A review by kayetaz
Before We Came by Sloane St. James

3.25

3.2 ⭐️ 
Spice: 🌶️🌶️.5/5
Format: ebook

This was a decent read. A hockey romance with an interesting twist. There are some parts I didn’t mesh well with but there were definitely a lot of parts that I loved, and I tip my hat to the author for this being her first book. It was done very well!

I liked the true crime feels of this book. It’s nice to have a little bit of suspense/darkness to go along with a hockey romance. I also loved the flashbacks of Lonan and Birdie when they were kids and talking about marriage and how that came full circle later with the proposal and wedding. Lonan’s mouth was also a great part of the story, love a man who dirty talks.

Some parts of this book weren’t my cup of tea though. One of my favorite things about hockey romances is the relationships between the players. We really didn’t get to see a lot in Lonan’s story. He was mentioned to hang out with them a few times but we didn’t get to see much of the team dynamics. Also I think that Birdie and Lonan getting together the night before she confronts her family was a little much. I think the story would’ve benefited from having just his memories of her from when they were children. It kinda muddied things when they had that first meet up before the big reveal. 

I also think Birdie was written a little all over the place with her feelings, she seemed way too level-headed when it came to figuring out about her abduction and meeting/falling into a routine with her new family but then later was written to be traumatized. I just had trouble following her thought processes.

Overall, a good read with a unique plot. I’m very interested to read more in the series.