We get introduced to Rachel’s best friend, Tess, in the very beginning of Pucking Around. I could tell just from that first chapter that Tess was going to be a main character later on, even though we barely get mention of her throughout the entirety of the first book. This story started off right where Pucking Around ended.
Tess is having a cute moment with Ray’s forward Ryan, dancing, flirting, conversing with a comfortable banter. They have explosive chemistry, despite their age difference, vastly contrasting lifestyles, and the ban Rachel has put in place forbidding Tess from hooking up with any of the hockey guys. Oh, and on top of that Tess is married, albeit separated from her husband, and has sworn off men and serious relationships. Tess doesn’t need or want another complicated relationship right now, but Ryan wants her badly and he will do anything and everything to make her his.
There was a lot of drama in this novel, a very different sort than what we saw in Pucking Around. Rachel thought she was getting too much of a good thing, Tess doesn’t think she deserves anyone that wants to be good to her. Rachel shies away from relationships because of her celebrity connections, Tess doesn’t want a relationship because the last one she had resulted in her being legally bound to a cheating, abusive spouse. The tension in Pucking Around makes you gleefully anticipate what is going to happen next. In this story, you feel tense and anxious as you turn the pages, wondering how much more of the story involves the situation getting worse before it gets better. I did have anxiety as I was reading some of the chapters when it seemed that things were going to turn out badly, all of them involving confrontations or ultimatums between Tess and her ex husband. The man seemed to possess every terrible quality a human could have, he was narcissistic, arrogant, entitled, cruel, threatening, and smug, and I could go on. I don’t understand how a person as bubbly as Tess got involved with him to begin with.
If you don’t mind being a little frustrated and a little worried, but hopeful as you root for the good guy, this is the perfect romance for you. And it’s just the start of this series. This is only novel two of what looks like is going to be at least a five part series, full of supplemental reads in the forms of novellas and short stories. This author is in the process of creating what I expect to be a much loved fictional universe.
Nonfiction and Nonsense 