This is DARK & BULLY, so check your triggers. The author lists them on her website.

That being said. I devoured this book in 24 hours. It has the obsessive hockey hero, who was battling his own issues with the accusations against his coach, the man who basically saved him from an abusive home as a child. The heroine who fights him, but also struggles with enjoying what he gives her. Overall the sub-storyline with the brother, which brings the hero and heroine together was intriguing, and there was a lot of exploration for the hero in breaking down his blind loyalty to someone and struggling his past.

The heroine does give as good as she gets (sometimes) and sometimes she just takes it, so there was a little back and forth from her, but I thought it overall made sense as her feelings grew for Jack, her loyalty to her brother and her cause, and how she was struggling with her enjoyment of what was happening between them.

There were some parts that were repetitive, like if he talked about her honey and apple scent one more time…I don’t mind it being referenced, but in the opening of the book, it was repeated too much.

The ending, I also would have liked more justice. I know for those who have read it might be like but he did get it, but not in a real satisfying way (for me anyway). I wanted to see his world actually crumble, to see his victims get to stand up to him. It was very quickly resolved when that was the impetus of the whole story.

There was an also an element of the type of “play” the H & h were involved in that made me stop and consider if it was really a good choice for this book based on the sub plot with the brother, especially with some of the revelations being made. I think if the author would have addressed these through the H & h, it would have sat better with me, but that never happened.

Overall, it was a good read, solid writing. I’ll definitely read the next one, which follows his hockey friend and her best friend.