3.5
Darcy, an ex Canadian hockey player star, is finally getting her dream job after three years working with the network: to be on TV and get her own show. Unfortunately, the network is only offering her this opportunity if she partners up with Natalie, an American player who just got cut from the Olympics. This would be the dream opportunity if Natalie wasn't her old rival and ex-something in college. But Darcy can't refuse and Natalie, fresh out of a job needs the work. Besides, their bickering relationship makes for good television and engagement.

Wake Up Nate & Darcy is a hockey romance where they don't play hockey or have matches or competitions. Instead, it's about what happens after the flashlights and the lack of recognition of female athletes. It is a dual timeline romance where we flash back to their college days and burgeoning romance contrasting to their current bickering rivalry but the focus is barely on the sports they try to play during the show.

Natalie is jealous of Darcy and feels like she can never catch up to her. Back in college, Darcy was already hockey royalty, daughter of a great player, older than her and already drafted. In present day, Darcy got two more gold medals than her and each of her victories cost Natalie her own. On Darcy's side, we feel like she has been hurt by Natalie and dislikes her lack of seriousness regarding this job that can be her big break. She's tired of living in her father's shadow and only existing through him when she was a three times hockey gold medalist.

Despite giving me the impression that it would, the book never comes back on their old rivalry that is alluded to. Oh they fought after the last olympic? It's mentioned once or twice in a way that suggests you'll get more about it but it's not brought up again. Even the college arc ends without us realising why Darcy felt hurt. Same there is a Darcy wanted to be publicly closeted in college smoking gun that is mentioned once? Lots of threads that are never resolved and you only realise were frustrating after the book ended with no resolution.

Nevertheless, the romance was engaging and their rivalry and dynamic didn't feel forced, their past fling makes it believable that they would push each other's buttons all the time, sometimes without realising it. I believe that I had turned off some parts of my brain when reading because it took me until the last third to realise the lackluster writing (although it is characteristic of most romances those days).

There's the issue of Darcy being the daughter of a famous player and this position getting her opportunities that was only ever explored as something bad for Darcy because it diminished her accomplishement as a player and is just frankly sexism. But Darcy never acknowledges it as an advantage always giving a good old "i worked hard to get there" speech. At the same time, Natalie is never framed as an underdog who crawled her way out of a terrible situation to get there so I get that the novel wanted to focus on the sexism aspect instead of the nepotism but I can see why it's grating.

I don't know how I feel about the final conflict because it showcases a weakness of the relationship that can never be solved. Natalie has an inferiority complex regarding Darcy: Darcy was always the royalty, the older more experienced player, she got more medals, retired on her own term instead of being cut. And I felt like the story never gave her the chance to reverse it fully? Yeah she's described as a natural on camera but she does end not getting the job. It's an inherent problem that will gnaw at her that I don't think was resolved in a love triumphs ending.

Kate Cochrane’s *Wake Up, Nat and Darcy* offers a compelling premise: ex-Olympic champions Natalie Carpenter and Darcy LaCroix, now broadcasters, reunite to commentate on their sport while dealing with unresolved feelings and professional rivalry. The setup of former lovers flirting on national TV is irresistible and promises a mix of sports drama and romance.

The story kicks off with Natalie, freshly cut from the US women’s hockey team, taking a guest-hosting gig on *Wake Up, USA*. Her co-host is Darcy, her ex-girlfriend and rival. Social media buzzes with #PuckingHotties as viewers root for their on-screen chemistry.

The winter games setting and sports broadcasting backdrop add an engaging layer. Moments of genuine connection hint at deeper potential. While the book doesn’t fully capitalize on its intriguing premise, it remains an enjoyable read for fans of sports romance and second-chance love stories.

I’ve been on a huge hockey romance kick lately and was THRILLED when I finally found a sapphic hockey romance. Wake Up, Nat & Darcy as a title is cute and packs a double meaning. I want to come straight out of the gates to say that some of the reviews I’ve seen for this book took things WAY too seriously. I really enjoyed it and stayed up until 2 am to finish it. We have two former hockey stars, Canadian Darcy LaCroix and American Natalie Carpenter both former Olympians with a rich history and rivalry. Both women are struggling to find their way after being professional athletes and in doing so find each other. The banter between Nat & Darcy was fun and filled with chemistry that I really enjoyed. I hope this is a start of a women’s hockey romance revolution.

Both Nat and Darcy fell flat as characters for me, to the point I just simply didn't care enough about either of them to buy into their romance. The college breakup was also just the most nothing kind of reason to not be able to stand each other years later. There's an audience for this book I'm sure but it's just not me.

Darcy and Natalie used to be college teammates and then became rivals (ice hockey). Darcy is working on building her name in television. Natalie retired from hockey, but not on her own terms. This was a funny, sweet romance. I enjoyed the banter/conflict between Darcy and Natalie. They’re both very competitive and want to win.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Romance for the ARC.

Darcy is the daughter of a famous Canadian ice hockey player, now retired (think Wayne Gretzky type) and is herself a multiple gold metal ice hockey player. Having left the sport, she's been working for a morning show in the US, trying to get an on-camera role. With the upcoming winter Olympics, her producer offers her a spot with Natalie, Darcy's college gf and former US hockey team player who'd just been cut from team. The problem is that in college Darcy broke Natalie's heart and two have had on an-ice rivalry in the intervening years.

This long-ish book felt too long to me. For most of it, I couldn't start to care about these characters or their second chance of being together. Both were repeatedly petulant and angry and the arc of change didn't happen until really late. The character portrayals, which included most of the book after the initial set-up, didn't engage me. It wasn't until the plotting took over in the last 25%, that the book took off a bit. And then, the changes these MCs had to go through were explained by Darcy's sister and Natalie's best friend in lengthy speeches.

I was provided an ARC by the publisher through NetGalley.

Thank you to the publisher, Harlequin, and Netgalley for providing me with an early copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

I want to preface by saying I heard about this book when it was first announced which was ages ago. I'd been anticipating it so much since then and it was probably the book I was most excited to read this year. That being said, I didn’t love it. I had such high hopes which is fully on me, but I was kind of let down.

My main issue was with the third act conflict. I won't get into too many details because I don't want to spoil things. I felt like it was written to be assume equal fault on both parts, but that was hard to get behind because it didn't feel that way when things went down. It was really frustrating to read, but then again third act conflicts almost always annoy me.

My other gripe was that so much of the idea of the book was around this big USA-Canada hockey rivalry. That was there, but because they weren’t players anymore it kind of felt over promised. I think I would have liked the book better if they were both playing at the olympics and that was how they were somehow back in touch, or if they played in the PWHL (which i know that didn’t exist when this was written, but leagues did exist). anyway.

Issues aside, I always love a sapphic romance, and even more so I love a sapphic sports romance, especially when it’s hockey. I also really enjoyed the flashbacks to when they were in college, and if that was the whole book, this would have been five stars. And just to be clear, I did like this book. I just expected to like it more and that discrepancy was disappointing. Thank you for your service, Kate Cochrane. Gimme more!!!

I enjoyed this one! Behind women’s soccer, only women’s hockey is gayer and full of more hotties, so I knew this would appeal to me. Plus it’s the first year of the PWHL, so!

Darcy and Natalie are lovers turned hockey rivals. Darcy broke Natalie’s heart in college, after the two win the NCAA championship together. Honestly, I don’t blame Natalie for wanting to pummel Darcy into the ice and not trusting her. The way she chose to deny her relationship with Natalie to their friends was cruel and a bit uncalled for.

The decades long rivalry did bring out the worst in both of them but their rivals to lovers shtick was sexy and funny at times. Darcy belting O Canada every time she beats Natalie is just too hilarious. Also Natalie’s insatiable need to win at everything was kind of endearing lol. The two were constantly toe to toe, proving that there were obvious feelings lingering from their time together. Initially, I was more sympathetic to Natalie but the back third of the book kind of pulls an Uno Reverse that left me wondering if maybe Nat needed to talk to a professional after being cut from the squad. It seemed like she was really going through it and took it out on Darcy a bit. Nat's behavior towards the end was a bit unhinged, IMHO.

One little detail that bothered me - wouldn’t Natalie remember why Darcy has to sit in the front of the van on the way to lake placid? They were teammates sharing bus seats for a year?

The flashbacks were some of the best scenes. Wish they had included more of those to really flush out their connection - I feel like we didn't get enough of the blissfully in-love Nat & Darcy.

Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC!

This is the Sapphic romance of my dreams, I loved it so much! Nat and Darcy used to be college teammates turned rivals US vs Canada style via ice hockey and have competed in the Olympics. Little does anyone know but they also dated in college and it ended horribly. They are reunited when Nat retires from professional hockey not on her terms, something Darcy chose to do years ago and has been trying to make her break as TV presenter since. They are paired together to cover the Olympics and try out winter sports and also be funny and personable on screen.

I loved the push pull of their secret animosity and misunderstandings but at the same time the need to do a good job and collaborate. This absolutely has the spirit of team sports in that their maturity has to put feelings to the side at times because they are also trying to prove themselves to the network.

The pacing of this was perfect. There was definitely angst with a few brief flashbacks (not full on dual timeline don't worry) when you find out why they broke up way back when but all their moves and feelings make sense in current time. They also aren't perfect people either and there's still growth to be had in this book.

There's a couple open door spice scenes yay. And their segments were genuinely entertaining and not like slapstick rom com-y. This genuinely felt like I was at the Olympics with them (saying this as nowhere near a professional athlete though). I want more sapphic women in hockey romance!

Thank you to Harlequin for the eARC!

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I found myself having trouble exactly how to rate this book, given the many thoughts I have about it. As others have said my two biggest problems were Natalie’s immaturity in the third act conflict as well as the tell-don’t-show mentality.
Pros:
-I enjoyed the dual timeline in this book, characters in sports books often mention this but we don’t actually get to see what this past relationship was like
-The rapport they created during their TV segments
-The proposal scene was downright adorable, it was truly a full circle moment


Cons:
-The tantrum at the end truly made me bump this down, among others, as I cannot believe two Women in their 30’s would actually act like this. This miscommunication seemed to make this more suitable for a high school relationship rather than two GROWN Women
-Given, that Marty did not show up until the last ten pages, I am surprised he was mentioned just as much
-I feel like this nepo baby storyline could have been more incorporated into the College universe as well
-I truly don’t understand how Natalie was not able to remember the names of her former teammates? It truly played more into her childish nature

Premise? Pure gold. Love it. Ex-Olympic champions, legends in their field, come together once again to commentate on their sport and flirt on national television. There is nothing I like quite as much as sports anime leads flirting on national televsion.

Execution? Undercooked, terribly so. The whole dynamic and conflict revolves around utter inability of the main leads to have a conversation, and while it could have been a pass in somebody younger, it's ridiculous in mature women and also too weak as the main engine of conflict. I didn't feel the chemistry as genuine, bickering as charming, and their agonies particularly sympathetic. It was hard to sympathize with them, which was not helped by the narrative style favouring telling not showing but not giving us a real flavour of things. Overall, not impressed.

I absolutely loved this. I love hockey romance and especially sapphic- count me the fuck in! I HATED the miscommunication BUT not enough to make me hate the whole book. I’m giving it a five because FUCK YEAH WOMENS HOCKEY

When I saw I got approved for this Sapphic sports romance I screamed! I had to start it as soon as I downloaded it.

So, this is my honest opinion and my reasoning for why I *personally* did not enjoy it.

There is nothing I dislike more in a book than the miscommunication/third act break up *shakes head in disbelief*

I don't enjoy this trope, its the worst and grinds my gears.

The story was cute, it had potential but feel flat for me.

I'm giving it a 3.75 rounded up.

I do have a few friends that would enjoy this book, so I will suggest it to them

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

In my opinion, the plot is winning gold. Ex-Olympians coming together to do news segments for the upcoming Winter Olympics is excellent, and it is the book's most interesting and hilarious element. Could you imagine having to learn and film yourself learning how to do each sport when all you've known is hockey? It's definitely going to make some funny scenes.
Add in the fact that they are now rivals and (unknown) ex-lovers, and we have a perfect amount of tension. AKA shipping #puckinghotties made a lot of sense.

My only qualms about this story were that I wanted more build of their previous relationship; I didn't feel like it was enough. It lacked a little. And when the story is about sports romance, that does affect the overall review.

This was so funny and I loved watching the these two strong women come back together and find each other again through all their bickering and banter. I also loved watching them have to figure out how to work together in this way and it was great!

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year, and I was so glad to receive an ARC of it. I love sapphic romances, and I love hockey romances, so I was thrilled to have the two combined!

This was billed as a hockey romance, but didn’t have much hockey. Both FMCs previously played professionally, but are both retired. However, the book more than made up for this with the fantastic setting of the Switz winter olympics, and showcases many of the different sports.

The plot seems rather dragged out in the beginning, and then a lot happens all at once. There wasn’t much conflict and the story felt a bit flat.

The MCs were cute, but towards the second half of the book one of them was constantly whining and acting very childish. It made it a bit hard to read and really root for them to get together.

I am obsessed with this concept and I loved the whole idea of the story, but this one just wasn't for me.

I wanted to root for the characters, but there just wasn't enough of their relationship developed for me to do so. The dialogue also felt stilted for me sometimes, and it would often take me out of the story.

I'm so sad this one didn't vibe with me.

I loved this book. The banter between Nat and Darcy had me hooked and burning through the pages. The rivalry was classic USA/Canada women's hockey! I loved the dual timelines and going back and forth.

Nat and Darcy will be characters who live rent free in my mind f0r a long time.

I can't wait to see what Kate Cochrane writes next!

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin for the ARC

A heartwarming reunion on ice, “Wake Up, Nat & Darcy” by Kate Cochrane is a delightful romance novel that combines passion, rivalry, and second chances. Cochrane weaves a captivating story set against the backdrop of winter sports, where ex-lovers find themselves reunited as cohosts on a popular TV show.

Meet Natalie Carpenter: cut from the US women’s hockey team just before her third chance at gold, is desperate to avoid moving back home. Her lifeline? A guest-hosting gig on Wake Up, USA’s winter games coverage. But there’s a twist: her cohost is none other than Darcy LaCroix, Nat’s ex-girlfriend and former college teammate turned adversary.

The chemistry between Nat and Darcy is electric, both on and off-screen. As they navigate their shared history, bitter rivalries, and the irresistible spark that still lingers, readers are treated to a rollercoaster of emotions. The tension between them is palpable, and the hashtag #PuckingHotties trends as fans root for their reunion.

Cochrane’s writing shines in her portrayal of the characters. Nat is determined, fierce, and vulnerable, while Darcy is ambitious, witty, and haunted by their past. Their banter crackles, and their emotional journey is beautifully layered. The author skillfully balances romance with personal growth, making this more than just a love story. It’s a tale of redemption and forgiveness.

The winter sports setting adds an extra layer of excitement. From snow-covered slopes to cozy cabins, Cochrane paints a vivid picture of the world these characters inhabit. Whether they’re discussing hockey strategies or sharing stolen moments by the fire, the icy landscape mirrors their emotional thawing.

“Wake Up, Nat & Darcy” is a page-turner that keeps you hooked until the very end. Cochrane’s prose flows effortlessly, and her pacing is spot-on. As Nat and Darcy grapple with their feelings, readers will find themselves rooting for their happily-ever-after. If you’re a fan of sizzling chemistry, sports romance, and second chances, this book is a must-read.

Cochrane’s storytelling prowess shines, and Nat and Darcy’s journey will warm your heart even on the coldest winter days. “Wake Up, Nat & Darcy” is a captivating blend of romance, sports, and redemption. Cochrane’s characters leap off the page, and their love story will leave you cheering. Don’t miss this heartwarming read!

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Romance, and Carina Adores for a temporary e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

"Wake Up, Nat and Darcy" serves up a sizzling sapphic hockey romance that blends second chances and rivals-to-lovers tropes, making for a tantalizing read. Darcy, a retired Canadian hockey champ, and Natalie, an American player who just got cut from the team, are thrown together to co-host an Olympic segment. The sparks fly as they navigate their rocky past and attempt to work together, with hilarious mishaps along the way.

The book's strong suit lies in its engaging premise and the entertaining backdrop of the Olympics. The banter between Nat and Darcy is both fiery and funny, especially during their disastrous attempts at winter sports. However, while the romance starts off a bit rocky, it gradually warms up, though some inconsistencies in character behavior got a little confusing. By half way, I was growing quite tired of their immature behavior and constant back and forth. It seems like a switch went off when they actually got together romantically, and they just decided to stop hating each other for a minute, which seemed abrupt. Other than that, it was a fun read.

The chemistry between the leads lacked the intensity expected from their past rivalry. The writing style is also a bit too tell-not-show and the dialogue feeling juvenile at times. Despite its flaws, "Wake Up, Nat and Darcy" offers a fun and enjoyable read for fans of sports romance. So, if you're up for a light-hearted tale of love, rivalry, and second chances, this book might just hit the spot.