When Maxine Nicholls discovers her fianc#65533; is cheating, she turns to fast food and nighttime soap operas, but her sister has a plan-unbridled rebound sex with a stranger. As one of Toronto’s hottest players, Antony Laurent tallies scores on and off the ice, but when the chiseled defense man hits a slump, rumors of a trade to the minor league send him to ambush a managers meeting at a posh … club. That night a chance encounter ends up as an unforgettable evening of passion. But Maxine and Antony are about to discover a game of casual hook ups can lead to something neither one of them thought they deserved-the right fit.
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4 Star Review of The Right Fit by Daphne Dubois
Daphne Dubois is a new author to me. The Right Fit is a sports romance and is a sweet love story.
Maxine Nicholls is struggling to come to terms with a cheating fiancé and getting her life back on track.
When her sister suggests rebound sex with a stranger, Maxine has no idea what is in store for her.
Antony Laurent is a Toronto ice hockey player. When an accidentally meeting puts Maxine and Antony together she has no idea who he is. The chemistry between them ignites into a blaze of passion which neither expected.
Will Antony and Maxine take a chance and in turn find that they are indeed The Right Fit?
The Right Fit is a little slow at times but overall is a good read that I enjoyed.
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Where do I even start? I LOVED this book! It was so much fun! And so REAL! Maxine is a big girl, but in a real way, not the way that some books do, where she’s big, but in the scope of the real world, not really that big. And she has the same hang-ups and issues as those of us who are in real life big-girls. Then there’s Antony. Oh I loved him so much! I loved his broken English, I love how much he adored Maxine in all her curviness. (And this might be the book that pushes me into finally getting to a hockey game to check out some hockey players). This was a page turner, I couldn’t put it down! Even as I was sitting in meetings at work now that school is getting ready to start again, I was scrolling page by page on my phone when I was able to, because I had to stay in this story. Sex scenes were very steamy. Probably shouldn’t have read those at work. I loved all the characters. Loved how Maxine’s brother Westley turned out with his issues, and how he handled letting the person he liked know at the end. So much goodness in this story. A highly recommended book for me, and a new author I’ll be hoping to read more by in the future!
Mix of funny and sweet, heat and heartbreak
This is a new to me author, but sport romances, particularly with hockey players, are some of my favorites, and I’m always looking for a new author to stalk.
Anthony was a great character. To start off with, French and Greek? Yum! French speaking hockey player? Yes! Good but flawed man with a tragedy in his past? Sold! Though he did make me want to slap him across the back of his head, Gibbs styles, a few times, lol. Maxine is a cool character as well (with her interest in makeup, using the nail polish names as a sort of fortune cookie was clever) who had issues of her own to deal with. They had nice chemistry together and I liked the character growth they showed over the course of the story.
Lots of interesting secondary characters here, with family members, friends, and, of course, hockey players. I liked the Toronto setting; it made a nice change of pace from the usual suspects. I have to admit the secret keeping made me cringe on more than one occasion–it’s a pet peeve, and made the story drag a bit for me at times.
With the mix of funny and sweet, heat and heartbreak that I love, this was an entertaining read for me–in fact I was hoping this was part of a series. Maybe in the future, fingers crossed. 4 stars
B2B Kelly
This was a charming contemporary romance tale of an unlikely couple falling in love, totally against both their better judgement. Maxine doesn’t want a relationship because of a recent painful break-up that she can’t seem to get past, and Antony has been on a self-imposed sabbatical from sex in hopes to somehow improve his hockey performance.
Maxine is an amazing character who I really admired and enjoyed. EXCEPT for the endless times that she complained about her size and whined about her loser ex-boyfriend, even just to herself. (Seriously, I wanted to jump into the story and throw away the box in the closet myself a few times!) That Antony helped her overcome many of those hang-ups, simply by truly loving and enjoying her, was one of my favorite things about him.
I wasn’t entirely sold on Antony – at first. Just as the author obviously intends, I thought he was simply another lying jerk who comes off as a cheating spouse. His true story, however, was much more complicated than the assumption. That situation certainly made him a much more sympathetic character. Okay, and his sexy accent didn’t hurt either! 😉
The peripheral characters were great! I absolutely loved Stuart, Carmine, and (late in the game) Kayla. All of them were delightful, witty, personable and fun. Max’s siblings were a enjoyable lot too, as were (some of) Antony’s teammates. Marc was a total jerk (albeit understandably so to some extent), who I just wanted to throttle through most of the story. Thankfully, he too finally seemed to get a clue and be a decent guy.
The meet-cute between Maxine and Antony was great! And the way they kept being running into each other (both by accident and design) seemed to bring a bit of kismet to their involvement with each other. That neither of them was looking for anything, but both totally fell in love with the other, was wonderful.
There were a few things that I didn’t like about the story. In addition to Maxine’s whining, I thought the revelation to her of Antony’s status was pretty dumb. Why any rational adult would possibly think that would be the way to explain it to her was beyond me. The couple of other items that irked me (Max’s introduction to Marc, Carmen’s ending) were just plot items that I didn’t personally like, but at least they made sense and contributed to the storyline.
Of course, there was drama and conflict in Maxine & Antony’s lives (some necessary and some decidedly less so) that ultimately invaded their relationship, but thankfully it was resolved in the end and they were allowed their happy ending. This is definitely a book that I recommend as a good, light, romantic read. I even hope there might be some follow-up to the story, possibly by way of tales about other members of their group.
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.
If you follow my reviews, you’ll know I have a particular hatred of using the word NICE to describe a book. But sometimes, it’s the only word my brain will use for a book and I can’t spit any other word out.
So, this is a NICE book. A GOOD book.
Maxine sees Anthony when she’s waiting for a blind date, who turns up but pretends he’s not her date. They *literally* dump into each at a night club, when Maxine was dragged out by her sisters for some rebound sex. Anthony is a professional ice hockey player but Maxine doesn’t have a clue who he is, so when she assumes he’s a mechanic, he runs with it. When She finds out the truth, ALL the truth, can Maxine forgive him? Can she really allow herself to be happy??
This is, from what I can see, the first book by Dubois I’ve read; indeed, I *think* this is her first novel. And for the most part, I did enjoy it. And I’m stuck with that N word a the back of my throat!
I don’t mean this in a negative way, not at all, it’s just I can’t find any other word that projects my feelings bout this book and you all know, I’m all about sharing my book feelings!
I liked the way the story flowed. We don’t get all of Anthony’s history in one go, you get hints and clues, and I put them altogether so wrong. You don’t get all of Maxine’s pain at her break up, the whole story comes in snippets along the way.
Some of the dialogue is amusing, with Anthony’s English not quite up to speed yet, but I liked that he flipped between English and French, and his English is portrayed in a way I remember the French students from school speaking.
So, for the most part, I DID enjoy it, but I can’t get past the *Nice Book* title.
3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 for the blog
**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
This is the first book I have read by Daphne Dubois and it won’t be my last I really enjoyed this sweet funny sports romance and I’m looking forward to reading more from this author.
Anthony is a hockey player that has lost his way his career is not going how it should be and he seems to be trying to please everyone else rather than living his own life.
Maxine thinks she has her life all planned out when she finds her boyfriend with another woman so once again she finds herself unlucky in love. Will her luck change when she hooks up with Anthony and will Maxine become the good luck charm he is desperate for……
For me this book was an inspirational read it covers a girl struggling with her weight and low self esteem and a guy dealing with guilt issues but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a funny read the banter and the secondary characters made this sweet romance a joy to read.
The Right Fit is a sweet story with a little bit of everything. Starring a hockey player and a pin up worthy woman, it starts with insecurity and goes from there. She doesn’t think a man like him could possibly…
But insecurity isn’t the only wrench trying to stop these wheels from turning! Secrets, past traumas, and necessities are trying to wedge them out of the path they are traveling together.
The Right Fit is effortless but love is not.
Reviewed for Sweet Spot Sisterhood