This is book one of The Minor League Mayhem series and the main character is Jack Ruby, who has just been signed on as a rookie to Newport Beach Seagull’s minor league ice hockey team, the Irvine Mayhem. He is joined by his best friend and fellow rookie, Alec Sinclair, and they are staying at Alec’s sister Lily’s home in Irvine. Jack gets to sofa surf, but considering how he grew up, that is fine with him. Jack and Alec are a really good team together on the ice, having played and practised so much together as they grew up, and Alec and Lily’s mother was the real mother figure in his life and basically kept him from starving as he grew up with a dad who disappeared and a mother who loved her drugs and alcohol more than him! He has been hired because of his fighting spirit and skills making Alec look good. But his anger gets him in trouble before he can even start! He sticks up for his friends and doesn’t like discrimination or name calling. He also has a bit of a serious crush on Lily, but as she is his best friend’s little sister, she is out of bounds!
Lily moved to Irvine to study at the local university where she got a scholarship, but she also works part time to pay the rest of her bills. Having her brother and also Jack move in with her, with lots of late nights and drunken returns in the early hours, soon gets her riled up. Alec keeps most of his feelings inside and uses sarcasm and humour when dealing with things, especially around his sister, which winds her up. The attraction between Jack and Lily ramps up one night, while Alec is out and they end up in bed together. But Lily’s joy is soon ruined when she gets a message from an unknown number, that turns out to be the boy, Andrew Corwin, who broke her heart when she was at high school. He was her first boyfriend and he was not very nice to her. He tells her he has a sex tape of them and he has a buyer ready to pay him for it, unless she gives him thirty grand not to post it on the internet. He is blackmailing her, expecting her to be well off now her brother has been signed on as a rookie, but that’s how his contract works! She doesn’t believe Andrew, knowing he lives in his parent’s home, after they moved away as they retired, he dropped out of college and hasn’t even bothered to find a job. No wonder he wants money!
Lily doesn’t share it with Alec and especially not with Jack, wondering if he will ever look at her the same way again. She thinks she can tell Andrew where to go and just ignore things, but she soon finds he was telling the truth and posts the video, even though she was probably underage at the time, but he is only concerned with getting some money for nothing! She has to figure out how to get the video taken down, but that means she would have to face Andrew on her own. When Jack’s mother contacts him for the first time in years, she ends up at their door shortly after and worms her way into the house. She has been told about Lily’s problem and calls her some very rude names, making Jack’s anger grow out of control when she shows him the video! He storms out and causes himself more issues with his actions, but he is lucky to have a boss who believes in him and asks why he did what he did. A new ice hockey team series, with best friends signed up to play in the minor leagues and finally having the chance to go somewhere, so long as they corral their partying and Jack’s fighting! A new future beckons and I can’t wait to see what happens to the all next. I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.