Debbie Charles: Dances With Pucks

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/223879486-dances-with-pucks

Cam our MMC is good at his job and wants to make sure he's prepared for the upcoming season he's been given an amazing opportunity and has been selected for an expansion team for the NHL he's got to make a good impression and wants to make sure he is the starting goalie... one of his ways to stay limber is a not so secret secret he's been taking ballroom dance lessons since college... he feels it's a way to stay close to his mom who passed away years before.  

Cam finds a dance studio willing to give private lessons and soon he is dancing beautifully with his new partner Christina she's stunning and keeps him on his toes... he's soon surprised to learn that she is one of the owners of his new team along with her brother and sister while Christina feels the pull towards Cam too she holds herself back for obvious reasons... he's too young for her, he's her dance student and now he's also on the team that she co-owns... so many reasons to hold back and not get involved as anything more but she can only resist for so long... he is the most handsome guy she's ever seen and it's been awhile since she's been with anyone.

Christina has some medical issues which have led to the end of her competitive ballroom dance career as well as made it impossible for her to get pregnant since ending competitive dancing she has focused on her career with her families financial portfolio and also is now to help guide the hockey players (if they want to use her services) with their finances... knowing that Cam is so young and might want a family some day should she just end things before they really get started?  Or can she let go and take a chance on something that has the potential to be amazing?  Always in the back of her mind is her poor relationship with her last partner that ended badly. 

They both say it's just casual but as they spend more time together even though they haven't admitted it to each other everyone can see it's already so much more.  

When the truth comes out about Christina's health conditions will there even be a relationship to worry about saving?  

*Hockey Romance  *Sports Romance  *Dual POV  *Spice  *strangers --> more  *dealing with grief (MMC loss of mom)  *workplace romance *reverse Age Gap  *Goalie MMC  *position of power (female owner)  *Dance partners *forbidden romance *complicated family relationships (MMC) *secret relationship *millionaire/billionaire romance  *slow(ish) burn *State Challenge: Texas  *Indie Author

Thoughts:

Likes: 

This was a cute hockey romance with some humor and some spice, it did take me a bit to get into but both of our leads are likeable and I did root for them to give each other a chance to make things work.  Both characters have their individual struggles --> FMC with health issues and infertility, and MMC with an absent/distant father/family.  

Good chemistry between our leads.  Love a handsome hockey goalie! 

I liked the interactions with Cam and his team mates and everyone should have a group of girlfriends like Christina's.  I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series and have pre-ordered the 3rd book.  

Dislikes: 

I did find that some of the book seemed to focus more on positioning of their dance moves (kind of like an instruction manual), or lengthier descriptions on hockey positions and financial management and I think those portions could have been trimmed to add additional scenes with our couple getting to know each other better.  

Took awhile to get to actual spice for the amount of inner monologue from both sides about how their body was reacting to each other... every chapter in the beginning seemed to bring up wetness gathering on leotards or painful bulging by looking at Christina's amazing dancer's body... yes we get that you both want each other... get together already!... or talk about something else 😂 (probably just a me problem... could only take so much moistness)...