Lucy is trying to focus on her career to land a tattoo apprenticeship and is taking a step back from dating. Jaylen has no time for relationships while trying to get his NHL career back on track. When their paths cross and Jaylen starts playing better, he's convinced Lucy is his good luck charm. But trying to convince her of that might be another story. Can this simple favor stay simple, or will this complicate both their goals?

As a lover of sports romances, and specifically hockey, I enjoyed this. I thought it was a cute story that has a lot of diversity in the characters and their backgrounds. I also enjoyed how accurate the aspects of hockey are portrayed because I think that can be lacking in other sports romances. I think Lucy and Jaylen had good banter back and fourth and I enjoy a story where the guy falls first. They struggle through problems and situations that feel very real to real life. I think if you're looking for a quick and fun read after reading long fantasy books, this is a good choice!

The prose is stilted and awkward from the get-go, making for a weird combination of show and tell that fails to immerse the readers in the story. Instead, both main characters overexplain everything, making the story repetitive and slow-paced. It's difficult to connect with the FMC, even though I was looking forward to a black cat personality from Lucy. While I'm grateful for all the representation, each character is reduced to a few base cliches and stereotypes. The smut, which this book markets as "steamy," comes off as robotic as well.

🏒 Black Cat / Golden Retriever Ship
🏒 He Falls First
🏒 Hockey Player / Artist
🏒 Opposites Attract
🏒 Debut

Thank you NetGalley for trusting me to read and review the ARC of this book.

This book was fun and easy to read at first. But once I got halfway through it seemed to get repetitive and felt like it started to drag. So I did give it 3 stars for the beginning. I did almost DNF this book and took me 3 days to finish the last 10 chapters. However I did like the concept behind the book as well as some of the characters. But both characters being players and her not wanting to settle down was a little off putting for me.

I also wasn’t a fan of Lucy after a little bit as she seemed to push away any relationship and is a one night stand type of girl. Also Lucy’s boss wasn’t it. Giving away the apprenticeship to someone else. But also seemed like Lucy ended up completely taking over the mural project as it seemed her boss only asked her to cover for the one day since Lucy double booked her.
This book was more a one night stand turned to lovers and a little light stalking.
I wanted to love this book since it’s a hockey romance, but it was a little harder to push through. Also how are you in a relationship and not know it? Especially when she was iffy and kept pushing him away from the beginning.

This book was unfortunately flat for me. I was really excited, and you could tell that the author knew her stuff about hockey, which I assume is from her husband, but the rest of it was lacking. The intimate scenes felt very robotic, and I wasn’t a huge fan of the female main character. This is still a fun hockey romance for anyone who wants something Informationally correct, but it was just not for me.

This was a cute debut! I loved the accuracy coming from someone with inside NHL knowledge, I almost wish there was a little more of that. I didn't connect with the characters but could definitely appreciate their personalities throughout the book.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin for the eARC.
This was okay. There wasn’t a whole lot going on, and I feel like it was mostly just trauma bonding, but the two main characters had no chemistry whatsoever. I normally like hockey romances, but I want more spice in them. There wasn’t much, and what there was wasn’t that good.
I really didn’t even like the two main characters. I vibed with Lucy at first but she quickly turned into someone that pissed me off.
There wasn’t too much back and forth and just overall a bit boring. It was just meh. I wanted to love it, but I didn’t, and it didn’t live up to the expectations I had of it.

3.5 stars

It’s no secret that I like hockey and reading hockey romance books, so when I saw that Lexi was publishing a book, I ran to Netgalley to apply for an ARC.

This was cute! I liked that hockey wasn’t an afterthought, and that it’s actually important to the plot. Things like positions, Stanley Cup playoffs, travel schedules, the wags… if it’s hockey-related, it’s probably in this book. I enjoyed Jaylen’s povs the most for that reason!

Lucy and Jaylen were sweet together, and there’s a lot of work done to carve out their backstories within the plot, but the narrative style made their relationship feel a little surface-level to me. Full transparency when I say that I’m not sure what could’ve been done differently to rectify that, but the prose just wasn’t my favorite.

Overall, a cute read!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

This was an interesting take on a hockey romance. Honestly I thought there would be more hockey. I do appreciate the diversity of the characters. Finding out the author was a hockey wag was also very intriguing.

This was cute, however, I unfortunately didn’t love it. This book follows our “black cat” aspiring tattoo artist FMC Lucy, she’s stagnant in her career and struggling to live life without being in meaningless relationships. Then we have our “golden retriever” former hockey star MMC Jaylen (JJ) who is down on his luck and not playing well. After being dropped from an NHL team JJ and Lucy find themselves hooking up, and that’s when JJ’s luck turns around.

The premise of this book sounded great! And there was representation, (Black MMC, bisexual FMC, gay & lesbian bestfriends) however, the characters felt very boiled down to stereotypes.. which was pretty disappointing.

I love a sports romance, I just didn’t really gel well with the characters and writing style of this story.

There were good parts, I liked the humor! These two were funny and did bounce off one another, and I enjoyed the way friendship showed up in this story as well!

Thank you so much Harlequin Trade Publishing, Canary Street Press, and NetGalley for an early copy!

I absolutely loved this book! From the New Girl reference to the adorable nerd bonding between Jaylen and Lucy this book had me giggling and kicking my feet the entire time. The balance between those moments and the very real exploration of mental health, self doubt, representation in a sport that historically hasn't been very diverse, and learning to heal made this book one I can't wait to read again. The premise of starting out as our worst selves has given me hope that maybe dating wouldn't be so bad if we all took that approach. I'm really hoping this becomes a series!

This was a fun debut hockey romance. The story starts with a one night stand that turns into a lucky superstition romance. Lucy and Jaylen are a lot of fun together.

I really liked Jaylen as a character and his growth in the story. He falls for Lucy first and I adored his attitude about her.

Lucy was a bit tougher to love for me. For such a tough cookie, she was way too dormant when it came to her career which is so far from her personality. I also didn't really buy that a hockey club would hire a tattoo artist to do a mural which is so far fetched.

Overall, it was fun and entertaining. Kristen DiMercuri and Jamal Roque did a good job with the narration.

Thank you @htp_hive @harlequin_audio for a copy of this.

I have been following Lexi on TikTok since before she announced her novel. Having a hockey romance written by someone who actually played hockey ruined other hockey romances for me in the best way. Can not wait to have a physical copy of this baby in my hands. Can not recommend her enough!

Shoot Your Shot by Lexi LaFleur Brown
Length: 252 pages
Source: NetGalley eARC
Publication date: March 11, 2025

Lucy Ross is a cranky, guarded artist who’s hoping to land a tattoo apprenticeship where she currently works. Jaylen Jones (JJ) is a sunshiny, somewhat naive NHL player who’s down on his luck (and himself) after he’s dropped from his contract. When they bump into each other on JJ’s last night in Seattle, a not-so-meet-cute turns into a one-night stand … which turns into a “puck luck” situationship … which turns into a relationship that neither of them expected. Unfortunately, the things they both want—and the work they need to put into themselves—might keep them apart.

I’m a hockey fan, and it’s always disappointing when a book misses even the most basic factually correct information about the sport. That’s definitely not the case here, and the author’s knowledge shines through and helps carry part of the story. Those details and the mental-health representation were the strengths of the book.

That being said, I felt little overall interest in Lucy and Jaylen as a couple, and it was an effort to finish the book. I was almost halfway through before I felt any emotional tie to Lucy at all, and it was fleeting. Mostly, I found her unlikeable, which surprises me because I usually gel with bristly, black-cat characters. Jaylen was sweet but ultimately, he felt bland and too letter-perfect. I wanted to see more of the work they put into their self-growth and into each other.

Shoot Your Shot in general does way more telling than showing, which not only kept me from getting invested in these two but also left the book lacking depth. Instead, it felt weighed down with awkward, rushed sex scenes; heavy-handed jokes; and uneven pacing with abrupt scene changes and confusing conversations. Instead of showing me how Lucy is so cool, it told me she was cool 487 times (that’s an estimate). Instead of showing me JJ’s biggest regret, it told me at least a handful of times why he felt bad about his past. It would have been more impactful to see that played out on the page.

While the description of Shoot Your Shot checks off a lot of representation boxes (black MMC, bi FMC, lesbian bestie, gay bestie), the number of overdone queer tropes in the book is … uncomfortable. Not all lesbians drive a Subaru or date granola partners; not all gay men are dramatically loud or looking for the next easy hookup; and not all bisexuals are promiscuous or stuck in some kind of male-female love triangle. I read a lot of queer romance—way more than MF romance—and testify that an author can represent the community accurately without boiling the characters down to a stereotype.

Still curious?
🏒 Black cat/golden retriever energy
🎨 Opposites attract
🏒 Failed one-night stand
🎨 He falls first
🏒 Hockey superstitions

Final thoughts: While the execution is off, I love the premise of the book and the attention to detail surrounding hockey. CWs: anxiety, depression, panic attacks, alcoholism (parent), emotional abuse by parent, substance abuse (not MCs), fear of needles, queer stereotyping, minimal sexual content (4 short explicit scenes between MCs).

2 ⭐️
2 🌶️

— A

Thanks to Harlequin/Canary Street Press, Lexi LaFleur Brown, and NetGalley for an eARC of this book. All opinions are mine.

It was cute, I didn’t love it as much as I thought I would. I didn’t really like Lucy’s character. The writing style did make it hard to follow along at times.

This was so cute! Jaylen felt a little too golden retriever for my taste but the representation of mental health be portrayed was spot on! The way these two just fell into a seriously relationship felt very real as well!

Shoot Your Shot is a fun realistic hockey romance and a great debut for Lexi LaFleur Brown. Admittedly, I was excited to read Shoot Your Shot as I enjoy following Lexi on social media. Thank you Harlequin & NetGalley for the opportunity to read this eARC!

The structure and the pacing of the book was great. The style of writing drew me in immediately, the characters were relatable, and I found myself rooting for them all. I do wish the secondary character relationships were a bit more developed as they sometimes felt forced or rushed. It was a fun hockey romance read and I would 100% continue reading if it expanded into a full series.

There were a few factual things that unfortunately drew me out of the story. The first one I'll admit is a bit nitpicky, but the Buffalo hockey team being named the Buffalo Bisons threw my attention for multiple chapters. The Buffalo Bisons are the actual name of the Minor League Baseball team in Buffalo. The second was that Lucy was on the Seattle Great Wheel when she was seven, but is 25 currently. The Seattle Great Wheel opened in 2012. The everyday reader may not notice these details but as someone that grew up in Buffalo and lived in Seattle they jumped out to me.

Overall rating: 3.5 stars

well, its a book!

didn't enjoy this, nor did I hate it. I just failed to captivate me. I didn't find there was a foundation for their relationship, the characters had a backstory but lacked depth. i didn't like any of the characters, they were just kinda there.

thanks to netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Hockey Romances have become all the rage, but this was a nice change of pace from the macho dominant man in many of the books.

Jaylen (JJ or Jay) is a golden retriever hockey player and also one of the few Black men in hockey trying to find a long term contract when his playing hasn't been up to par. Lucy is an artist trying to break into tattooing and flying by the seat of her pants looking for home. There's a host of side characters as well that make this book an absolute delight of a read.

The Best things: Therapy is talked about and attended by both JJ and Lucy, honest conversations are had, and people admit their failings.

The spice is spicy and the hocky is icy hot!

This was a really good time and I look forward to reading more from Lexi LaFleu Brown.

Shoot Your Shot follows Lucy, who is frankly a hot mess, but she’s a likable hot mess. She jumps from relationship to relationship, doesn’t have a stable idea of what’s next in her career, and just wants to do her thing. That all changes when she meets Jaylen Jones, who, admittedly, she doesn’t recognize at first.

The two share a night of passion, and the next day, it seems like things are done. However, JJ gets a call that he’s headed to Seattle, where the two met. Since JJ got such good news after seeing Lucy, he’s determined to find her and make her his good luck charm. While that might seem a little strange, hockey players take these things very seriously.

At first, Lucy is pretty resistant, but she eventually agrees, and the two end up texting, spending time together, and finding ways to see each other. From the start, it’s clear JJ is very into Lucy, and she’s understandably scared. The thing I found most interesting about these two is the different traumas they had in their past and how they impacted their decision-making.

The way LaFleur Brown wrote these characters just felt so intensely real. I could imagine having a cup of coffee with either or both of these two. It was as if they could jump out of the book, and I’d be ready to hang out with them. Maybe that was just me, but I really loved JJ and Lucy as characters.

The only thing I didn’t absolutely love was the third-act conflict. Though it did make sense, it was a little frustrating how things played out. Either way, this was such a fun read and has me excited about what’s next from Lexi LaFleur Brown.

I had high hopes for this one but this just wasn’t it.the pacing was really awkward. The characters just didn’t feel fully developed. It didn’t even feel like the main characters had much time together before he was like I love you. HOW?! Ya’ll don’t know each other at all. The spicy scenes felt like they were over before they started. This had potential but it just was blah