Filled with steamy laugh out loud moments! AWK-WEIRD is book two in Avery Flynn's Ice Knights series and it's utterly delightful! Think a sexy pro hockey player and a nerdy florist who can't stop touting off trivia at the most awkward moments and add in an adorable kitten and you'll know why you have to grab this book.

Tess is such an adorable character. She has that spouting trivia thing going for her, but overall she's extremely smart and has a style all her own. She's easy to like, she's well developed and she's just really fun to get to know.

Cole is a fun character. He brings a smile to a reader's face easily, but he also had to be redeemed in our eyes because he kept one eye on the past he thought he was going to relive for a little too long for my liking.

Overall, it was lighthearted, funny and super sweet. I recommend it to anyone wanting a fast read filled with laughs and lots of heart. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series already!

What can I say?  Ms. Flynn had me at one of my favorite tropes...accidental pregnancy.  Why do I love it?  Because with Ms. Flynn's pen in hand, I knew that it was going to be hilarious.  She didn't disappoint with Tess and Cole.  What's not to love about a night of wild sex with a Thor lookalike and then find out you are pregnant with his baby?  I know, I know.  It's a trope that is used too much by some authors, but Tess and Cole make it believable.


Tess is a nerd.  Yes, a trivia spouting, flower shop owner, book-loving nerd.  When she is nervous, the trivia spouting is her defense mechanism.  She reminded me of Cliff from Cheers but not near as annoying.  LOL!  Cole, on the other hand, stress bakes before a game and loves his routine.  Like obsessed with his routine.  Its almost like he can't function without it.  I found that completely endearing.  Hockey players are extremely routine-oriented and lord love a duck, they are superstitious.  So watching him with all of his weirdness (to some) was completely natural for me.  I used to work for the Dallas Stars Hockey Club for years so I get it.  Plus, when these two get into moving the Big Foot painting around, I was rolling with laughter.  Not to mention, Tess explaining that there is a sub-genre of books written with Big Foot.  Oh my...


What sets this book apart from the others that I have read in regards to the Hartigans and Ice Knights are Cole and Tess.  Frankie and Lucy are my favorite couple from these two series but Cole and Tess apart from even Frankie and Lucy are the completely normal OCD, awkwardness not just towards their lives but towards each other.  Neither one has ever had a stable, healthy relationship with anyone.  Tess with her mother leaving her with relatives and the on/off romantic relationship that Cole has had with the coach's daughter.  Man, was I glad that wrapped up.  I grew very tired of reading about it and to be honest, I don't like that girl at all.  Something about her grated on me.  So I glad when Cole finally figured out his feelings for her and his growing feelings for Tess.


This book is hilarious but also surprisingly emotional.  Tess and Cole have a lot to go through to get to a HEA.  Both come from families that either didn't support them or were extremely distant in their love.  Tess was still having to deal with a slumlord of an uncle in regards to her apartment and flower shop.  Cole and his constant moving as a child don't help either.  Hence, the routines for him.  His teammates give me grief for him but they also love him, too.  Watching Fallon and Zach kick ass is always a joy for me.  Plus, there is a kitten named Kahn that is a hoot.


I can always count on Ms. Flynn to bring the heat but she also digs deep into her characters that bring the authentic that would seem far fetched in another author's head.  You care about them, laugh with them, swoon and cry for them in the end.  They are like a part of your family and you miss them when you close the book.  Tess and Cole found a piece of my heart that I can never get back and I don't want to.  Bravo, Ms. Flynn.

3,5 stars

I enjoyed this one as much as I enjoyed the first, great series!It was fun , lighthearted with a great slow burn romance.Both characters were great!

They meet at a wedding rehearsal dinner, and she ends up pregnant that night. It felt super fast , but while I was reading the rest of the story I find myself loving it!

The ending was sweet and make me swoon!

Ask-Weird is 100% the most accurate title for this book! Avery Flynn had me in stitches during most the book. I started with a smile and ended the book with one and it was just the best thing ever.

There isn’t quite anything like reading a good romcom and Awk-Weird was top notch. From the laugh out loud moments to the adorably sweet ones, I devoured Cole and Tess’ story. And let me just tell you that Tess was afreakingdorable! She’s my kind of people: a bit awkward and a bit nerdy with sprinkles of weird. (Hey, normal is boring!)

I truly loved Cole and Tess as a couple. From their awesome chemistry to sooooo many adorable moments they never failed to make make me smile. I had so much reading this story.

If you love sweet and funny romcoms with tons of sprinkles of charm then Awk-Weird is the story for you. This was an absolute five star, must-read! Get it.

4.5 Outrageous Hilarious Stars

After reading Avery’s Hartigan’s series and absolutely falling in love with the characters in that series, I couldn’t wait to get stuck into this new series. Now I haven’t read the first book in this series yet (I will be rectifying this real soon) but when I read the blurb to Awk-Weird I just knew I had to read this!

This book was without a doubt pure rom-com gold at its finest, and the title is absolutely perfect for this book! It’s full of hilarious awkward, weird moments that honestly have you laughing so much you’ll have tears streaming down your face.

The fact that this is Tess’s book, well this just made me fall in love with it that much more. I have been waiting for Tess’s book since meeting her in the first Hartigan book Butterface, so you can just imagine my excitement to finally see the quiet, awkward Tess get her HEA. She really is my favourite kind of heroine.

Cole, oh my goodness, now who doesn’t love a Thor - lookalike hockey hunk huh? Lol. Cole is a man of consistency and structure. Everything has to be just so, a certain order to everything in his life. Well that certainly gets thrown out of whack when Tess enters the picture!

They both have a lot of obstacles to face with a baby on the way and getting to see these two completely opposite people come together, it was just pure perfection!

I for one cannot wait to see what else Avery has in store for us with the rest of the Ice Knights series.

Over serval books we have met a group of friends (Gina, Lucy, Fallon, and Tess) and watched them support each other as three of them have embarked on romantic relationships that have a less than conventional starts.

Tess, just like her friends, is very much an everyday woman and her past/family have left her with more than a little baggage. I enjoyed seeing how she navigated her way in the aftermath of being “weddinged” with hockey star Cole.
He has his own issues, but struck me as an overall good guy.

It was fun to watch the secondary cast of Tess’s girls and Cole’s hockey buddies help nudge them along. This is a well written story full of humor, friendship, pushing boundaries, and figuring out how to have the happy ending that’s right for you.

While this story very much connects with previous books, it is also a stand alone. A reader doesn’t need to read the books for the other girls to appreciate Tess’s story (but, they are all awesome so I totally recommend it.) I am also curious to see if any of Cole’s hockey buddies find there way into a book.

Hot hockey player + nerdy girl = all sorts of fun! Avery Flynn has once again delivered a fun read that has her trademark snark, sass, and humor, but also brings in a dose of real-life drama when a very unplanned pregnancy is added in to the mix.

Tess was quirky and nerdy and had some very funny moments, but it was Cole who stole my heart as he just dealt with whatever came out of Tess’s mouth and ultimately helped her find a comfort zone to manage her verbal spewing of factoids when she was nervous. Cole had his own issues and I enjoyed watching Tess, and her kitty Khan, turn his world upside-down, adding chaos to his perfectly ordered life and helping him see that being so rigid was actually hurting more than helping him, not only personally, but also professionally. There was no shortage of chemistry between these two, but it did get a bit frustrating watching the two of them fight their feelings so hard even though the attraction was so strong and everyone but the two of them knew that the feelings they had for each other were real.

Although this can be read as a standalone, having met Tess in a few other books and having some back-story about Cole and his on-again/off-again relationship with his ex made this one easy to jump right into. The supporting cast of characters, from Tess’s friends to Cole’s teammates, added the perfect mix of fun and support for both Tess and Cole, and I loved how they were able to give both Tess and Cole the tough love they needed when they needed it.

I just love Avery Flynn’s writing style and her ability to breathe life into her characters. She has a way of making you lose yourself in her stories and wishing her characters were real so you can hang out with them. Definitely one for the TBR!

After an amazing one night stand, one that happened the night before her friend's wedding, Tess finds out she is pregnant. When she tells the baby daddy, Cole, he is on board 100% with helping her out, and the first stage of helping out is when he is pretty much coerced by his teammate to let Tess stay with him while her apartment is being worked on. Cole had always had a plan, and knew for sure his future would include his on and off girlfriend, but it isn't until he spends more time with Tess that he realizes maybe the person that he thought was his forever, isn't really. But for someone like Tess, trust isn't earned easily. Ready to run at any moment, knowing that at any time Cole's true love may come back and Tess will be on the sidelines once again, makes her not want anything more than temporary. Can Cole get Tess to realize that she is the one that he wants and get her to stop running?

This was a good story and I enjoyed it. Really good drama, ok naughty moments, and a bit of hockey make up this story. I give this 4 stars.

Awk-Weird is the second book in Avery Flynn's Ice Knights series, and such a fun book to read. I really enjoyed this book, and flew through it so quickly. I've mentioned before (many times), that I've been so stressed out recently with how busy life is, but reading this book was such a breath of fresh air and definitely helped me relax.

I loved both of these characters. They were so fleshed out, and I loved seeing them grow throughout the story. I really enjoyed seeing both characters learn to challenge and change what they think about themselves because of their childhood experiences, and what they have to learn about themselves in order to be together.

The romance in this novel was so slow burn, and I couldn't put the book down because I needed to see Tess and Cole finally be together. Not only was the romance and the slow burn great, but there was a fantastic found family aspect that was so sweet to read. I love seeing characters with a nontraditional family, because I know that found family can be just as important if not more than biological family.

I've read so much Avery Flynn this year, and I'm so glad that Awk-Weird is added to the list. Flynn's books are always so much fun to read and I cannot wait to read the next book in the series!

Awk-Weird is the perfect rom-com. I loved every thing about this book from the story to all the characters. You can’t help but swoon and smile the entire time!
Tess is probably one of my favorite heroines. Who doesn’t love a nerdy, trivia loving, fact spewing woman?! I felt like I was learning things while I was reading this story. She is a free spirit. She runs a flower shop, she has a great group of friends and a crazy cat. Cole is a neat freak, he likes things to run a certain way, he is set in his routines. It’s the same thing day in and day out. He doesn’t like change, but he is about to experience the biggest change in his life.
I couldn’t get enough of this book. I loved the characters and I loved the story. It’s so easy to fall in love with Tess, Cole and their relationship. They are truly opposites of each other in every form, yet somehow they are perfect for each other. They had so much chemistry and it was super sweet. I loved the little things they did, like the voicemails. They had to work on a relationship and I loved the build they had.
This was the perfect mix of a hockey romance, laugh out loud banter, sweet characters, steam and romance. I truly didn’t want the story to end, because I love Tess and Cole that much. I do hope there are little sneak peaks into their life in the next book of Ice Knights series.

Due to her childhood all Tess wants is to not attract attention or be an inconvenience to others in her life. While attending her friend’s wedding reception she is counting down the minutes until she can escape until a game of trivia between members of the Ice Knights brings her and Cole together.

Cole’s childhood was much different than Tess’s but unconventional in its own way. Due to that he requires routine and control in his life and anything outside of the normal throws causes him turmoil and anxiety.
He and Tess combust on a physical level but they both know it is only for one night and go their separate ways. Thirty days later both their worlds are about to turn upside down when not only is two about to become three, but they find themselves sharing a living space as well.

These two couldn’t be more different or more perfect together as they adapt to a new way of living that is more fulfilling and fun.

I am in love with this book. Tess is just such a unique and funny character with all her fun facts. Cole and his somewhat OCD tendencies were something you don’t see a ton in romantic comedies but it gave him another dimension . Such a great read.

Awk-Weird by Avery Flynn
4.5*

This book was hilariously awkward and delightfully weird with characters you cannot help but fall in love with.

Tess is fact-spouting florist who has not had the most fantastic of relationships with her family. She’s made her own family with a close knit group of friends but even then, she’s waiting for the other shoe to drop, for them to leave. After all, in Tess’s world, no one ever sticks around and everything and everyone are temporary.

Cole is not a fan of change. And when I say not a fan, I mean he resists it at every opportunity. Everything in his life and his home has a place and a space and that’s how they will stay, dammit! Every aspect of his life is ruled by routine and a strict regimen and it works for him until colorful Tess enters his life and stirs things up a wee bit.

With Tess and her issues and Cole still believing he’s in love with his ex, there’s a lot of confusion and frankly, hot sex, to be had as they work out the dynamics of their relationship. There’s really not much I didn’t like about this book apart from a few instances where I could have cheerfully throttled both Tess and Cole. Otherwise I read much of the book with a smile and great enjoyment - I have a feeling Tess and Cole’s is a story I’ll return to in the future. And after that little snippet of Loud Mouth, I’m more eager than I thought possible to get my hands on Petrov!

*I voluntarily read an early copy of this book.

**Reviewed by Melinda for Joandisalovebooks Blog.

*I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.*
When I read the blurb for this book, I expected to pick up a certain kind of book. An athlete and an awkward girl, an accidental pregnancy, and an ex that might not really be an ex.
And it had those elements but it was a lot more. I loved that you get this hot athlete who is a neat/ control freak. He needs to control everything in his world.
I also loved that you get an awkward woman who only believes in the temporary and spouts random nonsense when she’s nervous.
I really enjoyed Cole and Tess. Each had things from the past that were throwing off their futures. They both need to protect themselves. Their voicemails and stress baking were adorable.
I loved their friends and the connection ruin they had.

Awk-weird is how Tess describes herself, always sharing random bits of trivia when she gets nervous. She meets Cole at her friend's wedding rehearsal. Tess gets pregnant, and they find themselves spending more time together. Lots of funny moments, hockey, baking, and sweetness. This book made me laugh along with making me hope for a happy ending. Great characters.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What do you get when you put together a nerdy heroine, a hot hockey god and a surprise pregnancy? An amazing, funny and sweet friends to lovers romance story! Awk-Weird (Ice Knights #2) really was the cutest book ever and a fantastic follow up to Parental Guidance. .
Watching these complete opposites try to navigate the result of a one-night stand while both adamantly declaring they won’t fall for the other was funny, sweet and swoony. Tess is crazy smart but a little lost in life. Cole is a successful hockey player who has every detail of his life figured out. These two people shouldn’t work together but somehow they do. However, in the long run, will Cole be willing to change his ways or his plans for his life? Will Tess be willing to open her heart to love and a relationship? Is a baby the only thing tethering these two people together?
Trust me, you want to read this story to find out. .
This book can be a read as a stand-alone; although why you would skip Parental Guidance makes no sense to me. These books are just really fun, light and enjoyable reads with a good amount of steam. I can’t wait for the next book in the series. Awk-Weird releases October 14.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Awk-Weird is everything you want in a romantic comedy, it’s funny, it’s sweet and it has characters that are adorable. Let’s be honest what’s not to love when you have a hot Thor ice hockey player as the hero and a nerdy sweet awkward girl as the heroine. This author always finds characters you can identify with maybe it’s you always manage to see a little bit of yourself in each and everyone she creates or maybe she just weaves a tale we would like to be a part of and Awk-Weird is no different it’s a story that will draw you in and keep you hooked through to the last line.
Cole has moved around most of his childhood never spending much time in one place and that has made him an independent control freak who has a place for everything and it’s never out of place including his feelings, well that was until Tess dropped into his life, she is the complete opposite a nerdy messy funny girl who takes life as it comes so what happens when the nerd hooks up with the hot Thor look alike I guess you need to read the book to find that out....
This is a book that ticked all my boxes, I laughed, I sighed and I loved watching these two characters evolve as I joined their beautifully written love story, this was everything I expected from the queen of rom- com and I can’t wait for the next installation of the Ice Knights. Entertaining funny read.

I did not expect to love this book as much as I did. I smiled, I laughed and I even nearly cried while reading this book.

I felt like I connected with Tess on a very strong level. I’m quite weird myself and extremely awkward at times so everything she did or said just made me love her even more. She’s been let down quite a lot and in turn that leads her to feel like everything in her life is temporary and that honestly broke my heart. Tess is a sweet, smart and loving woman who I was rooting for the whole time.

When I first read the synopsis for this book I was concerned that their was going to be a large amount of the whole ‘jock falls in love with the nerd’ cliche but there was none of that. Cole, while being a pro hockey player, is just as smart as Tess and has his own issues. He has a routine and cannot step outside of it. He lives in a black and white world while Tess lives in a world of colour and honestly, watching the two worlds collide was absolutely perfect.

I loved this book from beginning to end and simply could not put it down. While not for a younger audience, this book is perfect for anyone looked for a light, quick, heartfelt romance which will tug at your heart strings. I cannot wait to dive into Avery Flynn’s other books, especially Parental Guidance which is set in the same universe!

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The title of the book, Awk-weird was spot on in describing Tess, the heroine. She was awkward and weird in the most adorable way when she was throwing random factoid out as her freak-out defense mechanism. Even though the trope of the book was nothing new, this funny and heartfelt surprise baby rom-com was uniquely enjoyable. There was no insta-love between Cole and Tess. They both had some demons in the past that ruled out each other on their long-term relationship radar. The outcome of their one-night stand was unexpected and they never knew that they would find what they always needed in the most unlikely place. The side characters were interesting and help built the incredible Ice Knight family and I’m looking forward to meeting more of the hockey hotties. I absolutely enjoyed this funny and swoony rom-com and would highly recommend it.

Ahh this book was the perfect quick read! A cute lil romcom, I absolutely adored it.


I saw so much of myself in Tess. I know a ton of random factoids (though not near as many as her), and I also have serious peopleing issues. As a matter of fact, I refer to my times when I want to be alone as being “peopled out”.

Now Cole. Hellllooooo hot stuff! I’m not usually one for blond Norse gods but umm...I think I may need to rewatch Thor...for research purposes.
But honestly, this was such a cute, fun book!

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Please visit curlybookowl.com on or after October 15th for a full, spoiler-included review!

*Thank you Entangled Publishing for this free ebook in exchange for an honest review*