Playing Hurt by Kelly Jamieson

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Title: Playing Hurt
Author: Kelly Jamieson
Series: Aces Hockey #6
Published by: Loveswept
Release Date: July 17, 2018
Format: eARC
Pages: 242
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Sports Romance
Source: NetGalley
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2018 Netgalley and Edelweiss Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 New Adult Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 New Release Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks
My rating:

Blurb:

He’s playing hurt. She’s laying low. And they’re both flirting with disaster.

Chase: The last thing I’d ever want to do is let my team down. After overcoming my bad-boy reputation, I was dominating on the ice. But things aren’t going so well this season, and even my parents think I’m partying again. Now I’m really worried about my career. The only bright spot in my life is the Twitter flirtation I’ve struck up with pop princess Jordyn Banks. Turns out she’s a huge hockey fan—and she’s willing to wager a date on her favorite team. . . .

Jordyn: Even though I’m an L.A. fan now, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Aces, since I grew up in Chicago. Then I lose a bet to Chase Hartman, and suddenly I’m up close and personal with a pro athlete who’s anything but soft. Not only is Chase the hottest guy I’ve ever met, he’s secretly super sweet. As if I had time for a relationship . . . yeah, right. But when I suddenly have nothing but time on my hands, he’s the only one who understands. Now, with both of our careers at stake, Chase is tempting me to put my heart on the line too.

My Review:

I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

3.5 stars — Wow.  So this one started off like full 5 stars.  I ADORED the initial interactions between Chase and Jordyn, I thought they were so cute and gave me all the tummy flutters in the world!  I actually LOVED the fact that for once the hero in the story was the starstruck fan who gets a chance with his celebrity crush, instead of the other way around.  And initially Chase was so freaking sweet, I couldn’t even!!  He was like the epitome of a genuine nice guy, and I was seriously falling in love!!!

But the love ended folks.  It was somewhere after the second date I think, probably around the time that their sexual relationship started.  I think I’ve had a problem with Ms. Jamieson’s steamy scenes in the past…and yeah, just looked at my other reviews, and it appears so.  It’s funny how she can completely rock it on the friendship level, and then (for me) just completely miss the steamy chemistry.  This was another case of our hero talking during sex and having that not feel natural to me.  I also got bored during it, not a good sign.  And the emphasis on his appreciation for her body got old…I’m more of a girl who appreciates the whole picture, so focus on physical just is meh for me.  And I will say that the steamy scenes never got better for me.  I skimmed the last 10 percent of the book because it was more sex scenes and I was over it.

Now, that’s not the only reason the love ended.  I was also unimpressed with the way Chase’s character developed and the way he handled situations of stress.  I was initially really loving the struggles that both characters were facing with respect to their careers, and the injuries they were coping with.  Not to mention the extra pressure society put on these celebrities, with careers that are in the public eye and dependent on fans.  Seriously, it was really well done for the first half of the book.  I particularly loved seeing Chase’s dedication to trying to improve his play (even as I didn’t understand his stubbornness over the injury), and I was curious how his childhood/parents were going to play in all of his reactions.  But in the end I was disappointed.  Instead of empathizing with him, I thought he was behaving extremely childishly, and his tendency to snap at Jordyn was not attractive.  Not to mention, Jordyn’s supposed “flaw” was caring about her friends/family and I guess interfering? with their lives…but am I the only one that didn’t feel like she did anything that wrong?  And it felt like she apologized as much as (if not more than) he did, even though in my opinion his reactions were more egregious.  I felt like he kept using excuses that were thin, and I just…I don’t know…I guess I felt like I could see where the author was trying to go, but in my opinion she fell short.  Which was such a bummer, b/c I LOVED first half Chase.

As for Jordyn, well…her story kind of got set aside a bit for Chase’s.  I still appreciated it, but I didn’t get as much out of it, you know?

And can I say I found it seriously offputting reading about hockey players talk about how they’re the toughest athletes around?  I mean, I’m not saying they’re not tough, but who seriously says that shit?  But I think at that point I was in disappointed mode, so super tiny things were bugging me.

So yeah.  I didn’t talk about it as much, but I really honestly mean it when I say the start was SERIOUSLY strong.  So strong I’m considering rounding up anyways.  I can’t even tell you how much I adored their twitter flirting, and their first date, and even their second date.  We’ll see…

I think what I’ve discovered is that Ms. Jamieson might not be a match for me…or rather, only a partial match.  And I’m super bummed about that, b/c the parts that I love about her writing are awesome…I’m just not sure it makes up for what I don’t like, you know?