Rookie Season by Katie Bailey and Leah Brunner review

 Title: Rookie Season 

Author: Katie Bailey and Leah Brunner 

Ch: 43 plus epilogue 

Pg: 330

Series: 3b 

Genre: Rom com, Hockey Rom Com 

Rating: 5 stars 

Publisher: indie 

 

Grumpy sunshine has always been one of my favorite tropes and I love it even more when paired with hockey. Noah’s in his rookie season and is determined to not let anything distract him. Allegra or Ally is looking to start over. After watching Noah grow up a bit in the DC Eagles series 

 and meeting Ally in the Donovan family series I new that I needed to read about them as adults. I have to say I loved grumpy Noah. But even more so protective Noah. And  of course my heart broke for Ally. And just like both authors’ previous books I love that found family is so important in the one. The friendship between Fisher, Noah and Penn was like the friendship between the eagle’s teammates in the DC Eagles series.

And who can forget Harry Styles, the third who is indeed a typical cat. 

 

And while this one is the first of a new series, I would recommend reading both the DC Eagles series by Leah and  Katie’s books to get both Noah’s and Ally’s backstory as well as not be spoiled. But the book can easily be read on its own. One of my favorite scenes happened towards the end of the book and to me sums up Noah in a nutshell across two series. 

 

For those that have read Leah before this one has more language than previous books and is indeed more fade to black than earlier books. But it’s still a good read. I also recommend having tissues handy for some parts. 

I received a copy of this book from the author as part of a blog tour. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine alone. 

Secret or Shutout by Leah Brunner review

Title:  Secret or Shutout 

Author: Leah Brunner 

Ch: 42 plus epilogue 

Pg: 338 

Series: DC Eagles 

Genre:  Rom Com Hockey Rom com 

Rating:  5 stars 

Publisher: indie 

I thought Wes and Mel’s story was sweet, Mitch tugged out my heartstrings. Colby made me swoon. Ford melted my heart. But Bruce, well Bruce stole my heart. And at the beginning of the series, I didn’t see the goalie being my favorite or that he’d still my heart. Bruce was easy to see as the friend but not the love interest. However Secret or Shutout changed that.  I started falling for Bruce in the first chapter when I realized that my high school French hadn’t little me down and I knew what he was calling her. And that tidbit a lone made me realize there’s more to Bruce than meets the eye. The dual chapters make the story so much better. As you get to see them get to the same page. And watching Bruce fall was so sweet. Though Bruce did break a big hockey rule when it comes to teammate’s sister. 

 

Now I knew Farrah was going to be my favorite heroine when I meet her in Betrothal or Breakaway. But it was in Secret and Shutout that I saw how much I related to her. Farrah was the first time I’ve seen a heroine with PCOS on the page. And as someone with PCOs I loved seeing a heroine with the condition in a rom com. There was plenty of times in this one where my heart broke for Farrah. But there’s literally a moment in the book that Bruce not only starts healing Farrah’s heart and starts her trusting but I think a fictional hero started mending mine. And it’s this quote, “Farrah, I don’t want to build a life with you because of what you can give me someday. I don’t cherish you for your ability to have children or not. And I don’t love you based on any conditions.”  All I can say is where’s the real-life Bruce’s at?  

 

Bruce and his old truck remind me of something my grandma use to say if a man drives an old truck he knows how to stay when things get tough because he’s got patience and he’s stubborn. Which I think sums up Bruce perfectly. 

 

I loved that even though it’s Farrah and Bruce’s story we still get closure for the DC Eagles.

 

I will say Leah’s books on the steamy side of clean as there is some language, innuendo  and a fade to black scene with married couple. 

 

#secretorshutout #dceagles #hockeyromance #closeddoorromance #pcosrep #booktour

#bookedwiththeemilys

@bookedwiththeemilys @leah.brunner.writes

 

I received a copy of this book from the author  as part of a blog tour  I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.

 

Tropes:

Hockey romance

Teammate’s sister

Reverse age gap

NHL goalie

Curvy heroine

Betrothal or Breakaway by Leah Brunner review

Title: Betrothal or Breakaway

Author: Leah Brunner

Ch: 50 plus prologue and epilogue

Pg: 318

Series: DC Eagles book 3

Genre: Rom Com

Rating: 5 stars
Publisher: Indie

Ford Remington is the best book boyfriend not just for the reasons you’ll find out once you read Ford and Amber’s story Betrothal and Breakaway by Leah Brunner. The newest book in The DC Eagles series. But because as a teenager he didn’t fall into a certain body spray craze. And as a millennial woman who was in high school during that craze would have loved Ford because didn’t fall into that craze.

But importantly Ford’s a good friend and is willing to put his feelings aside to help Amber when she and her daughter Nella need a safe place to land. And of course, a hockey player holding a baby and glasses let the swooning begin. And he’s a neurodivergent hero who Leah wrote brilliantly because being neurodivergent is a spectrum. As someone who has a cousin on the spectrum and a sister with ADHD, I love seeing neurodivergent characters done right in books.

Amber is a woman who’s pretty much been hurt everyone in her life but her daughter and Ford. Her best friend since childhood and whose friendship she doesn’t want to lose.

My favorite genre in a romance or rom com is marriage of convenience which is something you don’t see much in contemporary rom coms, but I’ve never seen it paired with friends to more not something I tend to always pick up. But with Amber and Ford it works, and I love it. Because their friendship is something they both want to protect going.

Two best friends, a marriage of convenience, a baby, concerned parents an ex, and throw in a hockey team of course chaos is going to ensue. And you get a laugh out loud hockey rom com that’s so much more. There’s always layers to Leah’s books that make it so much more than a simple hockey romance. She’s made me love hockey romances when I normally don’t like sports romances and because of how beautifully she wrote Ford and Ambers story made me love a friends to more story.

Cove Revel Betrothal or Breakaway by Leah Brunner

🏒  𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐀𝐋 🏒

𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐫 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲, D.C. Eagles Hockey Book 3, by Leah Brunner is releasing April 4th! 

We’re thrilled to share the gorgeous cover with you!!! 

#PREORDER TODAY! 

➜ https://books2read.com/Betrothal-or-Breakaway

 

Read Desire or Defense, Book One

➜ https://books2read.com/DesireOrDefense

BLURB

My best friend—and unrequited love—has a hole in her heart. Literally and figuratively.

First, Amber’s fiancé left her when she told him she was pregnant, and then her daughter's birth left her with complications from a heart defect she didn’t realize she had.

I’m devastated.

Of course I offer to pay for her surgery, but Amber (stubborn woman that she is) insists on wanting to pay me back, which I don't understand. As captain of an NHL team, I have plenty of spare cash, and I’m more than happy to help. I want to help.

So I come up with a plan.

I’ll marry Amber, my health insurance will cover her surgery, I’ll help with the baby, and the gold band on my finger will get my parents—who seem to think I'm incapable of love—off my back.

It's a win-win for both of us.

Two years of platonically wedded bliss before we amicably go our separate ways, and remain best friends, as always.

Only, how am I supposed to let Amber go when I’m not only in love with her, but also with her baby girl… who now feels like my own.

And I might have to let her go sooner than I ever wanted to.

(This is a dual POV, fade-to-black romance, and can be read as a standalone. This book contains broken engagement and minor heart surgery.)

 Add to your TBR: https://bit.ly/BOB-GR

Cover Designer: Whim and Joy 

ABOUT LEAH BRUNNER:

Leah Brunner is an Amazon top 50 best selling author of fun and flirty romance! 

She loves writing explosive chemistry and realistic, relatable characters who will make you laugh (and possibly cry). When she's not writing, she can also be found petting her Maine Coon cat, or watching funny cat videos with her kids. Although she's a Kansas girl at heart, Leah is a proud Air Force spouse and currently lives in Ohio with her husband and three children.

LEAH BRUNNER LINKS

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Flirtation or Faceoff by Leah Brunner review

Title: Flirtation of Face off

Author: Leah Brunner 

Ch: 42 plus epilogue

Pg: 306

Series: DC Eagles book 2

Genre: Rom Com

Rating: 5 stars

Publisher: Indie

Just when I didn’t think Leah Brunner could top Mitch, she gives me Colby Knight a hockey player who slight spoiler reads his crushes favorite book. I’m what book nerd doesn’t wish a guy would read her favorite book to better understand her. And of course, Noel joins the ranks of nerdy girls who possibly get the guy.

Flirtation and Faceoff had sight miscommunication but for this book works. And of course, a matchmaking grandma. Colby is misunderstood but as you read the book you get his growth and changes for the better. And I mean the library scene has this beauty and the beast nerd swooning.

Desire or Defense by Leah Brunner review

 

Title: Desire or Defense

Author: Leah Brunner

Ch: 33 plus epilogue

Pg: 284

Series: Hooked on a feeling 1

Genre: Rom Com

Rating: 4 stars

Publisher: Indie

I’m not into sports all that much outside of baseball. And I’ve never seen a hockey game. But I was pretty much hooked on this book from page one. Now I’m not as bad as Andie was when it come to hockey facts. Though I can’t take credit for that my hockey knowledge comes from my sister. Now Mitch is my kind of hero he’s rough around the edges and so is Andie, but they soften each other’s edges. Andie is a heroine I relate to because she was the older sister that stepped up.

Yes, this one is about hockey but it’s also about so much more. It tackles grief loss and mental health in a tactful and realistic way. I’m looking forward to the next one in the series.