Thank you to Helena Hunting and her team for the advance reader copy of If You Claim Me, the fifth interconnected standalone in the Toronto Terror series.
One of my most favourite hockey series is back, combining a subgenre, hockey romance, with marriage of convenience, a trope I absolutely adore. Readers who started falling for Connor in I Could Be Yours get ready to be fully swept away by the broody bad boy of hockey, who is truly a good guy when the local librarian breaks through the facade he worked so hard to keep up.
I am a Helena Hunting review team member, but I remain honest and genuine in my reviews.
Hockey’s most hated player just asked me to marry him.
Connor Grace is the league’s bad boy-and my best friend’s worst enemy.
He’s the fallen prince of a famous hotel chain dynasty.
Me? I’m the foster kid who grew up to be a librarian.
I never thought I’d end up in a marriage of convenience to make someone’s grandma happy, but here we are.
I have no plans to kiss my husband for any reason other than show.
I have no plans to fall in love with the arrogant man dressed in a custom suit hiding intricate tattoos.
But when we’re alone, he drops the mask he wears for the rest of the world.
He holds me like he means it when he says I’m his. And I want to believe him.
Too bad I learned early on that fairytales aren’t real, and nothing good lasts forever.
Check out my more detailed thoughts below…
- Characters: Connor and Mildred are both such stellar characters. Connor, in particular, was a joy to read, a character who is hiding his true self from all the others. Throughout I Could Be Yours, Connor kept showing bits of his true nature, and it got me just all the more excited to be in his head. The bad boy of the hockey world was truly just a misunderstood man, not just by those in his public life but also by those in his private life; his own family vilified him. Mildred is the perfect match for Connor; they have both gone through struggles, dealt hard cards, but very different cards in life and have come out the other side deserving of immense love. With each instalment, the found family just keeps growing, and I love getting to stay with the whole cast as the series progresses. This time, we even get a few cameos from Helena’s other books, making for another book that has such a sweet reading experience if you have been a fan of Helena’s for a while. Two other relationships really shone in this book, including Connor’s relationship with his grandmother and Dred’s friendship with Flip. Connor’s grandmother supporting him and loving him when no one else did was just so sweet. For Flip and Dred, it was so amazing to see a healthy friendship between a man and a woman who support each other deeply. It just makes me all the more excited to finally get Flip’s story soon.
- Setting: We are back in Toronto within the world of the Terror, and I love getting to enjoy a hockey romance series set in Canada. A big set piece in this story is Connor’s house. I loved the cozy feel of Dred and Connor spending nights in with his grandmother or when the house would fill up with teammates and the other members of the badass babe brigade. This story felt less centred on the hockey of it all, but the team is still so much at the heart of the story and the found family aspect that links all these wonderful characters together.
- Pacing: I always eat these up, and this instalment was no different. What felt a tad different was the weight of this one. So many of Helena’s books are laugh-out-loud funny and full of hijinks that pull readers through the story. These characters had some heaviness; they have traumas, they are healing, and they are growing.
- Romance: Who does not love a marriage of convenience, two characters telling the world that what they have is real, meanwhile they are denying the feelings that they have started to feel for each other. I adored how Dred was the first person outside of his grandmother to see Connor for who he truly was and to help stop wallowing in being the villain in the story. Helena always delivers on the spice; she’s an incredibly strong writer in that department. It took a second to hit, but once it did, it did not stop, and I loved every bit of it. I’m always a sucker for the hero calling the heroine darling. This romance was so incredibly swoon-worthy, and I can’t wait for you all to be swept away by Connor and Mildred.
If You Claim Me is 4.5/5 stars
You can pick up the story below…
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Thank you again to Helena and her team for the review opportunity. Thank you for reading and supporting my blog!
