Hawke by Sawyer Bennett (Cold Fury #5)
Released: March 15, 2016
Contemporary Romance
Loveswept

Reviewed by Mandi

I love hockey romance and Sawyer Bennett does a nice job with this series. In this book we get Hawke, star defenseman for the NHL’s Cold Fury, in North Carolina. This is a second chance romance trope, as Hawke and Vale were in love at the start of his career. They were both big into partying  hard. They loved hard, partied hard, and had a lot of sex. And then one night Vale leaves a party upset, Hawke stays to keep drinking, and the next day, a big miscommunication happens. Hawke leaves to play hockey in another town and ends up losing all contact with Vale.

Now many years later, Hawke is still partying and playing hockey. When he meets up with the team for their first day back of a new season, he can’t believe who he sees as the new athletic trainer – Vale. Her dad has been battling a brain tumor, and she moves in with him to help him out. That means she needed to find a job in Raleigh, quick. Her dad, being a former hockey guy himself, gets her a job with Cold Fury, and Vale knows what that means. This pushes them together for obvious reasons. Vale has slowed her life down now that her dad is sick. She has a long distance boyfriend and she wants to make it work with him. What she doesn’t want is the large, sexy presence of Hawke in her face.

Hawke is a bit controlling, a bit surly – just a big guy who makes himself known when he is in a room. He sees Vale and although he doesn’t understand why she left him all those years ago, he wants her. He used to be friends with her dad, so now that he knows her dad is around, he makes it a point to visit, which of course puts him in her house. When Vale starts to realize her feelings for him are still there, she breaks up with her boyfriend and cautiously starts something with Hawke. Like I said – he is bossy, especially inside the bedroom, but Vale likes it. If you like heroes that have that slight jerky/alpha edge to them, you will like Hawke. Vale knew how to handle him.

I thought the reason for them breaking up/miscommunicating all those years ago was a little weak. I won’t say what it was so I don’t spoil anything, but the reason and the excuses – I don’t know. I didn’t find them to be 100% realistic. It underwhelmed me.

Otherwise, it’s a sexy second chance love story. I liked Vale’s dad. I liked Hawke’s teammates. There was good sexual tension and love scenes. Maybe Hawke acted a bit like a baby towards the end, with the fear that Vale would leave him again. That might have got on my nerves a little bit. But a fun read overall. This series in general is fun and sexy.

Grade: B-

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