Official Synopsis: Cut from the US women’s hockey team right before her third chance at gold, Natalie Carpenter is scrambling for a plan that’ll help her avoid moving back home. The answer: a guest-hosting gig on Wake Up, USA’s winter games coverage. Her cohost: Darcy LaCroix, Nat’s ex-girlfriend, one-time college teammate turned adversary.
Since leaving Team Canada, Darcy has worked hard to make a name in broadcasting. If her big break requires sharing screen time with the former cocky freshman who turned her world upside down, so be it. At this point, there’s nothing between them except history.
But audiences disagree. #PuckingHotties is trending hard, and Nat and Darcy agree to lean into it—for ratings, obviously. It’s not like Nat can forget the way Darcy broke her heart or their bitter team rivalry.
Between working, traveling together and that irresistible spark, it’s getting hard to separate what’s real and what’s for the camera. Because somewhere underneath everything that went wrong is the sneaking suspicion that nothing will ever feel quite this right again.
There were parts of this book I really enjoyed. I loved the focus on women's sports, and having women's sports be their own thing away from the umbrella of men's sports Darcy suffers from constantly being told her father was a great hockey player, when she was great in her own right. As the story goes on she starts to stand up for herself, and her accomplishments, more.
The story has a second chance romance trope, that I also really liked. One of my issues with the story though stems from this. Natalie, who was definitely hurt in the past by Darcy, doesn't express how much the past still hurts her, meaning there are a lot of times she is acting out or not explaining why she is upset. One of my biggest pet peeves is no communication, and I think this story had moments of it that could have been solved pretty easily. Darcy and Natalie are both in need of a good sit down talk and maybe even therapy, but there were a few times in the plot where I wished the conversation would have happened instead of just 'walking away'.
Another aspect I enjoyed was the 'trying' the other sports in the Olympics. Darcy and Natalie are both sent to test their skills and compete against each other, which helps them realize their chemistry never died. As they go through each of the sports for the segments I thought it was really fun, especially having them try a very different position in hockey.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, and having a queer/lesbian hockey romance is fantastic.
I rated this book 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Wake Up, Nat and Darcy came out November 14, 2024!
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