Jillian Arly: The Perfect Assist

 Green Bay Bobcats Book 2

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/241208075-the-perfect-assist

Niko (MMC) is the captain of the Bobcats NHL hockey team he is a leader on the team but recently he's been struggling his little girl (she is 4) has been waking up and coming to his room he can't get enough sleep and he doesn't want to keep asking for help from his parents he really could use another nanny but he can't understand why he can't find a decent caregiver... he's had a series of duds and he now feels he can't trust anyone with his precious girl.

In comes Sadie she's 2 of his coaches best friend and the team has recently hired her for at least the season for yoga sessions and meditation for the guys to be able to get in the right head space before the games... she's also the first woman in awhile that makes his heart beat a bit faster, she's gorgeous and caring and his daughter seems to love her... he might just feel a bit more for her too.

After a minor injury Sadie offers to help Niko with childcare and he offers her a place to live... which works out because Sadie's not going to be able to afford her apartment once her best friend/room mate moves in with her boyfriend.  

Before long lines are blurring between friendship and employer/employee when these two can't seem to stay away from each other... but is this only a temporary situation or could this possibly be forever? 

 Both of our leads struggle with abandonment issues which leads to miscommunication/no communication which adds to the drama will they be able to come together to try something real?  or will what they have fizzle out before either of them give it a real chance? 

*ARC read  *Hockey Romance *Sports Romance  *Single Dad  *Captain of the team *Spice

*Yoga instructor *miscommunication/no communication  *friends to more  *Nanny (kind of)

*Slow burn *found family *forced proximity *pining (both sides) *dual pov 

*State Challenge Wisconsin

Troubled past:  MMC has issues with being left by his ex-wife, FMC has abandonment issues with her family 

Thoughts:

Likes: 

Likeable lead characters and side characters, Niko is green flag book boyfriend material I love a hockey guy!  I liked that Niko's daughter Sophia was a lead character and wasn't just pushed aside for the unfolding romance. 

Enjoyed the side characters (friends) and I will probably check out the next in the series. 

Neutral:

Cozy read, nothing really stood out as new and I could predict where the story was going way in advance, I did start to skim through areas that were repeated monologues of previous sections or overly descriptive these sections could have been edited down so the book wasn't over 400 pages long I struggled at points to get through the book.  

Dislikes:

I'm not sure the author knows how long it takes to be a surgeon but at one point it's mentioned that Sadie is the oldest of 6 (and she's only like 30) then all of her younger brothers and sisters became surgeons and lawyers to appease her parents... it takes like 13 + years to be a surgeon.

There is a very brief section where she stands up to her family but Niko is the one who stands up to them first... it would have been nice if she had taken the lead on that situation.

The miscommunication at the end seemed more forced considering both leads at that point know a bit more about each other's history with abandonment.