When a revenge pact is made but then…

Synopsis

Introducing The Puck Stops Here, a hilarious and spicy sports romance set in the hockey world!🏒💖

JOHN TUCKER MUST DIE MEETS THE HATING GAME

Tropes:

🏒 Revenge pact

🏒 Hockey romance

🏒 Forbidden romance

🏒 Celebrity romance

🏒 Reputation redemption

Karma comes to play…

When journalist Astrid Sinclair meets her kindred spirits at a snowed-in airport, she knows she’s found her ride-or-die circle—women with a lot to love and an ex they’d sooner hate. But hating’s no fun, karma is! So they hatch a plan to go after one another’s ex…

Astrid’s target? NHL superstar Aiden Carter—the man who traded his childhood sweetheart for the bright lights of fame, tearing her new BFF’s heart in two. Astrid’s plan? For the punishment to fit the crime!

Armed with killer heels, sexy specs, and an all access press pass, Astrid infiltrates the New York Titans as a journalist writing an exclusive exposé on Aiden and his twin brother, Blake. She’s got the charm, the wit, and all the right moves to get under Aiden’s skin. But there’s a snag—brooding, maddeningly irresistible Blake keeps getting in her way.

Astrid is here to break a heart, not lose her own. But when sparks fly with the wrong twin, she’s playing a dangerously different game…

Readers are LOVING The Puck Stops Here!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ‘Everything I adore in a sports romance’

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ‘I loved the story and I especially loved all the quirky characters’

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ‘Immersive, witty, and perfectly balances laugh-out-loud moments with genuine emotion’

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ‘I laughed, screamed and cheered them on the whole way through!’

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ‘I can see BookTok going wild over this one.’

My review

The worst thing that could happen at an airport, is getting snowed in. However, for journalist Astris Sinclair, it means meeting three women who are kindred spirits, and that over the spirits at the bar! What brings the four women together, is the fact that they have all been burned by love in one way or another. So they hatch up a plan: to get revenge on the men that broke their hearts. A plan that give each woman a target, to avenge their friends. Astrid’s target is NHL – start Aiden Carter. Together with his twin brother Blake, playing for the New York Titans is a dream coming true, especially after being able to escape their terrible childhood. Astrid is adamant to make Aiden pay for her friend’s heartbreak, and she is ready for the battle. However, what Astrid didn’t count on, is Blake. While he for sure is the Ice to Aiden’s Fire, and the most moody player, he gets under Astrid’s skin. So even if Astrid is working on an article on the brothers, and working on her revenge plan, sparks start to fly around with Blake. But how could she betray her friends and the pact they made over their enemy?

It’s been a few years since I discovered the amazing world of ice hockey. Not having a real hockey tradition in Belgium, all I know about the sport itself, is what I see online, in movies and read in books about it. And through book, I discovered the thrill a hockey romance could bring me!

So when I got the chance to read exactly that in a book from an author that I know and love, of course I just had to grab it with my both hands!

What I liked at the start of the book, is how Astrid for some strange twist of Fate, finds herself a new bunch of friends. I liked it to see how easy their friendship starts, at an airport, over some drinks. Finding friends, kindred spirits, isn’t always easy (and I know what I am talking about) and these women finding each other was just heartwarming to read!

On the other hand, it also saddened me reading how these women all had their heart broken in a terrible way. While it sounds perhaps a little improbable of what they come up, I could understand their thirst for revenge. And why shouldn’t they join their forces and get payback!

Even if Astrid seems a  bit like a Bambi on the ice when starting to work on her article on the Carter brothers, it is obvious that she knows how to do her job. She is a real journalist, wanting to discover every little secret, but the kind of journalist that also respects her subjects. She also doesn’t take any crap from anyone, and knows how to stand her ground, even in a world full  of testosterone, like on an ice rink.

Now, towards Aiden I had some prejudices, and I did not know what to expect from the character of Blake. But I felt it in my guts that there was so much more to their tale than just two hockey players escaping a nasty situation and an Aiden just being a prick.

Getting to know not only Blake, but also Aiden so much better was not only exciting for Astrid but also for me! The more I got to know them, the more I started to understand better that even the most pretty boy or the grumpiest or moodiest man has so many layers. Layers that need to be peeled off, to get to know the real character. The man behind the pretty face, the man behind the dark moods.

There was a point in the story where I just wanted Astrid to come clean about the real purpose of her article. Or I just wanted her to stop with the plan. Because seeing the attraction between Astrid and Blake, wowsers!

Astrid and the world of hockey couldn’t be any further apart, yet somehow there is something between her and Blake that just cannot be stopped. There is a lot of sexual tension and banter between the pair of them, and I enjoyed reading every bit out of it!

But it were the bits where Astrid just *got* Blake, where she was able to peel all those layers away, layers that Blake built out of self-defence, that made my heart skip a beat. And let’s not forget about how Blake becomes so protective over Astrid, even when she makes a wrong decision. In an alpha – way that is Blake language of love.

This isn’t just a sports romance though, because we also see how not only Blake has his demons to fight. But also Astrid has her own demons to face. Just like the characters, the story itself has also many layers.

Rachael Stewart once again a great story, about how a pact is created, seeking out for revenge. But then love takes matter in hands, and how a once so perfect plan falls into little pieces, bringing someone on your path you didn’t expect to not only understand and feel for, but also possibly fall for…

And yes, this book may be part of a series, but can be perfectly read as a standalone. But I now am hooked and I just have the need to read all the other books too! 😊