A steamy hockey romance from Pushing the Limits author Stina Lindenblatt “These two characters’ storylines wove together flawlessly and made for one hot read that had me wanting to pack my bags for my own Finland adventure.”–Cindi Madsen, USA TODAY bestselling author of Anatomy of a Player Some games are hotter off the ice… Sofia Phillips feels cursed. Her father cheated on her mother, her … feels cursed. Her father cheated on her mother, her boyfriend cheated on her–she’s done with dating. A summer work-exchange program in Finland is the perfect escape. But instead of gaining experience as an athletic trainer, she’s cleaning toilets. Awesome. The trip is a disaster, and even better, she meets Kyle Bennett. In the sauna. Naked.
Sexy hockey player Kyle was the star right wing for an NHL team. But after an accident killed his wife and left him injured, Kyle has appreciated the “therapeutic” benefits of booze and puck bunnies. Now in Finland for the summer, he’s coaching in an elite hockey-training camp for teens. When Sofia’s grandmother decides to set her up with a nice Finnish man, Sofia recruits Kyle as her make-believe boyfriend. Neither expects their first kiss to sizzle. And neither expects, while stranded on an island during a storm, to have a scorching night of passion.
But as their charade, and then their attraction, develops into something deeper, the past comes back, threatening to destroy them. They must decide if their feelings for each other are strong enough to survive–or it will be game over.
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****There will be So Many Major Spoilers****
Please don’t read my review if you don’t like spoilers because I’m about to tell the reasons this book didn’t work for me and it will have major spoilers in it.
Sorry I tried really I did. But this was just not for me. The writing was good which is why I gave it 2 stars instead of 1, but I really didn’t like this book at all. I didn’t like that fact that it was a kind of love triangle. I didn’t really like the hero or the heroine, although I disliked the heroine the most by far. Kyle was a bad boyfriend in my opinion. He drank too much. Like you know when his girlfriend’s grandma had a heart attack and was in the hospital. Instead of being there for her he stops at the bar and has a few shots. Oh lets not forget that the day after he sleeps with her and they become “Friends with benefits” he goes to the bar with he friend Nik (who only goes out to drink and score) and gets drunk and lets some woman grab his junk and kiss him. Now he really wasn’t dating Sofia and he did stop her and tell her he didn’t want her and left but still he let it go to far. He also doesn’t tell her who he was (ex NHL player) or about his past til almost the end. Still he was way better then Sofia was. She was a horrible girlfriend. For starters she goes on and on about trust and truth but all through the book she keeps things from Kyle. Like how her “Just friend” Joni kissed her. So let me just dive right on into the bull that was Joni/Kyle/Sofia kinda love triangle. Sofia’s grandma tries to set her up with Joni and she wants to be his friend. Which is fine, but he does everything he can to disrespect her love for Kyle. He tries to break them up and not once did she say anything to him stick up for their relationship, set boundaries anything. And as the book went on it just ticked me off more and more…
Let’s see Joni knows her and Kyle are dating (as they make out in front of him all the time and they both told him) so what does he do he comes on a group date and brings a girl to flirt with Kyle on purpose. Trying to get Kyle to cheat on Sofia. I mean the women licked his shoulder with Sofia standing right there!! Doesn’t Sofia notice nope. Blind!!! Then Joni asks Sofia to be his “just friends” date for a family wedding because of course the slut he just tried to get Kyle to mess up with was suppose to go with him and can’t. So she goes knowing it’s going to not only be a date and upsets the man she loves but that they will be gone together for a few days. So when on this date the hotel only has one room with one bed. Really??? And she sleeps on that bed with Joni. Are you kidding me? Cause if Kyle did that crap she would have been mad. Oh lets not forget that Joni kisses her on said wedding date and she doesn’t slap him or tell him to never touch her again. And she doesn’t tell Kyle. OH lets not forget that Joni also made sure that the woman that was “suppose” to be his date but couldn’t make it somehow knew where Kyle would be and showed up naked in his lock room shower trying to throw herself at him repeatedly while he tried to get away from her. Then Kyle texted Sofia and tells her the second he gets a chance and she says and does nothing again. Great girlfriend am I right????
Okay so the cherry on top was that she finds out that her dead cheating ex boyfriend Ian is the drunk driver that killed Kyle’s wife Gabby and ruined his hockey career and instead of telling him she runs and ignores his calls and text for days. Top that off with the fact that I learned more about coaching hockey than them as people and that the book dragged on and on. That I alternated between being bored and angry the whole book to say I didn’t like it is an understatement. The best thing about this book is the yummy cover! It’s just a case of a book and my personality not being a good fit!