Written in dual first-person POV, Lexi LaFleur Brown’s debut novel Shoot Your Shot focuses on the romance between NHL hockey player Jaylen Jones and aspiring tattoo artist Lucy, whose lives become intertwined after an anonymous one-night stand changes their luck and life perspectives.

Brown’s down-to-earth writing style, vivid, detailed description, and superb world-building make you feel present with the characters in each moment, drawing you into the novel. She uses the characters’ emotions to give the descriptions more depth and layers. Brown’s colorful and natural-sounding dialogue fits the book’s characters, settings, and themes. Her conflicted, complex, and messy characters are relatable and likable. I like her snarky banter and sweet, sexy, steamy, emotional, and intimate interactions and love scenes that reveal, develop, and grow Lucy and Jaylen’s characters while furthering the novel’s plot. The scenes where they share information about themselves to get to know each other are fun. I enjoyed Lucy’s and Jayleyn’s interactions with her friends and his teammates, respectively, which were funny and brought some levity to the story’s melancholy tone. Their relationships with secondary characters, including her friends and father, and his teammates, also reveal and help develop their characters.

Jaylen fears that his hockey career is over after he doesn’t receive an NHL contract at the end of training camp with the Seattle Rainiers. When a last-minute roster spot opens up on the team, superstitious Jaylen believes it’s because of his one-night stand. So, he’s driven by the need to have her near to help him with his game. Lucy works as an assistant at a tattoo parlor, hoping her boss will offer her an apprenticeship. Unfortunately, her job hasn’t provided Lucy with the stability or career advancement she needs and wants. So, when Jaylen asks her to be his lucky charm and pay any price, she agrees, despite her initial misgivings. Sending him a good luck text message before each of his games isn’t a big deal. Lucy convinces him to appear at her friend’s charity event and get them tickets to his games in exchange.

While they agree to avoid getting physical again because neither is looking to get involved or for a relationship, spending time together leads to them getting closer and their chemistry and attraction growing stronger. Lucy and Jaylen can’t resist either, and their one-night stand becomes more, leading to feelings Lucy and Jaylen weren’t expecting.

It’s obvious Brown knows the ins and outs of hockey, and I like how she uses it in the novel for detailed hockey play and in other ways. However, her focus on the relationship between her characters and their development is where her writing shines. I love how she dives deeper into the psyche and life of hockey players through Jaylen’s character in ways I rarely see in hockey romances, particularly his confidence, mental health, and anxiety associated with the trajectory of his career from drafting to the present. For Lucy, she explores the impact of her relationship with her father on her life/career as an artist. Because of her in-depth character development and exploration, Shoot Your Shot is more of an emotional/angsty novel than I expected or was prepared for—I expected a humorous, lighthearted read. Although it includes lighthearted and funny scenes, its overall tone is melancholy, and it deals with emotionally intense content. It starts strong and interesting. However, the pacing lags, in parts.

Brown’s diversity of characters and LGBTQ and mental health representation are a consistent, well-developed, and integrated part of her narrative and not just thrown in for show. She explores the characters’ mental health and well-being with nuance and care

Poignant, funny, steamy, angsty, and sexy, Shoot Your Shot is a fast-paced romance perfect for fans of character-focused hockey romance, interracial romance, one-night-stand-to-more, hockey player heroes, artist/tattoo artist heroine, and he falls first with bi and gay representation. It explores self-discovery, self-confidence, mental health, believing you are worthy of love, following your dreams, and healing and recovery.

CW: mental health issues, anxiety, panic attacks, parental abandonment, toxic parent, grief/loss

3.5 stars

Canary Street Press provided an advanced review copy via Netgalley for review.

I’m always up for a hockey romance! Golden retriever MMC with a black cat FMC and a failed one night stand. Is he down on his luck and trying to convince her that she’s his good luck charm for his NHL career? Yes. Yes he is. This book was so cute!

I received this book as an ARC and I was excited to dive into this hockey romance. This book is more than a fluffy romance. It touches on several challenging topics including grief, mental health, panic attacks, and difficult family dynamics. The FMC and MMC have faced many challenges but together they make each other better. I highly recommend this sweet book!

I’m kind of shocked how terrible this is. I’ve been following Lexi LaFleur Brown for years for hockey stuff and I’ve been anticipating her debut novel for a long time.

Having said that and having watched her read and rate other hockey romances as “research”…this is not for me but unfortunately it is also not good. The hockey is accurate, sure, and that’s nice. But the main characters are insufferable and so very much some kind of self insert/directly based on her own marriage while the side characters are stereotypes and completely one dimensional. I’m deeply disappointed in this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book didn’t really grab me, but it read like a fanfic to me so that is probably right. The lucky charm was interesting but nothing in this book really stood out to me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin and Lexi LaFleur Brown for this ARC!

⭐️⭐️⭐️.75
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(ARC)

This book was really cute. Jaylen and Lucy's story was a really fun read; it was incredibly wholesome and loveable, and I had a really good time reading it. I would love to see more stories from the people in this world, like Cooper and Maya. This was a solid debut for this author and I am looking forward to seeing what else she has in store.

I appreciate the fact that the author had true insight as to what hockey is like, and I could tell with some of the descriptions/scenes in this book. Overall the romance was fun. But I feel like at points the plot was a little jumpy from one scene to the next, and I didn’t get that giddy romance feeling while reading. I wish Lucy’s friends had been a little more fleshed out as well.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy. This book was entertaining - I found it a little tough to like the FMC. She seemed self destructive and had a woe is me attitude. She had good support and came around in the end.

CW: Absent parent, alcoholic parent, emotional abuse from a parent; panic attack (on page), grief, mention of death from overdose; sexual content; depression & anxiety; brief mention of microagressions and racism

This was a laugh-out-loud romance about mental health, art, and hockey.

Lucy has daddy issues. Her father ruined her chances at becoming a successful painter when he didn’t show up to her senior art showcase in college. From then on, Lucy declared to never paint again. Now she is on the road to pursuing a tattoo apprenticeship. But she’s not doing a great job…

Jaylen Jones was the first Black player to go 1st overall in the NHL draft. But now he’s struggling to find a team who will sign him. After his childhood friend Cam passed away, Jaylen’s play declined tremendously and fans started to turn on him.

When the two have a one night stand, they believe they’ll never see each other again. Until Jaylen receives a call that the Seattle Rainiers are giving him a spot on the team. When he shows up to practice, he sees Lucy.

After several encounters with her leading to great success on the ice, Jaylen’s superstitions get the best of him (as many hockey players do). He proposes that Lucy be his good luck charm by sending good luck texts before every game in return for free tickets to games and he will help her friend, Maya with her LGBTQ+ charity events.

As a queer hockey fan and a fan of Lexi’s TikTok content, I thoroughly enjoyed Lexi LaFleur Brown’s debut hockey romance. The majority of hockey romances lack diversity and seem to only stick to Achellian romances. Shoot Your Shot defies the romance genre, having a bisexual FMC, queer side characters as well as a Black love interest.


Written in dual perspective, we learn about each character’s flaws and see their romance flourish over time and throughout the season. I appreciated how fleshed out and messy each character was. As the wife of a former NHL player and former goalie, it was evident that she pulled from her and J.T.’s experiences in the league and in the sport.


If you can get past the cheesy writing, I think this is a solid romance. My only criticism is that I wish she had been more creative in the third act breakup and chose something else. I loved seeing the teammates' personalities and behind the scenes of Jaylen’s NHL season.

I wanted to like this so bad. And I tried. Some parts of it I thought I was enjoying, but honestly this just isn’t worth the read. It was very cringy and hard to read at times. There was really no depth to the characters, and zero flow. The writing style just isn’t for me.

ARC Review
Shoot Your Shot by Lexie LaFleur Brown

This was a cute read - it follows a prickly & sassy black cat artist and a golden retriever of a hockey player with some anxiety issues. While I enjoyed the overall premise of this book, it fell a bit flat overall.

Pick this one up if you enjoy:
* Hockey rom com
* Black cat artist x golden retriever hockey player
* Superstitions
* Failed one night stand

This was a book that I was anticipating since it was first announced and it didn’t disappoint. Lexi has a way of writing that only reels you into the story, but her plethora of hockey knowledge being on the other side of it, made my hockey fan heart happy. This is one of my favorite books that I’ve read in a long time.


Thank you NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the e-ARC.

What a disappointment. The characters are one dimensional, no plot, the romance was all over the place, and it was so, so slow. The author tried to have a diverse cast in this book, it was pretty much very stereotypical.

It's a hockey book, my favourite kind, but this one was actually bad. I cannot get out from a string of very badly plotted and written novels lately.

Still, thank you NetGalley and Harlequin for an ARC for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

There's something about hockey romance that I just love, and while this book is good, it didn't really stand out to me. Individually I liked the characters and their personalities, but I didn't really feel the chemistry. Lucy is described as being strong and confident, but actually is a pushover with her father, boss, and even her friends at times. I did like how Jaylan changed from an anxious mess in the beginning and became a sunny golden retriever character. Overall it was just an ok story for me.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing for the copy of the book.
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Read if you like: hockey romance, opposites attract
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Lucy and Jaylen meet after Jaylen fails to secure an NHL contract, but after a one night stand, he gets the call that a contract has been secured, and he begs Lucy to be his good luck charm. Lucy is an artist who is hoping to secure a tattoo apprenticeship.
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I thought the story was cute and I liked the tension between Lucy and Jaylen. But I felt like they moved from casual to in love very fast and I would have liked to have seen their relationship develop a bit more. The ending also felt quick. But overall I thought it was cute!

✔ Hockey
✔ 2 POV
✔ Forced Proximity
✔ Black Cat MFC
✔ Golden Retriever MMC
✔ Failed One Night Stand
✔ So much banter
✔ Bi-rep

A good luck charm, overcoming anxiety and family expectations, a re-discovery for a life forgotten, and a chance for a fresh start.

When Lucy and Jaylen meet they will find out that life is an adventure and the only way to live without regrets is to do the things you love. Living for others won't bring us happiness and denying what we were meant to do we will always struggle for happiness.

A spicy sports romance. TW - loss off page but character still dealing with, anxiety and depression.

I think that if you follow Lexi on TikTok but aren't an avid reader you will probably enjoy this book, but unfortunately as someone who's an active reader (and has read over 100 hockey romances) this falls kinda flat. The storyline is all over the place: Jaylen is such a risk as a player he can only get a one year contract but halfway through the season becomes an assistant captain, Lucy's daddy issues, and all the little quips that combine to be too many little quips. I listened to this on audio and I think the jokes especially felt flat on delivery, maybe they wouldn't come across that way reading. I do really enjoy Lexi's TikToks and I can see that this is her sense of humor but I don't know if it's the combination of delivery and frequency, it just doesn't feel the same.

I really liked the queer, bipoc, and mental health representation in the story and I feel like that is what sets the book into the "yeah I wasn't crazy about this but I didn't actively dislike it" category. Thank you NetGalley and Canary Street Press for an ARC of Shoot Your Shot.

I've been following Lexi on TikTok for many months now #becausehockey but I stayed for the plot!! This book was such a fun and refreshing shot on goal in the world of hockey romances all seeming to be telling the same basic story of late. I loved her characters and their growth, but, too, you can tell she is one of the rare few writing in this subgenre who really knows how hockey (especially professional hockey) is played and I was here for it all!!

Thank you to NetGalley for the honor of an advanced copy to review, and congratulations to Lexi on launching her book babe into the world!! It's a goalie (a "keeper")!!

Thank you so much to Lexi LaFleur Brown, NetGalley, and Canary Street Press for the ARC of Shoot Your Shot! I’ve been following Lexi on Tiktok for a while now so as soon as she mentioned she was writing a book and it became available to request on NetGalley, I jumped on that so fast! I love hockey romance, and I was so excited to read this book, since her husband played professionally and she really does know what she’s talking about. I had so much fun and I can’t wait to keep reading whatever she writes next! I did spend the whole book actually picturing Lexi and her husband and hearing her voice when Lucy speaks which threw me off a bit in the beginning, but not too badly!
 
Shoot your shot follows artist and serial dater Lucy and NHL player Jaylen or JJ. After they meet at a bar where JJ is impressed by Lucy checking him, they have an adventure that night, expecting never to see each other again. Fate, on the other hand, has other plans. JJ was in Seattle to get a spot on their NHL team but didn’t get it. However, after a player gets injured riding a scooter, JJ gets his shot at staying in the NHL with a 1-year contract. Lucy is trying to get a tattoo apprenticeship and is assigned to paint a mural for, you guessed it, the arena in which JJ now plays hockey. Their one-night stand intention may be a little more difficult to keep. When they agree to trade favors to help each other out in their careers, situationship-prone Lucy and career focused Jaylen may have underestimated their chemistry and where it can lead. This book was super fun, and I can’t wait to see what Lexi writes next!

2.5/5 stars - I love hockey romance but there was something missing with this book. I felt like there was too much and too little going on at the same time. It’s like the author wanted to cram in as many plot points as possible and it didn’t work. Lucy was at times unlikeable and I couldn’t see past that.

I did like that the author has a background with the NHL so the hockey parts were believable.