Shenanigans by Sarina Bowen

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Title: Shenanigans
Author: Sarina Bowen
Series: Brooklyn #6
Published by: Indie
Release Date: March 15, 2022
Format: Audio ALC
Narrator: Jason Clarke, Vanessa Edwin
Length: 10 hours and 27 minutes
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Sports Romance
Potential Triggers: View Spoiler »attempted sexual assault memories « Hide Spoiler
Source: the author
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2022 Audiobook Challenge, Lenoreo's 2022 COYER Winter, Lenoreo's 2022 Diversity Reading Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

What I meant to do in Vegas: Let my hair down for once and celebrate winning a medal at my first women’s hockey all-stars competition.

What I actually did: Got senior prom drunk and woke up married to Brooklyn’s star winger, the great Neil Drake.

He’s the heir to a billion dollars, and I barely survived my childhood. Our friendship is based strictly only on hockey, takeout food and smack talk.

And now holy matrimony. Although we both know it can’t last, especially once his evil family gets wind of our Vegas shenanigans…

Contains: Meddling teammates, meddling parents, ugly jewelry and a pretend-kiss that nearly sets the world on fire.

My Review:

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

4.5 stars — Characters are my bread and butter, and Charli and Neil are some of the best there is.  Obviously both very complicated, but at their very core, absolute rock star people.

Behind all of Charli’s bluster and anger, there’s a very damaged young woman.  She is definitely the product of her upbringing, and it was heartbreaking to see the “lessons” she had learned from her childhood.  She was closed off, and unable to trust.  And yet, you could feel how much she wanted to trust Neil…and watching him break through her defenses was so satisfying.  I loved that he melted her edges, but didn’t change who she was at the core — she was feisty until the end, she just knew how to bring it out at the right times.  It was hard to watch her back get up in certain circumstances, but I understood where that stemmed from.

Neil was so much more adorable than I was expecting.  He was genuinely good and kind, but with a wicked side as well.  I loved how conscientious he was about the role money had played in his life, and the down sides of that.  He was so aware of how people saw him, and he fought so hard to make up for the shortcomings of his family’s wealth.  I had totally forgotten that he was the diabetic on the team, and I appreciated that while it was a part of him, we got to see it more in a daily way — like it wasn’t meant as a plot thing…if that makes sense.  Normalizing health issues/disabilities is always awesome in my opinion.  I really loved that he could be such a boy at times.  It contrasted perfectly with his sophisticated/bourgeoisie side.  It brought him back down to earth.

And Charli and Neil were absolute fire together.  I loved the perfect balance of sweet and funny moments with absolute steam moments.  They had lots of all the best kinds of chemistry.

Obviously I’m already in love with the Bruisers and the Bombshells, and getting to see so many of them again was like coming home to family.  We even got some cameos from characters I wasn’t expecting, and it was delightful.  I just want more and more and more from this series, and from both of these teams.  And there were some fun other secondary characters as well, one in particular makes me happy because it clearly looks like she’ll be in a near future romance.

The narrators were fantastic as always.  Fabulous pacing, fantastic voices, picture perfect emotion *and* comedic timing.

So yeah.  Looks like Ms. Bowen sucked me in with another book made for my tastes.  I love that she writes so many different kinds of characters, and everyone gravitates towards different ones.  It means that I always enjoy her books, but sometimes some just stand apart, and this is one of them.