As a debut novel, I want to give some grace. However, a lot of the story was telling rather than building up an actual narrative. I did appreciate the black cat x golden retriever dynamic, but Lucy kind of lost that energy almost immediately upon them starting to date. Further, the third act break up just never does it for me and here after so much of the storytelling, the break up felt so counterintuitive to the characters’ relationship building. Also, knowing the author’s name is Lexi like Lucy and her former NHL husband is JT like JJ, made the story feel a little too self-insert fanfictiony at times.

I definitely appreciated the author’s attempts at including BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and underrepresented perspectives to her characters, especially as the hockey world is historically known to not include them. That definitely made it stand apart from other sports romance novels, however it fell a little flat for me. At the end of the day, it was a unique take on the typical sports romance and I appreciated how little hockey traditions were incorporated like “money on the board,” playoff jackets, and silly superstitious beliefs.

Lucy, an edgy aspiring tattoo artist, unknowingly finds herself in the company of Jaylen, who until recently was one of the NHL’s fastest rising stars. Neither one of them interested in anything serious, they agree to leave it at one night. That is, until, Jaylen suddenly finds himself on a one-year contract with the team who just commissioned Lucy to paint murals at the rink. Jaylen finds himself playing well after a few run-ins and asks her to be his good luck charm. But when the humoring of a superstition turns into feelings that might jeopardize each one of their respective career paths, they have to figure out what they really want.

As an avid hockey fan, I ate this up. Being the wife of a retired NHL player, Lexi LaFleur Brown was able to bring in an accuracy of the game (and superstitions) that I really appreciated. Her characters were interesting and far from your typical sports romance mains, and the supporting characters brought a lot of diversity to the cast. Overall I really enjoyed this debut and feel so fortunate to have gotten a chance to read it early. I can’t wait to see what Lexi writes next!

"Shoot Your Shot" was an overall enjoyable read. While I appreciated many aspects of the book, particularly the hockey element, the story had some ups and downs.

One of the standout features for me was the sports focus. The hockey scenes were engaging and added a refreshing layer to the plot, keeping things dynamic and entertaining. The overall storyline was solid, and I could see a lot of potential in the author’s future work.

However, I found the main character a bit frustrating at times. Her reluctance to confront her trauma and mental health issues created unnecessary conflict, making her problems everyone else’s to deal with. This detracted from my ability to fully connect with her journey.

That said, it’s clear that this is a debut novel, and I think the author's writing will only improve from here. All in all, despite some character-related frustrations, the plot and hockey aspects were enjoyable, and I look forward to seeing how the author’s storytelling evolves in the future.

Im a big stickler for the way a book is written, and this one did not hit the mark. I need banter and dialogue, but when it happens for a small conversation that is broken up with tons of narrative? No thank you. Now, the bright spot was that the book was very accurate and Lexi obvously has lots of knowledge on the game. This made the book more interesting and engaging at some points!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the arc!

I wanted to love this book, but I'm going with a 3.5 rounded down. I love Lexi and I've been following her for a while as I've been working in sports over the last decade and her takes on hockey are always so great. I reallllyyy wanted to like this book, but it just fell a bit flat at times. I often find myself disliking hockey romances because of the author's inability to capture the essence of the sport (rules, languages, attitudes, etc), and Lexi captures all of that so well here which I was expecting. I loved the banter and the representation!

Overall it was just a quick read. It was okay. Not bad, but nothing that I'll likely remember in a month or two. I'll read more from Lexi just because I know she's an expert on the subject and I respect her writing. I think I just wanted more from this. I can't wait to see more from her. As this was her debut novel, I can only see her going up from here.

I thought this was a very cute book. I think in comparison to other popular hockey romances, it was extremely well written. I thought the characters were developed nicely throughout the book and the plot didn't jump around at all. Was it cheesy? Yes. Was it predictable? Also yes. But I am not reading a hockey romance to experience something ground breaking and new. I am reading it to giggle and kick my feet. I really enjoyed that Lexi's knowledge of hockey was shown throughout the book. A lot of times a hockey romance feels like a normal romance and oh also by the way, he plays hockey, but Lexi weaves in plot points surrounding the sports and players that make it all the more realistic. The only unrealistic plot point was Jaylen Jones, black NHL player, not only knowing who Phoebe Bridgers is but also knowing she is a member of boygenius. That, I could not believe and maybe that is my own stereotyping that needs work. Overall, a fun and fresh read!

Shoot Your Shot by Lexi LaFleur Brown is a heartwarming and slightly steamy hockey romance that delves into the themes of embracing vulnerability, taking risks in love, and allowing oneself to find happiness. From the very first page, I was captivated by the story and found myself unable to set the book down.

Thank you to Harlequin books and NetGalley for this e-arc!

Grumpy, black cat wanna-be tattoo apprentice Lucy and naive NHL player Jaylen make a good luck bargain with each other. She serves as his good luck charm and he helps her with her tattoo portfolio.

I’m sorry, but immediately no - letting this author debut after talking poorly again and again on the exact romance book niche she’s attempting to write in is awful. I don’t have anything good to say about this book besides LaFleur attempted to have a diverse cast (which unfortunately felt very stereotypical). I cringe to think about how closely the characters resemble the author’s real life - down to their names.

This is the kind of book that results from allowing a woman with some influence to land a deal without any skill in writing. The whole book was telling not showing, the pacing was off, the inner and regular dialogue was cringey, and the FMC was just unlikable.

I cannot in good will recommend this book. And I do wish she hadn’t dragged Rachel Reid (the queen of hockey romance) into any of her campaign.

This is a fun hockey romance. One of my favorite part was the side character friends of the FMC. They felt like real and well developed people and I loved that they and the FMC were a part of a robust queer community. Just makes everything more fun.

I loved the initial reason the main characters were brought together, the push pull of a one night stand to quasi-workplace/forced proximity. But the reasoning of the MMC wanting their relationship to continue for superstitious reasons when he admits in all his years of hockey he was never that superstitious didn't really make sense to me. I just felt like that plotting could've been tightened up a bit.

Otherwise, it's a fun and spicy time. I didn't really find the black cat FMC unlikeable I honestly loved her.

The narrator for the FMC did a great job. I felt pretty neutral about the one for the MMC but it's always fun to have dual narrators. Thank you to Harlequin audio for the ALC and the Hive for the eARC!

If you loved the novella “That One Night,” but the Jacksonville Rays Series was too spicy for you as a whole, this book may be for you.

I had high hopes for this black cat x golden retriever hockey romance, but it fell flat for me. There is a one night stand where the both believe it is their last night in the city (spoiler it’s not). Then, Jaylen ends up convinced Lucy is his lucky charm and falls head first. Lucy has a fear of commitment and takes a while to come around to the idea.

And . . . That’s all I remember because I got bored and did not connect to the characters.


Thank you the Hive, Harlequin Audio, and Net Galley for a free ALC and ARC in exchange of an honest review.

o start, I’ll say that I’ve been following this author on TikTok for a while, and I always love her peek into the hockey world. Her knowledge of hockey, from rituals to games to the struggles players might face, really comes through in the details in this book.

I liked the main characters (the male had relatable struggles and the female was funny), although they did fall a little flat at times. My biggest struggle when reading this book was that it was hard for me to picture these two characters actually being together. They were verrryyyyy different, and while not impossible, not entirely believable either.

Overall, I’m glad I was able to read this book, even if it won’t claim a top 10 spot. Thank you NetGalley and publishers for the advanced copy!

This book was adorable. I’m always a sucker for a good hockey romance. And this one definitely stepped up to play. The mmc Jay was adorable and was so real when it came to the struggles he faced. And Lucy?! She was witty and fun and I was absolutely obsessed with the banter in this book. It had me giggling the whole time. I really enjoyed this books and cannot thank NetGalley enough for the Arc!

I'd first like to thank Harlequin Audio, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Canary Street Press for both an ALC and eARC of this book on Netgalley.

For me, listening to a book while reading it makes the experience that much *more* and I really enjoyed listening to the narrators tell this story. I do think I would've struggled to get more into Lucy and Jaylen's story had I not been able to listen to it at the same time.

This book felt like an almost fictionalized version of her own romance with her husband, which felt kind of strange to me, but if other like it, then pop off sis!

I did find that when listening/reading to a lot of the hockey talk (yes, I know this is a hockey romance lol) made me kind of want to skim over parts to get to more of the story.

All thoughts in the review are my own.

Also a huge thank you to HTP Hive for allowing me to have read this title <3

The characters in Shoot Your Shot were really great and I was invested in their stories from the get go. The queer representation was a breath of fresh air and made the book even more enjoyable for me. What I had a harder time with was their internal dialogue/narration which felt too 'cerebral' and pulled me out of the story because I felt like no one talks to themselves like that. It was evident that the book was written by someone who is smart and educated and sometimes that made the internal thoughts of the characters too intellectual which then made it hard to relate and clashed with the tone of the book. Overall, it was still very enjoyable and I'd definitely recommend it to fans of hockey romance and especially if they're looking to read something by a Canadian author. Also, Lexi LaFleur Brown knows her hockey, it shows!

3.5 rounded up
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this book but parts of it just fell flat. It was okay. Not bad, not great. It was cute and I liked the characters.

The MCs were definitely loosely based on the author and her husband and I don’t have a problem with that. For a debut novel, it was fine. It was a lot of tell not show. Allll throughout the book. It was just description after description after description and the writing style was just not my favorite.

Finally a hockey romance for people who actually watch hockey! As a fan of Lexi’s tiktoks and the Seattle Kraken I knew I needed this book in my life. It did not disappoint. I found myself constantly laughing but also loved how well the heavier topics were handled. I will say this book is very niche for the gay millennial woman who understands hockey so I understand if not everyone loves it. But as someone who read all of the MMC parts with JTs (Lexi’s husband and Kraken announcer) voice it was a great fun time.

I feel like I’ve been waiting for this book for one thousand years and not just because I’m a huge fan of Lexi on twitter. I love hockey and it’s hard to find a hockey romance that doesn’t make me want to throw up and die immediately from cringe. This healed me from the many books I’ve picked up where it felt like the author googled “hockey slang” and tried to fit in as many as possible. Did the pacing get a little weird in parts? Sure, but it’s a debut and minor errors are to be expected. I cannot wait for the next one!

I think this was a good book for a first time author! Lexi is knowledge about hockey and the lifestyle that accompanies being in a relationship with a professional athlete and I think that is well represented in the storyline. Some of the wording came off a bit awkward and robotic, but I think overall it was still great. There was a good amount of humor and spice with two very lovable characters!

I loved Shoot Your Shot! The author did a great job of letting readers get to know the characters (including the supporting cast), and I really liked both Lucy and Jaylen. I loved that all the characters were real, with real feelings, fears, and insecurities. Shoot Your Shot is different than most of the books I read because of that, and it was great to see both navigate through their demons and grow stronger as individuals while growing stronger as a couple. The author also clearly knows hockey (although I've never heard a +/- rating being called "dash" rather than "minus"); as a hockey fan that was very much appreciated. Can't wait for the next book!

This is a super cute hockey romance with just a little bit of spice! I love the lgbt and mental health representation. This book hooked me in right from the first line.