Thank you to Helena Hunting and her team for the advance reader copy of Where It Begins, a Pucked prequel story.
Pucked is still one of my favourite hockey romance series I have ever read! When I first heard about this prequel I was ecstatic to be back in this universe, and to get a glimpse into a love story I never thought I would get to read.
I am a Helena Hunting review team member, but I remain honest and genuine in my reviews.
From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Helena Hunting comes a new story in her Pucked series. The untold story of Skye and Sidney, and the origin story where Vi and Miller are teens when their parents start dating and fall in love…
I accidentally grabbed the wrong drink at the coffee shop. On the upside, the hot guy it belonged to chased me down to kindly swap with me. On the down side, the reason I grabbed the wrong drink in the first place is because the hot guy had just caught me checking out his ass…sets.
In my defense, his rear view is rather magnificent.
In true, humiliating form, I word-vomited a bunch of horrible nonsense. Including an unnecessary explanation of the trauma I’d evaded thanks to his chasing me down. Nothing could ruin my lactose-intolerant day faster than my one true dairy.
I did not expect him to ask me out on a date after that.
I also didn’t expect the date to go well since my tendency to truth-vomit is high, and not everyone finds that quality endearing.
But apparently he does. Because he asks me out again.
And again.
Sidney Butterson (yes, it’s a weird last name) ticks all my boxes.
He’s smart, he’s funny, he’s employed and he’s ridiculously hot.
There’s one catch.
We’re both single parents. With teens.
And if our kids don’t like each other?
Well, we’re doomed.
* *Every 1001 Dark Nights novella is a standalone story. For new readers, it’s an introduction to an author’s world. And for fans, it’s a bonus book in the author’s series. We hope you’ll enjoy each one as much as we do.* *
Check out my more detailed thoughts below…
- Characters: I adore all the Pucked characters so much! This is the first time we have been in Skye and Sidney’s heads and I was so excited for this prequel. For Skye, you cannot help but root for the strong single mom who really does best by her daughter. You can see where Violet gets so many of her character quirks from the lactose intolerance to the blurting of thoughts. Speaking of Vi, I loved the insight into teenage Violet, because what fan of Pucked does not have a soft spot for the quirky queen herself. We also got a peak at teenager Miller, through Sidney and oh boy was it fun to see the hockey star as a teen boy throwing rockous house parties. Finally a word of Sidney, the swoony gentleman who did not just sweep Skye off her feet but us all.
- Pacing: This is billed as a novella, but do not fear it is quite a long one. I really enjoyed the length of time we spent with Skye and Sidney. So often these prequel stories are too short to really grow invested in the relationship and that was not the case with this one.
- Romance: I loved Skye and Sidney so much, and from their coffee shop meet cute I was rooting for them! I loved all the spice Helena gave us in a prequel about the parents! It was a lovely amount of steamy and tension for a couple finding their second chance at love a bit later in life. It was also really refreshing to read a single-parent romance, wherein they aren’t just both single parents, but they are parenting teenagers. Often the trope just features little kids, but little adults throw in a whole new dynamic to building a relationship. Ultimately though for fans of the Pucked series, this will feel like returning home, it is so nostalgic and just a wonderful time.
Where It Begins receives five out of five stars.
You can pick up the story here.
Follow Helena on all her social channels…
Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Facebook Group | Website | Mailing List
Thank you again to Helena and her team for the review opportunity. Thank you for reading and supporting my blog!
