I received an ARC from Harlequin-Romance via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ok, so. I wouldn’t call this book terrible but there were a lot of things that made me unhappy.
1. This is a “second chance” romance. Yet, their initial romance happens off page and we only see them lusting after one another. I honestly can’t tell you why they liked each other aside from being hot.
2. This flowed into their current relationship. They were teammates who kinda sorta dated in college and became rivals. Now they’re being made into coworkers. But it’s been 15 years and they’re still hung up on each other?? Their college thing was barely anything and they just fall back into it. When they start hooking up I still can’t tell you why they liked each other beyond their looks.
3. I like romance in my romance and it was missing here.
4. Natalie was so immature and selfish that by the end I was hoping Darcy would run away with literally anyone else.
5. Miscommunication was used and relied on far too much. There are other ways to have conflicts!
🤷🏼‍♀️

I did find the antics with the Winter Olympics interesting and fun to read.

Excited about a romance set at a morning TV show? Then this sapphic rom-com might just be for you!

Two women who used to date are forced to work together and play nice for the cameras, and before they know it, the lines are blurring between what's real and what's for show. Can they set aside their past so they can bask in the success not only of their morning TV show, but of their potential relationship?

I love a romance set on live TV! What a fun concept! This second chance romance moved along quickly. I loved seeing former Olympic-level athletes pivoting to something else, and realizing that perhaps it might be a new way to shine! The various antics related to their morning show segments were super entertaining! I loved seeing a couple in their mid-thirties, as well.

The actual romance sometimes left me a little cold. The angst felt a tad contrived, especially for having been such a long time ago and for such a brief relationship at that. I think I just needed more in terms of why Nat and Darcy were a good fit for each other.

I'd like to thank Harlequin and Netgalley for the eARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

This was a great read! I really enjoyed the story and the romance between Natalie and Darcy! There were lots of opportunities for them to end things and move on but they didn’t. Or couldn’t. All kinds of tropes at play here but I just loved the way the story flowed. It didn’t try to be one thing. It was so many great things!

This was a fun read, I enjoyed the banter between the MCs, and all the scenes where the MCs try other sports and fail were written in a really humorous way.

I didn't love the third act conflict or the resolution, there was clearly a lot more communication needed between the two of them :P

TWs - MC loses her spot in a national sports team due to her age and her injury

-- ty to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

Oh, well, I was about to give the book 2.5 stars, but I decided to give it 3. I'm a huge sports lover and I was looking a good Sports/Sapphic Romance when I requested this book on Netgalley, but I didn't find it here.

This is what the story is about: Natalie (American) and Darcy (Canadian) are former hockey teammates and secret lovers in college whose relationship ended badly. After their breakup, they become sports rivals while playing in their respective national teams. Years later, Darcy is now trying to make a name in sports broadcasting. Her biggest chance is a guest-hosting gig on Wake Up, USA’s Olympic Winter Games coverage. The catch? Her co-host is, precisely, Natalie. Suddenly, their work together goes viral and, for the sake of the TV ratings (of course!), they started to film videos of them trying new sports. As they become closer again, feelings long buried resurface. Will they get a second chance to be together?

This is my biggest problem with this book: we really don't know why these two women are into each other. I didn't feel their alleged love, nor the chemistry. What I do see is a lot of resentment between them and, of course, how they're attracted to the other. Another problem is, how two women in their mid-late thirties can behave like teenagers? Seriously, I didn't see any believable love here. Lust? Oh, yeah, there's a lot of it. Romance? I don't think so...

Their victim narratives didn't do well for this book either. Nat complaining about how Darcy treated her nearly 20 years ago (while Darcy complains about that same thing) is exhausting! Also, Darcy complaining about not knowing if her chances were brought to her for being the daughter of an NHL superstar or for her abilities, yet at the same time she's upset because no one cares about her last name? That's next-level hypocrisy, in my humble opinion.

To be fair with the book, the scene transitions and the reading pace were remarkable. Also, the Winter Olympics setting was fantastic. Even though we don't see a lot of hockey stuff here—why the author used the hockey card for the book and not having enough details about hockey is beyond me—that scenario was greatly created.

This is my first book from this author and I'm having mixed feelings about it. Hopefully the next book in the series will be better.

This is a fun second chance, sports romance. I really enjoyed the first half of the book, but the last half fella bit flat for me.

Thank you so much to NetGally/Publisher for the ARC!

The set up for this second chance romance sounded really fun and started out really fun, but in the end it just didn't deliver for me. It just felt as though there was no way these two people would end up together. They hated each other and it just was not believable that that passion would lead to love. The character development was not sufficient and the conflict between the two characters seemed both lazy and overwritten. That said, the olympic setting and competition aspect of the plot was fun and there was enough spice to keep from dnfing.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of Wake Up, Nat & Darcy!

I loved this book!!! Thank you to the publisher and author for this ARC!

This is a sapphic hockey romance of my dreams - I was swooning!!!

This is a second chance x rivals to lovers x co workers - it really had it all!!!

I loved the Olympic aspect of this book and then doing all the different sport challenges! As an Olympic Stan - I really enjoyed this aspect a lot!!

I can’t wait to see what this author does next!

What a fun premise! I liked the idea of a sapphic second chance romance, but this one was just a little underwhelming for me. The miscommunication trope is not one that I love, so for that reason, I could t really click or connect with these characters enough to root for their story and happy ever after. However, the idea of having them be ex lovers to cohosts as they find their way back to each other was an interesting set up.

I really wanted to love this book, but disappointingly I found the main characters highly unlikeable and it seemed like they didn’t have great chemistry.

The concept is great and I love the idea of their dynamic. I love a good fake dating yet real ex’s messy drama. Overall if you like sports and gays this book is for you.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

This book was just really bad. The characters are pushing 40 but have the emotional intelligence of thirteen year olds. They have no chemistry at all. The premise of the story is good but the characters are just so unlikeable and unrelatable.

I'm really sad to say this one was a disappointment for me. I put this book down after about 60 pages after reading some other reviews and seeing that it doesn't really pickup.

The premise of this book had a lot of the things I love - women's hockey, second chance romance, friends to lovers to enemies to lovers, oh my! But unfortunately, the execution was lacking big time.

The biggest hurtle was quite frankly, that I hated the main two characters. This might seem a little harsh, but Nat was just so mean at every single time she opened her mouth and in her perspective, while Darcy was wishy-washing and annoying. They continue to hint towards some terrible thing that happened in college (YEARS ago) and it colors every. Single. Interaction. Yet we have absolutely no let up or hint at what it is beyond some sort of break-up. Which fine. I know how storytelling works, obviously you need to build the suspense, but damn, there is nothing but animosity between these two which obliterates any sort of chemistry there could be.

I was expecting two former-lovers squabbling in a will-they won't-they, but received two people that genuinely seem to hate each other with little other substance.

Thank you to Carina Adores and NetGalley for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Well, I'm late to the game with hockey romances, but I made it. If you don't like couples who struggle with communication or second-chance romances, this probably isn't for you, but I thoroughly enjoyed watching Nat & Darcy figure it out, even if I did want to scream at them once or twice.

Maybe there'll be more hockey romances in my future.

4.5/5

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin-Romance for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I wanted to like it but it didn’t work for me. The characters didn’t have much chemistry or development.

I wanted to like this book far more than I did! I think it struggled with pacing and characterization, The first third felt like it dragged on forever while the miscommunication was almost aggravating at times. The characters were also almost insufferable. I'm rounding up to three stars and hoping for better with the next book!

Thank you to Netgalley and to Harlequin press for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review. Wake Up, Nat and Darcy is a cute sapphic hockey romance between two former teammates and former rivals who after retiring from hockey find themselves thrown together to cover the Winter Olympics. Their segments start going viral online but people are convinced they are a couple so Nat and Darcy find themselves wondering how much is for the camera and what may be actual chemistry.

I will start with the parts that I liked. I think this book does a good job of diving into the topic of retirement from professional sports. Nat is feeling, understandably, lost and confused on her next steps after being cut from Team USA right before the Olympics. Aging in sports is so vastly different than aging in regular life, and this book drives that point home perfectly. However, both characters acted a bit too immaturely (especially given that they are supposed to be 35-38 or so) for me in an adult romance. Minor misunderstandings lead to giant drama and Nat expects Darcy to put her ahead of her entire career and everything she has worked for after one or two hookups. Some of the choices made here by the two main characters are more along the lines of what I would expect in a YA romance, not from two women pushing 40 years old. Overall, this was okay for me but not really a stand out.

The book was fun and keeps me guessing what 'torn them apart', I was surprised when I finally realized 'how it went down'. I also didn't expect it to give me similar feels to CleatCute, overall... Glad I've read it. Thank you for the advance copy and looking forward to other books in the series.