Series: Sticks & Hearts (Book #1)
Genre: Contemporary Sports Romance
~Blurb~
Brantley Cage is a standout D-man on Great Lakes University hockey team. Now that his dream of signing with the Detroit Red Wings has come true, his goals for senior year are simple: Work hard. Score big. Stay away from love.
And then he meets her. There's just one problem. She's the sister of his best friend, and he’s been warned that she’s off-limits…
Cassie Rivers is a musician desperately in need of a do-over. Leaving the past behind, she transfers to GLU in search of something, or someone, that inspires her.
And then she meets him. Her brother's best friend and teammate. But according to the Bro Code he's supposed to be off limits…
You’ve heard what they say about forbidden fruit… One taste is more addictive than one of them is ready to admit. Will he keep skating away from love? Or has this player finally found his Jersey Girl?
~Book Review~
DNF @45%
Unfortunately this was a DNF book for me. The cover is great and the opening scene is intriguing, but I have a few deal breakers when it come to reading romance and this story contains a few of them. I have no tolerance for hook-ups with someone outside the main couple, weak female characters, and male leads who behave like louses. Those types of things quickly ruin a good romance, and that's what happens here. Brantley seemed like a fairly decent guy until an unnecessary OW scene makes him look like a total douche. Until that point, the story was doing a great job of building the relationship between Cassie and Brantley, but after becoming each other’s best friends, confiding in each other, crying on each other’s shoulders, and falling asleep together, the reader along with the Cassie is treated to Brantley in a near hook up with his fuck buddy! That’s a story that’s almost impossible to salvage in my opinion, and it's the reason I could not read any further. But what was even more insulting, Cassie, the heroine of the story, shows her true doormat colors by not only immediately forgiving him, but kissing him right after! Gross! So now readers have a douchbag hero and a weak, spineless heroin. And the cherry on top of this hot mess—Brantley blames Cassie for making him horny and uses the lamest excuse of 'trying to get her out of his system' reasoning. To which Cassie says it’s all okay because he has needs (completely ignoring her own) and just requests there’s one girl in particular he doesn’t fuck. WTF!!! And despite the fact that they clearly have feelings for each other, they continue this silly “friendship” front all because of her brother (who's kind of a selfish dick too). It's rather sad that these type of sexist notions are still being perpetuated in books published in 2016, and worse yet, are being touted as romance.
Overall assessment: Very disappointing.
*ARC received in exchange for an honest review
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