On the Line by Victoria Denault is one great read. Finished it in one sitting.

Really Loved and Enjoyed the story and Recommend it to all readers.

Who said hockey romance is dead and gone?!! Because this book was an amazing hockey romance!! A first read for this author but it won't be my last.

Boy do I love me some sexy hockey players and Avery Westwood makes the cut! Even with his stick-up-the-butt-attitude right off the bat, this guy was quite the charmer and only got better as the story went on.

Stephanie Deveau is the sister to a professional hockey player, so the no dating a player's sister rule applies to Avery, which he intends on breaking very soon. Avery played in Seattle and has now transferred to San Diego where he just happens to bump into the beautiful Stephanie.

These two had a bit of a connection months ago, however never really went out of the friend-zone due to past circumstances. Avery lives a very rigid and controlled life. Everything is mapped and planned out to protect his brand. Stephanie has a few skeletons in her closet that wouldn't be the best thing for Avery's brand right now, but the heart wants what the heart wants. Brothers and managers be dammed, Avery and Stephanie are going to date and live happily ever after...if it were only that easy.

The book is well written from dual points of view. I loved the banter and instant chemistry between Avery and Stephanie. They joked like the old friends they were and once the line was crossed, kept things as light and fun as they could with the circumstances surrounding them. There is a handful of characters to help the story along and we learn a little about them as they are introduced. On the Line can be read as a standalone, however after meeting some of the guys, my interest is piqued and I will be checking out the previous books in this series.

Reviewed for Renee Entress's Blog.

Some of the best hockey romance you’ll read…

Avery and Steph’s courtship was a slow burn until it met a trial by fire! This read was hockey romance at its finest, as these two had to figure out what they were to each other under the spotlight of media, and their friends and families…

Steph knew she had gone off the rails as a teenager and spent years going down a wrong path. Five years after getting the help she needed, she was happily working on building her career and moving forward. Her brother had been a big help and little did he know, he brought Avery into her life…

“… what is it about this woman that makes me forget the rules?”

Avery had been her brother’s teammate and was now a hockey star in her newly adopted city. Thrown together by circumstance, and a lot of help from Avery, both were trying to ignore their attraction and just be friends. Thank goodness, that didn’t last too long!

The drama was high and delicious as Avery and Steph’s relationship changed under the scrutiny of jealous teammates, supportive friends and complicated family. Image was important but was it a higher priority than love? Funny and sweet, they brought out the best in each other so I really, really needed them to get through all the hits they were taking and find a way to make it work… And did they ever!

Loved it!! Great hockey romance!! This book totally captivated me; I read it in one sitting!! It was sexy, funny and heartbreaking! The writing was very good!! I highly recommend this book!! I adore Victoria's books!

On this occasion no review as it unfortunately didn't work for me.

What would you do if the one person you found yourself lusting after was unattainable? Forget the rules when it comes to love, hockey, friendships and family. This book will push the boundaries and put it all on the line. Don't miss this story!

Great story - looking to read the rest of this series now

Thanks for the chance to read this

On The Line is a great romance. The story flowed well and it was well written. I liked the characters Avery and Stephanie. The secondary characters were great too. This is the first book of Victoria Denault I have read, and I can say I will definitely be reading more of her stories.

I received this book from Netgaĺley

This is the 5th book in the series and though you don’t need to read the books in order, you will get a better understanding of the two main characters if you had read book #4. Either way the book opens with Avery the captain of the hockey out on the lake with Stephanie, she is the sister of one of his teammates and he has grown attracted to her since she told him off in front of the team because he was more worried about his appearance, and publicity than helping out a friend. Which she tells him he never was. Now months later he is trying to figure out how to ask her out on a date when the canoe tips over and the next thing he knows she is gone from the party and from Seattle. Months later he finds out she is living and working in San Diego. He ends up signing a deal with the team and then moves in next door to her. The story goes along until he is blind-sided by her past as a teen and she tells him once again he is more worried about his appearance in the press than her as a person. Now his game is in the tank and he feels like s—t, you think it can’t get worse? You forgot her brother plays defense man and though he is a forward- center so when the puck drops Avery wins the face off Sebastian is nowhere near him but in seconds Avery is down on the ice with Sebastian looking at with a red face like he has been skating all night but Avery knows it’s rage and doesn’t fight back, (now that’s good old fashion hockey girl). The story goes along from there with a few good twists as to who leaked the information to the press, and I was not surprised. I did not like the guy in the first book and don’t like the character. Overall a good story, not as much hockey as some of the other ones, a little more sex, who doesn’t hockey, and fighting? A good book to go along with her other books.

This was my first book by Victoria Denault and it is the fifth in her Hometown Players series and I enjoyed it quite a lot and there were times I was worried I would be disappointed, but this author managed to pull back at just the right moment every time making this a very edge of your seat romance. On The Line was a complicated friends to lovers romance that was fun and sexy, yet intense and poignant.

Avery Westwood’s entire life and NHL career has been managed by his father who is also his manager since he was sixteen years old. To say that Avery tows the line is putting it mildly; his father has built a brand around Avery’s name and reputation as a nice guy and good man and Avery doesn’t step out of line, but his friend and ex-teammate’s sister Stephanie Deveau makes him want to obliterate the line totally.

Stephanie knows that events from her past will tarnish Avery, but the more time they spend together the more she has a hard time not owning up to the fact that while she enjoys her friendship with Avery, she really wants more from him.

I’ll admit at first Avery’s incessant need to protect his image drove me crazy as did his kowtowing to his father/manager, and there were a couple of times I wanted to personally slam him into the boards during this book, BUT (and yes that’s a big but) I could also understand he felt blindsided, betrayed, and that his life was out of control and he did realize his mistakes and he did try to make up for them and so I have to give him a lot of credit for growing up and finally taking his destiny into his own hands.

I admired Stephanie a great deal for moving on from her past mistakes and working to improve her life every day. I loved that she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind and that she routinely called Avery out for his public face. She made mistakes and not sharing everything about her past with Avery was a big one, but in her defense she’d moved on and didn’t feel what happened in her past was anyone’s business but her own.

Their attraction to one another burned brightly and even as they went through the motions of just being friends, it seeped into everything they did together. I loved Avery’s teammates for constantly butting in to their “relationship” before there even was one and for making them both question why they were staying away from one another. Once they got together, it was obvious they were good for one another and brought out the best in each other.

Engaging, entertaining and emotional, I thoroughly enjoyed On The Line and look forward to checking out more books in this series.

I picked On The Line up because a hockey romance sounded good. This is the 5th book in a series, but reads well as stand-alone. I was able to follow the story easily and there didn’t seem to an excessive amount of retelling of previous stories. This is a well written book, but I struggled to connect with the characters.

We meet Avery and Stephanie at the wedding of mutal friends and discover that they have known each other for several years, there has been attraction, but they don’t know each other well. The evolution from acquaintance to neighbor/friend to lovers is cute and we discover that Avery has had a crush on Stephanie for a long time.

Like any couple, these two have issues. For Stephanie, it’s a past she’s not proud of, but beat. For Avery, it’s the dedication to his image and the manipulation of his father/manager. How they handle these issues if what I found frustrating about the book. On Stephanie’s part, I found the fact that she failed to tell Avery more about her past to be a little selfish even if somewhat understandable. Avery almost seemed to have two personalities and struggle with who he really wanted to be. I appreciated the evolution his character experienced, but I just couldn’t get invested with them.

I don’t know if I would have enjoyed this book more if I had read the rest of the books in the series first or not. The secondary cast is fairly small, but impactful. Even though I didn’t connect strongly with this book, it has me curious about the rest of the series and Ms. Denault’s other work.

4.5 Stars!

My blog partner and I have been a on a sports romance kick for the past couple of months... and more specifically, we have been devouring hockey books like its the last slice of pizza on earth. Something about this sub-genre in romance really gets my heart pumping and my swoon factor at an all time high.

Victoria Denault is fairly new to me in the romance world but she is definitely one I will be looking for in the near future. One the Line, book five in the Hometown Players series, was a fantastic book full of ups, downs, romance, friendship, lust, and love. This book reads as a complete standalone in this series though my interest has been piqued about the prior four books in this series.

On the Line introduces us to Avery and Stephanie... two people drawn together in an unexplainable and undeniable way. Their journey was perfectly executed from the pacing and timing to the character developments and romance. The tension and build up between these was magnetic, sizzling, and quite combustible at times. I swooned and fell hard for these two... each pulling at my heartstrings in a different way

If you are a fan of this type of romance then definitely gives this author and novel a try!

I highly recommend this book.