High Stick: Jarret is the third instalment in Alicia Hunter Pace’s exciting hockey series, Nashville Sound.

This story touches on the social gap between a famous hockey player and a struggling young woman holding down multiple jobs, just trying to get ahead. Attraction and a deep-seated respect, form a bond that soon turns into something more, but Jarrett’s sense of right and wrong will be tested as a secret from Merry’s past, threatens his professional image.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and the real life drama and the moral choices that were posed. Great work Ms Pace!

O M G !!!!
I LOVED THIS BOOK!
Jarrett is such a romantic man. (Well, up until a certain point till the end. What??? I'm not ruining it for you - this is very easy to guess even in the beginning!) I think this is my favorite book from this series. It is book 3 and can be read as a standalone, but you shouldn’t do that. You're missing out if you skip the first two books since they are just as good.
I enjoyed how Jarrett fell in love at first sight when he sees/meets Merry. Insta-love!!! Usually, it is the woman who does this so it was a nice twist for me. I really hope there are guys out there just like Jarrett. He wooed her after receiving a little advice from his hockey friend and did it so well, even her friends were in like with him.
I felt this book was well written and easy to follow along. All the characters were well written and it was nice to see some of the previous characters - like Amy and Gabriella. I cannot say enough about this book to convince you to check it out.
I HIGHLY recommend this book!

I truly love these stories written by Alicia Hunter Pace. They are captivating, with characters who capture your heart with their sincerity and genuineness. There are plenty of moments of pure joy and those of heartache...both are guaranteed to need tissues close at hand.

Jarrett and Merry join the couples, who've come before them in this series, in finding their HEA which is richly deserved through the trials they endured and conquered.

This ARC book was complimentary, provided by the Publisher and NetGalley. I am voluntarily providing my honest review.

I received an arc from netgallery for review purposes.

Jarrett is a very different hockey player. He wants to get married and have babies. He meets Merry and falls hard for her. She seems to be everything he wants in a mate. Merry is pretty wonderful but she has done somethings that might make Jarett not like her.

So what happens when things explode and all her mistakes are exposed? Well Jarrett kinda let me down there. I think Merry forgave him a little too easily.

All in all I enjoyed this story but at times I felt Jarrett was extremeley immature and not in love with Merry but more in love with being in love.

He was viewed as The Saint since he never strayed away from enforcing the rules. However Jarrett wanted to break every single one with Merry. Was she the women he could finally build what his parents had? That feeling of home consumed him as he continued to scored goals. He admired her work ethic and ability to not take anything for granted. She kept him grounded while he answered her prayers to finally belong. Two souls that balanced one another out was everything they could’ve possibly dreamed of.

This is the third in the authors’ series about players on a Nashville hockey team. There are also some minor scenes with characters from their earlier series. I don’t think it interferes with enjoying this book if you haven’t read the earlier ones, but if that sort of thing bothers you, be warned that you won’t get much backstory presented about characters who show up from previous books.
The story explicitly plays on the Cinderella story but with several twists. While the hero, Jarret might be a Prince Charming as far as wealth, celebrity, looks, and overall personality, the heroine isn’t a downtrodden victim. Merry Sweet is a hard-worker at two jobs while attending law school at Vanderbilt. She has made one big mistake in her past but, in the overall scheme of mistakes that romance heroines make, it’s not that big a mistake. She paid the price and moved on stronger and more determined to succeed.
Unlike most heroes of romance novels, Jarret deeply desires marriage to a steady, good woman with whom he can be happy and raise children together. He wants what his parents had even though his father, a NHL superstar, died much too young. He thinks he’s found just the sort of woman he’s looking for in Merry. She’s moral, a pastor’s daughter no less, a hard-worker who doesn’t drink or sleep around.
He determinedly pursues her and all seems lovely. Of course, we know that her secret will become public and will cause problems. What makes the difference is that Merry isn’t going to hang her head in shame, but stand up boldly while owning her mistakes.
I liked these characters and was pulling for them all along. I liked the switch from the standard hero who is determined never to have a serious relationship. Jarret made a sweet, if slightly naive, Prince Charming while I admired Merry’s ability to recover from one stupid mistake.
I was given a free ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

2 stars

Found Jarret MacPherson a little too unbelievable. He kept telling us as a reader how great of a guy he was. I found it a little annoying.

Jarrett sometimes babbles, “in any case, I would have picked you up. I pick up my dates.” He caught his breath. “That is, in the past. Past dates. It’s not like I have other dates right now. And I’m not dating any of the past dates. I’m through with them. Or they are through with me. Not that I would reconsider if the ones who were through with me changed their minds.” I loved this book, I fell in love with Jarrett.