A second chance may be just what James Steele needs… I might be one of the older players on the Arizona Vengeance, but I like to think that also makes me one of the wisest. Or at least I used to.Turns out, I’ve been a bit selfish. I’ve been married to hockey and my team for years, which hasn’t left much time for my actual wife, Ella. Now I’m juggling a separation I never wanted, the pressure of … of being a single dad to our teenage daughter, and the career I sacrificed it all for. While my game on the ice might be on fire, the game in my personal life is clearly lacking, as evidenced by the fact I just saw my wife on a date with another man. If I have any hope of saving the family I love, I need to re-prioritize, and fast. So it’s time for me to get back to fundamentals, just like I did when I learned how to play hockey. I’ve never backed down from a challenge, and romancing my wife is a challenge I am very much looking forward to. Time to put on my game face, because I’m in it to win it.
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I could not put this book down!! Once I started, I didn’t stop…it’s THAT good!
Steele and Ella were a phenomenal couple! Lucy was absolutely adorable! I loved how they always put her as number 1 and did all they could to co-parent.
I am dying to get my hands on Riggs. I want to know what his problem is.
This is one of my favorites. I think because they are married/separated and he realizes “this is real unless something changes”. We saw him stalking her in Kane’s book. So once he gets a eye opening he decides to win back his wife. I love how honest they are with each other. No backstabbing and trash talking. It’s refreshing. Then the stuff he does to make her love him again is so nice and romantic. I think my favorite line is when he is talking to his daughter. Saying
“if your man isn’t making you happy every day kick him to the curb like your mom did me. You deserve to be happy”
Then he started to make the changes to get her back.
We also get to see a lot of the boys and their wives/girlfriends now. That girl time that Ella gets is priceless. Women can be supportive of each other!
I did listen to this on audio. Jill Redfield and Brian Pallino both do an amazing job!
I look forward to Jett..I think his is next.
Steele and wife Ella separated months ago. Jim had become complacent in his marriage. He didn’t even realize there was a problem until she asked him to move out. Now things have changed. Steele sees Ella out on a date and he becomes overwhelming jealous. Now he has to find a way to show her he deserves a second chance. Steele will do whatever he can to prove that he is still madly in love with his wife.
This 9th book in Sawyer Bennett’s amazing Arizona Vengeance series doesn’t disappoint.
Jim Steele is one of the older players on the Vengeance, and he’s spent a lifetime making hockey his top priority – even over his wife and daughter. Ella, his wife, after years of fighting for Jim’s attention, decides to make a clean break and asks him for a divorce.
It’s clear from the very start that Jim and Ella never stopped loving each other, Jim just needed a kick in the butt to help him realize where his top priorities should be – and at the top of the list should be Ella and their daughter, Lucy. Not hockey.
They are separated for a couple of months when Jim runs into Ella on a date with a new man. Right then and there he decides he’s going to win her back. It takes some time, but Jim really does figure out where his priorities are, and he genuinely works to earn back Ella’s trust. He also works really hard to earn back the trust of their teenaged daughter.
We get updates on lots of the other Vengeance players and their respective wives, and it’s fun to see how their lives are all progressing.
Steele is a sweet second-chance romance that will bring a smile to your face. A great addition to the Vengeance series.
4.25 stars—STEELE is the ninth instalment in Sawyer Bennett’s contemporary, adult ARIZONA VENGEANCE erotic, hockey romance series focusing on the members of the NHL’s Arizona Vengeance hockey team. This is Arizona Vengeance defenseman James Steele, and his wife, graphic designer Ella’s second chance story line. STEELE can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.
NOTE: Some of the events of STEELE cross over with, and run parallel to the events in book eight KANE.
Told from dual first person perspectives (James and Ella) STEELE follows the rebuilding romance and relationship between Arizona Vengeance defenseman James Steele, and his wife Ella Steel. Five months earlier James Steele was taken by surprise when his wife Ella,the woman he loved, asked him to move out of the family home. Having no idea what had happened or why, Steele is floored when Ella tells him she feels taken for granted, and she and their daughter Lucy are no longer a priority for the husband and father he is supposed to be. Hoping to woo back his wife, James sets into motion a plan to seduce the woman he loves in an effort to make whole the family he destroyed. What ensues is the rekindling romance and relationship between James and Ella,and the potential fall-out as the game of hockey , once again, takes center stage.
The relationship between James and Ella is one of second chances. For years Ella no longer felt she was a high priority in her husband’s life, and the game of hockey took up all of his time. Missing his daughter’s recitals, and school events were the final straw, and Ella made a decision to move on without the man that she loved. James Steele struggled in the five months he was separated from his family, even resorting to stalking the woman that called to his heart. Proving himself worthy, James would have to seduce Ella, in an effort, to put his family back together, again. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and intense, without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including most of the previous story line couples, couples of which , using our story line heroine, the reader gets a refresher about the who’s who on the Arizona Vengeance.
STEELE is a story of family and relationships, friendships and love. The premise is heart warming and engaging; the romance is seductive and captivating; the characters are energetic and determined.
What can I say, this series just keeps getting better and better, and that is a lot to say, because this series started out phenomenal! Steele is the 9th book in Sawyer Bennett’s Arizona Vengeance series. I started reading it as soon as it hit my Kindle, and I could not put it down.
I REALLY loved reading Ella and Jim’s story. You could just feel the love between the two of them. I really enjoyed watching Jim go thru all the steps to win his wife’s and daughter’s love and trust back. Seeing them start to lose hope of being a family, killed me, but watching the hope in them start to blossom…. SIGH. Sorry Ladies, I will not give anything in the story away. I am so glad Jim received the kick in the pants when Ella started dating someone else! He finally woke up to the realization that he may lose his wife for good, the dumbash!!!
I really LOVED this book, and I loved the story of Ella and Jim. But, and yes, I have a “but”, and this “but” goes to ANY story and/or real-life reason for this type story, a person’s family should come above the job, i.e.: hanging out with the co-workers for fun, before the family. And, yes, I understand the occasional work emergency. I cannot even imagine what the “hockey” or any sports or entertainment spouses go thru, the separations for weeks at a time. It has got to be hard! Kudos to all of you!
I was gifted with this book for my reading pleasure, and for my opinions about the book. For this, I am eternally thankful.
Ms. Bennett, I wish to thank you, personally, for sharing your wonderful talents with your readers, especially now, during these times of covid. Thank you for letting me take my mind off all the problems I/we are all sharing currently. God Bless all of you, stay safe and healthy.
Thank you for reading my review. You, yes you! What are you waiting for, go hit that purchase button at your favorite retailer, and start reading this wonderful book!!!
EEK, I just heard that there is an audio version coming out soon. YES!!!
Read: 12/9/2020
Steele was the ninth book in the Arizona Vengeance series by Sawyer Bennett. It can easily be read as a stand-alone but even better in order of the series.
Steele was a veteran hockey player with the NHL team, the Arizona Vengeance. We learned in previous books that he was separated from his wife, Ella, but still very much in love with her. The storyline picked up as slightly a crossover from the previous book, Kane.
I loved how Bennett set the stage in the first few chapters. It was purely from Steele’s POV and focused on the realization of how he messed up over the years. Ella was his wife, who he was now separated from, and Lucy was their thirteen year old daughter, who also had a vital part in the storyline. Ella and Steele had been together since high school and he loved her deeply but he hadn’t realized how much he had neglected their family and put them solely behind his hockey career – every. single. time. It was also his realization that he not only had to win his wife back, but his daughter back as well. And it wasn’t an easy road. He messed up and he had messed up big and on too many occasions. All trust was lost so he was starting over.
Bennett took us through a journey. I appreciated that she didn’t have either one of them cave and give in immediately nor did they make it all about sex. Bennett took us through real discussions with real challenges. I could even imagine this scenario having played out many times in the life of a professional athlete and their family. The struggles were raw, real and believable. My review couldn’t possibly do it justice without spoilers, but it was definitely a worthy read.
In all, I love all of Bennett’s books, especially her hockey series; however, this was one of my favorites. Maybe because it was a second chance for life and it was so hard fought and real. Regardless, I loved every moment.
Bennett knows how to get under your skin. Amidst the alpha wannabes and the bad boy resides the reformed heartthrob that’s still a work in progress. Steele is the perfect blend of bad boy heartthrob and family man with a few alpha tendencies. Far from perfect yet hard to resist this work in progress is about to let his alpha side show. When love is on the line all bets are off. Sexy finds a sense of humor and gets in touch with it’s sensitive side.
Steele is another great Sawyer Bennett book, telling the very real story of long time love going sour and a second chance romance. Steele is a great hockey player, seasoned, working hard over the years, and showing loyalty and dedication. Steele also has a wife and daughter, who are very important in his life, but has unfortunately taken a bit of a backseat to his career. His wife, Ella, has been with him since the dawn of time, so she was excited for their future together, understood what she was signing on for as his wife, the commitment, the time away, etc. But at some point, her dues had been paid, and Steele didn’t get the memo. He thought because he was a good provider, that that equaled a good husband/father. Ella was tired of carrying the weight and tells Steele to move out, meanwhile Steele doesn’t understand where he went wrong. Without throwing to much more of the story out there, Steele’s relationship with his daughter is circling the drain and his wife is already dating… he needs to make changes and show the women in his life how much they mean to him or is it too late…? This is a good story, with a few details us married folk can relate too! Definitely worth the download and getting to know another player from the Arizona Vengeance.
James Steele is in fix it mode since his wife Ella has left him and started trying dating again. He has put his career first for years over her and their daughter and she has had enough! Now he is scrambling to try and win her back before its too late. I enjoyed this cute second chance story. While not my favorite of the series it was still a good read!
I don’t read many books where the 2 main characters are already married to each other but I must say this was an incredibly touching and well written book. The issues that Jim and Ella are experiencing are very believable and I can see this really being someone’s life. Can’t wait for more!!
5 Stars
Steele by Sawyer Bennett is the ninth book in the Arizona Vengeance series. Even though it is part of a series, it can be read as a stand-alone.
All I can say is WOW! You would think, after nine books in a series, it would get stale-but let me just say, that this was my absolute FAVORITE by far. This book was so sweet and completely unputdownable.
Steele and Ella were two fantastic characters. Steele has his work cut out for him while trying to get his second chance. Will Ella give it to him?
Ms.Bennett has written a series that continues to get better and better! I am a huge sucker for second chance romances and I have to say that I truly loved it. Fabulous writing, amazing characters, and a crazy good storyline made for a story that I highly recommend reading!
All Ella Steele wanted, was to be seen. After years of settling for second best, Ella asks Jim to move out. As far as she’s concerned, the separation is one step closer to divorce. They share a child together, a lot of happy memories, and their chemistry is off the charts….but that’s no longer enough. Ella feels “invisible”. While she knows Jim’s job is important to him, she wants to come first every once in awhile. In an effort to move on with her life, Ella starts dating “Mr. Ordinary”.
Jim Steele dreamed of making it big as a NHL hockey player. He’s made a good life playing professional hockey, but somewhere along the way he lost what was truly important to him—his wife. It’s not until Jim sees her moving on with her life by dating “Mr. Ordinary”, that he realizes he may have lost what mattered the most to him. In efforts to win Ella back, Jim does a lot of soul searching and realizes just how selfish and neglectful he’s been over the last several years. He also realizes that Ella tried to tell him how unhappy she was, but he just wasn’t listening. So, he comes up with a plan to win back the love of his life.
While this wasn’t the most suspenseful book in the series, it was a great second chance read. I loved how Ella didn’t just give in and actually made Jim work at fixing their marriage. Marriage is hard! I liked how neither spoke badly about the other in front of their daughter. I also liked how they didn’t make her choose sides. I enjoyed the glimpses into their past and Jim’s work into bringing the romance back in their marriage. Mistakes were made, but nothing that wasn’t fixable. Awesome story! I read a gifted copy and all opinions stated are my own.
I knew I was going to love this one but who would have thought I was going to fall for Jim so hard! He took me down and there is no going back! He wanted his wife back and that was all there was to it. Mr Ordinary had better get out of the way because Hockey God was coming back to take what was his! This one was sweet and sexy and so good it had my teeth hurting it was so ooey gooey perfect. This one can be read as a standalone as all of this series can but really why would you want to because this series is so amazing! Just as the Cold Fury was great the Arizona Vengeance is outstanding and you will not want to miss even one of them!
Finally getting Steele’s story and it was so worth the wait! As I read the previous books in this series, we saw the fallout between Steele and his wife Ella. The separation between them really became Ella’s breaking point, and we see that she really struggled with the decision and it took years of consistency on Steele’s part to cause her to make the decision. But when she decides to start dating again, it’s what kick starts Steele to make the changes and work hard to get his wife back. This book was so different from the typical read that I find myself reading because this couple already had their HEA and they’re finding their way back to that in this one. I loved getting to know both Steele and Ella as well as their relationship before and how things changed for them but also how they are moving forward. The book was so comical with input from Steele’s teammates as well as their daughter Lucy, and I found myself really rooting for this couple the entire time. I love this series from Sawyer and I can’t wait for the next player to fall!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
I LOVE all things Sawyer Bennett and the Arizona Vengeance are one of my favorite hockey series. Each book is as good as the last one!
Jim and Emma are high school sweethearts. They got married and had a daughter but somewhere along the way, Emma wasn’t feeling as treasured as she should. When your free time is spent away from your family, it takes a toll. Emma does one of the hardest things of her life and splits from Jim. She’s out there seeing someone else when Jim finally wakes up and realizes that he loves Emma and doesn’t want to lose her.
This book gave me all the warm and fuzzy feels! You can see where Emma’s coming from but you can’t help but route for Jim! I was devastated when things started to go awry in his effort to win Emma back but luckily Steel is determined and not willing to stop at anything to get her back, even if it means leaving hockey. An awesome second chance read!
I am a sucka for a second chance at romance!
Steele & Ella have lost a bit of the magic in their marriage, but Steele is working overtime to try to repair the damage before it’s too late.
Like most men it took him a hot min to fully understand there was an issue, but I have all the faith in him!
It only took Ella to start dating again to give him the kick in the pants he needed, but never the less he is trying…and trying hard.
I adore this story!
I loved this book! Part of the author’s popular Arizona vengeance series, it tells the story of Pro hockey player Jim and his wife Ella. Jim, or Steele as he’s known on the team, are separated. Jim still loves his wife and wants her back. Ella still mostly loves Jim but she doesn’t like him much.
This is a pretty classic story of a long-term marriage that becomes comfortable for one partner and lackluster for the other. Ella feels like she always takes second place to Jim’s hockey career. Jim sees his hockey career as the means by which he gives Ella the life they have. They’re both right but it still doesn’t make for a happy marriage.
I love a good Second Chance Romance and this was definitely one. Ella stand strong to get what she feels she needs. Jim learns to see things from her point of view and realizes he can’t be complacent.
I like that the author had both parties come to a realization about what was important in their marriage and what they both needed to work for. I felt like Miss Bennett did a great job of showing how being rich and famous doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t fall victim to the same problems that every day families endure.
As always in a book that’s part of a series, it’s fun to see the prior characters and how their lives are turning out. Another necessity is a teaser about a future book and romance. The one in this book looks pretty good!
Fist you can’t go wrong with this author! Second second chance romance…yes please! Put the two together and you have a guaranteed fabulous read.
We are back with the Vengeance and now it’s Steele’s turn. His marriage is on the rocks. His wife has asked him to leave. He’s put hockey and his desires first for way to long.
It’s an eye opener for Steele. He takes stock and realizes where he’s gone wrong and that he still loves his wife. Enough so he’s bound and determined to win her back.
I enjoyed every moment of this couples road to self discovery even after many years of marriage. It shows that in the end true love will persevere.
Ella and Jim provided a different take on a second chance romance. I don’t typically read second chances for a couple that’s married. This book hit very close to home and I was able to identify with several of the issues Ella and Jim dealt with (sadly not the pro hockey salary, oh well!). It was great to see Jim owning up to his shortcomings while he tried to win Ella back. Definitely a different type of read for me, but thoroughly enjoyable!