bookwormbetty's review against another edition
4.0
Such a good book. Reed is the story of opposites attract. Josie is a doctor, and Reed is a hockey player. They shouldn't match up, but they do in this wonderful tale of lust, love, humor, self doubt, insecurities, and sexy times. Reed proves that underneath confidence some people have, there is always room for self doubt. Told in dual pov.
koalathebear's review
1.0
I have read quite a few of the novels by this author and some were very, very entertaining. This one was not.
I think what made me most uncomfortable is that frequently you have to suspend disbelief and put your reality hat down when reading a book -- and when the book is well-written, that's much easy to do.
The way women other than the female main character Josie and those in her cohort were characterised made me wince a lot. Based on the way she's written, Josie's well-educated, an emergency doctor and like all heroines in this genre is 10 out of 10 hot in terms of perfection in beauty and physical attractiveness. She's desperate to have sex with the main male character and does a lot - I skipped through their sex scenes because I found the book a bit gross but wanted to know how it ended.
The author writes very disparagingly of 'Barbie Dolls' and Puck Bunnies - these are equally attractive women who also want to have sex with the main male character, but as is a very common trope in romance novels, these equally physically attractive and lustful women are written as inferior - they are dumb, coarse, oversexed and cheap. They're usually written as nasty and bitchy, although one of the Barbies named Kiki is at least written as nice albeit dim-witted and the butt of jokes / mockery from Josie and Reed. I can usually sort of ignore this overused trope ... but in this novel, I found it somewhat distasteful/revolting that one of their bonding moments was actually a mean girl moment in which they made fun of and looked down at Reed's date Kiki without her knowing it, simply because they were both apparently Kiki's intellectual superior ...
Josie herself is full of contempt for the Barbies and Puck bunnies and refers to them as Barbies to their face - including once by accident to someone who is Reed's sports agent (calls her "Business Barbie"). This for some reason is considered ok, even though I would characterise this as being rude, hurtful and disparaging to others. The first time she does it, she says it to Reed's date/one night stand - calling her 'Screaming Barbie' and even though the woman calls this out as rude, both Reed and Josie shrug this off because they're too busy eyef*cking one another to care that Josie's just disparaged Reed's companion.
Reed himself follows the classic sports romance 'hero' - rich, oversexed and well-muscled. Think of a giant, muscley penis with lots of cash. The sports romance hero has to a certain extent assumed the mantle of the Alpha male hero from the old bodice ripping days, now that such bodice ripping is not politically correct anymore. I find it kind of disgusting that like many sports heroes, particularly hockey heroes, he treats the majority of women with complete and utter contempt. It's always supposed to be 'romantic' and wonderful and heartwarming that such heroes treat most women with contempt and as nothing but a convenient sleeve for their penis and the only women exempt from such contempt are relatives (mothers, sisters), friends of team mates (some of which are elevated to being tantalisingl off limits eg coach's daughter, team-mate's little sister etc) and the female main character herself.
Somehow we are supposed to applaud and respect the hero for being a complete sexist douchebag to the majority of the female population except to the woman who is the One because Josie is so Special and he wants to Spend Time With Her and Not Just F*ck her etc etc ... This is such a common trope and the redemption and reformation of a rake is much easier to accept and handwave when the heroine herself does not treat other women with such blistering contempt ...
I think what also reinforced my discomfort with their attitudes of superiority and contempt for others was this was the line: "Both of us are from fairly affluent families. My dad's a doctor, his is a lawyer. I have a sister, he has a brother but our extended families are swollen with aunts, uncles, cousins and babies galore." It's almost like the author is just reinforcing what classist snobs her characters are and on the basis of what? Josie may be a well-educated doctor but she's nasty and snobby. Reed may be rich and successful as a hockey player, but he is the modern equivalent of a gladiator whose job is to use and risk his body and physicality for the entertainment of the masses.
I read romance for fun and for escapism and usually escapism means that the main characters are unrealistically nicer/better than the average person .. out of the many problems with this novel is that the two main characters honestly came across as being not particularly admirable or even nice human beings ...
I think what made me most uncomfortable is that frequently you have to suspend disbelief and put your reality hat down when reading a book -- and when the book is well-written, that's much easy to do.
The way women other than the female main character Josie and those in her cohort were characterised made me wince a lot. Based on the way she's written, Josie's well-educated, an emergency doctor and like all heroines in this genre is 10 out of 10 hot in terms of perfection in beauty and physical attractiveness. She's desperate to have sex with the main male character and does a lot - I skipped through their sex scenes because I found the book a bit gross but wanted to know how it ended.
The author writes very disparagingly of 'Barbie Dolls' and Puck Bunnies - these are equally attractive women who also want to have sex with the main male character, but as is a very common trope in romance novels, these equally physically attractive and lustful women are written as inferior - they are dumb, coarse, oversexed and cheap. They're usually written as nasty and bitchy, although one of the Barbies named Kiki is at least written as nice albeit dim-witted and the butt of jokes / mockery from Josie and Reed. I can usually sort of ignore this overused trope ... but in this novel, I found it somewhat distasteful/revolting that one of their bonding moments was actually a mean girl moment in which they made fun of and looked down at Reed's date Kiki without her knowing it, simply because they were both apparently Kiki's intellectual superior ...
Josie herself is full of contempt for the Barbies and Puck bunnies and refers to them as Barbies to their face - including once by accident to someone who is Reed's sports agent (calls her "Business Barbie"). This for some reason is considered ok, even though I would characterise this as being rude, hurtful and disparaging to others. The first time she does it, she says it to Reed's date/one night stand - calling her 'Screaming Barbie' and even though the woman calls this out as rude, both Reed and Josie shrug this off because they're too busy eyef*cking one another to care that Josie's just disparaged Reed's companion.
Reed himself follows the classic sports romance 'hero' - rich, oversexed and well-muscled. Think of a giant, muscley penis with lots of cash. The sports romance hero has to a certain extent assumed the mantle of the Alpha male hero from the old bodice ripping days, now that such bodice ripping is not politically correct anymore. I find it kind of disgusting that like many sports heroes, particularly hockey heroes, he treats the majority of women with complete and utter contempt. It's always supposed to be 'romantic' and wonderful and heartwarming that such heroes treat most women with contempt and as nothing but a convenient sleeve for their penis and the only women exempt from such contempt are relatives (mothers, sisters), friends of team mates (some of which are elevated to being tantalisingl off limits eg coach's daughter, team-mate's little sister etc) and the female main character herself.
Somehow we are supposed to applaud and respect the hero for being a complete sexist douchebag to the majority of the female population except to the woman who is the One because Josie is so Special and he wants to Spend Time With Her and Not Just F*ck her etc etc ... This is such a common trope and the redemption and reformation of a rake is much easier to accept and handwave when the heroine herself does not treat other women with such blistering contempt ...
I think what also reinforced my discomfort with their attitudes of superiority and contempt for others was this was the line: "Both of us are from fairly affluent families. My dad's a doctor, his is a lawyer. I have a sister, he has a brother but our extended families are swollen with aunts, uncles, cousins and babies galore." It's almost like the author is just reinforcing what classist snobs her characters are and on the basis of what? Josie may be a well-educated doctor but she's nasty and snobby. Reed may be rich and successful as a hockey player, but he is the modern equivalent of a gladiator whose job is to use and risk his body and physicality for the entertainment of the masses.
I read romance for fun and for escapism and usually escapism means that the main characters are unrealistically nicer/better than the average person .. out of the many problems with this novel is that the two main characters honestly came across as being not particularly admirable or even nice human beings ...
marreadsbooks22's review
3.0
3 stars
what the hell happened to this series? this was one of my favourite ones and since a few books back the books has been boring or plotless or the same book with different characters! Like I like this one but if you tell me Reed was a lawyer instead of a on NHL player it wouldn't be a huge change for the plot. Also what a weaka** "villain"
TBH I was more interested in Marek's plot rather than Josie and Reed's.
This was good but not amazing.
what the hell happened to this series? this was one of my favourite ones and since a few books back the books has been boring or plotless or the same book with different characters! Like I like this one but if you tell me Reed was a lawyer instead of a on NHL player it wouldn't be a huge change for the plot. Also what a weaka** "villain"
TBH I was more interested in Marek's plot rather than Josie and Reed's.
This was good but not amazing.
reading_with_2_book_lovers's review
4.0
This is the 10th book in the cold fury series but it can be read as a standalone,
oh read how I love him, it's off season and reed is after some different action so he sets out to find a "barbie" lookalike according to Josie to be with.
I loved Josie and reed so much they make me swoon, laugh and cry all at once.
I volunteered to read a copy of this book
oh read how I love him, it's off season and reed is after some different action so he sets out to find a "barbie" lookalike according to Josie to be with.
I loved Josie and reed so much they make me swoon, laugh and cry all at once.
I volunteered to read a copy of this book
what_alice_saw's review
4.0
Scribd
A solid romance. Friends, courtship, sexy times and a big, fat HEA. I loved the main characters. They were fleshed out & you really end up loving them. There was a third character, but it was never set up as a love triangle. I don’t love the triangles, so I was happy.
Really, this book was great. The characters were good people (except Marek). You would want to hang out with them & be friends with them.
A solid romance. Friends, courtship, sexy times and a big, fat HEA. I loved the main characters. They were fleshed out & you really end up loving them. There was a third character, but it was never set up as a love triangle. I don’t love the triangles, so I was happy.
Really, this book was great. The characters were good people (except Marek). You would want to hang out with them & be friends with them.
litloulou's review
4.0
4 Stars
So. I love this series. The first few books were soooo good. I was hooked right away. There have been a few rocky ones, but I persevere (because it is so tough ;). I liked this one a lot but it wasn’t love. The characters were good, I liked how they met. Just like EVERY other cold fury player, Reed likes no commitment girls... until Josie. This book seemed to have a few tiny conflicts, but nothin very big to disrupt either the relationship or the plot. I felt like it could have used a bit of a mix up. I also felt frustrated that even after Some family details were shared about Josie, we really didn’t get a good discussion of her background and a good sense of her. It was like this book was too pleasant. I love the low angst, but the low conflict didn’t do it for me (gonna take this over angst any day tho). I don’t get why the men in this series talk so much about their relationships with each other. I am not a man, but I just don’t always buy it.
Overall cute Reed. ;) see what I did there. Nothing amazing but a fun read anyways.
So. I love this series. The first few books were soooo good. I was hooked right away. There have been a few rocky ones, but I persevere (because it is so tough ;). I liked this one a lot but it wasn’t love. The characters were good, I liked how they met. Just like EVERY other cold fury player, Reed likes no commitment girls... until Josie. This book seemed to have a few tiny conflicts, but nothin very big to disrupt either the relationship or the plot. I felt like it could have used a bit of a mix up. I also felt frustrated that even after Some family details were shared about Josie, we really didn’t get a good discussion of her background and a good sense of her. It was like this book was too pleasant. I love the low angst, but the low conflict didn’t do it for me (gonna take this over angst any day tho). I don’t get why the men in this series talk so much about their relationships with each other. I am not a man, but I just don’t always buy it.
Overall cute Reed. ;) see what I did there. Nothing amazing but a fun read anyways.
ama_reads's review
3.0
Would have been a 4 star but something was lacking. This is a shorter book - less than 200 pages. While the chemistry between Reed and Josie was great, the overall story just needed more substance.