Pucking Around

Jacksonville Rays #1

by Emily Rath

Alternate cover edition of ASIN B0BPVJ4RVR

My name is Rachel Price, and two months ago, I walked away from the perfect man. Sweet and funny, and so hot it should be illegal—we shared one magical night. No names. No strings. I never thought I’d see him again.

I was wrong. It turns out Mr. Perfect is the playboy grinder for the Jacksonville Rays, the NHL’s hottest new hockey team…and I’m his new physical therapist. Oh, and the jerk doesn’t even recognize me!

This fellowship is going to be the longest ten months of my life. Mr. Perfect Mistake will do anything to get back on my good side. Meanwhile, his best friend is the surly new equipment manager always riding my case. Worst of all, I’ve got an uncooperative goalie who thinks I can’t tell he’s hiding an injury!

This is my chance to prove myself, and I’m not risking it for anything. But with one unexpected night, one secret revealed, these men are ready to test all my limits. I can’t fall for a player…let alone three. But if love is a game, these guys are playing to win.

PUCKING AROUND is a spicy ‘why choose’ hockey romance. This book stands alone as the first in a planned series. For a full list of tropes, tags, and CWs, see the author’s website.

Genres: Romance, Sports Romance, Sports, Hockey, Why Choose, Hockey Romance, Spicy

ebook

First published March 18, 2023

About the author

Emily Rath is a USA Today and international bestselling author whose chart-topping, sex-positive, queer-inclusive fantasy and romance novels include the Second Sons Regency romances, the Tuonela Duet fantasy novels, and the ‘why choose’ Jacksonville Rays Hockey Romances. A former university professor, she holds PhDs in Political Science and Peace Studies. Emily lives with her husband, son, and cats in the Pacific Northwest. She can be found online at EmilyRathBooks.com, on Instagram @emilyrathauthor and on TikTok @emilyrathbooks.

Reviews

[Bookish Meag 🩵]

I never expected this review to gain so much attention or feedback. If my opinion bothers you, I apologize. That was never my intentions and I’m not out to attack this author. I loved and adored That One Night, by the same author. I thought this platform was for us to express our feelings and thoughts on books. Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t make them wrong. That’s the beauty of a book. It also doesn’t mean they don’t like a whole trope because they don’t like one book that’s in that trope. Not a single book currently written does everyone agree on. I appreciate others difference in opinion and sometimes I learn something from it.

This contains some spoilers🚨

🏳️❌🛑

I got to about 60-65% done with this book, (second time I tried reading it, first time only got to 50%) but it’s honestly been difficult for me to get that far. I’m going to try to come back to this in the near future and finish it. I really loved the novella, That One Night, I was so excited for Pucking Around, I wish this had of been a little more like that. I'm going to try to reset and get in the right frame to read this. I’ll update my review after I reread it.

No longer trying to read this again. It’s just not the book for me and that’s ok.

Rachel was the main issue for me, she made this fall flat, when it should have bloomed. She just comes off as thirsty, desperate, unprofessional, manipulative and like a whiny brat. It was a complete 180 from who she had been in That One Night. Where did her strong, independent character go? Someone please rescue her and bring back her personality or just rescue me from reading anymore about her. She was constantly grating my nerves and unpleasantly annoying. She ended up being perceived as infuriating, selfish and self-centered. Her character changed so drastically and acted completely unprofessional throughout the duration of this book.

The three male MC Jake, Caleb and Mars are all wonderful and have distinctively different personalities and characteristics. They all three consecutively deserve better, in my opinion.

Jake literally confesses his love for her, tells her she is it for him and that she is his everything. She doesn’t really say anything back and then sleeps with Caleb (how sweet, right?). My biggest problem with this is she made him feel like he wasn't enough and like she didn't want him. It's ok not to say she loves him back, but she made him feel inferior. She could have done or said something instead of letting him get all in his feelings.
*I'm literally seeing RED

Then later in the book, Rachel tells Jake that they are soulmate. Yet she keeps wanting to add more dudes to the relationship with his best friend, that she already added…..MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!!!
I mean adding his best friend fine, I understood that, but then wanting to add Mars, WHAT? (For clarification I don't have any issues with Mars, I liked his character a lot. My problem is this team doctor acting desperate and like the two men at home aren't enough.) UGH!!!
*Literally screaming*

I love Jake ♥️ If I had a Jake, I would keep him all to myself and I would cherish him for the amazing person he is. Jake literally has my heart. Well, I'd let him keep Caleb, I'm not selfish. LOL.


Ugh- 🙄😫😤🤯
I gave this book another go but I am accepting defeat. Here is my white flag 🏳️ I don’t know why so many people love this book and I just can’t get there, I wanted to love this. I tried to make myself love it but could get past this thirsty, girl MC. It's killing me that this one was a DNF. It honestly makes me want to stab myself with an ice pick. If I could get inside it, I would stab Rachel and then bring Jake....and Caleb back home with me and love them both 🤣🤷🏻‍♀️🤣

[Rachael · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’M FINALLY F**KING FREE FROM THIS BOOK. 🤸🏼‍♀️

This did not need to be almost 800 pages. Too damn long and for what?? Also let’s be real: none of these men are okay with sharing Rachel. Too many doubts throughout the whole book.

And in all honestly, what monumental thing actually happened? Jake and Mars are hockey players, Caleb is their equipment manager, and Rachel is their doctor. It started off exciting. You see Rachel being a doctor, them at the rink being NHL players, traveling. Then it teetered off and it was just them hanging out. Hanging out at their house, having sex, hanging out at the beach, having sex, hanging out at another house, having more sex, etc.

I did like how it slowly progressed with all 4 coming together. We weren’t thrown into a whole group when this started. Hell Mars didn’t even get to be with Rachel until after the 50% mark. All of the guy’s personalities were well done. They were three completely different people and it read like that.

I also can’t pinpoint why, but the longer I read the more Rachel annoyed me.


Things I want to see happen:

- Rachel leaves these three men alone
- Jake and Caleb live HEA
- Mars finds himself a woman who will only worship him. He deserves that.

[Jenna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I aspire never to think about this book ever again

[may is unreal · Rating 1 out of 5]

She did not tell her boss her zodiac sign💀💀💀

[Mia Claire · Rating 1 out of 5]

bitch, i need an exorcism after that

[c · Rating 1 out of 5]

No smut is worth 750+ pages of pure cringe🥲 dnf at 33% and the rest wasn’t even worth skimming lol.

[Mari · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was genuinely one of the worst reading experiences of my entire year, and honestly, the only reason I made it to the end of this 750-page monstrosity is because I crowd-funded it.

I know reading is entirely subjective, but I truly believe this is as close to objectively bad as it gets. How many different ways is it bad?

- The main character has to be one of the biggest Not Like Other Girls girl I've read in a long time. This isn't subtext or vibes, either. She genuinely has multiple speeches about how she's DIFFERENT, and she doesn't want what the other girls want, like 2.5 children (girl, what year is it). She CURSES and wears A SEPTUM RING.

- In addition to the inherent misogyny of the NLOG, there was a bunch of other slut shaming surrounding the oft-mentioned but rarely-seen puck bunny. This book took so many opportunities to remind us that even though that Rachel was a DOCTOR DATING HER PATIENTS because she was so horny for hockey players, at least she wasn't like EW, PUCK BUNNIES because PUCK BUNNIES ARE THE WORST.

- Rache's motivation, characterization, and decision-making were all over the place. She told us that she was very career-motivated and that she wanted to keep her relationships private, but then she's like, "Ah, it should be okay if I date my patients, and I'll just have sex in public places, and it should be fine." The book repeatedly told me that Rachel was competent while showing me an entire mess of a character. I genuinely did not enjoy her.

- This entire book has a tone problem. It's so completely unserious. The plot reads like a bad soap opera, but long-lost father reveals and all. Everything is painfully convenient. It's often got very slap-sticky humor. AND YET, it fills out so many of its pages with very self-serious grand declarations. It felt like we were having the same damn conversation about their relationship OVER AND OVER AND OVER, and it was taking it VERY SERIOUSLY while also being in an UTTERLY RIDICULOUS BOOK.

- The writing was mostly fine, I guess, except that Rath has a serious dialogue tag problem. Everyone in this book would NOT STOP muttering and murmuring.

- Okay, whatever, this is a sex-forward book, so who cares? THE SEX SCENES WERE NOT GOOD? Listen, I know what floats everyone's boat varies, but there was a scene in here that GENUINELY MADE ME WANT TO THROW UP. And while on a surface level, consent was discussed, there were MULTIPLE TIMES when boundaries were crossed, or people were goaded or prodded into doing things they were not comfortable with.

- IS MARS OKAY? BLINK TWICE IF YOU NEED TO BE SAVED FROM THESE PEOPLE.

- Jake and Caleb both express some incredibly homophobic and biophobic ideas that are never challenged. And I will never, for the length of all my days, forget Jake saying he put an Ally sticker on his water bottle because he wanted to be on the right side of history. IS THIS BOOK A JOKE?

- The fact that the grand gesture features Rachel's boyfriends outing their relationship to the press behind her back when Rachel's brother was outed by the press is BONKERS. Throw all the men away.

- When I tell you that I about died when Rachel's impassioned speech to get her job back after medical malpractice included saying SHE'S A DOUBLE CANCER AND THUS CARES A LOT FOR HER PATIENTS I don't think I'm exaggerating.

Do I have anything good to say about this book?

Um, no. It, in fact, has only gotten worse and worse in my memory.

[Alex Minichiello Gnegy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can’t even finish this and I’m at 93%. This book sucks. Rachel sucks. It’s filthy in the grossest way. I would give it zero stars if I could.

[Helen 2.0 · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 30% which might seem early, but please note that means I read 225 pages out of this 750+ page tome of a romance book.

I have Thoughts and Opinions™ about the proper length a book should be and how a story needs to progress in order to fit as a standalone or as part of a series. Mainly, if you can’t manage to tell your story within 400 to 500 pages MAX then you’re either writing a series, not a standalone, or you are in fact not doing it correctly. I think in this case Emily Rath was just not doing it correctly.

I also have ADHD, so I’m probably not the best judge of whether or not a story is succeeding at capturing the average reader’s attention.


So with that said, my opinion is that this story did not need nearly as many words as it had to let the events play out properly, and so it really started to drag.

The main character, Rachel, does not have some kind of fatal flaw that would require 750 pages to slowly, realistically overcome. She’s pretty perfect from the get-go. Her biggest problem is her daddy issues, which don’t even stem from an abusive or absent father but rather the external problem that he’s famous and thus Rachel has had lots of media attention on her growing up.

Where, then, is the plot coming from? you might ask.

Nowhere. It’s coming from nowhere.

Two out of three love interests take an immediate interest in Rachel, so if not insta-love, there is at least insta-lust happening. The third love interest, Ilmari, was by far the most interesting but in order to stick around for his development I would have had to skim through another 400 pages and that is just too much to ask.

In the novella, That One Night, the smut was very hot, which gave me high hopes for this book. (Let’s pause and admire the fact that within 750 PAGES of this book, the author STILL didn’t manage to fit all her story in and felt the need to add an EXTRA NOVELLA with the rest!)

I didn’t like the spicy sections nearly as much in this book.

Part of what bothered me about the smut in this book was the weird and unappealing language the characters themselves used to describe it. They would have conversations about their sexcapades that very often included them throwing around some unnecessarily crude terms in public places.

Perhaps this is a case of “not my cuppa” and other people wouldn’t mind this. But just imagine if you kissed someone for the first time one night, and then the next day they come up to you like “Hey, remember last night when we were tongue-fucking ?”


(Yes, tongue-fucking is the actual term they use to refer to kissing.)

I mean, wouldn’t you be put off?

Anyway, I’m disappointed this didn’t work for me, but it might work for someone with a longer attention span and fewer hangups about what constitutes *sexy* language.

[nat ୨ৎ · Rating 1 out of 5]

HATE REVIEW😘😘

ONCE AGAIN WHAT WAS THIS? booktok owes me like 4 years of therapy sessions atp😤😤

Hannah Grace I’m so sorry, when I said ur book was the nastiest hockey romance I had not found this yet, my deepest apologies. I will take sex on an Uber 100 times over whatever primal animal shit these sluts were doing. 😔😔

UM WHY THIS BOOK IS SHIT:

THE PLOT? wait no plot just sex, what a wholesome romance 😍😍

I'm all about slutshaming men 🫡🫡, I think we don't do it enough and it's crazy cause they do it a bit to much with women. ALL of the love interests in this book are manwhores and they need to be stopped. Y'all ever wonder how new STDs are born? these freaks. They make them

UM so yeah it fucking sucks, and u did read correctly it’s not love interest it’s love interestS. ...I thought this book was about a love triangle NOT AT THREESOME. And it was the NASTIEST smut I’ve ever read in my entire life, I JUST finished haunting Adelaine and it somehow is still more vanilla and less explicit than this. 💀💀

The characters are annoying and BORING. So I could go into why each of them deserve to die alone but I lowkey don't care that much about this book. 😘😘

Anywhoo this is my cast for this book:








This is Rachel, she’s not actually a redhead but she’s the world’s biggest pick me so every time she spoke I could only picture Pearl. She is a whiny nepo baby and a sex freak too (how fun), I don’t think I’ve ever hated the way a fmc was described in a book (and I’ve read ali hazelwood 🤨) EVERYONE loves her, EVERYONE lusts after her cause “she’s so different from all the other girls in the best way possible” 🤮 🤓🤓 I think I puked a little while reading this







you cannot convince me that Jake doesn’t look exactly like this. 🤨🤨 He gets described as a “golden retriever” which only fits him cause he’s so much time in heat he's basically a dog 😘. He calls her “Seattle” cause they had a one night stand in seattle and she calls him "angel". He is mid and the literal “funny, charming, hot” trope boy. he was def a frat boy , I have no proof but I have no doubts either

MOVING ON



this is Caleb y'all, he’s described as emo so this is the only thing I could picture lol, he is SO WEIRD and he can’t trust anyone because of his past 🤓🤓 but he’s lowkey the only rational man in this book. He calls Halley 'hurricane' and he has a dog 😍. So he’s okay ig, Oh wait he has PIERCINGS in his ykw 🤮🤮, AND SHE CALLS HIM DADDY WHICH 🤮🤮🤮 EW NVM HES A FREAK TOO






This is Marvin? Marlin? I dont remember his name but he’s described as thor (literally) but he’s also so much older than all of the rest that he HAS to look like fat thor, he literally is so close to retirement his junctures cant move. I didnt get to the part where he joins to their little freak show cause I was scared LOL so I didnt get that much of him 😔😔

Leaving the jokes aside, it’s truly beyond me how books like this get published let alone become bestsellers. U r telling me someone WILLINGLY bought this book? not just someone but like thousands of people. That is concerning.


Is this my third hate review of the month? yes
Am I behind on all of my arcs and should probably get to reading? yes
Will I stop wasting my time reading shit books? NO, cause I hate myself, MIND UR BUSINESS 🤨🤨
I know I should read something better I will soon trust (to all the boys review coming soon)

AND NO, I AM NOT ON MY SMUT ERA VIV. 😤😤I dnfed this in like march cause its SO FUCKING LONG, 700+ pages AND FOR WHAT? I just had to see what happened

SPOILER ALERT: nothing, well a bunch of sex which is hardly something considering I normally skip smut but without the smut literally nothing happened

once again DO NOT READ THIS BOOK for ur sanity


TEA: a booktok girly read this and she became OBSESSED with hockey players, she also became obssesed w this player called "Vince Dunn" who IS ENGAGED and she went to the seattle krakens games and started sexualizing the players so bad to the point one of the wags and the players publicly complained LOL and I think she got like banned? from the nhl games

kinda wild considering how wild this book is

[chan ☆]

the cum milkshake a lá 2 girls one cup (cum not shit obvi) wasn't my personal fave

but otherwise this was kinda sweet. wouldn't really call this why choose so much as poly. which i fuck with! way too fucking long and way too much sex. but the sex was good and the characters are sweet. nonsense for sure. but fun!

[monica ✨ romantasyreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

May I have your attention pls.

This is my favorite why choose romance of all time??? I’m beyond obsessed I can’t even form a coherent review. This book is perfection. Healthy communication, amazing relationship development, THE SPICE OMFG. I’ll never recover.

2 months ago, Rachel met a mystery guy in Seattle and spent one night with him. They didn’t exchange names. Now she’s headed down to Jacksonville, FL for a fellowship with a brand new NHL team. And mystery boy is a starting D-man. JAKE IS EVERYTHING. He’s shamelessly obsessed with her, and I feel the same way about him. Caleb is the queer, moody, grumpy guitar-playing equipment manager. I LOVE HIM TOO. And Ilmari is the Finnish, bear-of-a-goalie. He’s so complex and I love him too 😭

The way these 4 develop their love and relationship with each other is e v e r y t h i n g. They are perfect and I will hear no criticism because there isn’t any.

Please please go read this. My friend Heidi made me and I’m forever indebted to her.

Read if you like
✨ why choose romance
✨ hockey romance
✨ bad ass, strong, intelligent fmcs (SHE’S A DOCTOR!!)
✨ men who simp for her
✨ bi rep

[Ana | SheSaidYestoBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

1- 752 pages it’s unnecessary too long for a contemporary romance. We don’t need that much pages for spicy books.

2- Rachel was not professional at all, just needy. I got the impression that if all the players payed her an especial attention she would have slept with them all too.

3- Who wears that dress to a work function? A work where most are men where she is their physical therapist. The guys were already calling her the “hot doc”. She sure wasn’t commanding any respect but screaming for more attention.

3- Jake was too needy and unsure about every single thing. Annoying!

4- Angel?! Our angel?! For a guy?! Seriously?!

5- Didn’t feel a real connection with any of the boys. There is no love or romance. Just sex and lust.

I didn’t read the novella. But this book has a strong beginning, it will pull you in. Unfortunately, other than that and the spicy, which is off charts to be honest, there is nothing else here. If you want a book for good spicy, this may work for you. But if you need some emotional connection, you won’t find it here.


Connect with me ➩ www.shesaidyestobooks.com

[honestlysophie · Rating 1 out of 5]

LET PORN BE PORN 😭😭😭

[Anastacia ✿ · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF 44% smut is okay…. But the characters are all dookie and extremely emotionally immature. It was alright in the beginning but the longer I read the shittier it got. :/

[ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

that was a wild ride lmao

[Sid · Rating 1 out of 5]

i can't explain it but this is kink, spice, and mm for straight women. (spoilers: it's not good.)

[Kati *☆･ﾟ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4**** stars


*Phew —over 750 pages of spicy, why-choose hockey romance. I was glued to the pages whenever I had time to read. This story was thrilling and intense but also had quite a few OTT moments I could absolutely not relate to *lol

“A love like yours is wild and dangerous. You need men who will not seek to harness you or break your spirit. You need men who will protect you. Who will provide a safe space for you to love as freely as your heart will allow. We are those men.”

With that said, let’s meet the main characters:

⇢ Rachel: (27) - Hurricane/Seattle/Rakas (love the guys’ nicknames for her) - one of Rays’ team physicians on staff, daughter of a famous rock-star, kind of in hiding after bad press

⇢ Jake: (27) - the angel - the all-American jock fantasy, hockey pro, starting defense man for the Rays, best friends since junior league with Caleb, met Rachel as a stranger two months ago in Seattle (prequel)

⇢ Caleb: (28) - the devil - the broody, tatted, rocker boy fantasy, one of the team’s equipment managers, forced to retire from pro hockey after a serious injury in his very first NHL game six years ago (after being third draft pick)

⇢ Ilmari: Mars (30) - home - the quiet, strong Viking fantasy, hockey pro, the Rays’ starting goalie, tries to hide injury to not get benched because he’s up for a spot for the Finnish Olympics team


God, by 30% I was already totally overwhelmed by all the things I wanted to say about this book. And after Rachel, Jake and Caleb came together I couldn’t wait to see how Ilmari would fit into their three-way-relationship that was already intense as fuck!


What I totally liked, compared to other hockey romances, was, that we here have a goalie and a defense man at the center of the story. So for once the game was not all about scoring, but defending the net. Would’ve been different if Caleb was still playing, tho. But hell, his backstory broke my heart. That he lost what was most important to him most of his life and watching his best friend living their dream without him.

please note: this is a high-steam romance. So ofc there was A LOT of sex involved. What I liked tho, was, that it was not only group sex but they all also had intimate one-on-one encounters and threesomes in various combos.



It almost qualified as a five-star read for me. It had everything, I almost couldn’t contain my excitement at how fucking much I loved this. Sadly in the last third it all got a bit too dramatic and OTT for my liking. Not the events itself but their passion and love and willingness to sacrifice for each other and all the super cheesy declarations of love. It was just a bit too much for me (I had to roll my eyes quite a few times right alongside the cringing).

Also, I wished the author would’ve taken more pages to get deeper into what happened to Caleb, what that did to his friendship with Jake and them becoming lovers. Maybe that’s my MM loving heart but there was so much potential for that side-plot that with the way the author actually told this part of the story it only felt superficial to me. There were a few other things I wished I would’ve seen more of but I guess you can only tell so much of a story with four main characters in one book *lol


************
Jacksonville Rays Series

Book 0.5 - That One Night (MF)- prequel to book 1
Book 1 - Pucking Around (MMFM) - 4.0 stars

Book 2 - Pucking Wild (MF) - release 08/23

[Rayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

For such a long book, I wish we had more of a plot. There was really no conflict or angst which I sometimes don’t mind but for a 700 paged book, there needed to be something. It was a lot of insta-lust/love and everything worked out too easily when some struggles and conflict would have been suitable in those moments.

I wasn’t really a fan of Rachel. I understand her not being ashamed of who she was and knowing what she wants in a relationship, but she never considered how the others would really feel. She kind of just said this is what I want and if you aren’t okay with it, then leave. If she wants a polyamorous relationship, great but the guy you are currently with who has the mindset that it’s just the two of you, deserves a conversation before jumping in.

I really loved the novella but this book didn’t feel the same. Especially Jake. In the novella, he had some insecurities but he was also sweet and suave. Emphasis on suave because he lost all of that in the book and felt more like a puppy.

It seems like Caleb and Rachel were together out of convenience. Actually, Jake also seems to drift into that background to make room for Mars. It ended up feeling more like a relationship between Mars and Rachel with Caleb and Jake just tagging along. If they focused on building their emotional relationships and less on the spice, it would have been so much better.

That being said, I did enjoy this book. It was entertaining, the relationships were sweet, and there was lots of spice, so if that’s what you’re looking for then you’ll love this book.

[Ericka · Rating 3 out of 5]

WAS IT REALLY NECESSARY TO BE THAT LONG???

Good. Grief.

It was alright and the why choose aspect was decent (first one I’ve read and it was…. Interesting for sure). But damn. She was hefty.

I enjoyed everything about this book, loved all the characters. I just genuinely felt like it could’ve been shorter. At one point I literally said “ALL HOLES HAVE BEEN FILLED. Multiple times!!! Why do we need to have more scenes??” And I’m usually all for the smut. So it was just a bit much for me.

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fact that this is a 700+ page hockey romance and I didn’t skim any of it is amazing. I did not expect to get so emotional reading this. Definitely one of the best why choose & polyamorous romances I’ve ever read.

And the spice?? UM HELLO. IT STARTS AROUND 20%

[Buera · Rating 2 out of 5]

IM FREEEEEE!!!!!!!! WORST EXPERIENCE OF MY FUCKING LIFE

[fiona · Rating 1 out of 5]

i’m sorry but this book gives me the ick.

[readwithevelane · Rating 1 out of 5]

“𝒀𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑴𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒔. 𝒀𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅. 𝑭𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑. 𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔.”

Rating: ⭐️
Spice: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Relationships: Why choose?, MMWM, MM, MWM, MW
Tropes/content: Sports romance (hockey), hockey players/equipment manager/team doctor, impact play, toy use, degradation, bondage, spit play, breeding kink, DP, DVP, praise, voyeurism
Series: Jacksonville Rays #1

⚠️Check triggers⚠️

Rachel Price's dream comes true when she lands a fellowship with the Jacksonville Rays as a physical therapist. She's in for a surprise when she comes face to face with Jake, the mystery man from her one night stand from two months ago, and finds out he's one of the Jacksonville Rays. Jake will do anything to pick up where they left off two months ago. But he's not the only one interested in Rachel. His best friend, and team equipment manager, Caleb, likes her, too. And Ilmari, the brooding goalie, wants to be with Rachel. Things heat up between Rachel and the guys, and they have to decide if they can make their relationships work.

I found out about this book on Tiktok when Emily was still writing it and was hooked when she mentioned a goalie with a breeding kink (my favorite 😍). The novella was great, which only made me more excited to read it when I finally got the ARC. Unfortunately, I was severely disappointed and I'm not a fan of this book.

I want to talk about what I did like first. I thought the polyamorous representation was good. Rachel has her relationships with each of the men, but two of her men have a relationship with one another that develops over time. I liked that Rachel was a doctor that was great at her job and respected for her work. There are a lot of spicy scenes in this book, which I'm always a fan of, and there's variety within the scenes. I love the use of toys and the fact that the men weren't intimidated by them.

One of the things I struggled with was the length of this book. It's 752 pages, which is just unnecessary for a contemporary romance. There were a lot of unnecessary parts and some repetitiveness. If it needed to be that long to tell their story, then it should've been a duet.

Another issue I had with this book is the writing style. This book reads like three different people wrote it and their chapters were put together. It's jarring to go from chapter to chapter and feel like a completely different person wrote each one. It felt like Emily couldn't decide how she wanted this story to be told, so she went with a few different ideas and mashed them together. This book felt so different from the novella, and not in a good way.

The overuse of exclamation points was truly exhausting and probably the biggest reason I can't stand this book. I understand that this was supposed to be a rom-com, but there are ways to show that without using exclamation points every couple of sentences. I loved Jake in the novella, but I hate him in the novel because the exclamation points made him come off one dimensional, he was constantly yelling, and he acted like he was twelve instead of an adult man on a professional hockey team. There was no substance to him because he was constantly screaming or yelling with excitement. It wasn't cute or endearing to me. He reminded me of some men in the real world and that was a major ick for me.

Rachel was also a letdown for similar reasons. She had such a presence in the novella and she came off strong, determined, and like a badass. Even when she was sad in the novella, she still had a presence. In the novel, she often came off as weak to me and like a martyr. She was always crying, which it's fine to cry, but it got annoying after awhile. I hated that she was always coming off as yelling or screaming because of the exclamation points. She did have some moments that were funny with Ilmari, which is when I liked her the most.

The spicy scenes were good, but there was some cheesiness in some of them that didn't work for me. I struggled with Rachel trying to dominate, but also be submissive. I know that everyone shows up differently during intimate moments with their partner. I imagine that in polyamorous relationships someone may be more submissive with one partner compared to their other partner. I'm totally understanding of that. I think the issue here is how it was written, particularly with how she would try to dominate Jake, didn't work and came off cheesy.

I wanted to read the next couple's story, but right now I'm really unsure. If things don't change from this book, I won't be reading it.

Thank you to Emily for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Niihariiikareads (warner's) · Rating 1 out of 5]

trying to think my thoughts but i need to mourn my time wasted first, i aspire to never think about this book ever again.

Listen to me, no smut is worth 750+ pages of pure cringe

The book is way too long and repetitive. The relationship between Rachel, Jake and Caleb felt forced by her. I didn’t even get to the development of her relationship with the goalie since it’s way too long and I got bored. Calling it unbalanced is an understatement - too smutty for the sake of being smutty, and too many love confessions in sort of an obnoxious way

We really have to stop confusing super smutty with good. If I never hear Hurricane or Angel ever again in my life, it won’t be soon enough.

No I'm not even kidding, just read this bs:

“She takes hold of our chins and tips them up, the silent command in her eyes. I don’t fucking hesitate. I open my mouth and she leans over with a smile, spitting the mixture of our cum into my mouth. I swallow with a groan, letting the salty taste coat my tongue. It’s me and it’s Jake. It’s her. It’s the three of us together. The start of something completely new.”

nobody needs 6 pages of playing catch with each others bodily fluids. this book is popular for absolutely no reason and this is my nth lesson to quit reading everything that's popular on booktok. sigh.

[Carol [Goodreads Addict] · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pucking Around is book one in the Jacksonville Rays series by Emily Rath. I’ve been hearing about this book and been wanting to read it for quite a while. As soon as I read the prequel, That One Night, I knew I was on to something wonderful. And I was so right! While the prequel is a MF novella, this book is MMFM. It has a wide variety of both parings and group activities!

“She’s fierce. My dark haired lioness.”

Rachel Price thought she’d lost her chance at the Barkley Fellowship, the fellowship she hoped would launch her career in sports medicine. But she was shocked that she was awarded a spot after all and was being sent to Jacksonville, Florida to work with a brand new NHL team, the Jacksonville Rays. Rachel is twenty seven years old. Her father is a world famous rock star and she made her share of mistakes growing up but now her entire focus is on her career. She has not been able to forget the one night stand she shared in Seattle with her mystery man. She regrets not allowing them to exchange names. He’s constantly in her thoughts. But now that she is in Jacksonville, she needs to focus. Except who does she come face to face with? The man who has held residence in her brain for the last two months. He’s here and is a defenseman for the Rays.



Jake Compton has been obsessed with the memory of his one night with the mystery girl. No one could be more shocked than he is when he finds out their new Dr. is her, his Seattle girl. Only now she says they can only be friends. That she has to concentrate on being the best she can be at her job. But Jake is nothing if not determined to change her mind.



Caleb Sanford is twenty eight. He is the Assistant Equipment manager for the Rays. He is also Jake’s best friend. He is the one who picked Rachel up from the airport. They both know that from their first meeting, there was something there, a pull, an electrical charge. But Caleb has no room in his life for anything other than his job and his friendship with Jake.



Mars Kinnumen is thirty years old and is the goalie for the Rays. He is Finnish. Mars is an amazing goalie. But he has been hiding an injury for weeks, not wanting it to take him out of play.

“He’s my safe harbor.”

Each of these men are so different. Jake is referred to as the golden retriever which is pretty accurate. He is bouncy, cheerful, dependable, lives to please. Caleb is dark, broody, keeping his hurts buried deep. He is controlling and bossy. Mars is a giant of a man, blond hair, beard, tattoos. But so soft on the inside. Quiet, introverted, alone. He doesn’t have anyone to support him. Even on the ice, his position is by himself at the goal post. But he can’t control the pull he feels towards Rachel, just as she can’t control her feelings either.

Each of these men fulfills a different need in Rachel’s heart and body. Just as the other men can’t control how they feel. They form a found family. But they keep themselves a secret. The public would never be accepting of their relationship. There are careers, lives, futures on the line.

“I don’t melt for you, Jake Compton. I burn.”

How I loved being on this journey with these four people. The love they have for each other is so strong. Each different but they are all tied together in a way that works perfectly for them. Each fulfilling a different role in their group. I loved every single thing about this book, loved every character. They all stayed with me, even when I wasn’t reading, I was thinking about them. Now I’m going on to the bonus chapters novella, Pucking Ever After: Volume 1. I am so happy I get a little more of these four. Then, I will be waiting for book two, Pucking Wild, which will be Tess and Ryan’s book. I can’t wait.

For more about this book and so many others, come and visit me at Carol's Crazy Bookish World.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Carol...

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of the books that I have to skim when it comes to the sex scenes. I like reading erotica that sprinkles with romance. However, this book just didn’t do it for me. I — once again — cursed BookTok.

Pucking Around tells us a story about Rachel, a doctor who got a job to work as a team’s doctor for a hockey team. It turned out that her one night stand from two months prior was one of the player on the team. Not only that, Rachel also attracted to two other men on the team — Caleb and Ilmari. I have to admit that Rachel was a fun character to read. She was funny, brazen, and smart.

I enjoyed first few chapters of the book. It was chaotic in the best way possible. I remember laughing and giggling reading the characters’ interactions. Unfortunately, it went downhill.

There are a few possible reasons that make me feel bored when reading this book.
➤ Too much sex scenes out of nowhere (and sometimes cringe)
➤ Suddenly falling in love with FMC without even having a proper conversation or even spending an appropriate amount of time together
➤ Inconsistency in personality without giving the proper amount of time for a character to have character development

It is NOT necessarily a bad book, because I think the author did a good job writing about the hockey as a sport itself. I think it just wasn’t for me. You might enjoy this book if you’re only looking for erotica and don’t really care about the romance.

[Annie · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF 70%

I just couldn’t make it through this book. It is over 700 pages long with very little plot. To me the biggest plot points were Jake trying to convince Rachel to have a relationship with him and later Rachel trying to convince Ilmari to accept her unconventional relationship and be completely fine with it. I just didn’t care for the relationship dynamics. I love a why choose, read them all the time but I just couldn’t help thinking she was being a little pushy wanting a 3rd guy when Ilmari wasn’t comfortable with her being in a relationship to begin with. It just came off selfish rather then caring. I just didn’t like any of their relationships in all honesty.

All the rest was sex, and while I enjoy a Spicy book I also want some substance behind it or a connection to the characters and this had neither for me. I also found out that cum play is not appealing to me in the least and made me cringe A LOT. No shaming to those who enjoy it but to me it was just disturbing and gross

“She takes hold of our chins and tips them up, the silent command in her eyes. I don’t fucking hesitate. I open my mouth and she leans over with a smile, spitting the mixture of our cum into my mouth. I swallow with a groan, letting the salty taste coat my tongue. It’s me and it’s Jake. It’s her. It’s the three of us together. The start of something completely new.”

And I honestly couldn’t stomach another 250 pages of this kind of sex with no other plot that was interesting and characters that frankly annoyed the hell out of me

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

God forgive me. Caleb and Jake.

[ʚ turtle ɞ (v. busy) · Rating 3 out of 5]

August 23, 2025 (3/5 ⭐️)

This was kind of a fun read, and I liked it more than I expected! But honestly, I have way more complaints than compliments.

First things first, The chemistry between Rachel and Jake in That One Night was amazing and it carried over into this book at first, but as the story went on, both of them just felt childish and immature. They kept throwing around “I love you's” after only their one-night stand, when they barely knew each other (zodiac signs and good sex don’t count). Then Rachel kept pushing Caleb (who she’d literally also just met) to say it too. By this point, none of them knew anything meaningful about Rachel, and she knew nothing about them, so the constant “I love you’s” felt ridiculous.
“Tell me you love me.”
“Don’t fucking push me, Rachel,” Caleb barks, pointing a finger at me.
Honey... that's not... it doesn't work like that... I'm rachel's biggest hater atp.

I also didn’t like how Rachel moved in with Caleb and Jake (also way too soon), committed to them, and then went around flirting with Mars behind their backs, only admitting it when Caleb confronted her. She’s as unemotional as it gets; they’re all obsessed with her, while she just seemed to be lusting after the next hot guy who came along.
That said, her relationship with Mars ended up being one of my favorites in the book. It actually felt like it developed at a slower more natural pace, and honestly Mars was the only sane person here.

I was hoping this would be good enough to justify the length, but nope. Those almost 800 pages were totally unnecessary (it’s giving ‘this could’ve been an email’ 🙄). Honestly, if this book had been shorter, it would’ve been so much better and probably would’ve gotten a much higher rating from me.
And I know I make it sound like this was the worst, but it really wasn’t and I actually somewhat enjoyed it, even if some parts did irritate me. The chemistry overall was amazing, and their moments together are the main reason this book is getting 3 stars. Their nicknames for each other were also super cute and, for once, not cringy. The ending was a little unrealistic, but at least they finally had their shit together.

In conclusion, did I roll my eyes a hundred times? Yes. Did I still enjoy parts of it? Also yes. Would I recommend it? Maybe… but with a big warning about the length. Will I be reading the rest of the series? Idk, but probably not if they're as long as this one.

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₊˚⊹⟢ Pre-read:
I'm intimidated, why is this book almost 800 pages?🧎🏻‍♀️‍➡️ But I'm also intrigued so let's hope it lives up to the length!!