bribreez's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Let me start off by saying, I have always heard and seen videos about Avery Keelan’s hockey books, and I finally got my hands on a copy, yay! As a girlie who knows nothing about sports, it seems like I can’t get enough about reading them, one of my favorites being, hockey romances. This story followed Nash, the star enforcer on his university hockey team, and Violet, Nash’s ex girlfriend, and who just happened to be placed to work with his team as part of her internship. Forced proximity since Nash and Violet had to be around one another, all the hockey galore, of course so much more!
The story started with a prologue which briefly showed a flashback to the night when Violet and Nash met their freshmen year at Lakeside University. Seemed like young love was blooming right before my very eyes with the way that Nash and Violet quickly got along that night… whelp, guess I was wrong because, cut to the first chapter set in their senior year, and it seemed like something happened that resulted in Nash and Violet breaking up, and it wasn’t on the best of terms. With senior year being a big year for Nash and equally for Violet as well, they each had a lot of focus on and work through in order to achieve their goals, they just never thought it would lead to them having to work together in close proximity.
Compared to the prologue which showed when Violet and Nash first met, to the present, things were different, but that didn’t mean their feelings for one another went away. Despite the initial shock and discomfort at being around each other again, it seemed like Nash and Violet still harbored some deep feelings. Obviously, both Nash and Violet were attracted to each other, but they couldn’t help but remember things like they way they were when they were together, from those intimate moments they shared, even how connected they were. I could definitely see the whole protective vibe coming from Nash, and even how he got all alpha over her from making it clear to everyone on the team that Violet was off limits to ensuring she knew that he could handle her in anyway possible.
While reading, I couldn’t help but reminisce of my college days, and how sadly my university didn’t have a hockey team (sigh) oh how I wished I had attended a school with gorgeous hockey players, dang it. This book gave me the chance to escape and immerse myself within Nash and Violet’s story. Not to mention, I was starting to love the other characters as well such as, Vaughn. Something tells me with the little clues and things I read about Vaughn in this book, I have a feeling that if he does end up having his own book, I could imagine the tropes and storyline already! Yay! Anyways as I was saying, I had a good time reading this book, and before I knew it I would catch myself so caught up in the story that when I took a break, I realized, “oh that’s right, I’m still in my room, and not actually in LSU,” haha talk about really getting into the story.
If you want angst, then look no further because with Nash, he delivers on that front. With Nash and Violet being back in each other’s lives, it not only brought back memories from when they were dating, but also fears that Nash had previously. Nash clearly cared deeply about Violet, but through his therapy sessions, it revealed that his toxic relationship with his dad somehow affected how he was in romantic relationship by feeling unworthy of being with Violet, etc. Reading how Nash felt in that he was afraid to lose Violet again, or somehow mess things up with her again made me see Nash in a different light that even behind his confident, cool personality, he felt vulnerable about certain things when it came to himself.
Nash Richard’s literally radiated, “touch her and you die” vibes throughout the book! Talk about a man (fictional one) who couldn’t get enough of his lady love. Nash and Violet’s chemistry was spot on, and I absolutely loved seeing the different sides to Nash especially when it came to Violet. Nash was the perfect ratio of protective, dominant alpha male, to being utterly sweet and romantic like when he recreated the blanket fort for Violet! Um hello, I’m a sucker for thoughtful date night ideas! With Nash and Violet giving their relationship another shot, it opened up the chance to start over, but also relive some happy memories from the first time around. Nash was rough and dominant in the bedroom that left me like, “oh snaps!” Violet and Nash’s bedroom activities weren’t playing around especially considering they had a safe word! OMG! HOT! PHEW! I was very much on board when it came to Violet and Nash’s relationship, and with those cute moments where they communicated their feelings as well as how Nash became gentle with Violet had me going, “AWWW” majority of the time!
Wow this was such an amazing story! I loved both Violet and Nash. With second chance romance, protective alpha male vibes, hockey galore, hot hockey players, and a great friend group, this book had a little bit of everything that I loved. I’m telling you right now, I cannot wait for Vaughn’s story and he’s obviously my favorite aside from Nash and Violet. Towards the ending, it really put things into perspective for Nash and came out of it stronger. Violet and Nash had their share of arguments/ disagreements, but I liked seeing that little bit little their communication got better, especially towards the end. I thought the epilogue was so romantic and heartwarming with Violet and Nash living their best lives, and not to mention Nash finally being in the big leagues of hockey. Definitely would recommend checking this book out if you’re a lover of hockey romances!