I've not ready any of the previous books in this series nor have I read anything by Nicole Edwards in the past, and I mainly picked this up because of the plot and positive Goodreads ratings.
I happen to be a hockey fan and a fan of the Dallas Stars, a real NHL based in Texas, and it was quite obvious that the author used the Stars roster as inspiration for her Austin Arrows team, which made it kinda difficult for me to take serious, because... Really...? To mention just a few players on the Stars: Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, Mattias Janmark, Valeri Nichuskin. Yeah, not subtle at all. (Oh, and Crosby, wow, you didn't even bother with that one.)
The story is pretty cliche, which I don't necessarily mind, but if you're not adding anything new to the trope, it means I want it to be done properly. Instead, I found a lot of factors dragging my rating down. It started off around 3 stars and went down to 1 star as finished this review.
There was so much sex in this. It's not something that's ever bothered me before, but this was like every second scene the two main characters were together, and halfway through I was just getting bored. They fight, then they fuck. They take care of the baby, then fuck after they've tucked him to bed. They meet Seg's mom for dinner, then fuck after doing the dishes. And yes, they have crazy off the charts chemistry, but with that amount of fucking, it just seemed like they based the entire relationships and the emotions they have for each on how they had really great sex together. They've seen each other for what, not even 6 months, and they're ready to marry each other. You're adults, not teenagers, jfc. I was basically skimming the last 50 pages of the book. They even manage to fuck during the epilogue chapter too.
There's a jab at bisexual men at the beginning of the book where Roan says he doesn't do bixesual men, because they might wake up with in crisis, because they can't decide whether they like dick or pussy. I couldn't figure out if Phoenix' character was supposed to right that, as he's a man in a happy polyamorous relationship with both a man and a woman. Either way, it's not addressed again.
Then, there's a scene where Seg's mother, Deb, addresses Kaepernick (and the NFL) taking a knee during the anthem. Seg's mother so far has been the main characters' ally, she fully supports her son and his relationship with Roan. She's a character you're supposed to like. But during a spout about support and professional sports, she expresses her dismay with the protesting, saying that if NFL players "
have the right to express their disdain for their own country, then by God, [Seg] have the right t love who [he] want[s].
" Excuse me, Debra, you're not even American, you're Canadian, damn, shut up. Not to mention that the comparison is just completely unnecessary. Seg has nothing to add to his mother's argument. No doubt, this is Nicole Edwards' personal opinion that she just wanted to put out there.
Lastly, I thought we were over using expressions like "their tongues dueling", and "iron rod" as synonym for dick, but I guess not.