
Member Reviews

Jaylen is facing the end of his career as a professional hockey player. His contract wasn't renewed and it's supposed to be his last night in town. Lucy is going through yet another break-up, and her friends keep telling her she needs to stop getting into relationships and focus on her work if she wants to get a serious tattoo internship anytime soon. When they meet at a bar, neither plans on going home with the other. But when it becomes clear it would be for one night only, no attachments, they agree.
Until suddenly, the next morning finds Jaylen with a fresh contract and Lucy with a steady gig - only it's not the work she wants. She's put painting behind her, and working on a mural for the local team is not the kind of work she wants to be doing. It only gets worse when she takes a puck to the head and finds out that Jaylen lied - he's going to be in town for a whole lot longer.
With Lucy around, Jaylen can't seem to lose. Not only does he have a new contract, but he's playing better than he has in years. She's his good luck charm. If only he can convince her to stick around.
I admit I wasn't sure how I felt about these two to start with. Jaylen definitely is very regimented, and Lucy can be chaotic, which has been known to work and make for a lot of quirky interactions and funny moments that I love in other books. But these two were such strong personalities I really struggled with thinking they'd make a go of things.
I also liked that "shooting your shot" came to their work, not just taking a chance at their relationship with each other. Each was trying for their dream job, and coming against obstacles. They didn't let that stop them though, and I found that they had a great partnership when it came both to supporting each other in what they wanted to do for a job, and in how they could support each other in more personal ways.
Overall, a solid read and listen. The chapters were short, but the dual POVs kept things moving along and flowing smoothly. I switched between reading and listening depending what worked best at the moment. I felt that each narrator could be a little stiff at times, enough to be noticeable but not enough to sound robotic.

DNF'd during the second chapter. The writing felt very juvenile and like the author was trying to my it as PC as possible and over explained everything to the point of it taking me out of the story completely before I could get settled into it.

Shoot Your Shot was a story that I went through really fast but it failed a bit to grab all of my attention. It kinda felt like I wanted to read it fast so I could know what happens and move to another book. I'm usually a big big fan of hockey romances but this one just didn't hit as hard for me. It's cute alright with him wanting her to be his good luck charm and encouraging her into her carreer and all. I just felt it was missing something. It's not a bad book by any means, it just feels like a lot of all the same. (Maybe I've been reading too many hockey romance books so they all start to feel the same??)

Shoot Your Shot is a black cat/golden retriever hockey romance written by a popular TikTok influencer. Described as both "steamy and superstitious", I knew I had to read this ASAP!
The story follows Jaylen, and NHL hopeful, and his one night stand dubbed good luck charm Lucy, and aspiring tattoo artist. Down on his luck and no contract secured, that all changes after a steamy night with Lucy. After that, superstitious Jaylen considers her his new good luck charm and realizes he needs to keep her around.
I always love a female black cat and male golden retriever combo and the description of this book had me so excited! Unfortunately, it fell flat of my expectations. It felt more like rushed fanfiction than a sports romance. This book was definitely more hockey than romance and the writing was a bit bland. I was hoping for more depth and more tension to grab me and pull me into the story with me. Lexi definitely knows hockey and the idea for this book was so cute and brilliant! However, the writing and romance fell flat for me.

Shoot Your Shot by Lexi LaFleur Brown has a lot of charm and potential, but for me, it landed somewhere in the middle. The premise is fun and flirty—a classic opposites-attract romance with enough tension to keep things interesting. Lexi’s writing style is engaging, and the banter between characters feels fresh and witty.
That said, I found some pacing issues, especially in the second half, where things dragged a bit or felt rushed emotionally. I also wanted more depth from the main characters—their chemistry was there, but I didn’t always feel fully invested in their growth or motivations.
It’s a light, easy read—great if you’re looking for something fun and low-stakes—but it didn’t leave a lasting impression on me. Not bad by any means, just not quite a slam dunk.

I received this book as an ARC and enjoyed it. This book is about a Grumpy woman with a Gothic style and a Hockey player with a golden retriever vibe.

In this fun and entertaining hockey romance novel, readers follow new pro Jaylen “JJ” Jones and aspiring tattoo artist Lucy Ross as they work on their future careers in Seattle. After not securing a new contract, Jaylen is ready to end his time in Seattle with a one-night stand with Lucy, but a last-minute roster spot opens up soon after and Jaylen realizes that Lucy might be his good luck charm. In a career slump of her own, Lucy decides to agree to be his lucky charm in exchange for tattooing practice, and they continue trading favors for the sake of their careers, but with neither of them expecting anything more, this easy agreement is getting a bit complicated. With its new twists and drama in the classic hockey romance, readers will love this business-partners-to-lovers dynamic and the various other tropes in this entertaining new novel. The characters (and of course their relationship) are the stars of this novel, and their dynamic is particularly interesting given their agreement and where they will end up. Spicy, entertaining, and charming, readers will love the emotional notes and relatable career slumps that Jaylen and Lucy deal with in this fun and enjoyable hockey romance.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I've tried to get into this book and haven't been able to get into.

3.25 stars
This was overall a nice hockey romance but I didn't fall in love with it. I kept feeling like I wasn't actually feeling it between the two MCs. Lucy was interesting and Jaylen was too, but it all felt just... fine. It didn't make my heart beat fast, I didn't get excited, it was just okay. I appreciated the talk about mental health though throughout the book. The hockey talk was detailed and I appreciated that. I just.. felt like it was a bit middle of the road for me. I also have a main gripe about the amount of semi colon sentences that felt clunky. It kept bugging me throughout the book and I wanted to edit them out so badly.
If you like hockey romances, you may want to check it out, but it wasn't a huge stand out for me.

I’ve been following Lexi for a while and was sooo excited to get an arc of this and I’m so happy to say it didn’t disappoint! Lexi’s humor definitely shown through, and this was the perfect mix of sweet, sincere, silly, and sexy. Lucy and JJ were both such compelling characters and I loved the way their relationship built. I also loved loved how unapologetically queer this is! I don’t always feel welcome in the hockey community, but this made me feel so seen!!! This being set in Seattle was just the icing on the cake.

The hockey details were great, but the romance and prose couldn't light the lamp of this hockey romance. The rookie mistake of telling instead of showing slowed the pace of this story. It's possible that my expectations, based on the author's BookTok experience and blurbs from all-star hockey romance writers Rachel Reid and Lauren Blakely, were too high for a debut author.

🏒SHOOT YOUR SHOT🏒
🔸LEXI LAFLEUR BROWN
this book is complete and utter perfection. I could not read it fast enough. Lucy is a bad-ass tattoo artist with a wild track record of exes and a cat with perfectly timed cock blocking skills who literally crashes into beautiful Chicago hockey boy Jaylen in all his buff and bronze glory. Jaylen insists that shes his lucky charm, much to her dismay and while she does everything to fight it, eventually even she cant deny what they have. From the very beginning, their banter is absolutely hilarious and relatable. They have to be one of my favorite book couples, if not my absolute favorite. With Lucy's gay barista and lesbian farmer friends, Jaylen and his hockey-heads realize how much they love hockey, the arts and most of all each other. "Lucy, Is mars in gatorade..? What possible effects does this have on my game?" "the universe has bigger issues than your lack of knowledge of astrology".
Written by a hockey girl with the help of her hockey player hubby, everything about this book is a master piece!
#Netgalley #Shootyourshot #Hockeyromance

2.5 stars rounded up
I was expecting WAY worse based on everything but besides absolutely failing to live up to the gift to hockey romance Lexi claimed this book would be it was short and readable enough. Girl loves her similes though this book had at least 500 of them. And the hockey was accurate I suppose but who cares plenty of books get the hockey accurate enough for a romance! there needs to be more than accurate hockey and jokes told in similes to be a compelling story. And when you critique hockey romance books on your tiktok then declare you will do it better like lexi did you gotta actually deliver the goods like lexi did not

This one fell flat for me & I DNF’d it. I didn’t really connect with either of the MCs enough to keep reading.

This was cute but overall not necessarily remarkable. I enjoyed the setting and the side characters, but thought the main characters needed a bit more development.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I struggled from the beginning with this book due to a specific scene. The female main character isn't interested in the male main character, and he follows her from one bar to another to convince her to interact with him. Now, in the book, this ends up fine. However, in real life, that is terrifying behavior!
Other than that, it was a pretty fun chaotic hockey boy and artistic girl romance. I do love artistic characters and the descriptions of what they create, but I wasn't able to move past that first meeting.
I was given an ARC of this book by NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review

Who else is in their hockey romance era? Because I definitely am—and that’s what had me picking this one up. Sadly, it fell a little flat for me. The chemistry between the main characters felt more like a friendly scrimmage than a full-on power play. I found myself skimming, hoping for that spark to hit... but it never quite made it to the net.
That said, not every story will be a hat trick for everyone. If you’re into a slower, more subtle burn or just love a hockey setting, this might still skate into skate into your heart.

Shoot your Shot was a wonderful reading experience. These characters are written like actual people. I was able to slip right into the story and fall in love with the characters. I absolutely love Lucy and was able to identify with her chaios. Her arc in this book had so much growth and I loved celebrating her successes. Knowing the superstitious nature of athletes made this book even more real. I really felt like this could have been a true story. I can't wait to read more from Lexi

This is your average hockey romance book, there's tension, a golden retriever hockey player, and black cat artist. It was a fine book but didn't really stand out to me, I didn't feel the chemistry between Jaylen and Lucy, she was too grumpy for me and shut Jaylen down so hard in the beginning and he was too much of a pushover for my liking. The whole thing just felt forced and didn't flow naturally.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.
For reference, I am a gigantic hockey fan (I still watch playoffs when my teams aren't playing), and I am a hockey romance connisseur. AND, I approach these two things (the sport and the books) as somewhat separate entitities - sometimes actual hockey talk can get in the way of the romance, and romance isn't present in actual hockey. But...it IS nice to have an FMC who isn't cookie cutter, and feels slightly less cliche. At the same time, I found the FMC to be a little exhausting in the beginning, but I gave her time to grow, which I'm glad I did!
I appreciate that the spice shows up early in the book, and I really liked Jaylen. Sometimes the writing felt stilted - show, don't tell. Instead of "I feel a pit of guilt sink into my stomach...", use "A pit of guilt sunk into my stomach..."
I think this was a great debut novel, and I can't wait to see Lexi's writing continue to grow.