Markus Reeves is sucking. Big-time. Toiling away on a minor-league hockey team hundreds of miles away from home, he’s watching his dreams of an NHL career fade away. Add in the lingering guilt he has over the dramatic demise of his relationship with college girlfriend, Mekena, and he’s a mess on and off the ice. But the family of his heart, the Sinclairs, won’t let Markus suffer any longer. When … longer. When he arrives himself back in Nashville for a trial run on the Assassins, it feels like his life may be making a turn for the better. If only he could get Mekena to forgive him…
Mekena Preston has been hurting since fleeing Nashville following the horror of Markus’s betrayal with her sister. Now a professional photographer, Mekena finds herself in the same place at the same time with Markus to celebrate Lucy and Benji Paxton’s wedding. Neither of them has been able to move on—and they’re starting to wonder if they really want to.
They’re headed for a face-off at the altar unless they can confront their past and unearth the truth about what really happened on that fateful night.
more
3.5 stars.
I always enjoy a hockey book! This story has hockey, young love, discussion on interracial relationships and drug addiction. Markus is a jokester and sweet and kind. Mekena is sweet, sometimes very young and immature,however, she is only 20. Once they finally discuss what happened in the past and move on with their relationship I found myself skipping pages. Their love was a little too sickly sweet for me.
Read with Rating in 2016. Written Review added 2021:
I read Face-Off at the Altar in the fall of 2016 when I took a break from writing written reviews. I provided a rating only. If and when I re-read Face-Off at the Altar I will provide a more formal review. However, the rating was accurate at the time and I totally love Aleo’s writing style and the entire series. It’s a professional sports series based on the NHL team the Nashville Assassins.
Face-Off at the Altar was the twelfth book in the Assassins series. I highly recommend the Assassins series and all spin off series: The Bellevue Bullies, Nashville Assassins Next Generation, and The Ice Cats.
I enjoyed “Face-off at the Altar” by Toni Aleo, but this wasn’t one of my favorite in the series. I always enjoy her books and I’m a big fan of this series – there was just something about the dialogue in this book that didn’t do it for me. It felt redundant – like I was reading the same conversation over and over. However – I did love the pairing of Marcus and Mckenna. They are a great Assassins’ couple and I look forward to seeing how their relationship continues to grow in later books in the series. That is the one thing I absolutely love about how this series is written. The characters continue on and play roles in the subsequent books so it’s like one giant story.
This is overall a great book to add to your collection as well as the series and author.
Happy Reading…enjoy!
‘Face-Off at the Altar’ is the 9th book of the ‘Assassins’ series. I think you can also read this book as a standalone because as always Toni Aleo does a great job at introducing all the characters and the back-story, so you won’t be lost if you haven’t read ‘Assassins’ and/or ‘Bellevue Bullies’ but I totally recommend you to read both series. If you read the ‘Bellevue Bullies’ series that means you already met the hero and heroine of the book. Markus Reeves and Mekena Preston were college sweethearts but their relationship ended with a huge heartbreak that still causes them pain.
Markus is a hockey player and he played hockey with Jayden, Baylor and Jace in college. He is the best friend of Jace Sinclair and also a part of the Sinclair family. He plays hockey for AHL team of Assassins and hates it. Being away from his home and family plus what he did to Mekena eats him away and he is mess. He tries to ease the pain with drinking and meaningless sex. He used to be a great hockey player, a fighter but now he doesn’t care about winning or his team. Getting called up to play for Assassins on a trial period is the push he need it to get his act together.
Mekena Preston is a professional photographer. She is also Avery’s (Jace’s wife) best friend and also Skylar’s sister. Before continuing about the book, I want to give you all more info about Skylar, who is the main cause of this huge mess. Just like Markus and Mekena, we met with Skylar on the previous books of the series. Skylar used to be Claire’s (Phillip Anderson’s niece and Jude Sinclair’s wife) best friend. I used to like Skylar because of her relationship with Claire but what she did to her sister and Markus made me hate her soooo much. So back to Mekena, she was head over heels in love with Markus but when Marcus cheated on her with Skylar, her heart shattered in million pieces. She still cannot get over being betrayed by the two people she loved and trusted the most.
Both Mekena and Markus couldn’t be able to move on and now after two years without seeing each other; they will be spending the weekend at Lucy and Benji’s wedding. Mekena is still hurt and angry because of her sister’s and Marcus’s betrayal and she is determined to ignore Marcus at all costs. But now that Marcus has a chance to make his two dreams come true: getting signed with ‘Assassins’ and getting back together with Mekena, he is not willing to back down. Everything comes crashing down when the truth comes out because everything is not what it seems to be. Is Markus and Mekela’s love strong enough to survive from the past betrayals and hurt? That is for you to find out
‘Face-Off at the Altar’ is a great a story of love, heartbreak, friendship, family and forgiveness. As always Toni Aleo does a great job at bring out the emotion in her readers and make you laugh and cry together with the characters.
Would I recommend this book: Yes.
Would I re-read this book: Already did.
Would I read future books by this author: Yes.
The review was originally posted on: http://miabookaddict.com/