Read in 2025
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/238924884-check-chase
Chase (MMC) is a handsome hockey player (NHL) who ends up going against medical advice and injuring his knee further leading to a lengthy period of time needed to recover in comes our FMC Emma she is the newest physical therapist for the team but he already knows her... they met at a party where they got better acquainted in a private room on top of this past history between the two of them she is his biggest rival's little sister and her ex (who cheated on her with his ex) is also one of his team mates... talk about drama.
Emma is determined to keep things strictly professional when it comes to Chase and she has plans to get him back on the ice as soon as possible... which is at least 6 weeks. Emma loves her new job but it comes with a problem she used to be a figure skater well on her way to Olympic tryouts she ended up with a career ending injury as a teen that led to PTSD/nightmares and a fear of being around the ice... a bit hard when her patients all work on the ice daily.
When Chase's obnoxious ex (who is dating his team mate/Emma's Ex) comes on too strong he feels that the way to fight against this is to be dating someone else and noticing that Emma's ex is giving her a hard time he thinks what better way than to team up with Emma they can "pretend" to date get both of their exes off of their backs this is a win/win for both of them they can even set a date to "break up" and it will be fine no hard feelings... only that never goes to plan.
When problems arise at work instead of speaking to each other about things first our MMC is a bit of a act first kind of guy and tries to take matters into his own hands which upsets Emma she is part of this relationship and needs her voice heard too. Will they be able to overcome these obstacles?
Things I liked about this book --> hockey romance, rivals little sister, some of the characters were charming I liked the MMC more than the FMC I felt she was giving our guy mixed signals on several occasions. MMC was caring and wanted to help our FMC get over her fears by easing her back onto the ice.
Things that missed the mark for me--> This book was way too long (over 600 pages) and didn't need to be it was repetitive and even used the exact same wording for paragraphs over several different chapters, just when I felt like things were wrapping up there was an additional 250-300 pages. The author could have benefitted from someone to sit down with and help with trimming some of the extra padding there were so many tropes thrown in the book that it felt like were there just to check off a box as opposed to being there because it was necessary for the story line.
Emma as a physical therapist wouldn't have been ok with Chase getting down on his knees (knowing of his injury) for spicy times... come on girl he needs to heal his knee not make it worse.
The couple said the L word super early in the book... when I wasn't really seeing on the pages I was reading what led them to that so fast... then for the 3rd act break up it went on way too long Emma didn't even give Chase a chance to explain himself and we as the reader continues to read about her repetitive monologue about how he didn't ask her what she wanted but then she wants him to chase after her when she is doing everything to push him away including making her own "big" decisions without talking to him first... at that point in the book I was rooting for our MMC to find another girl.
I love hockey romances and was excited to start this book the blurb sounded like it would be good and I really enjoyed the beginning of the book and had hopes that it would continue like that but this one fell flat for me and it was a slog to get through. But just because this one wasn't for me doesn't mean it won't be a good read for you.
*ARC read 2025 *Hockey Romance *Sports Romance *drama with exes *Rivals little sister
*some spice *fake dating --> more *forced proximity *Golden Retriever MMC
*Physical therapist FMC *golden boy *3rd act break up *over 600 pages
*miscommunication/no communication
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