This book easily ranks up there with Becka Mack and Elsie Silver when it comes to the dynamic between the MMC and his friends. Their bond is full of playful banter, deep loyalty, and an unshakable brotherhood – men who give each other hell but would also do anything for one another. And since they’re each getting their own books, I’m already excited to see their stories unfold.

This one follows Colby, a brooding hockey captain with a dark past and a very specific game-day ritual – eating a bowl of Lucky Charms before every match. But when he heads to the store late at night, desperate to replenish his stash, the last box is snatched up right in front of him by a woman who refuses to hand it over. That woman? Carissa, our FMC, who has no idea who he is and is thoroughly unimpressed by his attitude. He hates that he loves the way she challenges him. And as it turns out, she’s the team’s new marketing director, setting up instant tension between them.

Colby is an absolute ass to her at first, and I honestly wasn’t sure how they were going to end up together. But after months of undeniable chemistry and slow-burning tension, they finally give in, and their relationship takes off. Carissa, with a dark past of her own – her parents stole her identity and left her drowning in debt – fits seamlessly into the team dynamic, holding her own among the players. Meanwhile, Colby is haunted by the loss of his older brother, who drowned when they were kids, leaving him carrying years of guilt. Their connection grows as they bond over board games, playful teasing, and some seriously steamy encounters (which, let’s be real, move at a much faster pace than real life but make for a great read).

Then comes the third-act conflict. At a charity event, a jealous ex-coworker of Carissa’s steals private photos from her phone and sells them to the media. Colby, believing she betrayed him and the team, reacts harshly – though, thankfully, he doesn’t cross the line into irredeemable territory. He tells her he never wants to see her again, and Carissa, heartbroken, resigns from her job and disappears from his life.

Of course, the truth comes out – Carissa was innocent all along. Right before a game, Colby learns the real culprit and has a full-blown panic attack, realising the gravity of his mistake. But by then, Carissa has stayed away, unwilling to reopen old wounds. Determined to win her back, Colby tracks her down – only to find her apartment flooded from burst pipes. Without hesitation, he takes her home, proving he’s all in, and they finally get their well-earned HEA.

Overall, this was a solid, engaging romance with great tension, lovable side characters, and plenty of heat. I can’t wait to see the rest of the team’s stories and how the friendships and relationships continue to evolve.

Pretty short book overall..nice hockey romance. There is a lot of cussing going on in this book. I got nothing against a good cuss word here and there but geez. At some point, it was kinda repetitive at the beginning just talking about Lucky Charms cereal. I’d have to give it a second go around in reading it to see if I would like it more in the future.

This book was short and sweet and a good way to get in a quick hockey romance fix. Big turning point scenes in this book seemed to be a bit rushed, there’s not a whole lot of buildup before you get to the good parts. Which is refreshing, but also takes away some of the tension buildup that we crave in romance novels. This also means that The forgiveness part after the climax of the book came fairly quickly, and was almost. “too easy.”

There were a couple cringe worthy parts of this book, but otherwise the writing was fairly smooth and easy to follow. The dialogue seemed pretty on par for the characters ages for the most part. After reading the excerpt for the next book, which is at the end of this book, I don’t think I will be finishing the series. There’s not much that set this book apart from other hockey romances that I’ve already seen.

This book felt very similar to other Hockey Romances I’ve read. The title and cover got my attention and I was so excited to read!

Overall, the book fell flat for me. Colby did not have any redeeming qualities in the beginning to be given any chances with Carissa. Carissa should have slapped him in the face one last time and never gave him the time of day.

The dialogue was cheesy, simple and felt too forced. I was looking for a deeper connection between Colby and Carissa, but all we got was a rushed relationship.

I saw the “third act breakup” coming from a mile away. I wish the author was more discrete with the phone and coworker situation. It was too obvious where it was going and made me lose interest real fast.

So, cussing does not bother me. But good grief. It was being thrown around like confetti. It was really annoying to be honest.

I did enjoy the book overall, but I feel like the ending was just very abrupt. Cute story though.

Thank you NetGalley, author, and publisher for the chance to review this book early.

What a great story! Can't wait to read more by this author!
Thanks Netgalley and to the author for the ARC!

First off thank you to NetGalley and Susan Renee for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/4
🌶️🌶️/5

I will say when I first started this book I did not like the writing style and I was struggling. Well once I got about 15% in I was hooked! I finished this book in one sitting and absolutely loved it!

The fact that we started off arguing over lucky charms🍀,was incredible. I also happened to be reading this on St Patrick’s Day which just made it better.

If you like hockey romances, enemies to lovers, and forbidden romances this is for you! I was feeling all types of emotions while reading this book. I laughed, I cried, I giggled which to me is just the absolute best. 🩵

All in all I highly recommend this book and I can wait to get my own hard copy once it’s released! 🏒⛸️

this book was really good.. hockey romance easy to read. would highy reccomend this book when it come out

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this arc.

I’m a sucker for a good hockey romance. But 28% in, the two main characters are still arguing over a box of lucky charms…The next 22% they argue about who is worse and who’s messed up after they share one kiss. I usually find banter amusing. Colby and Carrissa’s banter- annoying. They are both supposed to be adults, 8 years after college graduation, but the banter screams high school/college.

I also hate the nickname Smalls. Just not a book for me.

This was a cute little enemies to lovers hockey romance! I would have liked to see a little more depth and back story for the characters but it was still a nice quick read!

I really enjoyed seeing the characters progress in this story. The story was well paced and well written. I was hooked from the beginning and devoured it in just a few sittings.

This was just what I needed to tie me over until some of the other hockey romances I’m anticipating are coming out. This was a lot of fun and definitely new book partners!

Off Your Game is a hockey romance about NHL player, Colby who has a chance meeting with a woman named Carissa at a grocery store in which there is a verbal altercation over a box of cereal. Carissa has no idea he's a hockey god and needs the cereal as it is part of a superstitious game ritual.

Low and behold they later discover that Carissa is the new marketing employee hired to handle the team's social media accounts. Carissa and Colby are magnetic and drawn to each other leading to the formation of a relationship, despite Carissa's boss warning her not to get involved with the players.

Throughout the story Colby is battling unresolved childhood trauma while Carissa is trying to make up for being taken advantage of by her parents both of which affects their relationship. An incident happens that leads to the leads to them questioning their relationship, and its continuation. However, don't worry this story definitely has a happy ending.

Reading this story left me will warm fuzzy feelings. The pacing at the start of the story was slow to start but picked after the first several chapters. I really appreciated the character development of the FMC and MMC. I felt they were both relatable and their personal issues were realistic. The plot itself was well written for the length of the story and premise.

Colby is prime book boyfriend material, rough on the exterior, but good hearted and swoon worthy. This book has a healthy amount of spice that was well written, and very enjoyable. There was no denying these characters chemistry, and I was rooting for them the entire time.

I also appreciate the accurate representation of mental health needs in this story, and the normalizing of getting help.

I absolutely love a hockey romance!! This grumpy meets sunshine was so emotional! I loved the way both characters had family issues that they were trying to deal with!

Colby is your typical tall dark and grumpy hockey player whereas Carissa is a social media manager taking her first steps into the adult world.

This book was so fast pace! There was a little enemies to lovers but they weren’t enemies for that long! The tropes are enemies to lovers, grumpy x sunshine and work place romance. You can’t go wrong with this hockey romance.

Such a spicy hockey romance! The book had an interesting beginning and I enjoy the enemies to lovers trope. I love seeing the softer side of both of the characters slowly be revealed during the book. I also enjoy the Dual POV, so you can see both sides of the story.

The side characters are funny and many are supportive to the main characters. They added more humor to the story and I like the camaraderie of the teammates.

My little drawback is I just don’t understand how the main FMC filming social media content in the bar with the team is a good idea or how she doesn’t worry about fraternization with the main male character till much later.

Overall, this book is a wonderful read and would recommend! Thank you NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for the digital copy of this book for review.

Hello spice! I received this ARC from NetGalley and Victory Editing in exchange for my review. To begin, hockey romcoms are my weakness. I will never turn down reading one. I grew up at the local minor league rink with season tickets and will always be a life time hockey fan. Carissa and Colby’s relationship was predictable, although I enjoyed coming along for the ride. I felt their heartbreak and their emotions through out their relationship and I enjoyed how each character had something relatable about them. They both came from different backgrounds, but they worked well together. I really wanted to meet Colby’s mom and dad though. I wish they came to a game, a charity event, or some type of holiday. Colby spoke about his mom and I feel like she was a little character. I will say the ending fell flat though. It actually said “The end”, which seemed very odd for some reason. Overall though, I enjoyed this book as a quick read and would recommend it if you are looking for a spicy hockey book!

🏒Off Your Game🏒

⭐⭐.75
🌶️🌶️🌶️

Thank you to netgalley, page and vine, Susan Renee and Victory Editing Co-op for the review copy!

Okay...the MMC, Colby Nelson, was just not it. He ruined the book for me. From the first page, this bloke was obsessed with Lucky Charms (I get it's a trauma response) but to abuse and act like a dick towards a woman who bought the last box and then continue to be a dick to her for most of the start of the story wasn't necessary. Not sure why it was written in that way. He was also extremely angry for most of the book and verbally abused his friends over stupid shit just grinded my gears the whole way through. For his age which I think is 30? He was so immature and childish.

The FMC was okay, but a total door mat.

Unfortunately this book could have had some potential but failed to hit the mark.

We first meet Colby when he’s in desperate need of a box of Lucky Charms and tries to buy the last box from a woman at the grocery store, in the middle of the night. Not used to being told no, the hockey captain loses his cool on the woman not knowing that she’d be showing up the next day as his team’s new marketing rep.

Carissa didn’t expect to see the man who was rude to her over a box of cereal ever again but she comes face to face with him the next day at the new job she just started. When his teammates start to clue her in that Lucky Charms are a little more than a treat for him, Carissa is determined to win the grumpy hockey captain over.

Tropes
* Enemies to lovers
* Grumpy x sunshine
* Hockey Captain x Marketing Rep
* Workplace Romance

I’m going to be honest, this wasn’t a favorite. The writing is subpar at best. The plot had potential but the “we hate each other” to “we can’t stand to be apart” aspect of the relationship developed way too fast - there was no real transition period where the feelings built up. I also wasn’t a big fan of the ending…I hate when the MMC blindly believes the FMC did something completely out of character, doesn’t listen to reason and then does the bare minimum when groveling.

Thank you NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for this ARC in exchange for a honest review.

First off, the meet-cute between Colby and Carissa? I was living for it! It was genuinely hilarious and gave off all the right "OMG, I hate you, but you're kinda hot" vibes. I was totally invested in their potential from that grocery store standoff over a box of cereal, a literal box of cereal! Like, come on, that's gold! It set the stage for some seriously fun tension.

The romance itself? Their chemistry was definitely there. Colby and Carissa had sparks flying whenever they were in the same room and Susan did a great job at writing some steamy scenes. They were fire, I'm not gonna lie. The whole "hate-to-love" thing was working, and I was rooting for them to get together.

However, there were some major things that really took me out of the story and ultimately landed it at a solid 3-star rating for me. Honestly, some of the stuff in this book just didn't sit right with me.

I'm all for a little bit of harmless fun, but the way this book constantly brought up "puck bunnies" was just...ugh. It felt so outdated and just straight up disrespectful to women. Like, there was some mention of girls throwing themselves at hockey players, and it just got super old and made me cringe so hard. It created this whole vibe of women just being objects, and honestly, in this day and age, I expect better.

For a book that tries to be a fun, flirty romance, that whole aspect felt so unnecessary and honestly, kinda icky. Like, couldn't we just focus on Colby and Carissa's connection and the hockey drama without having to constantly demean women?

Overall…I enjoyed it but not the best book ever, It had potential but I unfortunately I didn’t enjoy it that much.

Thank you to Netgalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for giving me an arc for this book!!!

This was a nice read. I enjoyed the characters and the hockey theme, although I know next to nothing about the sport. The love story between Carissa and Colby was sweet and nicely spicey. I will read more words by this author.