Easton: Hockey isn’t forever. The money, excitement, and glory of being a professional hockey player meant more to me than a family, a home, and a forever. Another man has my forever, and I have hockey. I thought making the big bucks and playing against the best in the world would feel better than this. Instead I’m empty and hollow, like a big piece of my heart was hacked off. There’s something … There’s something missing. Something big. Something I can never get back.
Caroline:
I loved him, but he wasn’t the love of my life.
My husband died too young, too suddenly, too tragically. I was unprepared with no education, no job skills, and no future plans. When a DNA test reveals my twins’ true parentage, I have no choice but to do the right thing. I turn to the one man who’d turned his back on me all those years ago.
I’d been shutout from his life, and I’d shut him out from mine. Can two strangers make a family? Do we have what it takes to forgive and move on?
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This book had my emotions all over the place. Every page made me feel as if I were living inside the story. What an emotional roller coaster with a Happy ending.
I loved Caro and Easton together! It was great to see them reconnect. I loved the characters and all of the emotion. A great read!
Read: 1/31/2020
Shutout by Jami Davenport was the first book in the Scoring series, a spinoff and continuation of the Seattle Sockeyes series.
We met Easton Black while he was in college in Tackled in Seattle (book two, Men of Tyee series). He was likable and I was looking forward to his back story.
I love hockey (#gobolts). Did I say I love hockey? Yup! So, I loved the opening with training camp and determining who made the NHL team and who stayed in the AHL. It was a great way to start the book. I do; however, wish we had more hockey details throughout the story. Easton was in the hockey season but there were only quick references to games, his teammates and/or road trips. I desired more.
As to the characters, I liked Easton but I craved more depth from him. And I wasn’t a fan of Caroline. She had been through a lot but I still didn’t think it merited her attitude towards Easton. And I didn’t feel a connection with her nor between her and Easton. She was cold as ice and irrational. With that said, Davenport dove into a tough topic, so it was plausible as a realistic response.
Overall, it was a quick read and I liked the storyline and Easton, I just didn’t like Caroline. I’m still a Davenport and a Sockeye series fan, this just wasn’t my favorite. However, true to form, Davenport did well setting the stage for the rest of the series and giving us a glimpse into other rookies. I can’t wait for Kaden’s book next, it looks to be explosive.
Easton and Caroline met the summer after their senior year in high school. Easton had come to Caroline’s town for a summer hockey camp. They were hot and heavy for the entire summer. At the end of summer, Easton chose his hockey career over Caroline. Two years later when he tried to find Caroline, he realized he was too late. Then six years later, circumstance throws them back together and they have to learn to let old hurts go, trust in each other, be interdependent and let love it.
This is the first book I have read by this author and I loved it. The chemistry between Easton and Caroline was electric. The playful personality of Easton with the rigid personality of Caroline makes for an interesting mix. Plus the emotional circumstances of the entire situation makes it even better. Although Caroline’s rigidity and self-doubt got on my nerves in some spots, this story contained just the right amount of chaos, romance, adult time, sniffle time and laughs. I am interested and invested enough in this author and series to give the next novel a read.
I received an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Great story! Caro and Easton meet as teenagers and are torn apart by Easton’s decisions. Fast forward to years later and through a crazy turn of events, they end up with a second chance. Lots of drama ensues between Caro and Easton and even Caro’s former mother-in-law. Even through all of that, they’re able to find their way.
This is the first book in the spinoff series and the first book by this author I have read. I have to admit, I enjoyed the dynamics of this story. I wasn’t sure at first how this would play out, but I feel the author handled the emotions and the nature of the storyline very well.
Easton and Caro’s story has a lot of sadness to it. They both have regrets, but they also have hopes and dreams. Will they be able to let go of what has happened and claim what they deserve?
I adore all of Jami’s Hockey romances and this new series is going to be fantastic! Not only is it a sports romance but it is second chance too! I loved Easton and Caroline!! They were great together! They find out that their feelings for each other haven’t changed. Will they be able to work through their differences and make a life together with their children? This was an emotional story about love, second chances and family. I loved it and I’m sure will too!
I loved this story! I adore a sports romance and this one did not disappoint. Caroline’s husband passes away and she finds out from DNA testing that her twins are not his, and she knows they are Easton’s and goes to tell him the news. Easton Black, is a rookie with the Seattle Sockeyes, but he feels as if something is missing in his life, then Caroline reenters his life. Easton and Caroline have a great connection and chemistry that they have never lost for each other after years apart. This story is well written, with an intriguing storyline and compelling characters that leapt off the pages, and I loved every single page of it. I highly recommend you give it a read you won’t be disappointed
Shutout is the first book in the new exciting spin off series of the Seattle Sockeyes hockey team.
The story is really good and the second chance at love is one of my favourite troupe, with the single parent,surprising paternity and hockey there is nothing I can’t like and enjoy about it.
Caroline and Easton relationship is complicated. They met a few years earlier, there was a lot of passion and chemistry between them but they were too young for commitment and Easton has already the big dream to play in the NHL after college so he left her breaking her heart.
Now after years Caroline has to track down Easton to give him a shocking news.Will they find a new routine or will they be slave of their passion again?
I really like Jami Davenport stories so I can’t wait to read the rest of this series.
Second chance romance with a mix of secret baby mixed in. This is the first book in the Scoring Series and good start to it. Easton and Caroline had a great chemistry and attraction that stood the test of time. Can’t wait to read more of this series.
I received an ARC of this book and I am voluntarily leaving a review.
4 1/2 STARS!
Complex characters, boatloads of sexual chemistry and a revelation that’s about to blow their lives out of the water! With the first book in her highly anticipated The Scoring Series, Jami Davenport does not disappoint as she takes us back into her Seattle Sockeyes world with a new round of rookies in SHUTOUT. The tension is throbbing, the stakes are high and emotions are on edge.
Easton is an easy to like character. He should be on top of the world. He just made it into the NHL with the on fire Seattle Sockeyes! So why does it feel like a let down? He’ll soon be realizing that there’s a lot more to life than the game he’s been living and breathing for years.
Caroline on the other hand is more complex. She needs us to believe she’s a bit dimwitted to not find her at fault at all in this story line … and even if we can get past that portion, she’s just so wrong in her approach of keeping him away.
I really enjoyed this story and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good hockey romance with tons of drama, emotional depth and heart pulling chemistry. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series already!
This has several tropes in one and the combination made it so much better. You have a secret baby (or babies), second chances, and mix in sports, and the story was explosive. There are heartaches to overcome and secrets and lies and miscommunications but at the heart of it is, well, the heart. Your heart doesn’t lie and you can’t run from the one person who makes you feel.
Jami Davenport wins with Shutout (The Scoring Series #1). In this story, rookie Easton Black is the newest player on the Sockeyes. Everything in his life is falling into place, but he feels like something is missing. Then the one that got away Caroline Mills reenters his life and changes everything. This contemporary sports romance is suitable for adult readers.
Jami Davenport does a great job with this spin-off of the Seattle Sockeyes / Game On in Seattle series. I like the plot. The DNA aspect was clever. The story was skillfully written and entertaining. Easton and Caroline are likeable characters. They have trust issues to resolve, among other things. They have amazing chemistry. The twins are adorable. They add an interesting layer to the novel.
Followers of Jami Davenport will enjoy this story. She does a great job, including previous characters from the Game On in Seattle series. I recommend this story to people who enjoy sports romances and/or second chance romances. I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.
I love to read stories about hockey players and if it also includes second chances, that is an added bonus. In Jamie Davenports newest release SHUTOUT, I was happy to discover my two favorite tropes included in the story. It is a spellbinding and poignant story with unforgettable characters.
Easton and Caroline first meet when they are too young to appreciate each other. When they met again a few years later, they are both older and wiser.
Easton is having the time of his life enjoying the fruits of his labor now that he is in the NHL. Life is one big party, until Caroline contacts him and his whole world changes.
I enjoyed all the interactions between Easton and Caroline. Caroline is feisty and keeps Easton on his toes. Easton is a good guy trying to do the best he can in a bad situation. I thoroughly enjoyed this second chance hockey romance. The characters are realistic, easy to like and have a lot of chemistry.
Caroline and Easton, Easton and Caroline
Little did they realize that the summer they met as teenagers and had a romance that would change their lives forever.
Caroline had a hard teenage life and thought she had finally conquered it all with love, marriage and twins. Sadly it would all come to a startling end when her husband was killed in a car accident, then his parents revealed he had been adopted and when she did the DNA test to get a link to their other family’s wasn’t what she thought……..he was NOT the father. It was Easton, the boy she had fallen in so love with that summer who had then broken her heart.
Easton remembers that summer well, in fact several years later he went searching for his true love to see if maybe there was a second change but he discovered she was married with kids. So hockey was his number one priority which helped make it onto the Seattle Sockeyes team and become one of the Puck Brothers. He never imagined being contacted by Caroline a few years later and discover he those twins he saw, where actually his.
The spark had never been extinguished between the two of them, but now they had to work on a quick solution not just them but the kids. Easton wanted to be a part of their lives immediately, but Caroline wanted to hold back scared of having another tragedy and heartbreak. Could they work it out and become a family or would broken hearts always be in the way? This new generation of players on the Seattle Sockeyes hockey team is definitely making an impact on the game and the city!
Jami has written another hit romance book with The Shutout! Not too often will there be a second chance at love, let alone one from when you are a teenager. She was able to take what many dream of happening and making it come true. Can’t wait to read the next in the series!!
How could I not love this book? It has everything, secret babies, second chance romance and hot hockey hunks! When Caro’s husband dies and she discovers he was adopted her in-laws encourage her to have a DNA test in case there are unexpected health issues. There are definitely unexpected issues but they are that her two children were fathered by hockey player Easton and not her deceased husband. Caro decides to do the right thing and tell Easton. Easton is a relatively new pro hockey player and he has been feeling a lack of something in his life. When Caro tells him her news he realizes it’s a family and love.
Caro and the twins move to Seattle to be closer to Easton so he can get to know them. For people like myself who read all the Sockeye books, one of the best parts of this book is reconnecting with all of the characters from earlier books. Of all people, Isaac Wolfe gives Easton some good advice about parenting and couples.
Initially there’s a lot of tension between Caro and Easton. Although some of it is the good sexual kind most of it is her being an uptight controlling mom who doesn’t want to let him in. Easton has his hotheaded moments too but eventually they realize they both want the same thing, a happy family. They have some steamy sex getting to that point!
I really enjoyed this book and I can’t wait to find out who Kaden’s secret girlfriend is in a future book!
Well this new series is off to a good start! Second chance romance is one of my favorite tropes, and when you add in the surprise-hey 6 years ago I had twins and turns out they’re yours-it makes for a very interesting, emotional and complicated story. Easton thought he had everything he wanted as a star rookie for the Sockeyes, but deep down as of late he knew his life was missing something very important, a family. Turns out he had one he just didn’t know it. Imagine his surprise when the first and only love of his life Caroline (Caro) divulges some pretty serious information to him. Heath and Hailey are adorable. I understand why Caro was hesitant about how into their life Easton was at first, but worrying that he was going to steal her children bothered me. She loved him once and was still attracted to him and saw how he was with the children, so she should have known he was not like that. He just wanted time with them, to be their father. I liked them as a couple but felt their communication needed a lot of work. I mean, a lot. She was stubborn and he was pushy on some issues making it very difficult for them to go forward with their new reality. But luckily chemistry is there in abundance and rational thought streams in often enough that they do eventually find a way to rekindle their love and also be a family. I look forward to more good stories in this new series!!
Life never makes love easy. Caroline and Easton are sitting on a powder keg of secrets that could either mend two broken hearts or destroy the fabric of four lives. Shutout is what happens when hearts break. Battered hearts, bruised egos and reveals that are long overdue tug readers heart first into a boatload of drama. Complicated, captivating and heartbreaking turn into a powerful second chance story.
Shutout is a perfect start to Jami Davenport‘s The Scoring Series! If you are a second chance and hockey romance fan you are going to love this story!
Easton and Caroline have a past and now their past history has come back with surprises for them both.
Caroline has recently lost her husband and finds herself a single mom with twin six year olds but when the DNA test results show they are not related to the only father they have ever known, Caroline has to make a tough decision to tell their real father that he is a dad.
Easton has realized that something has been missing from his life. He wants more than just hockey so when Caroline drops a bombshell of information on him, his life will forever be changed and the void he has felt will finally be filled. He just has to convince Caroline that he wants to be a dad to his children and that he is in this for the long haul. He also has to come clean and tell Caroline that he still has feelings for her so they all can be a family together.
This is definitely one of those heartwarming stories that you won’t want to put down.
So here’s the thing…I did enjoy this second chance but I was missing something…I’m not sure what that something was. Maybe it was that I didn’t quite believe he forgave her for not realising before who their father was Caro was too controling of every aspect of her and her kids life. He was a bit like a bulldozer but that was kinda to be expected when you hear you have kids you didn’t know you had.
Now what I did liked and loved; I liked that they didn’t fall into each others arms right away. I loved that even though the kids took a liking to Easton, when they discovered who he really was they didn’t jump for joy right away. I have to give Caro credit when she finally decided and opened her heart to him.
So I’m giving this -4*.
***Review copy requested and reviewed on behalf of OMGReads Blog***