I was already a fan of Avery Flynn and hockey romance. This one did not disappoint!! Astrid took an extreme approach to life after an extreme event altered the course of her future. Cal if just trying to stay in the game he loves. Their journey had me in the edge of my seat the entire time. I loved the Diet Coke gifts! Those were fantastic!

I want to thank Avery Flynn, Entangled Publishing and Netgalley for this ARC. Here is my honest opinion after reading it.

Do you like the world of field hockey? a protagonist with a strong character, marked by her previous break-up and who isn't afraid to talk about her sexuality?

Then this stand-alone romance is for you.

Meet Astrid who, after a violent and high-profile break-up, is about to change her professional and romantic life but finds herself in a comical situation between her father, her ex and her new crush.
Humor, romance, sexy-time, serious moments, this book is here to make you have a good time with complete characters who have a real past.

Loved this book! While I wasn’t too crazy about the first book in this series, this installment really saved things for me, and I was on the edge of my seat reading this. Astrid is the daughter of a hockey coach, and years ago she was engaged to marry her father’s star player, only for him to stand her up at the altar for his career. Determined to leave the hockey world and never look back, Astrid has kept that side of her life gone until one night she hooks up with a stranger, Cal, that stands up for her at the bar she’s working at. What is supposed to be one night together turns into more when they find out they live in the same building and then when they find out that Cal is the new hockey coach for her ex-fiancé and on her father’s team. While they both try to fight their feelings for each other because of how messy it is – with Astrid trying to stay firm in her no hockey rule and Cal not planning on staying in town or with the team past the season, they break all the rules they have to be together. I loved these two together and that it healed both of them in regard to the sport. I’m very interested to see what happens next and if we get the story of Astrid’s friend and her ex-fiancé based on the end of the book!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

This is book 2 in a series but each stands alone. This is about Astrid who in the first book was a bridezilla and got left at the alter by her best friend and love of her life Tig. She worked with her dad then and helped him with his hockey team and Tig was one of their players. Now 5 years later Tig is not doing well and her dad has hired a former player, Cal to help Tig and he begs Astrid to come back and help too.

I really liked the first book but this book was not as great. A lot of it I was kinda bored. It was cute and all and I laughed a few times but it was more this is crazy than it was at the humor. I thought Astrid was a HUGE drama queen and she was too much about everything. She was like that in the first book but she had an excuse as a bridezilla, here it was annoying.

Cal I really liked. I did not understand what he saw in Astrid, but he was an awesome guy with a huge heart and a drive to be a success. Trig as the annoying ex was a huge drama queen and loved to complain. As to the. ending it made absolutely zero sense. It was more about Trig and that was a huge disappointment. Also Astrid's feelings about marriage was just too strange. I wish the ending was her wedding so we could see her change her mind. So, it was a letdown and I felt the ending happened too fast.

Read this back in March. I thoroughly enjoyed this book even though I skimmed over the spicy parts. I have laughed out so hard and giggled. This is exactly what the title says.
If you’re in a mood for hockey, laugh out loud moments, amusement, spiciness, then this book is for you.
The only thing I felt let down was the ending.

Four stars.
Thank you, Entangled and NetGalley for a copy of eARC. All my opinions are purely my own.

Walk of Shame is the book for a good spicy time. Astrid was left at the alter by her high school love and professional goalie then jump 5 years into the future, she's a hockey despising and man hating woman. But then there's Cal, the lovable, pink sweater wearing, goalie whisperer who has been hired to be her ex fiance's goalie helper and oh, her last one night stand.

This was my first book by Avery Flynn. I loved it, the spice was fantastic, there was banter, a strong FMC and a MMC who was obsessed with his girl. Hockey is a big part of this story, but the reader doesn't need to understand the sport.

For CW there's not a lot, parental death (not on page), bloody injury explanation (if someone doesn't like blood, it can be skipped), anxiety. But down to earth hilarious!!

Walk of Shame is the second book in The Downside of Dating series but can be read as a standalone. The story is told from dual perspectives, Astrid & Cal. Astrid has strict rules about hookups after being jilted at her wedding 5 years prior. She meets Cal & proceeds to have an unforgettable one-night stand, or is it? Astrid's rules are about to be tested as Cal is the one-night stand that wasn't.

The story is good and what I dub a summer beach read. Light, funny, romantic with just the right amount of spice & angst. The characters have enough substance to stand independently and the supporting characters add just enough. The spicy scenes were good without being too often or too over the top and the banter and will they, won't they with Astrid & Cal is great.

The one thing that I did NOT like was the epilogue. It threw the whole feel of the story off for me and just didn't work, in my opinion. I really enjoyed the book then got to the end and went WTF.

This book was so much fun!! I may be from Louisiana and know ✨nothing✨ about hockey but I am such a sucker for a good hockey romance. So when I received this ARC I couldn’t wait to dive in!

After being left at the alter by her pro hockey goalie childhood sweetheart, Astrid has sworn off everything hockey since she was publicly humiliated. She doesn’t get too attached and sticks to casual hookups. She ends up having a one night stand with Cal who on the outside looks like a lumberjack but he’s actually a hockey coach. ANDDD he just so happens to be Astrid’s ex fiancées goalie coach 🤭

This was a spicy story with great banter and all around a great read.

Avery Flynn is back again with another laugh out loud, witty, and heart tugging read. Im not typically one for the sports romances but I've got to say, Flynn really shed some light on why these hockey romances seem to be so addicting to the book community. Astrid was a character that I both want to be and also want to be friends with. Her outlook on life, her devotion to her friends and family, her humor. What a catch,

This was a read that went way too quickly. Once you get rolling you really just can not put it down and that's one thing I love about the writing. It feels impossible that you've gotten so immersed in the story and all of a sudden it's over. The relationship progression in this was believable and I really enjoyed that we revisited her broken engagement as she learns just how much she has really grown as a person. I think the temptation of past relationships can be relatable to most as you question whether or not you've ended where you should be or even just to envision where your life may be had that gone a different way.

I didn't enjoy this one because it doesn't make sense and is too predictable.

Given the fact that Astrid and Cal just went on one date, I don't think their relationship developed enough, the and I didn't think they were in love at all. Plus, they didn't seem like a couple to me—more like fuck buddies.

Overall, there wasn't much of a plot, but it was a quick read. The main problem was obvious right away, and I thought it concluded far too fast at the end of it. The epilogue even made me scream.

Thank you Valentine PR, NetGalley and Avery Flynn for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a fun heartfelt romance.

Astrid felt like she has to shut herself off from the world after being left at the alter, and Cal is recovering from a career ending injury. A meet cute ends up turning into a semi forbidden romance.

I ate it up!

2.5 stars

This is part of the Downside of Dating series, but can be read as a standalone.

Astrid has sworn off all things hockey after her disastrous almost wedding. Left at the altar by her childhood sweetheart, Tig, she leaves hockey behind to find herself. However, after 5 years, her NHL head coach father convinces her to return to her old job assisting him and his team, the Ice Knights. Unfortunately, Tig is the goalie trying to turn his career around.

Cal is a former goalie returning to hockey as a coach after a near-fatal accident took him out of playing forever. He’s there to get Tig back into shape and hopefully find himself a place permanently back in the hockey world. Neither Astrid nor Cal know the other when they meet at the Flying Sow Pub one night. They have an instant connection, but can they sort through their own issues to make it work?

Things I liked:
- The friendships. In a tough sporting environment scrutinized by the media, Astrid and Cal have found their own support systems. They have deep friendships outside of each other.
- Cal is pretty romantic in the gestures he makes to try to win over Astrid.
- Spice level🌶️🌶️ 🌶️

Things I didn’t like:
- After 5 years and a lot of therapy, Astrid still has not worked through anything revolving the almost wedding to Tig. She’s still having meaningless hookups, can’t communicate as an adult, and runs from all her problems. She actually hides from Cal in closets and avoids going into the office so she doesn’t have to talk to him.
- Even after all the sweet gestures Cal made for Astrid, he still has somehow not ever thought about this future outside of hockey? What about all the time he spent in the hospital and going through rehab? How did he not think of a single alternative other than coaching or working at the family car garage?
- Authors writing style. There were a lot of metaphors, side stories and memories dropped into sections of dialogue or randomly in paragraphs that took me out of the story. I started skimming those.

Overall, I’d say low character development, but are you really looking for that in this book? The epilogue took a turn I wasn’t expecting and I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the rushed ending. Not sure I would read more in the series.

ARC provided by Entangled publishing via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Five years after being left at the altar by her professional hockey player fiance, Astrid O'Malley has created a new life for herself. She's sworn off both relationships and anything to do with hockey, a challenge given that her dad is the head coach of the Harbor City Ice Knights. She's working a shift as a bartender one night when she meets a handsome man and breaks her own rules to hook up with him. The following evening, her father invites her to a dinner which turns out to be a welcome party for his newest assistant coach: Astrid's hookup, Cal Matsen. It's a shock to both of them, but they manage to hide their previous acquaintance from her father. It's an even bigger shock when Astrid's father announces that he wants her to work with Cal to help her ex-fiance, now the goalie for the Ice Knights, get over his case of the yips.

Cal's NHL career ended prematurely due to a traumatic injury, and his singular goal since then has been to get back into hockey in whatever way he can. Landing a coaching position with the Ice Knights has him one step closer to that dream, and the last thing he wants is to jeopardize it by getting involved with the coach's daughter. But no matter how hard they try, they can't seem to stay away from each other. Can Cal have it all or will he be forced to choose between hockey and Astrid?

This was such a fun story! Astrid and Cal had great chemistry, and I adored their flirty, witty banter. After everything she went through with her ex-fiance, particularly the media attention in the aftermath of their breakup, Astrid's concerns about getting involved with Cal were completely understandable. It took a lot of courage for her to overcome her fears and learn to trust in love again. As for Cal, he needed someone like Astrid to help him see that there was more to life than hockey. They made a wonderful couple, and I loved cheering them on to their HEA.

I highly recommend "Walk of Shame" for all steamy romantic comedy fans and look forward to whatever the author writes next.

*Review copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

Avery Flynn does it again. I was fortunate enough to read the first book in the series and was OBSESSED. Now, I am fortunate enough to read the second book in the series and am even more obsessed!! This was hilarious and super easy to read. She sure does know how to write spice because holy spice the spice was spicing lol.

I tore through this book, the chemistry between Astrid and Cal was off the charts and I couldn’t put it down. The layer of hockey as well hooked me along with the supporting cast of characters. I definitely recommend this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled for a copy of this ARC

First Avery Flynn book and I loved it!
Thanks to Entangled publishing for an ARC.

This book had me LOLing. It was a funny, cute and romantic book (with a lot of spice).

If you pick up this story, be warned that you won't be putting it down till you are done. I'm not going to say more, because you really need to read the book without spoilers.

Now I need to read more of her books.

First of all I want to say thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for an ARC of Walk of Shame by Avery Flynn. I went into this book blind, and with no prior exposure to Flynn’s previous works. If I had to rate Walk of Shame out of 5 stars I would give it a 3.5 and here is why..

Things I loved about this book -
• The humor was great from both Astrid & Cal. I love when a book can make me laugh out loud and this one was able to do that several times.
• The beginning chapters grabbed my interest straightaway and made me excited for the two main characters!

Things I didn't love about this book -
• I love the cover of this book but I honestly didn’t know that it was going to be a hockey romance. Nothing about the cover made it seem like this was a sports novel, which don’t get me wrong I love a good hockey romance but it threw me off.
• The writing felt repetitive in parts and it took me an embarrassingly long time to get through this book. I tried my best to pick it up but nothing about it made me want to continue reading compared to the others on my shelf.
• I thought some of the characters were unnecessary and didn’t add anything to the plot. I was genuinely confused at times when someone would pop up that had no purpose to the story and then disappear again.

Overall I think this was a fun read but it lacked some of the elements that could have made it great.

4 ½ Stars for this laugh-out-loud romance!

OMG ... I haven't laughed this hard in a long time. I was rolling on the floor when Astrid interacted with her grumpy old neighbour ... I know there are neighbours just like that out in the world! I did feel sorry for Astrid being left at the alter, but it helped her stand up for herself. Then Cal ... what a hunk. Who wouldn't love a hunk with a heart of gold ... no really, who? All the characters are so realistic and the banter just flows so good. If you need a pick-me-up ... this is the book for you!

Five years after Astrid was left at the alter, she accidentally meets Cal ... not knowing he's the new goalie whisperer. She hates anything hockey since her ex is a goalie. Even though her dad is a hockey coach, everyone knows to not talk hockey with Astrid. Cal used to be a goalie and after he was hurt, his playing days were over. When he was offered a temporary job helping the current goalie (Astrid's ex) get out of a slump ... he jumps at the chance. He just didn't realize his one-night stand was the goalie's ex or her dad was his boss or they lived in the same building ... he was hooped!

My oh my

Avery you don’t disappoint. This was so fucking cute. You had me giggling and kicking my feet and grinning like a fool the entire time I was reading.

Ugh Cal and Astrid were ADORABLE.

The only thing I wasn’t a big fan of was the ending… her best friend marrying her ex-fiancé? That came out of left field… there was no build up to that at all during the book, so it just doesn’t make sense but I still really enjoyed this one.

Thank you Entangled for sending me an advance copy. Y’all rock.

A nice book for a laz afternoon. Totally missed that it was part of a series, but can totally be read as a stand-a-lone. I didn't feel like I missed anything. I liked Cal and Astrid, not loved - but they held my attention. I wish there would have been some closure regarding the "reporter". Other than that, nice book.