The Nighthawks are hockey’s new expansion team. They’re ice hot. And they’re all about the chase. Christian: They call me a hockey god because I’m a beast on the ice . . . and off. Men want to be me and women just want me. But now that the New York Nighthawks expect me to lead their team to victory, it’s all work and no play. My eyes are on the prize. Until I meet Serena Ellis, a sexy, … Serena Ellis, a sexy, curvalicious blonde who doesn’t know me from jack. And just like that, I’m hooked.
Serena: I don’t do one-night stands—especially with celebrity jocks who date models. Lots of models. But the god of hockey is a temptation that’s hard for mere mortals to resist. And after the best kiss of my life, I’m ready to throw my one-night stand rule out the window. Except Christian Chase won’t let me. He doesn’t want a one-night stand. He wants it all.
This ebook includes an excerpt from another Loveswept title.
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Ice Hot is the first book in the New York Nighthawks series, and I have a feeling we will be getting stories for quite a few of these new players.
Christian is the captain & new face of the NY Nighthawks, a new expansion team about to embark on their first season. Coming off 2 back to back Stanley Cup wins he’s planning to whip these new guys into shape and bring home a third cup. What he isn’t planning for is Serena, who turns his life upside with one Slurpee.
Serena is working to make a name for herself in the fashion industry, trying to prove that size is just a number and be a voice for real women. After years of suffering from low self-esteem and trust issues she just can’t believe that THE Christian Chase could want anything real from her. But he isn’t giving up, and she starts to realize that she might finally get the career and the man.
I’m a sucker for hockey romance and this one caught my eye immediately. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as successful as I hoped. The drama is off the charts, the characters who had me hooked at the beginning lost me a few chapters in, and I couldn’t get behind their pairing. While I adored their banter the chemistry wasn’t there in my opinion, and the relationship not only seemed forced but extremely rushed.
Ice Hot is a good start to a new hockey romance series. The first introduction to the team is a bit abrupt, but we do get to see more of those characters throughout the story, giving us a chance to get to know them. The focus here is Christian and his love interest, Serena. Both characters are likable, and they each come with their own set of personal issues that make them feel unworthy of the other. I loved Serena’s sass, and she comes across as a strong, assertive woman from the start, which is another plus. However, the talk about her size, especially from her, quickly grew repetitive and tedious, even a bit whiny. That aside, I did like the interaction between Chris and Serena, and they have great chemistry. The story is a good mix of sweet, sexy, and angsty without going too far overboard on the angst. All in all, this first book in the series is a solid start, and there are plenty of interesting characters to keep it going for awhile.
3.5 stars
I love hockey books and this fits right into my groove. It had all the elements to keep me interested. The author gave us people who had hidden pain and challenges. Each had insecurities but were able to rise above them. These two had chemistry to melt the ice. Looking for more to come.
3 stars!
Ice Hot is the first in a new sports romance series centered around the Nighthawks hockey team.
Christian Chase is this new team’s captain. The team spirit isn’t quite there and things get off to a rocky start. After having an already rough day, he stops at a gas station where he bumps into a beautiful spitfire. Soaked in a blue Slurpee, she sure does give him a piece of her mind.
Days later, she’s still on his mind. And much to his surprise bumps into her again (minus the blue Slurpee :P) at a bar while with his teammates.
I felt their heat and chemistry right away. That’s was probably my favorite part in the book. I love how this book showed a more curvy women and had a man who admired that part of her and was attracted to her for that reason.
Until about halfway through the I was completely interested. I don’t know exactly what happened but I think it became a repetitive mix of internal monologue for both of them, in between all the physical action. But it lost that spark they had before they gave into their attraction.
What made me like her was how strong and confident she was, so her questioning why he was with her despite her curvy figure was a total turn off. Had it been mentioned once or twice, that would’ve been okay with me. Even the most confident women get insecure sometimes, but she was a bit excessive in second guessing herself.
All in all, it was a mostly enjoyable read.
Hockey romances or just sport romances in general are another one of those kryptonite reads for me! I simply can’t stay away from them. ICE HOT was a first time read from this author and even though this story wasn’t quite up there with some of my favorites (that list is extensive), I definitely enjoyed Chris and Serena’s story!
I liked that we got to see the inside of the sport, some sport romances don’t always show that, so it was definitely refreshing. I love the anatomy of sports, I grew up playing volleyball competitively, so I definitely understood some of the dynamics. Not the famous part, though, obviously It felt like we got two stories in one with Chris trying to lead his team to be the best that they can and dealing with a bad egg on the team. The bad egg being a character that I’m rather curious to know if we’ll be seeing him again in this series.
I have no idea what it’s like to be professional athlete and constantly being in the spotlight. It definitely sounds like a nightmare, but I have always felt that personal and career should always be separated. So, there was a certain issue where Chris approached his sports management for some PR control. But keep in mind, I’m claiming the fact that they don’t get involved, I honestly don’t know how this all works in the real world.
I didn’t quite connect with Serena like I hoped I would because she definitely could have been a character that I’d love. Like many of us out there, we all have our insecurities, but she constantly had to state them to Christian every time they had a moment together. And he absolutely worshipped her like every woman should!
ICE HOT wasn’t exactly a huge win for me, but I enjoyed this read and am looking forward to the rest of this series!
**I RECEIVED A COMPLIMENTARY READER’S COPY FROM LOVESWEPT. THIS DOES NOT AFFECT MY OPINION OF THE BOOK OR CONTENT OF MY REVIEW**
This is a new-to-me author and, to be honest, I didn’t think she had a lot of published works under her belt yet. Turns out I was wrong about that. I really enjoy the story idea and the arc this story takes, but I also felt there was too much telling and not enough showing.
Christian and Serena are both lovely characters and I liked them both from the start. The way they meet (and then meet again) is adorable and sexy at the same time. While I felt the flicker of a candle flame when it comes to their chemistry, it wasn’t the fireball I had hoped for. Part of that is because there is so much internal dialogue going on with these characters, even when they’re together. One would say something and it would be pages later before the other responded after having a full-blown inner dialogue conversation with themselves. I don’t mind this tactic in stories, but it happened too many times for me to feel the character’s connection in this one.
Because of the internal dialogue issue, the pacing felt a bit off to me. Portions of this story flew by and had me fully immersed in the book, while other portions seemed to drag. I wanted to get to know their circle of friends more than the bits and pieces we were given.
This one was truly an up and down read for me. Which is why I was surprised this wasn’t the author’s debut. The potential is definitely there. To be fair she doesn’t have a huge library of published works so I’m sure she’s still finding her groove. That’s why I’ll be keeping my eye out for more from Ms. Goodwin. She absolutely has the talent to write an amazing book.
**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**
This review can also be found at https://allingoodtimeblog.wordpress.com/2019/03/04/ice-hot-new-york-nighthawks-arc-review/
3.5 stars! I love a hockey book and it is what drew me to this book. I will admit it took me longer than I would have liked to connect with this book but when I did it was smooth sailing. Chris has recently moved to the New York Nighthawks team. He is their captain and looking win his third Stanley Cup. I loved the work ethic that Chris had. I loved that behind the cocky hockey player was someone who knew what it is to have nothing and work for everything. Serena came from a wealthy family but it didn’t cloud her judgement. I loved her strong will and determination. I thought Chris and Serena were each other’s perfect match. Loved the supporting characters. This was a quick feel good story. Excited to see where the series goes next.
Hockey themed sports-romance? Of course I’m going to pick that up!
Unfortunately, didn’t really work for me after a few chapters. It had good potential and Chris and Serena’s meet-cute was, well cute and fun. But the story was excessively descriptive of nonessential elements and characters, and left readers stuck in a loop of repetitive inner emotive monologues of both Chris and Serena. Too much time is spent in their heads and not enough in the story.
I would have like more moments spent on Chris’ hockey career, Serena’s fashion-design and entrepreneur business, them together and with their friends, and overall just more character dialogue.
Monologues don’t work for me a a form of compelling story telling; I need dialogue between the characters to help build connections and engage in the story.
1.5 stars
Christian is the new Captain for the Nighthawks. He’s won two Stanley Cups, very rich and can have any woman he wants. His life seems charmed but the author did try to make this unique and surprised me with Christian’s situation. Usually hockey gods are treated as such but his new teammates, one in particular, seem to be willing to knock him down at any cost to the team due to jealousy. I gotta admit, I’m used to seeing the team unity in sports books.
Serena is born from wealth but does not fit the mold. She’s a beautiful girl who has battled body shaming her whole life. She’s proud of who she is and will not let anyone make her feel ashamed. The book does focus a lot on her weight in the second half of the book. I’m not a big fan of body issues so I do wish there was less of it. I did like that for the most part, she wouldn’t allow anyone to make her feel bad. That’s not easy when others make it an issue. It’s a good message to have in a book.
These two together as a couple were a good match. This book is on the shorter side so it does feel a bit rushed but I liked them. I liked that she was sassy with him and treated him like he was a normal guy. I also liked that he never commented or thought about her bigger size. All he saw was beautiful curves that made his mouth water. Overall, a good message to send out to readers.
Rcvd an ARC at no cost to author..(netgalley) This book was a little painful for me, it dragged and I kept reading it because I kept saying that it will be better than the cheesiness that I kept reading, and because it had a lot of stars, I personally did not agree with them. The book wasn’t horrible, but I like more entertainment. We have two people Serena and Chris who are attracted to each other but are both broken in their own way. Chris is a hockey god and known around the social media’s sights as a player but he never really had a relationship, and is still supposed to be vulnerable because his father never wanted him or really took care of him so he is afraid to put himself out there thinking he will be rejected (sorry a little far fetched to me) Then we have Serena whose family is super rich, due to an incident when she was 16, up 16 she is afraid to open herself up to other men, she has been bullied and body shamed by her own parents. So there was a lot of back in forth in their minds do I want, no I dont, yes I do..Eventually as they start a relationship outside forces meddle and Chris dumps her then regrets it then apologizes and she immediately forgives.