Big Stick is a good fit for readers looking for a heartwarming story about a single mother finding love and support from an unlikely source, while also navigating the challenges of life and friendship.

Hockey romances are my guilty pleasure and I'm someone who takes irl hockey very seriously. Okay but we need morehockey books

Thanks to NetGalley / Edelweiss and the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for a review.

YES! What more could you want. A grumpy hockey player and a single mom with a sassy little girl. It is like pure heaven between the pages. Nick wants nothing to do with Jodi or her daughter but when he lets them rent our his coach house he finds himself helping them and them helping some more, especially when there is a snowstorm and power outage and moves them into his big house. This was a joy ride of goodness.

BIG STICK - Kelly Jamieso

#7 in the Aces Hockey sports romance series

NICE ROMANCE - 4 stars

Plot - 4 stars - When Kendra's business partner, Jodie, relocates to Chicago, she needs a place to stay. Nick, a quiet and isolated member of the hockey team, is pretty much forced to offer her his carriage house. From there, their relationship grows slowly but sweetly.

Writing - 4 stars - Jamieson always grabs me right from the beginning. It's comfortable to reenter a tight group of people, looking at it from a different direction, though different eyes. The sexual tension was built slowly and inexorably, and the sex scenes were hot when they finally got to them.

Characters - 3 stars - I like both of these characters, although they both have their flaws (and can be frustrating from time to time). I particularly like Nick, who is a solid but not flashy member of the Aces. He's pretty anti-social, although we don't really know the reason for his isolation until we get further into the story. He's extremely self-judgmental, though, and that frustrated me. But it worked well for the story since his guilt made sense and was a definitely reason for the relationship to falter at times. Jodie is his exact opposite. She's a people-person and has no problem butting into Nick's life, dropping by and asking personal questions. She justifies it by saying she's interested in people and their motivations. Plus she's secretly attracted to him. But I found her uncomfortably nosy and could definitely relate to Nick's reservations about her. Flash forward to later in the story when she showed her true caring and involvement in people's lives. She's so independent that she sometimes refuses help, but that annoyance was outweighed by her strength of character and appeal as a struggling single mom.

Title - 4 stars - Cute and clever. Of course, the sexual reference is a little too obvious. But the main story is that he and Jodie and Zyana play hockey with toy promotional sticks and balls, while Nick prefers his bigger stick.

Cover - 3 stars - I don't find this man to be particularly attractive, and he didn't fit my mental notion of Nick at all. Not the cover's fault really, but it didn't attract me.

Overall - 4 stars - These two characters worked well for me. They are both vulnerable, and this sometimes caused me frustration when reading about their obviously self-destructive decisions. But I understand Nick questioning his ability to maintain a relationship given his guilt and anger over his brother's death. And I could certainly got Jodie's worry about doing the right thing for her daughter, especially since she has to make all of these decisions on her own. These problems sometimes came between them, but I had confidence they'd work them out since both are intelligent and ultimately self-confident people despite their doubts. The snowstorm provided a great scenario for them to get together, and I did like the low-simmer attraction they felt for one another for a good part of the book.

This is the 7th book in Kelly Jamieson's Aces Hockey series. It's a grumpy hero, opposites attract romance with a cute child buffer. Nick helps out a friend of a friend, Jodie when she moves to Chicago for work. She navigates single motherhood in a new city, while Nick plays the reluctant hero. I appreciated that it had more of a slow burn element even though there was an instant attraction. Well written, and about my favorite sport, this book hits all the feels for a feel-good HEA..

A cute enemies to lovers story that hits the right buttons. Nick is a grumpy hockey hottie, who reluctantly rents out his carriage house to Jodie and her two year old daughter Zyana. Snow storms and ear infections build their rental-relationship into romance. Nick isn’t just grumpy, he’s still dealing with his brother’s death and significant feelings of loss that make him reluctant to want to connect. Jodie is a delightful take-no-prisoners single mom, fully knowing who and what she is, and is falling for Nick. It was a pretty predictable plot, but quite enjoyable non-the-less. Zyana really steals the show with her two-year-old wisdom and witticisms. A fun relaxing read. I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. This is my freely given, honest review.

I have chosen not to read/review this title as I was not able to connect with it or recommend it to the readers of our blog page or those who follow my reviews on Goodreads.

I apologize for the delay in this, as sending the negative reviews is something I (clearly) avoid doing for an embarrassingly long time.

Thank you, as always, for the review title.

Laura

This is book number seven in the Aces Hockey series. For some reason I didn’t start reading the series until book five; I still need to go back and read the first four (plus book 1.5, a novella). I’ve talked before in previous reviews about how it’s weird that I’ve somehow become a habitual reader of contemporaries featuring hockey players, given that I don’t read many contemporary romances as a rule, and am not much of a hockey fan. But there’s something comfortingly predictable (I swear, I mean that word in a complimentary way!) about this series.

Jodie is the best friend of Kendra from Slap Shot. Actually, the two work together; they own a sex toy business. Jodie is an engineer by training. (As with Kendra, I liked that Jodie had a “different” sort of degree and profession from the average romance heroine. You don’t come across engineer heroines in romance every day.) She’s also a single mother to two-year-old Zyana; she uprooted her life in New York to follow Kendra to Chicago after Kendra fell in love with a pro hockey player and moved there to be with him. Jodie and Zyana are settling in, but when the book begins, she is still staying with Kendra and her fiance Max; she’s having a hard time finding a place in Chicago that meets her and Zyana’s needs.

At a party at Kendra and Max’s, Jodie meets several of Max’s teammates. One who stands out is Nick Balachov, but not for the best reasons. Jodie finds Nick surly; Nick thinks Jodie is too chatty and perky. Later that night, Nick drunkenly stumbles into the room Jodie is staying in, and ends up seeing her stark naked.

It’s not the most auspicious start, but Nick and Jodie (and Zyana) quickly get thrown together again. Nick has a newly renovated, empty carriage house behind the house he’s living in and slowly rehabbing. Max and Kendra come up with the idea that Jodie and Zyana can move in there, at least until Jodie can find something appropriate on a more permanent basis. Nick, of course, balks at first – he’s presented early on as quite the grouchy misanthrope, so it’s no surprise that the idea of a perky woman and her adorable moppet moving in next door would trigger him. But he eventually relents and Jodie, though she has her own concerns, can’t turn down an opportunity that is perfect in most ways just because she thinks Nick is rude.

Of course, Nick’s not the one-dimensional grump he first appears to be. Rather, he’s the product of a tough childhood and recent loss, over which he’s still grieving. His younger brother Aleks – also a player for the Aces – died three years before the story begins, and Nick is nowhere near over his death. Losing Aleks has reinforced some of Nick’s anti-social tendencies; these days he mostly plays hockey and, in his free time, restores old furniture.

Jodie and Zyana quickly disrupt Nick’s lonely routine. And Nick finds that he doesn’t mind it as much as he thought he would. Further, he’s attracted to Jodie. (Well, of course he is! This is a romance, after all.)

Jodie had a hard childhood as well; she never knew her father, and her mother died when she was 12. After that she was in foster care; she worked hard in school to get into a good college. As an adult, she made the decision to have a child by herself to gain the family she’d always wanted.

This is presented as a reasonable choice on Jodie’s part, but I had my doubts. Given her background, having a child to essentially fill a void seemed a little unhealthy. It seemed particularly odd given that Jodie is not that old (I don’t think? I never caught her age, but I don’t think she was older than 30). It’s not that I disliked her character (I liked Jodie a lot) or even the choice she made, and she’s a good mother, of course. It just seemed weird that a fairly young woman would choose to have a baby on her own, in the apparent belief that she’d never settle down with a partner. I’d have liked to have that choice/belief explored, but it never really was.

Nick, Jodie and Zyana are forced into even closer proximity when a snowstorm hits Chicago, knocks out the power, and essentially strands them all together in Nick’s house for a couple of days. Nick and Jodie’s relationship starts to grow from there. He opens up about his brother’s death and begins to bond with Zyana (previously Nick claimed to “hate kids” but that appeared to just be code for “not used to being around them and a little afraid of them”).

There’s not a whole lot of conflict for most of Big Stick. There’s the initial “Nick is a jerk” plotline, but Jodie’s never really that put off by him, and he’s not *that* bad. Later on, the mild conflict centers around his fear of giving up his lone-wolf persona and her concerns about trusting a man and letting him into her world with Zyana. I generally like a little more conflict in my romances but I’ve come to expect from the previous two books that the series is pretty low-conflict and not terribly angsty (though there are dark and serious elements – death and grief – in both this book and Slap Shot). Anyway, not every romance I read is going to be full of angst and melodrama, and that’s okay.

Nick is scarred by his childhood and the loss of his brother, but he’s self-aware about it. He’s not in denial, and for the most part he works to deal with it in healthy ways. I’d have liked to have known more about Jodie’s childhood – her characterization would’ve had more depth if her past had been fleshed out a bit. I don’t see the point in giving a character a rough past if it doesn’t seem to inform who they are in the present. I’m not saying she had to be tortured; maybe it’s just that we get a lot of Nick’s angst over his past and it highlights the weirdness of not focusing on Jodie in the same way. (I guess she could be totally okay with losing her mother at 12, never knowing her father and having to live in foster care. But even if that *were* the case I’d have liked to have seen it addressed somehow.)

As an aside, one thing I like in this series is that the hockey players, while obviously all great players (I mean, you have to be elite to even get near the pro level), aren’t all the biggest stars on the team. They’re contributors, and sometimes they play great and other times they have off days. Nick worries about contributing enough and going up against another team’s best players as the playoffs approach. I like the realism of that. In general the books in the Chicago Aces series feel very grounded in reality, for all that they feature professional athletes (who are invariably incredibly hot and apparently not missing all the teeth that I understand actual NHL players generally are?).

Overall, this was an enjoyable and satisfying read. I gave the previous two books B minuses, I think because overall the stories just didn’t wow me. I’m tempted to give Big Stick a B but I think it caught me at just the right moment when I needed a comforting read; thus I will give it a B+.

Author Kelly Jamieson offers up a romance filled with emotion, humor, and healing. A man determined to remain a bachelor and not be needed by anyone and a single mom by choice become an unlikely couple is the latest Ace’s Hockey novel.

There are two things that keep Nick Balachov busy hockey and renovating his house. He doesn’t date and while he has a friends with benefits relationship with a woman, he hasn’t even made time for that lately. The last thing he wants is someone who depends on him for anything, after some terrible losses in his life he’s decided to protect his heart by not having anyone to care about. So when his friends ask him to let their house guest move into his coach house he is reluctant, but eventually concedes.

Having a child on her own with a donor and now moving her life to Chicago to be near her best friend and their growing sex toy business, Jodie isn’t afraid of hard work or change, but she never expected it would be so hard to find an appropriate place for her and her 2 year old Zyana. When her friends arrange for her to rent a coach house from a gruff, standoffish hockey player she isn’t sure it’s a good idea, but with nothing else working out she decides to accept even if it is only for a short while.

There was so much I loved about this book including watching Nick’s chivalrous side come out almost the minute Jodie and Zyana moved on to his property. It was fun seeing Zyana go from calling Nick a grumpy giant to insisting he read to her and play hockey with her. The fact that Jodie was so strong and self sufficient I think made it easier for Nick to want to do things for her because she didn’t expect it and while it was hard at times for her to accept, she found she liked having someone to lean on at times. Their relationship built over time while sharing their backgrounds and how they saw their lives going forward. While they made some mistakes, I appreciate that they were able to discuss and fix them without a whole lot of drama.

Big Stick was a feel good romance with characters I adored and I found impossible to put down.

This is a voluntary review of an advanced copy.

Wow, what a fun book filled with humor, romance, and so much feeling. Not many books can move me by getting emotional during key points in the story, and this book did that! When Nick was so crushed by feeling that he had failed Zyana and Jodie, I could feel his pain!

I really liked both Nick and Jodie, and especially Zyana. It was fun to watch as Jodie and her daughter slowly worked their way into Nick's heart.

The ending was a tear jerker, and so sweet that it was a perfect ending to the book and a wonderful HEA.

Kelly Jamieson is an auto-read for me. I adore her hockey romances. This one is a bit slower, but still has the great characters she authors. Not her best romance, but another solid read if you enjoy her writing.

A fun filled hockey romance with lots of laughs and feelings! Ashley @ Carolina Chic’s Read

Nick is trying to just survive after the loss of his Brother. Jodie and her daughter Zyana just moved to Chicago for her business and need a place to stay. When Nick agrees to let them stay in his coach house will sparks fly and hearts heal? Jodie and Nick’s story is one that you do not want to put down. Love this story!

What else is there to say but FABULOUS!!! I seriously LOVE Kelly Jamieson and all of her books, but the Aces Hockey has a special place in my heart. The Nick, Jodie and Zee are amazing characters, and the buildup of passion, lust and finally love is just perfect. You get it all in this book, ups, downs, and ups again... LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

Another fantastic story from Kelly jamieson! Once I started reading, it didn't take long for me to get wrapped up in the story; I loved the banter and interactions between Jodie and Nick, although there were a couple of times I wanted to shake Jodie for her behavior towards Nick, who only wants to help. I felt like she was a bit overly defensive. Frustrating as that was, overall still a good read and Il'm looking forward to more Kelly Jamieson books!

I don't know what it is about Kelly Jamieson's books but I just get sucked in. They are light and fluffy but I fall in love with the characters every darn time! This book was no different. You have Jodie who is a single mother who works with her best friend in their own company. She talks a lot :) You also have Nick who has had a lot of tragedy in his life and he likes his life of solitude. They meet and it wasn't a great meet and it was quite funny. This book was just a good quick read and I loved it again :)

Received an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

I don't know what it is about kids, but whenever they're used in romance novels, it makes me so happy. Nick likes to be alone...still recovering from his brother's death, he likes his solitude. And then Jodie and her 2 year old move in to his coach house. What starts as attraction for mom quickly turns into a deeper feeling as her precocious daughter wraps Nick right around her little finger.

I really liked this one because it built naturally. Of course Nick would be worried about his tenants during a huge storm and he's not going to let them freeze. As they spend more time together, it's only natural that their attraction would become something more. Like I said, it built naturally and it made sense to me. There's no insta-love here and I'm thankful for it.

Another great Aces read!

I have been enjoying the Aces Hockey series, and Big Stick is number 8 of 9. I thought it was a nice addition to the series with a theme of opposites attracting. The primary couple was interesting, he's a loner with minimal social skills, she's a single mom with a precocious 2 year old. Their journey to happily ever after was satisfactory, and I appreciated that Kelly Jamieson didnt fall into the trap of insta-love for them. They were adults whose personalities lent themselves to caution, and that made the story move a little slowly. Big Stick could stand alone, there are appearances by characters from the other books, but no spoilers. I'm on board for book 9.
I received my copy through NetGalley under no obligation.

Big Stick is a nice edition to the Chicago Aces series. While I struggled initially with the stream of consciousness narrative, eventually the depth of the story won out. Nick, in particular, was a wonderful character that Jamieson did a great job of bringing to life. As a fan of hockey I loved how she used Nick perfectly to bring to light many of the issues that plague the sport and it's athletes. Jodie was a perfect partner for him, a strong independent woman with a softness I appreciated.

This is my first read by Kelly Jamieson. Definitely wont be my last. I didnt think I would enjoy it at the beginning because it has hockey in it. Boy was I wrong. Jodie and Nick have an amazing love story. Jodie is a strong independent single mother and business owner. Nick is a quiet closed off hockey player who has had a lot of loss in his life. After a new move to Chicago for Jodie and her daughter, they end up renting a coach house from grumpy Nick. Things get hot and heavy fast, but is Nick ready to open up and let someone in? This book is well deserving of the 5 star review! An absolute must read!

Nick is perfectly fine with the life that he’s living. a casual hookup and his close friends are all he needs. He’s a loner and doesnt want to be bothered. so needless to say going to his friend’s birthday party is definitely not his idea of fun. Sound’s like the perfect opportunity to get wasted. Wasted and tired Nick slinks off to one of his friend’s room’s to pass out.

There we meet Jodie. A single mom who just moved to chicago to be with her long time friend and keep her new business running. She’s currently staying with her bff and bff’s boyfriend. She can tell that her daughter and her a cramping their style. The party is going late and she need’s to be up early the next day seeing as she has a two year old that get’s up early. It’s not until after she’s gotten undressed and ready for bed that she realizes that there’s a strange man in her bed. it’s the man that was a total curmudgeon toward’s her during the whole party and a total douche.

fast forward a couple day’s and Jodie can tell that she need’s to start looking for a place of her own like yesterday. Her friend’s boyfriend suggest’s Nick’s place since he has an empty coach house. Jodie is adamant about not going there and it’s only when she’s exhausted all of her option’s that she finally caves and agree’s to check it out. Nick doesnt like it any more than Jodie does but feeling like he owe’s his friend and trying to prove he’s not a total douche he agree’s to let Jodie rent out the coach house from him.

It takes them a while to warm up to each other and Nick forcing himself not to be a douche. but it’s not until Mother nature throws a massive blizzard at them does it really begin to heat up and for them to get close. We find out that a past tragedy in NIck’s life and Nick’s guilt is what is behind him acting this way. Will Nick be able to get over the past and be the man that Jodie need’s him to be for her and her daughter. or will Nick’s guilt swallow him down and he will lose it all? Read the book to find out!