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A review by cahdii
Puck Me Secretly by Odette Stone
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Story ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5
Performance ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5
Overall ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 4.5/5
Spice 🌶️🌶️.5 2.5/5
Do not be deceived by this cover or the title. It’s not a rom-comy, spicy hockey romance. The romance, drama and plot twists had me, quiet screaming, jumping up and down, talking out loud to the characters, not caring that I looked like a crazy person. Check the trigger warnings, though.
This is a one-night stand to secret relationship, spicy workplace hockey romance that addresses some heavy topics like sexual abuse and resulting pregnancy, and domestic violence, (not between the couple).
Disclaimer: most of the time, I read to escape reality so my enjoyment of a story is not based on its real-world likeness. I’ve seen some other reviews and if that’s something that’s important to you, you may not like this book.
So Rory and Max are 2 strangers on a plane that survive the plane crashing and the shared experience creates a bond between them. Fast forward to a few days later, Rory has started a new job as second-in-command to the General Manager of an NHL team, who also happens to be her father. It turns out Max is the new star player on her team, who has joined under a cloud of scandal. So it’s obviously in both their best interest (especially his) to keep hidden his brief history with Rory, and leave the past in the past. But that proves to be a lot easier said than done.
Personally, I could tell fairly early on that there’s more to this story than the synopsis and cover imply. There are clearly a lot of secrets swimming around, especially surrounding Max’s past. There’s a lot of friction between Max and his head coach. There’s also friction between Rory and the head coach because no one like nepotism. The GM seems to like and dislike max at the same time. I could see that trouble was brewing. But I was not expecting the level of the drama and chaos that ensued. Some plot twists were predictable, but the execution made it exciting. While I consider this an easy read, the writer get’s you invested in the characters, so be prepared to get emotional over their struggles.
I love how other elements of the story feature strongly. A lot of the time, in romance books, there’ll be a subplot that’s only there to prop up the main romance plot, but I feel like if you took the romance out of this book, it could still be a really good story. I like how all the side characters had their storylines tied up nicely at the end, the writer didn’t just drop them after the main couple got their happily ever after. I particularly like the character development of one the side characters, who goes from being a nuisance Rory is forced to tolerate, to an actual friend. I gave the story 4 stars, because i think the ending was a bit underdeveloped. the conflict got resolved a little too easily.
This isn’t a super spicy book. There’s a lot of sexual tension and steamy scenes, but most of them fade to black. There are 3 explicit scenes in this book, with different levels of description.
And I have to talk about the narration. This book is written in first person single POV. Madeleine Dauer does an amazing job of acting out so many male voices. It was clear who was talking, when, and the different voices suited the different characters. Her performance was top notch.
This is book one of four in the Vancouver Wolves Hockey series and the first 3 are included in the Audible Plus Catalogue. This is a good book for you if you like slow-burn romance, a dirty talking MMC, spice, humour and angst, with some heavier themes thrown in.
Performance ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5
Overall ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 4.5/5
Spice 🌶️🌶️.5 2.5/5
Do not be deceived by this cover or the title. It’s not a rom-comy, spicy hockey romance. The romance, drama and plot twists had me, quiet screaming, jumping up and down, talking out loud to the characters, not caring that I looked like a crazy person. Check the trigger warnings, though.
This is a one-night stand to secret relationship, spicy workplace hockey romance that addresses some heavy topics like sexual abuse and resulting pregnancy, and domestic violence, (not between the couple).
Disclaimer: most of the time, I read to escape reality so my enjoyment of a story is not based on its real-world likeness. I’ve seen some other reviews and if that’s something that’s important to you, you may not like this book.
So Rory and Max are 2 strangers on a plane that survive the plane crashing and the shared experience creates a bond between them. Fast forward to a few days later, Rory has started a new job as second-in-command to the General Manager of an NHL team, who also happens to be her father. It turns out Max is the new star player on her team, who has joined under a cloud of scandal. So it’s obviously in both their best interest (especially his) to keep hidden his brief history with Rory, and leave the past in the past. But that proves to be a lot easier said than done.
Personally, I could tell fairly early on that there’s more to this story than the synopsis and cover imply. There are clearly a lot of secrets swimming around, especially surrounding Max’s past. There’s a lot of friction between Max and his head coach. There’s also friction between Rory and the head coach because no one like nepotism. The GM seems to like and dislike max at the same time. I could see that trouble was brewing. But I was not expecting the level of the drama and chaos that ensued. Some plot twists were predictable, but the execution made it exciting. While I consider this an easy read, the writer get’s you invested in the characters, so be prepared to get emotional over their struggles.
I love how other elements of the story feature strongly. A lot of the time, in romance books, there’ll be a subplot that’s only there to prop up the main romance plot, but I feel like if you took the romance out of this book, it could still be a really good story. I like how all the side characters had their storylines tied up nicely at the end, the writer didn’t just drop them after the main couple got their happily ever after. I particularly like the character development of one the side characters, who goes from being a nuisance Rory is forced to tolerate, to an actual friend. I gave the story 4 stars, because i think the ending was a bit underdeveloped. the conflict got resolved a little too easily.
This isn’t a super spicy book. There’s a lot of sexual tension and steamy scenes, but most of them fade to black. There are 3 explicit scenes in this book, with different levels of description.
And I have to talk about the narration. This book is written in first person single POV. Madeleine Dauer does an amazing job of acting out so many male voices. It was clear who was talking, when, and the different voices suited the different characters. Her performance was top notch.
This is book one of four in the Vancouver Wolves Hockey series and the first 3 are included in the Audible Plus Catalogue. This is a good book for you if you like slow-burn romance, a dirty talking MMC, spice, humour and angst, with some heavier themes thrown in.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault
Minor: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Pregnancy