Book Blurb:
In a game built for men, I came to make history.
As the only girl on an all-male Division I hockey team, I’m not a novelty—I’m a threat. A spark in a powder keg of testosterone. But I didn’t come to play nice. I came to dominate.
I didn’t expect them…
The golden boy captain who carries the team on his shoulders.
The brooding guardian with a darkness that calls to me.
The hot and cold viper who kisses me breathless in dark corners—then acts like it never happened.
And the quiet bruiser who speaks my language in video games.
I live with them. Train with them. Compete against them.
They’re temptation wrapped in danger—
And the first ones to ever look at me like I belong.
But this game has enemies off the ice too.
And someone wants to break me for good.
Let them try.
Because I’m not just here to play.
I’m here to rewrite the rules and claim my legacy.
As the only girl on an all-male Division I hockey team, I’m not a novelty—I’m a threat. A spark in a powder keg of testosterone. But I didn’t come to play nice. I came to dominate.
I didn’t expect them…
The golden boy captain who carries the team on his shoulders.
The brooding guardian with a darkness that calls to me.
The hot and cold viper who kisses me breathless in dark corners—then acts like it never happened.
And the quiet bruiser who speaks my language in video games.
I live with them. Train with them. Compete against them.
They’re temptation wrapped in danger—
And the first ones to ever look at me like I belong.
But this game has enemies off the ice too.
And someone wants to break me for good.
Let them try.
Because I’m not just here to play.
I’m here to rewrite the rules and claim my legacy.
Tropes:
*Netgalley ALC *Enemies to Lovers *College Romance *Hockey romance
*Reverse Harem *Darker elements check your trigger warnings *Team mates
*Fierce FMC *Why Choose *team Drama *death of parent (FMC Father prior to story starting) *Spice *Protective MMC's *Touch her and 💀 *State Challenge Vermont
*Found family *mental health *Multiple POV's *over 600 pages
Thoughts:
I'm going to start this a bit differently because I have read and enjoyed a lot of hockey romance books and there were elements of this book I enjoyed I loved the idea of a fierce FMC (Dylan) not only putting herself out there and playing in a male dominated sport... but also competing with the men and skating circles around them while she's at it! yes please!
Our girl Dylan has had a really rough time since she's come to college she was on a different All Male D1 Hockey team (the rivals to her current team) but after the death of her father (who was an NHL superstar and passed away tragically) her life felt like it was going off the rails... she got into a relationship with her former teams sleezy captain only for him to blind side her and betray her needing a fresh start with the help of a family friend (the Coach of her new team) she was able to not only land a spot but proved her worth and landed a spot on the first line... this causes a problem with the team mate she pushed out of his spot Kyle.
Dylan can't even get away from Kyle during practice and games since he is one of her room mates... along with a few other team mates, this is going to go well. What first starts as a strained relationship with all of her team mates, especially since it doesn't help that team captain/room mate Ethan has decided to deal with the situation by having the whole team ignore her... yep that's going to help. Thankfully she meets a friend and occasionally stays with her throughout different times in the book to get away from the chaos that is her life.
So on to the males in her life now and listening to the book it was at times hard to figure out/remember who had the POV I think this audio could have done with a bigger cast for narration (maybe it would have helped) but several of the voices were similar/the same especially for the male narrator the female narrator did a great job. The guys had varying degrees of the same personality, other than Dylan we don't get much background information on any of the other characters which is surprising for such a long book.
Ethan --> captain, he was getting closer to Dylan throughout the book but also trying to keep his distance because he knew it was wrong to want her. (room mate)
Jax- likes to play video games, troubled child hood, strong silent, broody type (room mate)
Griffin: takes an automatic liking to Dylan and probably has the best relationship with her out of all the guys (not one of her room mates), goalie
Finn: this guy was confusing to me as his name was so close to Griffin but he's a hottie with a rockin body and likes to take advantage of the "puck bunnies" that hang around the team... until Dylan comes along. He has been best friends with Kyle since they were kids... and often feels torn throughout due to the fact that he knows Kyle and Dylan are having big beef.
Once all the guys stop being so hard headed and realize that Dylan isn't trying to ruin their chances for the championship and is a really great team mate they all begin to get closer to Dylan in their own ways often having their own spicy encounters with her as Dylan struggles with what she's even doing with all of them... and she has other things to worry about as well.
Dylan continues throughout the book to receive threats from known and unknown subject(s), she has a few run ins with her evil ex from her old team, continues to deal with long term grief r/t her father's passing (which her guys eventually help her thru) and her complicated relationship with her mother it's a lot for anyone to have to deal with... all while continuing to want her dream of making it to the NHL.
I did feel for Dylan and her past history and wanted to see her be happy but there was a lot going on in this one. I'm sure that plenty of people will like this book... and I did like Dylan's friend (I think the next book is about her and I might check it out... if it isn't so long).
Negatives:
I have to say this one was not my favorite I probably enjoyed the hockey related sections more than her relationship with the guys to be honest.
Out of her relationships with all the guys I truly only felt that Griffin was worth her time... the rest of the guys spent too much time not being on her side/actively working against her... it reminded me of the things that she said happened on her old team that she left and yet she let them do this to her again... history repeating itself.
At any instance of drama... her guys (minus Griffin) are all on the "don't believe" her bus without even having a conversation... are you with her or not? Are you willing to hear her side of the story or not?
The guys were hard to tell apart and don't get equal time throughout the story with our girl... it was almost like all the main character energy went into a few characters and the others kind of were dimmer in comparison/not as noticeable... story could have maybe benefitted by not having as many male love interests since it felt like the story became more muddy with all the relationships that weren't even all that serious in my opinion the majority of the book she was in a situationship with 1-4 of them at any given time, while she becomes jealous of "her guys" being near other women.
I feel this book could have benefitted by being about 2-300 pages shorter, there was a lot of filler chapters where nothing much was happening to move the story forward and it was just a repetitive inner monologue or the same things were happening
This book had the feeling of too much going on but nothing going on at the same time making it feel like a slog to get through at times.
For a college romance... did these kids ever go to class? there wasn't much homework going on either... they had a lot of time after practice or games to hang out at a bar or play video games.
I had a hard time imagining that even if they were to allow a female on the previously "all male" team that they would have her share a locker room with them.
I could go on with some more things... but I think I'll just end it here, this one was just ok for me, I do enjoy hockey romance but at over 650 pages I think I could have been ok skipping this one.
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