I love a hero who takes no shit from someone dissing his girl, even when it's a fake relationship. From the pispoor waitress to the bitchy sister.

I love a curvy herione who owns her body with confidence, even if it gets dinged by the bitchy sister.

This was my first E. Cleveland book and it was fast paced with some interesting characters. I'll have to try more as there are more in this series.

I need to know more about Gucci for sure.

I loved Griz so much!! This is the first book I read in this series and I wasn't lost at all but I am definitely going back and reading Player and Gucci's books. I loved the banter the teammates all had, their connection, and friendship made me feel like part of their group. When we find out what happened to Griz and the upset he seemed to suffer I felt bad for him and this event is what has led him to focus more on his hockey game rather than distractions in the form of women. His attraction to Hattie is very much there and a live so he fights it but out of the blue at a charity auction Hattie is hosting she bids on a date with Griz and wins. How can he fight his attraction when he is forced in close proximity with her? Hattie has a terrible family that belittles her and wants her to change to fit them, one of those things is her weight and her bridezilla sister is driving her crazy. On a whim of trying to to lose her mind on her sister she bids on Griz but she questions why because she doesn't want to seem crazy or desperate even if she thinks he is the hottest thing on the planet. These two have amazing chemistry and try to fight their growing attractions but can they keep it up for long? Will it be something that lasts or will it be a fling if they do? I loved the characters, the brotherhood of the team members, and can't wait to read more.

Just a total bore and really bad smut. Couple hardly even interacted. Too much stuff going on that wasn't their story for a 200 page book.

Griz and Haddie is one of the best fake relationships I've read in a long time. Great writing, great story line and great secondary characters.

1.5 ⭐ Dnf at 42% (I'm trying to only rate books that I finish but this one had to have one). The blurb was great however this book was shit. I don't usually say to not read a book because everyone has their tastes however I'm telling you don't read this. (Also I started with the 3 one and only after noticed it was a series.) Mind you I though this was going to be one of the cute plus size books but is just her body shaming herself.

If you still want to read this book just have this in consideration:
- This book is repetitive as fuck
- Her chapters just mention her sister, her sister's wedding and her parents, not one not two but like 5
- Her sister is a bully and the FMC just thinks that her sister 'doesn't know better'
- The FMC is just body shaming herself throughout the parts that I read
- She hates the wedding and all that yet all the first chapters that's all there is, she doesn't mention anything else
- His chapters are just about that he had a scare pregnancy with a puck bunny and was going to be a dad
- The amount of 'bunny' that appears in each chapter is alarming
- This all starts with the auction, personally it's weird that she bid since she was presenting it, and she bids thousand dollars and in the next chapters doesn't know if she has the money for a couch, why would you bid then?
- Why the little display with Blaze at the auction?
- Clementine is already a weird name but Clemmie as a nickname?
- They had to move a sofa and the dialogue was so forcibly sexual just to work out the next scene of the family group chat like ...
- The sister is more than self-centered and the FMC still helps her
- We only learn his name 35% in
- Their flight was canceled and they received a coupon for a restaurant, for a meal? No no, only for an appetizer, oh and it gets better, the fryer was broken so no appetizers for anyone

Actually good things:
- Starts with his chapter which is different and I liked it
- Has 210p so is quick, however with all the problems I couldn't even finish
- The auction was with 'low prices' (bc in college makes sense right)
- His nickname was Griz like a bear and he was the mother hen of his hockey group

Meh things:
- The introduction of the book was basically the blurb !?
- The chapters have names (weird ones) and they all appear in the chapter
- They were trying to open the conversation of sex and her first question was “are you circumcised?”

College hockey romance

It was a cute story of college romance with a plus size woman as the female love interest. I appreciated the attempt at self love and I really liked the relationship between her and the hockey player. I liked how he stood up to her sister.

I was bummed out that her older sister didn’t show growth at all- it felt like a missed opportunity.

I wasn’t a complete fan of how they approached the plus size aspect though…unable to get out of your spanx??? REALLY???

Overall a decent read. I skipped the first two books and just tried this one because I saw an ad for it. I’m honestly more interested in the next book though- Blaze seems like a hot mess and I want to know how he sorts himself out.

Rating 3.5 (upgraded to 4)

Some definite high points but some holes towards the end.

And why did Player participate in the auction but Gucci didn't?