Look, I fell for this series HARD. Rookie Move but especially Hard Hitter was a favorite but unfortunately, this one fell flat for me. First, I have a hard time with heroines when they're obsessed with having a baby so I had a hard with Lauren. However, after truly learning about Lauren and Mike's relationship and the reason they broke up? I couldn't really bring myself to forgive Mike and I honestly believe that Lauren forgave him wayyyy too quickly. The one good thing about this book is that we got more on Nate and Rebeca and gosh, I truly hope we get their own book soon. My love for them needs it!

I did not request this book. It just showed up on my Shelf. I never read the book. Please remove it from my status so I don’t receive negative markings.

When I finished the second book in the Brooklyn Bruisers series, I’ll admit that I was hoping the excerpt at the end would indicate that book three would be about Becca and Nate. Instead, it featured Lauren Williams, Nate’s frosty assistant, and Mike Beacon, the Bruiser’s goalie. Lauren had been an intriguing ice-princess character in the first two books, making brief appearances to declaim on her disdain for hockey. Mike had not made much of an impression on me though; I did a search of book two and did see he was mentioned, mostly during the hockey-playing scenes. So I went into Pipe Dreams with no particularly strong expectations (the way I would/will when we get Nate and Becca’s book!).

Lauren Williams is in hell. An injury to one of her boss’ key assistants on the Bruisers has her temporarily moved from his Manhattan office to Brooklyn, to support the team while they are in the playoffs. Once upon a time Lauren had worked for the Bruisers and loved hockey. She grew up with the game – her father was the team’s general manager at one point, before Nate fired him. But after her romance with team goalie Mike Beacon imploded, Lauren swore off everything hockey related and has focused on finishing her bachelor’s degree and working her way up the ladder at Kattenberger Technologies in Manhattan.

Lauren and Mike have a history that goes back over a decade – when they first met, she had just started working in the team’s office, then in Long Island, and he was the new goalie for the Bruisers. Mike was married with a young daughter; he had gotten his high school girlfriend pregnant and “done the right thing.” Mike and Lauren were “friends” for eight years when he caught his wife cheating and moved out. He waited a very brief time after that before he went to see Lauren and they fell into bed; from then on they were a couple.

I say “friends” because, clearly, Lauren and Mike were attracted to each other, possibly in love, and possibly having an emotional affair before he broke up with his wife. I found this slightly disturbing; both a little unsavory and troubling for reasons I’ll get to in a bit.

Anyway, Mike and Lauren are together for two blissful years, and talking about moving in together, when Mike finds out that his soon-to-be-ex-wife (I guess the divorce process took a while? I’m not sure why since they don’t appear to have been hugely contentious, but whatever) is terminally ill. He again “does the right thing”, drops Lauren, and moves back in to support his wife and daughter.

For some reason I found the timeline of this book confusing. I don’t know why I needed to know the exact amount of time that Lauren and Mike had known each other, but it was bugging me and I kept having to add it up. I think it goes: 12 years (which seems like such a long time!) from first meeting to present day. The first eight years, they’re friends and he’s married. Then they are together two years. I think it takes about a year from the break up until Mike’s wife dies. Then another year of him being a widower, during which time he doesn’t really see Lauren since she left the team and transferred to Manhattan. Throw in my confusion about when Nate bought the team (sometime in the middle of their romance? towards the end of it? I’m not sure) and moved the team from Long Island to Brooklyn. None of this is hugely central to the story but, again, for some reason I kept running it through in my head. I feel better getting it down here. :-)

Anyway, Lauren is back with the team, temporarily and reluctantly. She’s very wary of Mike but seeing her makes him decide that he wants her back. His attitude bugged me; he realizes that he devastated Lauren but it doesn’t seem to bother him overmuch. There’s a lot about their relationship and communication that I just didn’t understand, or that didn’t make sense to me.

This gets to my earlier point about being bothered (on a couple of fronts) about their eight-year flirtation while he was married and really the whole relationship from start to finish. I get it; Mike was married. He wasn’t going to leave his wife for Lauren and he apparently wasn’t going to work on his marriage, so he just sat around until his wife conveniently gave him an out. Then he and Lauren are happy, but his wife’s illness interferes with that and Mike handles it inexplicably badly, as detailed in this discussion with his teammate:

“So, uh, nobody knew how sick Shelly was when I left Lauren.”

“Except for Lauren, right?” O’Doul asked.

He shook his head slowly.

O’Doul’s eyes narrowed. “You didn’t tell her Shelly was terminal? That’s insane.”

“Is it? I had to take a wrecking ball to all our plans either way. I didn’t want to make her feel sorry for me.”

“You wanted her to….hate you instead?”

Yes. “Not exactly. But I had a choice – I could either be a martyr or an asshole. I thought it would be easier to get over the asshole than the martyr. And I wanted what was best for her.”

Look. I understand that some allowances need to be made for romance-novel conflict. Maybe it’s that I’ve gotten less patient with those allowances in recent years. But the reason that Mike breaks up with Lauren makes little sense to me. It’s not like his ex was in love with him anymore. He could have worked it out, if everyone was honest and straightforward and mature about their needs and their feelings. It might’ve been tough, it might even have resulted in a break-up eventually, but at least it wouldn’t have been so…dumb. I mean, his stated reason is that he didn’t want the love of his life to feel sorry for him. That’s just dumb.

Then, Mike apparently doesn’t think much about Lauren until he comes back into contact with her during the playoffs. It almost feels like a case of out of sight, out of mind. There may have been some lip service to the idea that he realizes from Lauren’s reaction to him that she hasn’t moved on, and that spurs him to try to get her back. I really don’t remember, honestly. But either way, these are two deeply passive people. They wait for Shelly to cheat so they can get together. Then they wait until they are thrown together again by chance to start speaking to each other. Mike is largely responsible for this, but Lauren has a part too – she didn’t seem to do much during their eight year friendship to refocus her energies on other relationships, rather than a crush on an unattainable (or so it appeared at the time) man. She didn’t do much to deal with her disappointment and bitterness after Mike dumps her – she has a few flings (small appreciation to the rare lovers-united romance where the heroine has sex with other people during their time apart but the hero doesn’t), but that’s it.

I know a lot of readers love lovers-reunited stories but they can be tricky for me. Mike and Lauren have wasted a lot of time. Maybe the first eight years were unavoidable – Mike didn’t have it in him to dump his wife, essentially for another woman, or to fix his marriage, if it was fixable. But the last two…sigh. I mean, the conflict was just so unnecessary and felt shallow, which feels weird to say when it involved a young woman dying tragically. But it felt contrived, and that was highlighted by Mike’s at times annoyingly flip and cocky attitude towards getting back together with Lauren. He pays lip service to understanding how much he hurt her, but it never felt real to me. Lauren, is, understandably, a bit slower to warm up to the idea of getting back together, but even she doesn’t put up much of a fight.

The entire series so far has been marked by a lack of h/h conflict. In the first book, the h/h had been together as teenagers and broke up after the heroine was raped. In that case, I didn’t mind their six-year separation so much (they were so young that it felt like some time apart wasn’t the worst thing). I did mind that instead of making the conflict really about the heroine’s rape and the pain and confusion that grew out of it, the breakup felt more like the result of a misunderstanding; one honest conversation would have cleared things up. In the second book, the hero has Big Issues that disappear partway through the story for no real reason that I could understand. In this book, the hero making a bit more of an effort to hold onto the supposed love of his life would have meant no separation. I appreciate low-conflict romances at times but I don’t like it when the story is set up for a conflict that fizzles.

There were things to like about Pipe Dreams – Mike’s relationship with his tween daughter Elsa and his friendship with Elsa’s music teacher/manny Hans were both well done. I liked that Lauren was honest with Mike about the flak she got for their relationship and its fallout (Mike hadn’t apparently been aware that there was even gossip). Both characters are likable and (mostly) sympathetic. In terms of readability, this is a B-, maybe even a B. But my annoyance with the contrived separation and the fact that there’s no deeper understanding on the hero’s part of why he made the choices he did and what impact it really had on the heroine slips Pipe Dreams down to a C+.

I received a copy of this arc from NetGalley for an honest review. While this was a good read, I have liked some of the author Sarina Bowen's books better than this one. I just did not find myself as invested in these characters.

Where to start with Pipe Dreams. I don't even know. I was confused and bored with a lot of it. I don't know if it was because I wanted Nate's story which it wasn't time for, or because I didn't care for the characters. Something about it just disappointed me. I know a lot of people loved it, but just wasn't the book for me.

Bitterness and regret haunt their second chance…

I love this hockey series and I was more than ready for Mike and Lauren’s story! They had been blissfully happy despite the fact that Mike’s divorce wasn’t final and his daughter was less than thrilled. When their relationship ended suddenly, Lauren retreated as far as she could from the Bruiser’s locker room until circumstances forced her back…

“It had been years since she read Dante’s Inferno…but one of the nine circles of hell had probably been a place where you saw your ex every single day.”

The turmoil and drama was high as Lauren and Mike’s story played out in a series of flashbacks and current events. So much had happened, yet some things hadn’t changed, since they were in love and finding out they still had feelings for each other was the start of working through a landmine of regret and bitterness.

“Her stomach flipped over and then dove straight down to her knees. Mike Beacon in a suit had always been her undoing.”

There’s a lot going on in this emotion-fueled romance so it was a treat from start to finish! I can’t get enough of the Bruisers and all who love them, I hope there will be more to come!

Pipe Dreams is book two in Sarina Bowen’s Brooklyn Bruisers series, a spinoff of The Ivy Years NA series. I think it’s my favorite of the series to date. Pipe Dreams is a second chance love story that hit all the high notes with me.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Lauren, since she was pretty uptight in the previous books. I really came to enjoy her. Mike was a solid, stand-up kind of guy. He was easy to like, and to trust. I didn’t love the flashbacks in this story, but that comes down to a personal preference. I’d rather be told the backstory then get it in pieces via flashbacks.

Mike’s team, Lauren’s developing friendship with the WAGs (wives and girlfriends) and her co-workers, all of it really came together and made for a great read.

Bowen continues to hit big with this series.

Sarina Bowen never disappoints! This ex-lovers, single parent, second chance, hockey sports romance that I think many readers will love. While the first two books in the series were closer to my heart- this had an amazing backstory and I loved the family dynamic between Mike and his daughter. Great sexy read.

Loved this one as much as the others. I can't wait to read the new installment.

I love a great second chance at love story. I love Sarina Bowen's voice and she has yet to let me down.
Lauren has been featured in previous books and has come off as closed off and uninterested in hockey. In this story we get her back story. She and Mike were previously involved but they broke up.
I love a good widow/widower story and I felt like Mike's was authentic. He made some bad choices, but he genuinely thought it was the best one to make. I thought the story was a little light on the reconnection and had a lot of focus on the past.
Mike's daughter came up a little short for me. I felt like Mike was a great dad, but really quickly jumped in to a new relationship.
I am HEAVILY invested in the story of Nate and Becca and I am really looking forward to that book.
3.5 stars.

An intense and emotionally satisfying love story that spans a decade. When Mike pushes away the only woman he ever truly loved for duty he will regret it. Can the love gods give him a second chance?

When Lauren has her heart smashed by the one man she allowed to get close, she will live in wonder with unanswered questions and a love that still burns.

If you were given a second chance would you take it despite the rumors surrounding that horrible day, the one where you got your heart smashed?

Sometimes its better to take a chance and put it all on the line for love.

Sandra has written an amazing story of love, friendship and family. Don't miss this hockey romance that is sure to put a little spice into your reading pleasure and if you were not a fan of hockey before, you will be!

Happy Reading

4 1/2 stars of wonderfully second chances hockey style! Mike Beacon had his dream come true of making the NHL, only problem he meets the love of his life in his new teams office manager Lauren. Mike just happen to be married to his high school girlfriend he got pregnant. After Mike and his wife break up, Mike sees his chance to be with Lauren. Life happens, two years later they see their chance again.

Bowen did a great job of taking the reader back and forth in their relationship from past to present with easy. Along with catching up with with past couples the reader have grown attached too. Hello Hockey is always great too!

I like this series, and was so looking forward to this book. It didnt work for me!

I'm going to start this review by stating that I am not usually one for single-dad romances. It adds yet another obstacle to the romance, and that just makes me that much more anxious. But.. this book might have convinced me to change that. I would have read this no matter what because I love Sarina Bowen and all she does, but the whole single dad thing gave me pause. I gave it a shot anyways, because, as I said, Sarina Bowen can do no wrong.. and I'm so glad I did. The romance itself was complex, and the added element of trying to work another person into a ready-made family added an extra challenge.

This book had it's fair share of drama, but there was a part of me that was desperate for more push back from Lauren when it came to Mike coming back around. I understand loving someone and being willing to forgive a lot, but I just wanted to see Mike have to work even harder. But even without that extra "oomf", this book had enough twists, turns, and drama that I was satisfied.

Pipe Dreams will never be my favorite in the series (Trevi still owns my heart), but this was very well written, and the characters were fantastic. I look forward to more in this series, and by this author in general.

PIPE DREAMS has many of the elements I love in a book. It is written by Sarina Bowen, one of my favorite authors, it features a hot hockey player and it is a second chance at love. This is the third book in the Brooklyn Bruisers series and each one is a standalone but the characters are all Interconnected.

Lauren Williams works for the owner of the Brooklyn Bruisers hockey team. She is still trying to get over her breakup with Mike Beacon, the goalie for the Brooklyn Bruisers and is not happy when her boss asks her to work with the team again. For two years Lauren has been able to avoid Mike. Now that she is working for the team again, Lauren finds it painful every time she sees Mike. Lauren Is smart, hardworking and stubborn. She has never had it easy and I found it easy to empathize with her.

Mike has dedicated his life to hockey and is a veteran on the Bruisers. He works hard and spends all his time either playing hockey or with his thirteen year old daughter. When Mike sees Lauren again, he realizes he still has feelings for her and he tries to convince Lauren she is all he has ever wanted. Mike never explained his motives for breaking up with Lauren and he really hurt her but it turns out his reasons were not selfish. Mike is a good guy who is always trying to do the right thing. He has made a lot of sacrifices and deserves to be happy. Lauren is the only woman he has ever wanted and he has to prove to her how much he cares.

I liked both Mike and Lauren and thought they had a lot chemisty and are good for each other. Mike and Lauren have not had an easy time in life and they deserve some happiness. Even though they are meant to be together, things keep getting in the way of their relationship. I thoroughly enjoyed this story.

I can't get enough of the Brooklyn Bruisers! And as much as I thought the first two books were great, the third - Pipe Dreams is even better. What made it so was the real life experiences that this couple were put through.

Pipe Dreams is about Nate's assistant - Lauren Williams. I do have admit that I found her unremarkable early on in the series. As soon as you figure out the reason behind her standoffish attitude, a few things happened... I began to empathize and sympathize with her and she transforms into this impressionable character afterall.

All of her issues originated from one person Brooklyn Bruisers Goalie Mike Beacon and I desperately wanted to despise the guy that did such a horrible number on Lauren but good grief you can't help but fall in love with his character too. If anything, he was the one that deserved a lifetime full of love and happiness and Lauren was the one to provide that for him.

As I mentioned above, theirs wasn't just about a second chance. It was also about forgiveness and moving forward into something that was completely their own no matter how unconventional.

Another thing that I loved about this was how involved the previous characters were in Lauren and Mike's story. I thought they complimented the story well without becoming too overwhelming and I sure do hope that the author plans to do this in future books.

All in all, Sarina Bowen delivered yet another well-written, heart-warming, sporty, second chance romance. I am so ready for the next one!

If you've enjoyed the Brooklyn Bruisers series as I have, and love reunion stories, you are going to be in reader heaven with Pipe Dreams. Mike and Lauren are meant to be - but they have not had an easy time of it. This is actually all Mike's fault, although he felt he had no other option. Mike got his high school girlfriend pregnant, and married her. Had they not had the child, it's unlikely they would have stayed together, so it's clear from the start that Lauren is the love of Mike's life. However, he absolutely messed it up. For good reasons—in fact he's a true hero for doing what he did, but the how of it is what caused problems. He took away Lauren's choice and agency years ago when it comes to their relationship. It separates them for five years, and in a way stunts Lauren emotionally. (Mike was seriously an asshole.) He leaves Lauren to help his ex wife. It's crazy, and you'll just have to read to see how it all works - but it does. In fact, I didn't even fault Mike for doing what he did. You can't. However, the way he treated Lauren is the problem.

I really appreciated how Ms. Bowen portrayed the ex. While she's effectively the cause of all of Mike and Lauren's problems... you do feel for her. It helps that Mike has from the start always wished the best for her, even before Shelly got cancer and died. (That's not a spoiler - you know that from the beginning.) Shelly wasn't perfect by any means, but she was a great mom, and writes letters to both Mike, and their daughter Elsa, which really clears things up. I loved that this was realistic, and really allowed Mike and Lauren to move forward with Elsa.

I have to say, I loved how adult everyone was. Mike is 32, Lauren is 31, they're mature, have established careers, and a great sense of self. There's of course a lot of drama and difficulty - Mike has a lot of ground to make up. In fact, what's crazy is I think Lauren it a bit “too” adult, and forgives Mike too easily. Of course, he is and has always been the love of her life, and although she's tried to move on during the past five years, it hasn't really happened. So there is that.

Mike and Lauren are so great together. Mike loves Lauren, and always has. It was circumstances he felt out of his control that separated them, but now that he's been given a “second chance” there's no way he's letting her go. Lucky for him, Lauren doesn't really want to be let go either. I loved that she's such a strong character. In the previous novels she was always portrayed as perfect and untouchable... unless you were looking. The other girls at times considered her a bitch, but it's a very careful facade. Lauren had her heart broken, and lost basically everything she loved. She's doing what she can with what she's got, and doing a damn good job at it.

Of course the romance between Mike and Lauren is delightful and sexy, but what I also loved was Lauren's relationship with her boss, Nate. Nate is the elusive billionaire who owns the Brooklyn Bruisers, and his own tech company. I loved that in Pipe Dreams both aspects were shown - as Lauren is actually his assistant for the Kattenberger Techonologies. In a way I think Lauren might even be Nate's best friend. They're friends and colleagues, and Nate might be the biggest and most unusual fairy godmother out there.

Anyway, Mike and Lauren perfectly compliment each other. Where Lauren is organized and a perfectionist, Mike is easy going. When she's stressed and ready to spin out of control, he's rock steady. It isn't that Mike doesn't care - he's got great tunnel vision, which serves him well in life and in front of the net. He knows when to care, and when to let things roll. And he cares about his daughter, Lauren, and hockey. It helps that Lauren love(s) hockey too.

I really liked that Pipe Dreams had Lauren forming bonds with the other girls that we've met in the series. It was always just on the verge of happening, and here, it did. They mesh well together, there were just the obstacles of Lauren trying to do everything in her power to avoid hockey that created the biggest wedge. With her getting back together with Mike, it really allows her to loosen up, and enjoy the sport again.

Pipe Dreams is a wonderful love story that is warm and fun. Mike is relentless now that he feels he has a second chance, and it's what he needs to do after being so cold the first time around in ending things. It killed him, but he felt he had to do it. I respect that I appreciate what he did—and the story—even if I didn't like it. Bowen won me over.

This series has been a delight to read, and I cannot wait for what is next. I've been saying this from the start—but I really hope it's finally Nate and Becca's turn. I can only hope it lives up to the hype—and expect it will. All the characters from this series mesh so well together, and I'm eagerly anticipating what's next.

Pipe Dreams is the third book in Sarina Bowen’s Brooklyn Bruisers series. We’ve met Lauren throughout the first two books and she’s the Ice Queen. I have had my doubts she could be a likeable heroine, but she IS! Nate, the team owner has Lauren for his downtown Office assistant, and Becca is his assistant at the team offices in Brooklyn. Becca is out and Lauren must fill in. Thus far, Lauren has HATED being in the hockey offices, at the hockey games, it’s been a bit of a puzzle to figure out what Lauren has against the Bruisers and Hockey in general. Let’s just say her disdain is justified.

Mike Beacon is the keeper, and only briefly mentioned in the previous books. But Mike and Lauren have history. And it’s the kind that breaks your heart. Both of them. So this second chance tale has a lot of rink to thaw. Mike is now a widowed single dad. His young teenage daughter is an obstacle for the couple, and so is Lauren. She’s Done with Mike, Done with Hockey, and generally done with men. She’s got a plan and has no intentions of deviating from her path again. But you know how it goes, best laid plans and all that.

When two people with undeniable chemistry are forced into each other’s orbit, old feelings resurface, and there’s lots to work through. Every step of this book was just right for me. Sarina’s obvious knowledge of teenage behavior, and parenting managed to really make all the places I feared would be hot spots work. She handled Lauren and Mike’s relationship and the one with his daughter in ways I felt were authentic.

I can’t wait to see what happens with Nate and Becca too!

If you haven’t already please pick up this series. Pipe Dreams a perfect hockey romance, second chance love, single dad book. Each book just gets better. I LOVE this series. I love Sarina. What can say? She’s awesome.

My favorite genre from my favorite author in this genre… yes please! Pipe Dreams is a great second chance romance from Sarina Bowen. This Brooklyn Bruisers series continues to get better with each installment and this one is on point… hockey/sports romance at its best!

There is simply so much to love about this story… the backstory, the angst, the pleading, and the finally giving in is the slowest and best burn ever. Hockey books and Sarina Bowen are synonymous at this point and from the that small preview at the end of Hard Hitter, I knew deep in my heart, that Lauren and Mike’s book was going to put me through the wringer in the absolute best possible way. Their chemistry is intense, their story is painful, and their second chance at love again is inevitable. Fall in love with Mike Beacon and root for Lauren’s HEA in this amazing story… a must read for sure!

3.5 Stars!

Source: eARC for Honest Review Courtesy of Berkley Group
Genre: Adult Sports Romance
Part 3 of an ongoing series

I like this series. Its growing on my more and more and I'm always a sucker for a good sports romance.

Since the beginning I've been intrigued by bitchy Lauren Williams and finally we get to find out behind the bitchy.

Mike Beacon aka Beak is a man of responsibility and tries to do the right thing even though it would hurt him. What he didn't realize is how much his choices could hurt someone else.

" . . . I don't know why you thought you had to throw a grenade at my life in order to make everything right."

Mike has quite the uphill battle if he wants to win the heart back of Lauren since he's already gutted her once.

"Beak wants his girl back," O'Doul explained. "But he's facing some pretty steep odds."

Their story was super sweet and we got to see the ice queen thaw. I loved their back story and it was quite the journey for these two but worth it.

As this series grows I'm getting more and more hooked and I can't wait for Nate's story.