You Had Me at Hockey by Kelly Jamieson

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Title: You Had Me at Hockey
Author: Kelly Jamieson
Series: Bears Hockey #2
Published by: Loveswept
Release Date: December 8, 2020
Format: eARC
Pages: 224
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Sports Romance
Source: NetGalley
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2021 COYER Fall, Lenoreo's 2021 HoHoHo Readathon, Lenoreo's 2021 Netgalley and Edelweiss Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks
My rating:

Blurb:

Can a spirited, down-to-earth influencer get an uptight hockey player out of his shell?

Josh
I am a warrior. That’s been my motto since I recovered from a near-death accident when I was younger. Now I enjoy my nice, settled life in Dallas playing pro hockey—a boring life is better than being dead. I’m not a party guy or an adventurer; I like my routine and peace and quiet. So being traded to New York is the worst possible change that could happen. And meeting unfiltered and fascinating Sara Carrington throws my life into even more chaos.

Sara
I’ve been considered weird my whole life, which is why I’m still a virgin, but I’ve turned it into a career with my YouTube videos. Who knew people would love watching me talk about my zits, taste test meatless burgers, and try to learn TikTok dances! Now I’m launching a podcast. Getting hockey star Josh Heller as a guest will help gain listeners for sure. I expect a bearded jock with no teeth and nothing to say, but I get a hot as H-E-double-hockey-sticks grouch with a surprisingly dirty mind. My mission to make him laugh is successful, but I want to know why he’s so uptight underneath that panty-dropping smile. Maybe I can teach Josh to have some fun . . . and maybe he can teach me a thing or two along the way. . . .

My Review:

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

4.5 stars — This book actually delighted me in quite a few ways.  And I’m giving it a half star bump for great hockey depiction.  I’m not an expert, but as someone who watches hockey quite a bit, it rang truer than most hockey books do.

I was surprised by all that was lying in Josh’s psyche, if that makes sense.  It was weird, because finally understanding a bit of what made him up and had dominated his thoughts since the accident made me dislike him a bit…and yet, we find it out around the same time as he finally accepts it for himself and starts to turn things around, so yay?  So I definitely had conflicting feelings for that boy.

On the other hand, I loved the quirkiness of Sara.  Not just quirky, but strangely vulnerable too.  I read a lot of heroines with self-esteem issues, and sometimes it gets to be a bit much even as I can connect with that.  I kind of appreciated the way hers was depicted…it was definitely there, but I guess I felt I got her inside her head, and it was nice that it was balanced by these other moments of self-confidence.

They kind of had an adorable romance in so many ways.  They were so hesitant, but they couldn’t help but be drawn together.  I could have done without quite so many thoughts from Josh of how he shouldn’t be with her, because they didn’t always fit the story for me (sometimes they did, sometimes it felt forced).  But wow, their chemistry was unbelievable.  Not *just* the steamy chemistry, but also, holy wow *definitely* the steamy chemistry.  I think I just also loved how they connected on so many other levels as well — friendship, fun, support, understanding.

This book made me laugh in quite a few moments, and Sara definitely belongs on the girl crush list.  And now I want to read about Lilly and Easton as well.

I will admit that as a born and raised Saskatchewan girl, and Swift Current in particular, this one hit a bit close to home with the accident.  I know the author was inspired by Humboldt, but I wonder if she knew about the Swifty one in the 80s — I was just a kid, but I definitely remember it, and the use of SC as the town felt…well, it was hard.

So yeah.  This was just what I was needing in the moment — something fun and quirky, but with depth.

COYER Scavenger Hunt #28: Read a book featuring a strong female protagonist.  I felt like the way she dealt with her depression definitely made her strong.