Rachel Anthony: Blocked Shot

 Skate Me Home Book 1

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/237718224-blocked-shot

We meet our FMC Natalie when she is helping her younger brother (Jesse) move he has just been drafted to play on a professional hockey team's farm league it's an exciting time for him and she is so happy that his dreams are coming true.  Natalie has been watching over her younger brother for several years at this point after their parents passed away in an accident, she gained full custody and had to change her role of loving sister to sister/guardian and things were not always easy, she often worked multiple jobs to keep his hockey dreams alive.  

Natalie had to grow up quick everything happened so fast and while she has a job she enjoys now she did have to drop out of school in order to take care of Jesse she is just now going back to school taking a few classes at a time.  We as the reader see that Jesse still has some growing up to do while Natalie continues to sacrifice her own dreams and goals for him.  When her saucy friend (Mila) talks her into going out for an evening while she is staying with Jesse she decides to let down her guard a bit and runs into our MMC Jake at the local bar he is handsome and charming he also neglects to tell her that he is a hockey star (and happens to be on her brother's team) but only because he wants her to like him for himself and not for his history as an enforcer with the NHL.

Jake our MMC is pretty down about things he has been moved down from the NHL team to the farm team and if he doesn't get moved back up or traded to another NHL team by the end of the year his career could potentially be at an end and this is what he knows he has been a career athlete for all of his adult life what else would he even do and he still has some more good years left in him... it isn't over yet.

Jake and Natalie have instant chemistry but once she finds out that he is not only on her brother's team but also assigned to be his mentor she does what she always does and pulls back from what she wants due to not wanting it to cause problems for Jesse and his place on his new team.  

But no matter how hard they try to stay away from each other they keep ending up back together it's like the universe is saying yes even though Natalie knows it could potentially lead to heart break and she doesn't know how her brother would react if he found out about their "secret relationship." We all know how the brother is going to react and it's badly so there is drama with that of course and heartbreak for our couple.  

What was frustrating for me was that sacrificing her own wants/dreams to focus on her brother was so ingrained at that point that our FMC spent a lot of the book trying to avoid/stay away from our MMC and leading him on when they did have contact... unintentionally but still hurtful when he began to believe in those moments that they could try to make a relationship work.  Our MMC was a sweet guy who told her what he wanted right in the beginning, she just needed to say yes already and tell her brother to deal with it she was in a relationship with a great guy (who is also his team mate) and doing something for herself for once.    

I enjoyed this book and will be not so patiently waiting for the 2nd in the series and hope it's about her funny friend Mila and shy hockey player Theo who had some flirty interactions throughout the book.  

*Hockey Romance  *Forbidden romance  *Brother's team mate  *spice  *Book Sirens 2025 ARC

*first book for this author *slow burn  *forced proximity *banter  *MMC with a soft side for our FMC

*happy ending