Thank you to Melanie Harlow and her team for the advance reader copy of Slap Shot Surprise, the fifth interconnected standalone in the Cherry Tree Harbor series.
Two wonderful characters, a mature take on an accidental pregnancy, and a bittersweet end to a series I have loved.
I am a Melanie Harlow review team member, but I remain honest and genuine in my reviews.
In my defense, I thought the plane was going to crash.
Otherwise, I never would have blurted out those embarrassing things to a perfect stranger.
Did I mention he turned out to be a scorching hot superstar of professional hockey?
But wait, there’s more.
When the plane lands safely, I rush off, praying I’ll never have to face him again. My luck holds out for less than twenty-four hours, when I realize he’s a groomsman at the wedding I’m attending.
We end up having a drink and a good laugh about my panicked confessions, and when he invites me up to his room for some no-strings-attached fun, I say yes. After all, a headboard rattling one-night stand with a guy who knows how to put the puck in deep isn’t something a bookworm like me ever thought she’d experience.
Neither are those two little pink lines.
Now what’s crashing are all the plans Joe Lupo and I had for our lives–separately.
After all, we’re totally wrong for each other. He’s commitment-phobic and completely focused on his career. And I want to plant roots in my small town–with someone who chooses me.
Love? It’s out of the question.
Until Joe Lupo lines up his shot and aims straight for my heart.
Check out my more detailed thoughts below…
- Characters: I have been not so patiently waiting for Mabel Buckley’s story! After all her brothers getting their happily ever afters, I have been anticipating hers. Being in Mabel’s head was as amazing as I hoped, she is such a determined and driven character. Melanie Harlow has written yet another Lupo man to fall head over heels in love with. Joe is the hockey player with a heart of gold, the type of guy who says he is bad at relationships yet he does so many things right. A quick note that, for those of you who have not dived into Melanie Harlow’s backlist, Forked is essential. It was so wonderful to see Nick and Coco again, especially as the warm, welcoming, and lovely parents readers would know they would be.
- Setting: I adore Cherry Tree Harbor and it is bittersweet to leave it behind. The character cameos, and the looks at other iconic Melanie settings all contributed to this feeling like the perfect wrap-up to Cherry Tree Harbor but an homage to Melanie’s stellar small-town romances.
- Pacing: The book opens with a laugh-out-loud meet cute and it is so incredibly easy to be drawn in from start to finish. I devoured this book much like the rest of the series and now that all the books are done it is the perfect small-town romance binge.
- Romance: This romance felt super sweet and super steamy. I loved how Joe and Mabel fell in love, with Joe’s acts of service and the way Mabel was equally supportive of Joe. They were the type of characters made better by each other’s presence in their lives. The build-up to them getting together was perfect, just the right pace of slow burn and angst. The mutual pinning in this book is to die for! I loved how mature of an accidental pregnancy book this felt, it does not rely on secrecy or miscommunication to tell the story. These are two grown adults who accidentally get pregnant and they fall in love in this big beautiful way.
Slap Shot Surprise is 4.5/5 stars
You can pick up the story here.
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Thank you again to Melanie and her team for the review opportunity. Thank you for reading and supporting my blog!
