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My Review:Title: Crazy Pucking Love
Author: Cindi Madsen
Series: Taking Shots #3
Published by: Entangled: Embrace
Release Date: November 7th 2016
Format: eARC, Kindle Book
Pages: 285
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Sports Romance
Source: NetGalley
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2018 AtoZ Reading Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 Author Love Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 Beat the Backlist Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 Finishing the Series Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 Netgalley and Edelweiss Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 New Adult Challenge, Lenoreo's COYER Winter Switch 2017/18
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ IndieBound
My rating:
Blurb:I just met the girl of my dreams. Megan Davenport is funny and smart, and she’s as much of an insomniac as I am. She’s also my team captain’s little sister, which I only found out after our passionate kiss. Megan is completely off-limits—her brother makes that very clear—and I know better than to think I can keep a relationship going during hockey season anyway. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be late-night friends, right? The only problem is, love makes you do crazy things, like breaking all the rules.
Each book in the Taking Shots series is a standalone, full-length story that can be enjoyed out of order. Series Order:Book #1 Getting Lucky Number SevenBook #2 Anatomy of a PlayerBook #3 Crazy Pucking Love
I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.
4.5 stars — While I originally did get this one from NetGalley, I procrastinated on it so long, I actually bought my own copy…
I loved this one so much because I loved both characters. Dane was everything I was hoping for, damaged but also funny, sweet, and caring…and suffering from a little bit of stupid (not academically, but decision-making-wise). He also suffered from “deciding he knows what’s best for others and making decisions for them”-itis, not just with Megan but with others as well. And normally that doesn’t really work for me, but it fit with who his character was, and the past that shaped him. I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t get some closure with his family…I think that’s one area where all the books in this series are a little weak. They introduce background stories, but they don’t give resolution to them. I’m a reader that likes to know it all and gain closure in all things.
Megan was so my kind of girl. She was insecure, but trying to be more confident and accepting of herself. I could identify with her, right down to her love of math (though I went into Comp Sci and not Engineering, there is a rivalry). She had her own struggles, between trying to convince herself that she could settle for less, and trying to live up (or rather down) to those expectations. She actually made me groan sometimes, b/c it was so obvious that she was fooling herself and that things were obviously not going to work out as she’d wanted them to. In some ways she was being just like the stereotype of girls who claim one thing and do another, but when you see the strength of her connection with Dane, it feels different somehow. I ached for her, and her doubts, and just how freaking adorable she was.
I LOVED that while Megan struggled with her insecurities, and her progress might have been slow at times, I could understand that some of that came with age and experience. And she truly did wobble her way towards becoming a stronger person on her own, and I loved watching her develop other strong relationships (her friendships with Lyla, Whitney and to my surprise Vanessa!).
The killer for this one was the two of them together. They had SOOOOO much chemistry, and I’m not just talking the steamy kind (though hooweee, right from the first kiss). But more important than all that, I felt their friendship chemistry! The way they interacted with each other, they just lit me up and gave me tummy butterflies.
While this isn’t the last book in the series, I read them out of order so it’s *my* last book. One thing I love about this series is that it features 4 very smart heroines, but not the same kind of smart. Yay brains!! They were all very different heroines, but they were all inspiring in their own right. I wouldn’t have minded if the heroes had had some better academics, or it was clearer how they ended up balancing school with sport (especially given how both Hudson and Dane struggled)…but at least we end on a high with smarty-pants Ryder (in the next book).
So yeah. Another thoroughly entertaining book in this series, and it just made me want to go back and reread Confessions to finish things off.
Oh I like how there is friendship chemistry!