Max Montgomery was at the height of his career, playing the best hockey of his life, and lucky enough to have a starting spot on a team that was actually a contender for the Cup. And one by one his friends were falling in love.Love. Now that was a dirty four-letter word if he’d ever heard one.Max had experienced love and all of its aftereffects and where had that gotten him?Lonely, living in an … him?
Lonely, living in an apartment, and paying alimony to a woman who’d left him at the merest sign of a hiccup in their marriage.
His only bright spot was his son. Brayden had moved back in with him a few months ago, after his mother had taken off to God knew where. Max loved having him home, but with his son only seven and him on the road for forty-two games a year, they’d struggled. Still, they’d found a way to make it work.
But then Brayden threw Max a completely new curve ball.
He wanted Max to find a wife.
Max had been there, done that, got the crappy T-shirt as a souvenir. No way would he make himself vulnerable like that again, no matter how much his son wanted it.
A puppy was a perfectly viable alternative, right?
At least that was what he’d been thinking until he met Angelica Shallows, sister to the team’s Physical Therapist guru, Mandy, and a brilliant engineer in her own right. She was gorgeous, smart, but had shadows in her eyes.
Max knew all about shadows, knew they were meant as a sign for him to stay away.
What was that about the best intentions paving the road to hell? Max may have wanted to stay away, may have wanted to abide the warning signs in Angie’s eyes, but—
The real trouble began when found that he couldn’t do either of those things.
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Max’s book may be my favorite story in the series. I love the main characters, their goofy personas and how they look at life. Swirl them together with an adorable kid & you have to have a perfect combination. Definitely recommend this series!
This enemies to lovers romance is filled with plenty of sizzling sparks, tension and witty banter. I enjoyed this book so much. Blue and Anna made a interesting couple. Their chemistry was so volitile in the beginning that I was not sure if it would destroy them or cause them to go up in flames. I liked Anna and Blue. They both had some emotional baggage that caused emotional turmoil and drama in their relationship. A very enjoyable romance about looks being deceiving and how your head may want one thing, while your heart needs another.
Hot as hell straight from the beginning. Enemies to lovers are always great fun. Of course both of them are completely misunderstood and stubborn. Blue constantly puts his foot in his mouth, but I loved that he doesn’t give up on Anna. Such a great ending too!
This is book 5, but it’s the first book in the series that I’ve read. Definitely need to go back and catch up.
Elise Faber scores with Breakaway (Gold Hockey, #5). NHL center Blue Anderson and nanny Anna Hayes do not like each other. They cannot not be in the same room as each other without getting into a verbal brawl. That is until he kissed her. This contemporary sports romance is suitable for adult readers.
Breakaway is a fun novel. Blue and Anna are always bickering. Anna used to work as a nanny for his teammate, Max Montgomery (Benched, #4). Both Blue and Anna had issues of feeling unloved and unwanted. I like that they confide in each other and begin to heal.
Breakaway is skillfully written and easy to read. It is a heartfelt feel-good story. I recommend this book to people who enjoy sports romances. I’m looking forward to Kevin’s and Rebecca’s story in Breakout (Gold Hockey, #6). I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.
This is a story of two broken souls finding love with the last person they thought they would ever love. Blue (I love that name) was looking for what his team mates had, everlasting love. But he was looking for it with an ideal in mind. He wanted someone sweet and kind. He didn’t expect to find fire, but we don’t always get what we want. Anna wasn’t looking for love. Everyone in her life had left her and she was afraid that she would find love and he would leave her too. So she kept her circle small and closed; not allowing anyone to penetrate it unless she allowed them to. I enjoyed following these two on their road to happily ever after. We get to see a tiny bit of drama but nothing crazy that would make this story hard to read. The tiny bit of drama we get is real and understandable. I love Blue and Anna and I enjoyed their story. I look forward to seeing a glimpse of them in the next book. *I voluntarily read an advanced copy of this book for my honest and unbiased review.*
A traditional enemies-to-lovers sports romance. This is the fifth book in the series, but can be read as a complete standalone.
While Breakaway got off to a sizzling start, Blue and Anna quickly put their relationship in the penalty box. While they skated around their scorching chemistry. Their past loathing of one another made them sort out their next play before jumping back into the game.
Okay, I may have run out of hockey puns for the moment…maybe.
Seriously though…As Blue and Anna learn how to become friends, after they had one night of seriously hot “what have we done” steamy good times. Their attraction to one another never wains, it’s more of a let’s take a moment and decide if we actually like each other since I was pretty sure I wanted to junk punch you yesterday instead of this was amazing and now I want to junk ride you for the rest of my life.
Anna has been around the hockey team for awhile and knows Blue, but doesn’t really know him on a personal level and the same can be reversed about Blue knowing surface level knowledge of Anna. As they get to know one another they really do decide if there is actually something more than just a night of burning chemistry. Is Blue a player? Is Anna an ice queen? Will they ever let their guards down to reveal more?
This is the first book I’ve read in this series, however not the first book I’ve read by Elise Faber. She did a great job of catching up on any characters that were pivotal throughout the story as it progressed.
Max and Angie, . Angie my dear heart went out to her. She has been thru so much that it still affected her in some ways as an adult. Then she meets Max and his adorable son, Brayden. Who doesn’t love a good single dad love story?!?! Max was amazing and his priority was his son. He had a psycho ex-wife that tried to stir drama but he wasn’t having it. He realized how Angie fit in perfectly with him and his son. His son was adorable and his relationship with Angie was priceless. Throw in Max teammates/friends, his nanny, and Angies friends you’re in for a good read.
This book will give you all the feels. Max is that hot, alpha athlete, single dad that all the girls want but his main goal is taking care of his son and moving on from the train wreck his ex left. Angie is a beautiful, successful woman whom grew up without the love of her hockey star father and is trying to find herself after a tragic incident.
When these two meet the spark is instant. They quickly become each other’s strength to move on from their past. You definitely need grab this beautiful love story. I can’t wait for Breakaway!
3.25 stars. This was a pretty good book, but I didn’t totally love it. Benched is book four in the Gold Hockey series, but it can be read as a standalone. It was the first book I have read by Ms. Faber. This book is Max and Angie’s book. Max is a pro hockey player and a single dad to a son, Brayden. He meets Angie, who is the estranged sister of his team’s physical therapist. They meet by accident and then again by accident, and both feel a connection, which leads to spending time together and dating.
I liked Max and Angie. Max is a devoted dad and has been focused on his son since his wife left them a few years prior. He hasn’t dated or anything, but when his son asks for a new mom and then he meets Angie, he feels like it is fate. Angie is quirky and sweet with some anxiety, a history of being sexually assaulted/attacked, and guilt over her estrangement with her sister. I felt like Max and Angie were a good match and brought out the best in each other. Max helped Angie gain some confidence and come out of her shell some. I liked Max’s son, Brayden too.
I did think that the book was a little slow starting. By 35%, barely anything had happened. We saw a lot of the characters separately with friends but just minutes together by that point. Once it got going, I liked the middle of the book a good bit. Max and Angie had a slow burn romance that I enjoyed seeing develop. I thought the couple was cute together. But I felt like the book went downhill at the very end. I did not love the big conflict near the end. I can’t explain what happened without spoiling it, but there is an incident where Brayden is put in danger when he is with Angie. Max was really awful to Angie and let her go through the aftermath of that alone with no intention of fixing things until his son asked him too. Of course, Angie forgave him immediately and I felt like she was a total doormat. This conflict was right at the end so there was no further resolution and the epilogue is about the next couple in the series. I don’t like a doormat heroine and I didn’t feel like Max understood how awful he was to her or that he truly felt sorry. I felt really bad for Angie. This conflict and the way it was handled really put a damper on the way I felt about this book.
Overall, I enjoyed this book in general, but it had some moments I did not enjoy. Still, the story was fun and interesting. I liked that Max was a devoted dad and Angie was able to come into her own. I do think the book is worth reading, even if it was not my favorite.
Benched by Elise Faber is book 4 in the Gold Hockey series, but can be read as a standalone. This is Max and Angie’s story. What you get is a sexy hot single dad hockey player and the geeky shy yet beautiful nerdy woman who is super nerdy/geeky. She has a super smart job yet loves all things SW. She has a very low self esteem (which gets explained in the book). Max had his own brand of trouble with his ex wife. Max and Angie had a good connection between them yet at times the story seemed to struggle to get to that potential it seemed to be striving for. It was good but it could be better. I liked the characters and the storyline but the flow seemed to be off. The author is an amazing writer – I will definitely read her again- i think there were too many things going on and some things that seemed rushed.
My Rating: 4.0 stars *******
4.5 Stars
This book really had it all for me. It’s a sports romance and a single dad romance which had me sold right off the bat. Then throw in two nerdy characters even better. I loved Angie. I so could relate to her a lot and she’s so endearing. Angie has a heart of gold. I really like her friends she makes. I could easily fit in with them with my love Harry Potter. Max and his little boy are so adorable together. His son sure adds so much to this book. This book definitely packs in the feels. With everything that Angie has gone through in life I was rooting for her to get her HEA that she so deserves. This book also has a little suspense to it which adds another layer to the book. The characters pull you right in the book and I got so invested in them. I have to give it to Max he knows how to woo someone. I highly recommend this book because you will have a hard time putting it down.
In Benched we are introduced to professional hockey player Max and his son Brayden as well as Angelina “Angie”. Angie has been through some trauma in her life and doesn’t know how to people real well. When she meets Max and Brayden they begin to bring her out of herself and back to the person she used to be. Watching these two become a couple was amazing!
The characters in this book made me wish they were real! This book was delicious, and hot, and steamy, and left me a little anxious in some places. Max and Angie were definitely a couple that I would want to be friends with in real life. This book is a standalone within a series, and I will be going back to read the others, but it is not necessary to follow this one. Definitely recommend for anyone who loves a sports romance.
Readers looking for a feel-good romance will get just that with this sweet and sexy romance set in the hockey world as a single father tries to fulfill his young son’s newest request…finding him a new mom. The journey to HEA isn’t simple though as fears over their pasts leads to a few doubts along the way that still ultimately led to a cheer-worthy conclusion.
Max Montgomery is at the top of his game after a rocky year full of life changes. With his ex relinquishing her parental rights to their son Brayden, Max is now a single dad who juggles his son’s needs while continuing to be successful on the ice too. So what if he’s sometimes late in getting Brayden to school on time. At least his boy knows he’s loved with interactions that made me smile. It all leaves little time for Max when it comes to matters of his own heart, which is fine by him as his ex left him bruised and doubtful of love and honesty due to her deceitfulness. Seeing the quiet and jittery Angie does tempt him though and what starts out as subtle flirtations soon becomes so much more. Just when HEA is within their reach his fear leads to harsh words and a hard-fought Grand Gesture that Angie richly deserved. Max is a delicious hero with an endearing connection to his son courtesy of quiet movie nights and moments of mutual rambunctiousness. He’s a loving father who would do just about anything for his son, but putting his heart on the line again isn’t something he’s rushing out to do. Thankfully fate, and a newly-adopted dog, brings him and Angie together in a relationship that takes both of them outside their comfort zones. Angie’s got her own baggage which Max is very conscious of and in his dealings with her he’s very gentle. There’s definite maturity to him but playfulness as well when it comes to sci-fi talk and he’s an entertaining dichotomy that I was drawn to from the very start. Even with his anger late in the story directed at Angie, he still managed to win me back due to a truly heartwarming act of forgiveness that pulled at my geeky heartstrings and that made for a perfect ending.
Angela Shallows is the illegitimate daughter of hockey royalty, kept secret from everyone including the half-sister now hoping to make a connection with her. Life’s not been easy for her through the years though with the pain of loneliness, and unending fear from being sexually assaulted, leaving her jittery and full of uncertainties. She feels awkward in social situations and her low self-esteem had her closing herself off from the world and it broke my heart to see her struggle early on. With a new group of friends pushing her though, daring her to be bolder, readers were soon cheering her on as a sexy hockey star made his attraction towards her known. Fun and flirty texts soon evolved into tongue-tingling kisses that brought out a gentle side in Max and a coquettish side to Angie. Angie’s an appealing heroine for the most part, very comfortable around Brayden and determined in her interactions with others. I applauded her going outside her comfort zone and was thrilled to see her becoming more empowered by being around Max. His harsh words late in the story would’ve broken the old Angie, but this one picked herself up and brushed herself off before getting ready to reclaim her place in Max’s life. I also want to mention how simple Angie’s recovery was from her assault (touch from others previously had her pulling away) as it felt a bit too easy. Despite that I still appreciate that the author dealt with the long-term aspects of what happened to her in a respectful way that made Max look even more the hero.
Overall there was a sense of familiarity to this story, a sense of predictability that frustrated me at times, while keeping me entertained through its crackling dialogue and sensual interludes. The main couple clearly had issues of their own while being together made them stronger in a relationship that was virtually angst-free. It wasn’t until the very end that the author threw in a very unnecessary roadblock to HEA, a roadblock that was overly-melodramatic but one that quickly solved one problem while creating another that was quickly cleaned up. Surrounding this appealing main couple was an equally likable cast of secondary characters. From Max’s teammates (who felt more like family) to a psycho-ex looking to turn his HEA upside down, readers were kept glued to the pages seeing teammates act more like brothers in laugh out loud scenes while hissing at Suzanne’s duplicitous behavior. After the heartwarming conclusion found here, readers will be left counting down the days until the next installment in the Gold Hockey series as the sparks are just beginning to fly between rookie hockey star Blue and Max’s strong-willed nanny Anna.
4.5 Stars
I loved this book and I am not even a huge sports romance kinda gal!
I loved the premise of this book. I am a big second chance at love fan. Elise Faber gave me that and so much more. I really want to go back and devour her whole backlist. The only problem I had with this book is that it moved very fast in the feelings department. I get it, but it also felt rushed. Max and Angel meet at the perfect time for both of them. I love when this ex shows up and that scene was perfection! I can’t wait for the next book in this series. I am so glad I took a chance on this author and series! Well Done!
Being benched will steal your heart! Ashley @ Carolina Chic’s Read
Elise Faber and the Gold Hockey Series is new to me and I will be reading all about this hockey series!
Angie is a very successful women who is made to feel worthless her entire life. Max is the hunky single dad Hockey player that has been jilted by love. Can these two overcome obstacles to find love? Can these two ignore what they are finding between each other? Will they be able to overcome all the past to see the future? I am excited to read more of this series.
This is my first Elise Faber book which when I realize this is the fourth in her hockey series, well I definitely want to read the others. I want all the details on the other characters mentioned. Yes I am nosy.
Max and Angie break my heart and continue to do so as I get more information on their backstory. I do love Max the amazing dad but his ex-wife is a real piece of work and he got the short end of the stick in that relationship.
Angie has been made to feel worthless her entire life. Good thing her parents are dead otherwise I would be wishing for their demise. I love who she is. She is a highly intelligent, somewhat awkward girl that is frequently hilarious. The toxic people got very little airtime which I am happy about. Her getting to know her sister was beautiful.
This story really lets us see who and what Max and Angie are. They are so deliciously steamy together with some exceptionally touching moments. Sweet, awesome read with some angst added near the end. Eek. Ok I am not spilling anymore of the beans on this story. No spoilers here. I will just say I really like this one especially since sports romance is a fav of mine. Happy Reading!
Benched is an amazing hockey romance. If you haven’t had a chance to read any of the Gold Hockey series then you need to really do so because you dont know what you are missing out on. I love Max and his nerdy ways. He is an amazing single dad as well as hockey player. I love his connection with his son Brayden. That right there will melt your heart and make you swoon. Like all his teammates Max meets his match when he least expected it in Angelica. Angelica has social issues but yet is so sweet and has a bit of a nerdy side. She will grab hold of your heart some once you find out more about her. I love the chemistry between Max and Angelica. They are sweet together. Hang onto the little bit of drama in this one. I couldn’t put this one down. I can’t wait for more to come in this series.
3.5 Stars
Benched is the fourth title in the Gold Hockey series, but it was my first time reading Elise Faber’s work and I believe it can easily be read as a standalone.
Max and Angelica’s story is sweet, sexy and angsty.
Max has been burned by love, but it gave him his adorable and precocious young son Brayden. Max is an alpha, NHL hockey player who has a heart of gold and is a doting single father.
Angelica is quirky, unique, introverted and a bit of a nerd. Her childhood has not only left her with a boat load of insecurities, but it also left her socially awkward.
Whilst I enjoyed this title I wanted it to be longer and I wanted to see more development in their relationship. Overall Benched is an enjoyable and entertaining single parent sports romance.
Breakaway – She throws him off his game. He has her seriously doubting her heart. Things get interesting rather fast for hockey bad boy, Blue and the beautiful, yet prickly Anna. Love – hate quickly lands them both in hot water when it comes to keeping tabs on their hearts. Breakaway sets fire to the rules of romance. Faber goes to battle with stereotypes, heartache and heat, hot enough to melt the most frosty of hearts. With a sense of humor and a captivating story, Breakaway is right on target for gold.
Benched – Right from the start Faber taps into the emotions behind the relationships of her characters. There is always an element of yearning to round out the overpowering attraction. Benched is no exception. Max and Angie have both been lonely too long and too stubborn to admit it. Lucky for them fate doesn’t give in easily. When it comes to matters of the heart, they’ve finally met their match and it comes in the form a 7 year old matchmaker. Max is every bit as cute as he is determined and he plays to win. Benched is a heart stealer that hit all the right moves to score a goal.
Great book! This is my first read from this author, I’m very impressed. Most sports books these days, just mention a team and a position, no real details into the sport. Elise got into the grit of hockey and surprised me.
This book was great, hit all the emotions and had some action. Interested to go back and read the others in the series now. They can all be read as stand alone, which is great!