Parental Guidance by Avery Flynn

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Title: Parental Guidance
Author: Avery Flynn
Series: Ice Knights #1
Published by: Dreamscape Media LLC
Release Date: August 28, 2019
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Tim Paige
Length: 6 hours and 27 minutes
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Sports Romance
Source: Audible Escape Package
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2020 Audiobook Challenge, Lenoreo's 2020 Diversity Reading Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ IndieBound ✩ iTunes ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

All I want is to play hockey on the Ice Knights, instead, I’m in a viral video for all the wrong reasons and my mom—yes, my mom—has taken over my dating apps. Then, when I think it can’t get any worse, the fates deliver Zara Ambrose, a five-feet-nothing redhead with more freckles than inches and who’d rather be anywhere other than on a date with me.

Now a bet with her friends and my PR nightmare have us both stuck in this go-on-five-dates-with-the-same-person hell situation. But if we band together, we can get the whole thing over with and go on with our lives. It’s perfect! No feelings. No future. No fuc— *ahem* fun. No naked fun.

What could go wrong? Nothing—as long as I remember the rules. Don’t notice the way she looks in a dress. Don’t react when she does that little shivery sigh thing whenever we touch. Don’t think about the fact that she’s never had a toe-curling orgasm that wasn’t self-delivered and just how badly I want to change that.

Five dates—that’s it—and then we go our separate ways. At least, that was the plan..

My Review:

4.5 stars — This was one of those ones that thoroughly entertained me, and as I wrote out my review, I just liked more.  That’s actually kind of rare for me.

I was surprised that it was just a male narrator for both POVs, but Mr. Paige did a great job — consistent voices, emotion, not bad girl voices.  Great pacing, always clear when a section changed.  Solid.

I initially wondered if I’d connect with Caleb, but I totally did.  I thought his character and his motivations were really rounded out well, from his struggles with dyslexia, to feeling unseen by his mother.  It explained some of his behaviors and choices with the team, and how he got into trouble in the first place.  I enjoyed the connections he had with his teammates.  I loved the way his relationship with Zara developed, and how he found patience and understanding in her.

I also wondered if I would connect with Zara, because she’s so rigid and controlled.  But it made total sense with her upbringing, and I could feel the loneliness and desperation for someone to be there for her underneath it all.  I thought her profession was absolutely fascinating, and now I want to look up miniature artists.

I loved the way they connected with one another — both a little reticent for a relationship, but both feeling chemistry from the start.  I loved the teasing nature, and the way they just settled into relying on one another for companionship and eventually more.  I loved that their fumbles in love came from good places and their reactions, while harsh, could be explained by their pasts.

I loved that it wasn’t one person with the big gesture, but the both of them seeking out each other.

I appreciated that they both got some resolution with each of their respective parents.

Anchovy was 100%, without a doubt, the silent star of this book.  He was adorable and hilarious and I just loved him to an obsessive degree.

All in all it was totally entertaining — it felt light to listen to, but it wasn’t without depth.  It was just solid.