This is the kind of sweet sports romance I love to read!
In the Penalty Box can be somewhat cliche and predictable, but it is such an enjoyable read with two engaging main characters.

Such a cute and endearing romance. Strong female protagonist and a good palate cleanser after dark fantasy reads. Giggling and kicking my feet the whole time.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I was lucky enough to receive a review copy of this and while it took me a little while to get into it, overall i really enjoyed it. The swapping POVs really helped drive the plot forward and there was a lot more to it than the romance which i loved. The character development was also really enjoyable.

I have read this book with so much pleasure. It was an absolute cute read. I love the fact that it was a YA with some older teenagers. I also loved the whole story about skating (both the figure skating and the hockey part). It was however a little bit slow for me and I think the story could have been told in less pages. Especially the middle part felt a little bit too long for me.
The blurb is also a little bit confusing. I thought this would be an enemies to lovers YA, but that wasn't really the case? It is more a very cute story about two amazing characters. It was my first read from these authors and I would absolutely love to read more from them.

Sports romance is what I wanted to read to ease out the anxiety from reading fantasy books as sometimes they can be too much. The story of this one is fantastic and love knowing now how Ice Hockey/Figure Skating works and the passion behind that for players. The characters are beautiful with their own baggage of past and present, which shaped them the way they are. Willow and Brodie are the main characters and the story is from both of their POVs. The banter between them is fun to read and the chemistry is palpable. The intensity of slow-burn romance rocks the world. The characters are likable and easily lovable, the understanding of losses and forgiveness is high and the best part of it.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book, provided by Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I'll be 100% honest - I didn't even realize this was YA when I requested it. I'm just a sucker for hockey romance! But I was instantly drawn in by the relationship developing between the leads, Willow and Brodie, almost from the beginning. It wasn't love at first sight, lust at first sight or hate at first sight. It was just first sight and cute banter. Is that banter at first site? Is that a new trope?

Anyway, Willow is an Olympic hopeful with a major injury. When she doesn't progress at the rate her old team think she should, she gets cut. Enter the fall league hockey team that plays at the rink where Willow practices. Literally running into Brodie Windom, the guy with his NAME on the building, Willow and Brodie strike up a friendship, and Willow ends up trying out for fall league and makes starting goalie - which leads her to try out for the team when school tryouts are held. Guess what> She makes it then, too.

There are naysayers and meanies who just won't let her be, but Willow pushes on, all the while practicing and training to get back to figure skating. Brodie helps with her training, and before you know it Willow and Brodie fall in to a relationship. But due to a no fraternization policy, they are forced to keep it a secret.

When Willow is offered the opportunity of a lifetime, Brodie finds his world imploding. Does Willow follow her dream, or does she stay with Brodie and the team?

Lots of tension and kissing, but nothing more than that. There is talk of sex, but no actual sex. I really enjoyed this book. Like I said before, I'm a sucker for a hockey romance, and this one checked off all my boxes.

Cute hockey YA contemporary with complex characters and family dynamics. The main characters are quite relatable, apart from their talent on the ice.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. A quick hockey romantic read for young adults. Could have been better, but it was okay.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I totally loved this book. This is a sports YA romance. It great my attention from page one and I could not put it down. I loved watching the relationship between Willow and Brodie develop. It was the perfect story for me, even more sweet than I thought it would be.

I love that their nicknames for each other are Toe pick and puck head. It was so fast paced. I haven’t read hockey player and ice skating book before and I loved it.

I haven’t read many sports romance novels in general, but this was a pretty quick and entertaining read. Figure skater Willow is coming off a serious injury that stalled her career; while training and recovering, she meets ice hockey player Brodie who discovers that she may have a natural talent as a goalie. He recruits her to play for the boys’ hockey team and tries not to fall for her, knowing that she will leave and go back to figure skating once her injury heals fully.

This reminded me a lot of the Off-Campus series, but a very tame and YA version of it that puts a lot more focus on the sport aspect. A decent amount of the story covers ice hockey terms; I know nothing about the sport but I was able to visualize all the maneuvers and drills easily so I think the explanations were at least well-written.

The story felt at times like it couldn’t decide if it was YA or NA. The first half of the writing geared YA to me as the characters dealt with typical high school drama: classmates bullying Willow for being a girl on a boys team and other sexist comments, Brodie repeatedly commenting about how hot he finds Willow — things like this just read a little bit childish to me. The latter half of the book dipped into more serious territory (TW: abuse, alcoholism, child abandonment, mentions of illegal activities) and was more interesting to me than the budding romance between the main couple.

I found myself more invested in Brodie’s character arc than Willow’s. Her struggles involved her physical health and adjusting to being on the ice hockey team, but Brodie’s also involved more high-stakes subjects that involved not only himself but also his little brother, for example. The novel reads in alternating pov chapters, which made for an entertaining read especially in Brodie’s chapters. The central plot was fairly predictable and nothing groundbreaking, but it’s a short read that wrapped up in a charming ending.

Thank you to the authors and my partners at Entangled Publishing for providing an arc of the novel in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Willow is back in her hometown to reagroup, heal from a severe injury and come back figure skating to the Olympics. Brodie’s world in crumbling down after his mother death with taking care of his younger sick sibling and his father absence and the only thing keeping him sane is hockey. Can Willow and Brodie help each other and get their dreams come true or will they tear them apart? An intense and passionate story.

Okay objectively, if I’d have read this as a young adult I’d have loved it. Hannah then: 4 stars. Hannah now: 3 stars. I’ll meet me in the middle and go 3.5 rounded up because I straight up am not the intended audience and I can’t hold it against the book. It works differently from YA book to YA book, but here I really just think my age is the main reason I quite connect. I'd recommend this for anywhere between 14 and 16 years old, but it's mainly just personal preference I think. Overall, it was a fine read as an adult, and I did like how things were handled at the end, but I definitely felt my age. If you watch the movie Go Figure and need a little something extra, I definitely think this story could do it for you!

A sweet, unexpected hockey/ice skating romance! Told from both Willow and Brodie’s point-of-view, the reader gets glimpses of both of their thoughts and feelings, which I enjoyed.

Willow, a 17 year old Olympic ice skating hopeful, suffers an accident and heads home to Woodhaven to focus on recovering. Here, she meets the star of the local hockey team, Brodie. He convinces her to join the hockey team as a way to recuperate so she joins the team as a goalie.

They both know she’ll be leaving to train again, but is that enough to keep their feelings for each other buried? Add to this the family turmoil with Brodies family and some of the team members being less-than-accepting of Willow…it’s not hard to see how this could end up in disaster.

I love a good sports romance! This is a YA novel so the content and characters reflect this labeling. Brodie and Willow had to overcome several obstacles, but I was cheering for them throughout the story!

Thank you NetGalley and Entangled Teen/Entangled Publishing for a review copy!

This is a super cute book! It's like that movie, The Cutting Edge, but in reverse. Willow has been working her way through physical therapy to come back from an Achilles injury when Brodie invites her to play goalie in a pick up game. She ends up doing a great job and she tries out for the team. Whatever gets her ice time. He calls her Toe Pick and of course they end up falling for each other (even though it's against team rules). Great read!

I wanted to love this book, but sadly I haven't. I'm not saying I didn't like it or that I don't recommend it, but rather that I expected more from it as a regular reader of this subgenre.

I think what didn't work for me was the lack of depth. The characters felt flat and typical and overall I felt like their backgrounds were not fully explained and developed (for instance, Brodie's father could have had more impact on the plot). There was a bit of instalove, so that already put me a little off right from the start. However, I was willing to give Willow and Brodie a chance to prove themselves and I was just not convinced by their love story. The dialogues weren't as sassy and addictive as I thought they would be and there were a lot of parts that could've been trimmed, in my opinion.

As I said, I don't think it's a bad book, but it's definitely not the best sports romance I've read. It's entertaining and the romance is sweet, so I'm sure many readers will enjoy it, especially if they don't typically read this genre.

Disclaimer: I received this book at no cost from the publisher/author. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. I am leaving a voluntary review and all opinions are my own.

I have read and enjoyed Kelly Anne Blount's writing before so I knew that I had to pick up this book. And if I said that I didn't have a secret obsession with hockey romance I would be lying. A hockey star and a figure skater falling in love is like one of the tropes of my dreams.

I really loved the story. The plot was interesting and intriguing. I was so compelled to know more and to find out what was going to happen to the characters. I really loved the depth of the story. These characters had so much going on in their lives and I thought that the authors did a great job of crafting their lives. I like how the authors didn't really shy away from the more __ parts of these characters' lives. They told the __ parts of the story with grace. It also felt very realistic, which I loved. The storytelling was great for the most part. There were a couple of times that I felt the plot slowed down and things got a little boring but I was never fully disinterested. I felt fully immersed in this world as if I could step right into the story.

These characters were so complex. I loved how realistic they were. Willow and Brodie both had real-world problems and their characterizations felt real. These characters, especially Brodie, had to deal with some serious and sensitive issues and I really loved the emotion that the authors packed into these characters. These characters were so relatable because they felt so real. They had flaws and goals and wants just like anyone. I have to say, my heart really hurt for Brodie in this book. I literally teared up in a few places in this book for that boy. I really loved the character development for both Brodie and Willow. I also loved the secondary characters in this book, especially Willow's hockey teammates. Those guys really grew on me. I honestly would love to read books dedicated to their characters.

I think that the blurb for this book was a tad bit misleading. By the sound of the synopsis, you would think that this is an enemies-to-lovers story but it really isn't. Brodie was supportive of Willow pretty much from the start. He was supportive of her playing hockey and of her being on the hockey team with the other guys. He actually helps her train for it. That point aside, I really enjoyed Brodie and Willow's love story. They come together with a love of skating, even though his love is hockey and hers is figure skating. They have a very natural rapport with one another from the start and it was easy to see their obvious chemistry. Their love story starts out with a beautiful friendship and blossoms from there. Their affection for each other is very genuine, which I really loved.

Overall, this was an adorable sports love story. This book has excellent characters and a plot that you just can't help but want to see unfold. After doing a little research, I found that this author duo also has a three-book series that appears to be set at Twin River High, which is the rival school in this book. I am excited to pick up the Twin River High series and give it a go!

Ahhhh this was just such a great book. I just was entranced by this story and these characters. I look forward to seeing what happens next.

My rating scale:
5☆ - I loved this book and it brought out true emotion in me (laughter, anger, a good cry, etc)
4☆ - I loved this book.
3☆ - I liked this book.
2☆ - I didn't really care for this book.
1☆ - I did not like this book at all and probably did not finish it.