Thank you to Sarina Bowen, Jenn Gaffney and the team for the advance reader copy of Bombshells, the ninth story in the Brooklyn Bruisers series.
A hockey player and playboy who swears off women before an upcoming season, yeah right haha! Such a classic hockey romance trope from one of the queens of hockey romance. I have yet to read one where the female love interest is a hockey player too, so I am pumped for this story.
Check out the Goodreads synopsis…
“The women’s league is in the house! And Brooklyn will never be the same again for Anton Bayer and the team…
This is my last chance to ditch my playboy reputation and finally fulfill my potential. So I’ve made three rules for our biggest season yet: no boozing, no women, and no scandals.
Especially that last thing.
So who do I befriend on the very first day back at the rink? An amazing female hockey player. I want Sylvie in a way that’s more than just friendly. I crave her. But I have a championship to win, and so does she.
Then she gets her heart broken by my teammate, and I make the foolish mistake of comforting her in the best way I know how. Our night together sets off a string of sins.
Nobody can know about our affair, especially my overprotective teammate. I can’t let anyone see into my greedy little heart. Not even her.
The things I want from her, and the things we’ve already done? If anyone knew, there’d be bombshells.
Contains: a defenseman with dreamy blue eyes, a female goalie with bad ideas, a major battle of the sexes and a swimming pool scene…
Check out my more detailed thoughts below…
- Characters: Anton and Sylvie are both hockey players based in Brooklyn. Anton, “baby Bayer” is Eric Bayer’s cousin (You’ll remember him from Moonlighter.) He plays on the Brooklyn Bruisers hockey team, if you are a long-time reader of Sarina you’ll be familiar with Rebecca and Nate’s team. Rebecca is starting a women’s team, the Brooklyn Bombshells. This is what brings Sylvie to Brooklyn. Sylvie never planned to play any sort of professional hockey, but her history with another Bruiser. Both Sylvie and Anton were awesome characters, hard workers and romantics. I couldn’t help but love them both so much. Sarina brought in so many awesome side characters in this one! There’s a new generation of Bruisers, friends of Baby Bayer and the Bombshells! I love all the Bombshells and I cannot wait for the stories of these gals!
- Setting: Brooklyn is the setting. The teams are based there. I love New York and I imagine it is a really fun place to live and play pro hockey in your twenties.
- Pacing: The story was paced really really well. Quite a few things had to happen at a good pace, to make this a killer installment in the series. Nothing felt too rushed in terms of Anton and Sylvie falling in love or how she was navigating her complex relations with Bruce.
- Romance: Man oh man was this a very complicated romance. Talk about a frustrating situation, that made for such an enjoyable reading experience. A combo that does not usually occur but god damn Sarina aced it. Sylvie and Bryce have a past and it’s that early teens kind of puppy love, that neither of them is fully over. It’s understandably difficult to see yourself ever getting with another person when most of your life you thought you’d end up with the guy from your childhood. Anton enters the picture and really starts to steal Sylvie’s heart and I felt him doing the same to mine. I always love all of Sabrina’s Bruiser boys but oh my god did I ever love Anton Bayer. I love how this relationship started with a friendship and Anton being a confidant for Sylvie. She is dealing with living in a new city, navigating a pro sports league, and the sexism that deeply penetrates her life as a female hockey player. Anton was such a supportive friend to her and when they began to transition to more he was nothing but a gentleman and so careful with Sylvie’s heart. Like please read this book it was so good.
Bombshells receives five out of five stars.
You can pick up the story below…
Amazon | Apple | Kobo | Nook |Google | Audio
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Audio https://geni.us/SureShotAudio
Thank you again to Sarina and her team for the review opportunity. Thank you for reading and supporting my blog!
