like he’s ready to reclaim most of his life. He’s working out, trying to ready himself to take back his place on the Aces hockey team. He’s not interested in dating, but he’s very interested in one-night stands, and he’s super-duper interested in a one-night stand with Kendra. Which turns into a weekend stand. Which turns into an “I mean, if we’re ever in the same city, we might as well hook-up” stand. You can see where this is going.

I liked Max, and I was happy to see him find happiness again, but this book was Kendra’s as far as I was concerned. She used to be a therapist, but now she and her best friend, who was a mechanical engineer, design sex toys. She really enjoys sex, knows exactly what she likes and doesn’t like, isn’t afraid to ask for it, and is completely unapologetic about any of it. I love everything about her. She never offered Max any tired advice or tried to tell him how he should feel about his late wife, or what he should do to get over her. She was there if he wanted to talk about it, but she never forced him to do anything he wasn’t ready to do. She was confident enough in herself and in him to believe he’d get there on his own.

And he did. It took a while, and it certainly wasn’t a straight line, but he eventually figured out how to mourn his ex-wife and still fall in love again. Get this one. You won’t regret it.

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