Chasing Paige

So I absolutely loved this book. The author hooked me from the beginning and didn’t let go until the last page. The characters were interesting and I felt like I knew them. It is a book that will stay with you long after. Hockey books are one of my faves. This one fell at the top of my list. It is a book that you will be able to read over and over again. This was my first read by Ellen Davlin and I will definitely be reading more (hint hint – Liz and Zee).

Chris and Paige are two characters who have had tough pasts. They have to learn to overcome their past so they can get to their future. They have such sweet moments and mix some steaminess in with it. They are definitely people you can connect with and want to be friends with. When adding Liz and Zee, you have this amazing romance book.

This is the second book in this series, and is NHL hockey player Chris “Becks”, and high school English teacher Paige’s story. From the moment that Chris spots Paige across the room he knows he needs to get to know her. The chemistry between these two is instantaneous. This is a good story but in my opinion it was a tad disjointed in places, however, I did like the story, but unfortunately I did not love it. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

Paige is a high school English teacher sharing an apartment with her best friend Liz. Chris “Becks” Beckman is a professional hockey player who is very shy off the ice, except when performing job-related interviews or events. They meet and he is head over heels in love with her and waiting for her to catch up.

I wanted to love this book. I didn’t exactly dislike it, but I was very disappointed in it. I did receive this book as an ARC so I hope that some of the mistakes were corrected before release – namely Paige’s mother having the same last name as Chris when they first meet, although she is referred to by her correct name later. The first several paragraphs of the book were hard to figure out. They were written with an omnipotent POV, so we got both Chris’s actions and his best friend’s end of the phone conversation equally to the point where I wondered why they were on the phone to each other if they were in the same room, and also to figure out exactly which one this book was about.

I did like Chris and Paige’s relationship for the most part. They were sweet and adventurous. Paige just seemed off the entire time, though, as if the author never quite figured out the character. Sometimes she was almost Puritanical in her innocence – both sexually and in how life works in general. Other times she acted like they were shooting a porno with her actions and commentary. Not that there is anything wrong with that between two consenting adults, but the complete personality shifts were head-spinning. But one scene that really didn’t make sense for the character was after she and Chris had been together for a few months, she and LIz were watching a game on TV and he was involved in a fight during the game which was noted as a rarity for him. One brief punch on the ice and Paige is suddenly questioning their entire relationship, acting like he’s a terribly violent person and she couldn’t be with someone like that. So many times during the book it’s pointed out how intelligent Paige is, and yet she cannot separate one minor event during a tense hockey game with the real-life person she has been intimately involved with for months? The same illogical behaviour comes about later in the book, too, because of a hypothetical situation that may never even happen in Chris’s career. And for real: how many times can Paige call Chris “big guy”? I get it, she’s tiny and he’s a NHL player but come one! Several times per conversation just sounds cheesy.

I did like Liz a lot, and also Zee, Chris’s teammate. I would happily read a book about either of those characters. I would not, however, read this one again.