Unfortunately I DNFed this book at about 20% in. I love hockey romances, but this was just not it for me. I didn’t feel any emotional connection to the characters, and the dialogue was a little cringe.

It was cute. It was an easy read and enjoyable. It only took me some time to get through because I was majorly stressed out which had nothing to do with the book itself.

I DNF’d this book uncomfortably fast. The characters were extremely unlikable and the dialogue was cringey and just not for me. I wanted so much to like this one!

Shoot Your Shot was such a fun way to get lost in the hockey romance world! reverse grumpy sunshine was so much fun, and I love the creativity behind the artist FMC. Also loved that the POC MMC was very obvious in his tone and mannerisms, its not often written so well, and that was noticed right off the bat! Their "accidental" one night stand that turned into forced proximity turned into he falls first... gave me everything I needed in a hockey romance.

Need a fun trip to the hockey rink with a spunky (hopeful) tattoo artist and a hockey player with just too much optimism?? You will love this one!

Shoot Your Shot is a cozy, character-driven romance that delivers warmth, charm, and a satisfying love story. While the plot follows a familiar arc, the execution makes it feel comforting rather than cliché. Lexi LaFleur Brown writes with heart, and her characters feel authentic and emotionally grounded.

I especially appreciated the chemistry between the leads—it felt natural and engaging, and their growth as individuals added depth to their relationship. The pacing was smooth, and even though the story was somewhat predictable, it never lost my interest. Sometimes you want a book that wraps you up like a soft blanket, and this one did just that.

A great pick for readers who enjoy contemporary romance with emotional resonance and a guaranteed feel-good ending.

Thank you NetGalley Canary Street Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

3.5! Rounded up, since this is a debut.

Alright. I love Lexi Lafleur Brown, so I was excited to see her take on a hockey romance, especially since one of the most difficult things about hockey romances is I seem to be incapable of overlooking the hockey inaccuracies. I requested an ARC because I wanted to see if she could hit a home run despite my heavy reservations about the subgenre. I’m pretty notoriously fickle when it comes to romance novels; it isn’t the genre I reach for. I am both the target audience and very much not the target audience, so I think what I say needs to be taken with a grain of salt, depending on what sort of reader you are (this is always true but uh… anyway).

I loved that this book was pretty accurate to the actual sport, and I got a lot of giggles about WAG culture. For obvious reasons, Brown knows what she’s talking about! With that said, it was maybe a little funny that a lot of hockey terms weren’t explained. Which was fine for me because I know them, but I do think there are ways to clue the reader in if they don’t know the sport. It genuinely didn’t bother me or cross my mind, but skimming other reviews it seems this was a bit shortsighted of me.

The overall premise of this is great as well, and I enjoyed this in broad strokes. I do think this falls into a lot of pitfalls when it comes to a debut novel in that the writing is a clunky and the characters could be better developed, but I found these things were fairly easy to look over by virtue of speeding through this (I think it took me about 4 hours to read?). I don’t think the prose was anything special (though I admit it’s rare that I like prose in a romance novel) and the plot beats made sense but weren’t anything particularly special (the third act break up was a bit absurd but I am a third act break up hater. I don’t like them). It happened, you know?

I suppose at this point you might be thinking I should be harsher with my rating but honestly at the end of the day I had fun. I shut my brain off and enjoyed the ride! This book did exactly what I asked of it, which was: know your hockey, be a little silly. I don’t really think I know who to recommend this for, because I don’t know if actual romance enjoyers will have an even remotely similar experience to me. I approached this in good faith but in a kind of unconventional way, hoping this would be the exception to my rule. And it was, except I think my rule is diametrically opposed to who the target audience actually is. So. You know. YMMV.

tl;dr: I had a great time. I don’t expect you to.

not my personal cup of tea. ended up not finishing this one. Nothing inherently wrong with it, but not for me. Rating this three stars as a result.

2.5 ⭐ rounding up only because it was an easy read, but otherwise… this was a mess 😩📉

The chemistry between them was almost nonexistent 😬.Sure, they were physically attracted to each other, but beyond that, their connection felt completely flat. Lucy annoyed the heck out of me with her grumpy exterior and constant “hard to get” attitude, but not the good kind lol 🙄. I couldn’t connect with her at all. Every time poor Jaylen tried to talk to her in the beginning, she’d shut him down, so as a reader, it was hard to believe she even liked him to begin with. Meanwhile, Jaylen was a pushover 😔 and would do whatever it took to get her attention. It took too much for her to even just do one tiny text of good luck (because he wanted her to be his good luck charm).

Then suddenly, after an accidental “I love you" 💀 from him, she’s acting like they’re fully dating? 😐 It felt so forced. There were also a lot of cringe moments that were clearly aiming for dry humor, but they just didn’t land for me 🤷‍♀️

Overall, their relationship didn’t feel like it was built on solid ground. The plot had no clear direction, then started spiraling into multiple subplots with no real focus❓just vague goals about improving their careers? It all felt too messy for me. Definitely not my thing.

I see the potential for this book, but after the 10% it went haywire 😵‍💫

Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing for my eARC!

This was a mess.

DNF @49% after the FMC gives the MMC a tattoo, as a shop assistant hoping someday to become an apprentice and it being the first tattoo she's ever given. No other artists around, at night when the shop is closed. Having no tattooing experience, just having "a ton" of tattoos and being a former painter. Tattooing on skin is not the same medium as painting on paper?? hello??

Already was not loving the book but that's the final nail in the coffin lol

This has:
- Grumpy bi FMC x golden retriever straight MMC
- FMC is an assistant at a tattoo shop x NHL player MMC
- One night stand to forced close proximity
- Random plot arc of FMC needing to do a mural at the hockey rink - how this got booked, the world will never know.
- Queer friend group that falls into all the 'insert stereotype for identity' realm, that is more cringe than tongue in cheek. (lesbian friend being a uhaul girl moving super fast, cheating bisexual ex, FMC is a self described slutty bi, gay friend is just the 'yas queen' super loud gay best friend who talks sex life details with her.) I like when an author plays into stereotypes in a fun and nuanced way, this felt clunky and awkward any time a 'queer friend' showed up on page.
- Sex scenes are lackluster. Not the end of the world but there's a lot of "he sucked her clit. she came. he thrust. she came. it was amazing" meh writing.
- The FMC is a certified cool girl, who is grumpy and not NLOG and is super cool and tattooed and did we mention she is cool?
- Telling rather than telling writing style, which isn't my thing.

Not even the narration could entice me to finish this one.

Arc from Netgalley.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

3.25/5 stars.

**This review will be posted on both Goodreads and Netgalley*

I enjoyed this book! It was cute and a solid romance debut, but I did not love it like I thought I would.

The hockey aspect was amazing! As a hockey fan, the hockey talk was easy to follow, but I could see how it may get confusing if you don't watch hockey. The accuracy of the hockey games and overall knowledge was done very well. I also thought the representation in the book was great, i.e. mental health awareness, LGBTQIA+, diversity, etc.

To me, the relationship between Lucy and Jaylen was very surface level and fell flat. I would have loved to see more depth into their relationship. The pacing of the book was not great for me either. I feel like there were parts that dragged on for me, so I ended up taking much longer to finish this than I normally would!

Overall, I had a good time and am looking forward to see what her next novel is all about!

*Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and Canary Street Press for this e-arc!*

Shoot Your Shot started off as a really cute love story, and I was excited to see where it would go. I especially loved the hockey aspect — it added a fun and unique layer to the story. However, as the book went on, it started to lose me a bit. The direction the story took wasn’t what I expected, and it didn’t quite hold my attention the way I had hoped. That said, the ending did pick up and ended on a better note.
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this.

A debut novel from a hockey wife & also ex hockey player ? I was SOOO ready. While this book was a fast, fun read there just felt like key connections were missing.

Jaylen & Lucy have a one night stand leading into their relationship so you wouldn’t expect it right away, but I felt the building needed to truly give them the connection we craved yet never showed up? It just felt like a situationship that never got fully explained but Jaylen was assuming they were together and then there is no discussion of it ??

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin for this copy of the book to read.

T R O P E S
- One night Stand
- Bi rep
- Hockey Romance
- aspiring tattoo artist

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

I truly love a hockey romance, it's gotta be my favorite of all the sports romances! I also absolutely love dual perspectives in a book - it just makes them so much more fun! So having both of these together? I was giddy!!

Jaylen is one of my all time favorites now - the humor, the honest representation of both anxiety and depression, the therapy representation (YES! more, please!!)... made for such a delight. Lucy was a bit harder for me to get into, she was a bit rough at first but then came through as a total badass bi black cat and it was the best. The dual combo of the two and how they played off of each other and made it work was really so joyful for me!

However, there were some points where I just felt this book really didn't work:
The mansplaining of simple things but then there being absolutely no explanation of more complex things was strange.
The overall just one dimension of each character - there was no real depth anywhere and I really missed that.
Lucy and her obsession and RUDE behavior about the tattoo internship felt entirely off-kilter with how she was described otherwise, and Jaylen was so great to her and didn't deserve to be treated so poorly.
The combo of Lucy being very firm about not doing relationships, but then suddenly accepting that she's his girlfriend when Jaylen announces that? Honestly it felt a little gross - why was her take and perspective not heard and respected?I understand the cutesy "I don't do relationships" followed by the oh now I've met THE person.... but this just didn't have that overall plot and it just didn't sit well with me.
The smut was also.... just not it.

Overall, the book was okay - I did truly love how Lucy was who she was and wasn't this typical heroine we see in most hockey romances - I appreciated the diversity and the fresh take on it all.

This was a beautifully endearing story about two people finding their way to each other—and, in the process, helping one another move from internal chaos to calm. It begins as a seemingly straightforward romance: solid, if a bit one-dimensional. But as the story unfolds, it deepens into something intentional, layered, and genuinely comforting. It’s a hopeful, heartwarming read. You’ll fall in love with the entire cast of characters and root for them as they face their struggles and heal from past wounds. It’s especially moving to watch such contrasting worlds come together through love, respect, and understanding. A truly worthwhile read.

A debut from one of my favorite TikTokers that's... Good???? Unheard of. But you did it.
The hockey was completely accurate that I appreciated, but what I really enjoyed was how much time was spent on developing both Lucy and Jayden. Both characters had substance and were relatable and funny.
The banter between them when they first met had me HOOKED.
Looking forward to your next book.

I wanted to like this book because there were a lot of good things about it, in theory. I think Lexi Brown is a great, funny internet presence for people, especially marginalized people, getting into hockey. That being said, this book just. Isn’t that good. And listen, I love messy bisexuals and I always want more diverse representation in both hockey and in romance novels. But it was actively difficult to finish this.

This fell pretty flat for me sadly but i'm not sure why. I just want excited to pick it back up between sessions but I did really enjoy the hockey romance aspect. Both characters were kind of... off for me.

This was a big flop for me!!!!! Obviously Lexi is very knowledgeable on hockey and that is shown in the book but that was the only positive for me. The writing style was my biggest problem in this book. It did not work for me at all. There would be one ore two sentences of dialogue and then paragraphs and paragraphs of narrative that by the time you get back to the dialogue you forgot what they were talking about. And it is like this the whole book. I also wasn’t a big fan of either of the main characters. She didn’t come of edgy, she came off rude and unlikable.

I also did not prefer the LGBT+ representation in the book as it relied entirely on tropes and stereotypes. It did not feel real enough for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. Even though I’m publishing this after the book has been published, I feel like that’s indicative of how I felt about this book.

I love sports romances, and I love hockey romances. But there was just something in this book that was lacking for me.

I love a hot mess FMC but Lucy was a bit too much of a hot mess and I felt like Jaylen had no personality.