Guest Review: He Shoots, He Scores (Skate to Love #1) by Tricia Owens

When superstar winger Neil Shannon is injured in the Stanley Cup Finals, he loses more than the hockey championships. With his confidence shot, his career begins to fall apart and an early retirement seems inevitable. Unwanted by his former team, Neil is traded to one that's starting over. Even worse, he's joined there by his biggest rival, the sexy Swede Adrian Magnusson. Adrian feels responsible for Neil's fall from grace and is determined to revive his career, but Neil wants to stay far away from this Swedish temptation, or else he'll lose the last thing of value he owns: his reputation.

Reviewer: Shee Reader

I adore a good sports romance, and hockey is a real joy for me, but even I found this book a little slow to get going. Early on in the story, Neil gets injured and he is a genuinely likeable tortured hero who I was rooting for from the outset. I found Adrian much harder to care about but I’m not sure why. Maybe the global meltdown in real life has damaged my reading mojo?

The little hotel-room-shower scene was delightful but could have got much more of an emotional engagement.

Once Neil’s playing goes downhill and Adrian uses his influence to get Neil to Seattle with him, I was hopeful for sparks, and there were, but somehow this missed the spot for me. It was a nicely written story and there was nothing wrong with it, I just struggled to get all the way invested in the relationship development.

One high spot for me was Neil’s sister. She was a terrific character, and I loved the relationship between the siblings. I also really liked Adrian’s awkward European-ness. Very true to life!

I’ll definitely try this book again.

I was given a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.