Taylor LeBlanc has hockey in her blood and the trophies and medals to prove it. Her dreams of playing pro come to an end when the only place for her to go is the newly-formed not-really-pro women’s team, the Chesapeake Blades. It’s not quite what she had in mind, but it’s a start—except half the team is convinced she’s receiving special treatment because her step-dad used to be the head coach for … for the Baltimore Banners and the team’s PR Director wants to use her in his marketing campaign. To make matters worse, the PR Director is none other than her childhood nemesis, Chuckie-the-fart–who happens to be all grown-up and too gorgeous for his own good.
Charles Dawson never had the drive or the heart to follow hockey out of childhood. What he does have is ambition and passion—two things he needs in abundance to successfully market the brand-new women’s hockey team to a less-than-enthusiastic demographic. He also needs patience—something that’s in short supply when he’s forced to deal with the one woman who has the uncanny ability to make him feel like the bumbling, uncoordinated, and socially awkward thirteen-year-old boy he used to be. Taylor isn’t the mouthy little tomboy he remembers and sparks fly between the two, igniting an attraction that makes both of their lives unbearable when it becomes harder to ignore.
Taylor and Charles both want to win, but at what cost? Are they willing to trample every obstacle in their way–especially when the biggest obstacle could be the one thing they both need more than any trophy or medal?
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I love this book! If you like hockey romance,you will fall in love in this One.Characters are well made.I love slowvburn romance between Charles aka Chuckie and Taylor.So much has changed in twelve years between them.Taylor was arrogant kid and Charles chubby boy who had crush on Taylor.But now…Charles is sexy PR.This book tells love,hockey and family.How your team becomes your other family.I cannot wait to read more of Lisa Kamps’ books,specially this serie.
Eye opener when you think of how hard it still is for women to compete in professional sports dominated by men!
Great concept for a new series; a Women’s Hockey League! This first book introduces characters and tells the struggles of the startup of the Women’s Hockey League. The league is somewhere between a recreational league and a professional league, and it shows how difficult it is for the women who chose to play. They face playing on inferior ice, inferior equipment, and low pay that has them having to work another job, sometimes two.
This first book is about Taylor (team captain and player) and Charles Dawson (PR Director for the Blades). They have a history of playing hockey as kids and Charles had a crush on her and he finds out he still does. Taylor comes from hockey royalty and she is scorned by some teammates because of who her family is. Taylor is very talented, and she works hard to prove that she belongs there. Then Charles is introduced at practice and Taylor can’t believe her eyes! Before her stands a gorgeous man not the bumbling, chubby 13-year-old boy. From that day forward Charles works hard to win her heart.
From the start I was captivated by this story. I love reading hockey romance about college and NHL players. I didn’t think I would like this as much but wanted to give it a try. I found I really liked it. The story had a lot of heart and dealt with not only the love story between Taylor and Charles (which was smoking hot); and the development of a team in a new league, dealing with a clueless owner, they also dealt with issues in the sports world like drug use, jealous and competing teammates, and the inequalities between the women’s league versus the men’s league. There was a lot of push and pull and just enough drama and steam to keep me wanting more. The secondary characters were entertaining, and I can’t wait to watch them develop as the series continues.
If you like sports romance, give this new series a try. I have a feeling you will enjoy it as much as I did. I can’t wait for the next book in this series!
ARC kindly provided for an honest review.
This was an interesting story! I liked the idea of a women hockey team and league! Very refreshing! I can’t wait for more!
Intriguing idea of a women’s not quite semi-pro hockey team, the Chesapeake Blades, who are preparing for their inaugural season. Although I enjoyed the give and take between Taylor and Charles, and I thought Sammie was a great supporting character (and here’s hoping she gets a story of her own!) there were a few points I had issues with.
Although I’m not familiar with the intricacies of what the atmosphere is like between new players who are experiencing the realities of playing on a more-than-recreational league, I was amazed by the lack of confidence in the team’s viability by the women hockey players. Yes, they were new but surely they understand that it takes time to build a following. Would they really be that negative?
Secondly, Charles seemed to second guess himself a lot. Certainly, especially early on in a personal relationship, having confidence in your actions is one thing but in his professional life? He kept saying “I’m good at what I do”, but then would doubt himself, wondering whether what he was trying to accomplish in his marketing position would really work. Maybe that, on top of the player’s insecurities, just added up to a lot of insecurity all the way around.
Lastly, the owner, James Murphy, seems totally clueless about anything sports related, and is repeatedly disrespectful of the women players referring to them as “girls” as if it didn’t matter or was no show of disrespect. If he owned a men’s not quite semi-pro hockey team, would he call them “boys”? Even when Charles admonishes him saying “They’re women. And it’s a women’s hockey team and a women’s hockey league” the owner continues to refer to them as “girls”. That was frustrating.
Perhaps the next story in the series won’t focus so much on the possible failure or lack of confidence in the team. Maybe this is typically the way a new league begins – lots of uncertainty and doubts. I’m intrigued enough to read the next in this series to find out!
Winning Hard is the first book in the Chesapeake Blades series. This is a new series involving a semi-pro female hockey team. While this book is part of a series, it can be read as a standalone. As with the author’s other books, the action is hot and steamy, so definitely 18+.
The book blurb adequately describes the storyline so I’m not going to repeat that info here. If you read the Baltimore Banners series, you are already somewhat familiar with the main character Taylor. Now we get her story. The author did a good job of giving depth, thoughts, and emotions to these characters. As a hockey fan, I always like the hockey action, but like how this book also highlighted that off the ice the players are real people with issues just like the rest of us. I look forward to reading more of this series!