Thank you so much to Harlequin and Netgalley for the advanced audio of this book.

This was a fun romance between Lucy, the bisexual artist/aspiring tattoo artist and Jaylen (JJ), the professional hockey player fighting to keep his place in the league. They have a fun night together in Seattle, and with JJ expecting to leave town to find his next landing spot, they don't expect to see each other again. But when the Seattle Rainers ask JJ to stick around for a season, he finds himself crossing paths with Lucy once again.

It's a cute story, with Lucy becoming JJ's good luck charm during the season. I wasn't fully pulled into it, and I felt a bit of a disconnect with some of the writing, but overall it was a fun read, and the banter was entertaining.

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing, Canary Street Press, and NetGalley for the e-ARC to read and review. I didn't know anything about the author going into this, so that didn't influence my decision to read "Shoot Your Shot," nor does it sway my review at all! I've since learned that she's got a big social following and is married to a former NHL player, which is great background to add into this book. Unfortunately, even with that background, this book was incredibly lackluster to me, and some parts felt tedious to get through.

I've been thinking about why, and I think it's just that I didn't know about any of the characters' real motivations and goals beyond being told they had them, so there wasn't a ton for me to root for. Our main character Lucy wants to become a tattoo apprentice, but I truly have no idea why -- besides that she used to be a painter and has a lot of tattoos herself (something we're told enough throughout the story that it becomes annoying quickly). It seemed like she just decided to do this other thing on a random whim, so it's told to us in narrative, and so I couldn't care about it taking over her dreams. And our male lead Jaylen just simply isn't swoony: he's obsessed with his hockey career (as he should be! - but so much so that he seems a bit removed from everything else) and yet gets super clingy super fast and wants a serious relationship so quickly that Lucy even has trouble keeping up. I think it would have been really powerful to see Lucy on-page letting those guards down, but it just progresses without much internal change. I guess I don't see why these two even like each other, so it's hard to want them to find the balance that allows them to pursue their personal ambitions and their relationship together.

I also think this book tries to tackle a LOT of topics, from mental health to career goals to relationship evolutions to trauma/grief, to strained parental relationships, to professional athlete pressure, and more -- which is super ambitious of a task -- but many of them are kind of just underdeveloped subplots that take readers all over the place without making a solid point. I think Lexi clearly adds a lot of knowledge, passion, and ideas to this space, so I'd hope for a future work that brings the characters home a bit stronger!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this ARC.

This book was 100 pages too long. It felt like so much filler and had very little to no substance in it for me. I absolutely hated Lucy. She was so obnoxious and was the worse character to read about. I only liked her in her relationship to JJ. He was the best part of this book and pretty much the only one I cared about. However, he was still aggravating because he was chasing after Lucy even though she keeps acting like a bitch. I truly don't like what this author has written but I can see other people liking it so I give it 2 stars.

2.5 ⭐️ I was really excited for this book, but I struggled through it. The hockey aspects were really good, but the rest was challenging for me.
For the first half of the book, I felt like there was too much going on. I couldn’t connect with either character, and their decisions felt really random. I liked the second half of the book better. We got to know Lucy and Jaylen a little bit better, and found out about some of their past trauma. This made some of the first half of the book make a little bit more sense, but I think there were too many plot points happening. I also didn’t feel like there was any real conflict, so their relationship fell a little flat for me.

Overall, there was just too much going on for me.
Thanks, NetGalley for the eARC

I really wanted to enjoy this more. I loved all the hockey but I had a really hard time connecting with the characters. There were just way too many stereotypes and it all fell a little flat to me.

It took me forever to read it and I felt myself leaning towards other reads instead. I’m a big fan of Lexi on social media so I’m really sad I didn’t enjoy it more.

This novel follows Lucy, an aspiring tattoo artist, and Jaylen, an NHL player who thought his career was over when they can't seem to get away from each other after a one-night stand. While working on a mural in his team's arena, Lucy becomes Jaylen's lucky charm.

I appreciate that this book included accurate hockey scenes during games, unlike most "hockey" romances I've encountered, but the story fell flat for me. It intrigued me initially but didn't keep me as engaged as I hoped it would. I enjoyed the character development and self-discovery that occurred in the story.

I love Lexi LaFleur Brown, but unfortunately, the plot and writing were not spectacular. I hope she can grow to create stories that complement the hockey knowledge she can demonstrate in the book space.

If you've been waiting for more accurate depictions of hockey in the sports romance space, you could enjoy this enough to look past the flaws. I do intend to read any books she may write in the future.

Overall, this book just wasn't it for me. I really wanted to enjoy it, and while I enjoyed the two main characters and all the supporting characters, the overall plot and relationship just fell flat for me. The hockey concept of it all was refreshingly accurate, and I did enjoy the realistic representation of sports rather than some romanticized and inaccurate depiction. I found myself more invested in J's story arc rather than L's, and I didn't love how she withheld information from him for a large portion of the book (re: her job life and potentially moving away). There were a quite a few cringe moments as well that made the book harder to get through. The general writing of the book was okay, it wasn't special or especially horrible but I wish it was better to get me more invested in the relationship. 2.5 stars overall

I wanted to love this one so badly, but sadly it fell short for me. I don’t want to take the rating on this book and I did not finish it so I will not be leaving public reviews on any of my socials.

I really do appreciate being given this book. I tried with everything in me to read this book, but I could only get a few pages in every time I picked it up. And I tried multiple times. This has absolutely nothing to do with the story or the author or the writing, I just wasn’t getting my attention like I really hoped it would. :(

I will more than likely come back around and try to read this books again. When and if I do I will be updating this review.

Please read this book if the blurb interests you!

This is cute romance about a superstitious hockey player. When he has a one night stand and gets picked up for a team the next day, he decides that the girl he spent the night with is his good luck charm.
For her part, aspiring tattoo artist Lucy thinks he’s crazy but she’ll take the money he offers her to send a good luck text before every game. She goes with him to charity events and starts going to his games, and before she knows it they’ve got feelings for each other.
I like the way their relationship unfolds. They’re charming characters and I enjoyed reading their story.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley, I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This was one of my highest anticipated reads from 2025 and to say that I was just okay with it was a pretty disappointing experience. And as someone who followed along on the author's journey when it started out as her reviewing hockey romances based on their NHL accuracy, I was excited when I heard she was writing a book because of her lived experience as an NHL WAG. And this book did have what I can assume is accurate depictions of what it is like to be involved with a professional hockey player and that is all good and well, but the romance part fell flat. And it made me realize that many hockey romance readers aren't really reading the books for the hockey accuracy and more for the romance. In saying that, I wished the romance was more focused on and that could be a result of this being her debut novel. I do want to recognize that as a queer person, the queer representation in correlation to sports was great and it made me feel very seen. I do think that if the author decides to pen another book, that it will be better than this given she will have more experience.

This review is incredibly hard to make since I am a big fan of the author on social media. But this book was bad, the LGBT characters felt like stereotypes and the attention to detail for the hockey life while great for authenticity, took away from the story. The FMC was unlikable

Review for Shoot Your Shot by Lexi LaFleur Brown

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5 stars)

Shoot Your Shot is a fast-paced, flirty sports romance that delivers plenty of chemistry, witty banter, and heartfelt moments. Lexi LaFleur Brown crafts an engaging story with characters who feel real and a romance that keeps you hooked.

The main characters had great chemistry, and I loved the push-and-pull dynamic between them. The tension and buildup were well done, making the payoff super satisfying. The sports setting added an extra layer of fun, though I would have liked a little more depth in certain emotional moments to really make the story hit harder.

Overall, this was a solid, entertaining romance that fans of sports romance will enjoy! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Thank you to Lexi LaFleur Brown, Harlequin books, and NetGalley for this e-ARC.

It took some time to get into this one because they had to gradually build a friendship before moving on to a slowly formed relationship. Because Jaylen and Lucy were such complicated characters, they were realistic in that sense and had a lot of setbacks to overcome before we began to see the beginnings of love between them. At the end of the book, Jaylen truly helped himself recover with Lucy's support, and he reciprocated by healing her. This is why I loved him so much. I liked reading about mental health, and the character development was wonderful. This is a book I highly recommend.

Sorry to say, but I just didn't get into this romance. I only finished it so that I can continue to be approved on NetGalley for finishing and reviewing books. I was bored, but I'm sure it will make a cute Hallmark movie.

When Jaylen Jones doesn’t secure an NHL contract at the end of training camp, he worries his hockey career is over. But after an anonymous one-night stand on his last night in town, his luck turns around and a last-minute roster spot opens up on the Seattle Rainiers. Connecting his fortune to the girl he spent the night with, superstitious Jaylen is suddenly desperate to keep her around.

Aspiring tattoo artist Lucy isn’t so sure about the proposition to remain Jaylen’s lucky charm—she’s been called a lot of things in her life, but good luck has never been one of them. But stuck in a career slump, Lucy has everything to gain. Hoping for an apprenticeship at a tattoo parlor hasn’t offered her much stability, and Jaylen is willing to pay any price to get Lucy to agree…so maybe sending him a routine text message before each game won’t be too hard.

What starts as an agreement to trade favors—a good luck text for an appearance at a charity event, or well wishes in exchange for prime game tickets—quickly turns into sizzling chemistry that’s too delicious not to give in to. But Lucy’s been in too many situationships to even think about getting attached again, and Jaylen is clearly only with Lucy as long as it’s helping his career…neither of them expecting getting lucky could be so complicated.

I love a good hockey romance. Unfortunately, this book fell flat as a pancake for me. From the very beginning of the book, I absolutely hated the FMC. I didn't find her likeable at all; in fact, she was nothing but a whiny complainer about literally everything! I wasn't a huge fan of the MMC either, but he grew on me over the course of the story. I didn't find that the two characters had any chemistry and their one-night stand, random meet-cutes and entire romance were very unbelievable! Sometimes I wasn't sure how they ended up in these romantic situations, and the spicy scenes were so unrealistic and a little bit gross. While I understand that this was an ARC and they are often unedited...I could NOT look past these typos! Every single time the letter f was in any word, it was followed by a space, which I found incredibly distracting to the story and sometimes difficult to follow. I wish this author luck in her future books, but this one wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was cute! I do think that some of the exposition and dialogue was a little clumsy and could have used a stronger edit, especially near the beginning, but as I read an advanced copy it's very possible that some of that got cleaned up before the pub date. One thing that I did appreciate was the fact that the bisexual main character had strong ties to the queer community even while being in a straight relationship. Overall, this was a fun and lighthearted sports romance, and I had a good time reading!

This author clearly knows her hockey. The games, practices, and locker room banter were highlights of the book for me and kept things interesting when the romance lagged.

Less impactful was the emotional heft of the story. I felt very little connection between JJ and Lucy. Yes, there was plenty of steam but I struggled to detect the development of any deeper feelings, at least on Lucy's part. Without that, I had a hard time feeling invested in their relationship. I felt more invested in JJ's relationships with his teammates than his relationship with Lucy, even at the end of the book. I love hockey and hockey romance but this couple just didn't do it for me. Other readers may feel differently.

Shoot Your Shot is the author's debut. While I wanted more from the romance and I felt the writing could have been more polished, there were parts of the story I enjoyed and I think she has potential. I'll probably give her one more try.

3.5 stars

ARC received from publisher via NetGalley

I was so excited to read this book as the description sounded like something I would enjoy. I found the main female character to be annoying in all honesty which made the book hard to get through. The female character was often referred to as "cool" and as someone who is an adult this is cringe word to describe someone as, especially since she was described as cool over and over. The biggest thing I noticed was the lack of chemistry between the main characters. Starting with a one night stand and then the connection building is what I was expecting. I feel as if the connection never really built as the story went on, things sort of fell flat in my opinion. I think this author has a great writing style and wonderful potential. I just don't think this book was fully what I was expecting. Would still recommend to people though!

I’m devastated I didn’t love this book the way I expected to. The reasoning for this was because this book was all telling. The author tells you how Lucy and Jaylen are. She tells you how their relationship is. She tells you who their friends. It’s just constant telling that it’s hard to connect to the story. I was let down by not caring about the budding romance between the two. Jaylen is all perfect and sweet all the time. Lucy is just like a manic pixie dream girl. Neither of them are actually people, more like ideas of what a person should be. The romance scenes were also kind of icky, I couldn’t sense the chemistry. It just seems like the plot was being explained overly well, and there was no chance to develop separate thoughts and opinions outside of what was written. I did like the talk about mental health and wellness, the inclusivity of queer and BIPOC people, and the importance of following your own path. I would read more again from this author because I’m sure she will develop and become an even better writer.

Thank you to Lexi LaFleur Brown, Harlequin books, and NetGalley for the review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.