Confessions of a Former Puck Bunny (Taking Shots #4)
Released: May 8, 2017
New Adult Hockey Romance
Entangled
Reviewed by Mandi
This is my first time reading Cindi Madsen and I found this book to be overall pretty cute. Maybe a little predictable with the drama at the end, but it has a good guy hero which always makes me smile. This read pretty good as a stand alone although I did feel like I missed out on some supporting character development.
Lindsay is almost ready to graduate college and go out to the real world to try her hand at editing. She is going to start in the newspaper business but hopes to become a book editor one day. To graduate, she must pass her math class and it’s giving her a lot of trouble. She decides to go to the school tutoring center, and she runs into the one guy she has been drooling over, and avoiding for some time.
Confession #2: Ryder Maddox’s deep, sexy voice sends fuzzy tingles through my entire body, and I’m powerless to stop it.
This guy, Ryder, is a star hockey player for the college team and she has sworn off hockey, and hockey players for almost a year now. Lindsay grew up with a mom who relied on men for financial and emotional support. Going from one guy to another, their family life was never stable and Lindsay swore she would never turn into her mother. But when she started college, she found herself drawn into the hockey world..and the hockey men. She became a “puck bunny” fighting for the players attention and becoming very competitive with the other girls that were hanging around. After a year or two of this, Lindsay decides enough is enough, and quits cold turkey with everything to do with hockey. But now she has the hots for Ryder.
Ryder was handed a hockey stick when he learned to walk, as his dad was a NHL player and now wants his son to be a star. His parents marriage is a farce, and his father is never proud of him – always there with a critique on how he can play better. But despite all of that, Ryder turned out to be a decent, good guy. He is very attracted to Lindsay, and when he confronts her in the tutoring center, she admits she needs help with math and he admits he is very good with math – so he starts to tutor her. Lindsay is somewhat standoffish, as she is terrified of going back to shaming herself with begging for male attention in the hockey world. But as she gets to know Ryder, her feelings deepen for him and her trust of him grows into love.
While Lindsay can be a bit prickly in this book, I enjoyed her journey from scared to death to even talk to Ryder, to truly becoming his friend. The romance isn’t rushed in this one. Decent sexual tension leads to a solid foundation for a friendship before they attempt romance. Lindsay has no problem hanging out with Ryder, it’s going back around his teammates and the other women that she finds intimidating. Knowing she slept with some of the guys, and got in fights with some of the girls, it takes a while for her to gain the confidence to be around them. Ryder is made aware of her past and just keeps it all in the past, which I liked. Lindsay realizes the women she now hangs around with at the games, truly want to get to know her and be her friend, which is nice to see.
As I said, this is a bit predictable as Ryder’s rotten dad, causes rotten trouble at the end, which you can see coming. This causes a fight, and a break up and eventually a reconciliation and the HEA. I wish there had been less drama at the end, and more quality page time with Ryder and Lindsay together. But overall a cute, new adult read.
Grade: B
Leave a Reply