Sara Jenkins, a math geek and hockey fanatic, is thrilled when the NHL hires her as an advisor for the Buffalo Storm. She gets to marry her two loves in this perfect job.
Sebastian St. Amant is a young hockey player looking to make the jump from the minors to the big leagues. His lifelong dream is within reach, but he needs to convince the Storm’s management and coaches he’s ready.
When Sara and Sebastian meet, sparks immediately fly. Both want to succeed, but neither can ignore the growing attraction and a relationship is out of the question—Sara’s an influential staff member and Sebastian’s a player, not to mention over ten years her junior.
But the impossible becomes the necessary when they can no longer fight their attraction. As everything crashes around them, the strength of their relationship is tested. Will it weather the storm, or should they have known better?
It’s no secret I’m a fan of Cassandra Carr’s work. I love her Cowboys but I have to say that her NHL players give them a run for their money. This one felt a little different to the others as it wasn’t a classic erotic romance but more of a romance with steamy elements. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole concept of it and it kept me engaged from the contents page to the back cover.
I have a few tropes in romance which I adore no matter what. The Geek romance is one of these but I’ll admit that I have never read one this way round. Sara was the Math geek hired by the NHL team to give them an edge. The theory was that maths could be used to give them the edge over other teams. It was a novel idea that led to some truly laugh out loud moments; the scene where she got out her protractor to check if the Goalie was “level” truly amused me and I found myself endeared by her. Of course, jocks and geeks have never truly got on and so Sara has to truly work her butt of to be accepted by the team and have her research taken seriously. In this capacity, I actually really liked her. In her relationship with Sebastian, there were times I wanted to punch her.
Sebastian is a younger man who has worked his socks off to get his dream. Although he has earned his dues, Sara consistently uses his age as a barrier to their relationship but he wouldn’t be deterred. I liked his determination to get what he wants, his refusal to listen to all her ridiculous excuses about why they shouldn’t act on their attraction to each other. She, however, hacked me off no end. She kept throwing barriers at him with one hand and grabbing him close with the other; the poor bloke didn’t know which way was up by the time they got together. The baggage in her past didn’t excuse the way she treated him and it did sully my opinion of her slightly. Sebastian though, well that man had the patience of a Saint and the persistence of a dog with a bone. Then Ms Carr got mean……
There is a twist in the tale that changes everything. I won’t spoil it, but I now consider Cassandra Carr to be a very brave author. There are authors that wouldn’t dream of doing to their hero what she does, in fear of how it will sit with readers, but I thought it was an important issue to address. It was a plot point towards the last quarter of the book, meaning that the ending did come a little too soon for me, but the whole thing was dealt with with sensitivity and realism. It made me love Sebastian even more and I even got a little welled up… bravo.
This one isn’t as sexual as the rest of her books but it is still sexy. There is enough spice to keep the tension high and pervy little me happy; I cannot complain J
Overall, this was a very different book from Cassandra Carr and I loved it. I loved the angst and the way difficult issues were addressed by the author. The characters were engaging and the sexual tension was so potent it made me over-look even the most annoying of character flaws. Another winner.
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