This book was so cute with hockey romance and a baker it was also brothers bestfriend it was so fun to listen to and hearing about the infertility journey was hard as I'm going through the same

𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁:

I love a good sweet read full of slow burn! This book had everything on my checklist for a 5star, then add in all the great representation this book has for PCOS & Adoption - I loved it! I’m with the FMC please sign me up for the IRL version of Christof from Frozen who gives you a French pet name, this MMC is so swoon worthy!

𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬:

On the night she signed her divorce papers she kissed a guy at the bar after a few too many Long Island ice teas. Little did she know he was her brother’s best friend and teammate…

It’s been a year and a half since that night in the bar when he fell for Farrah, he has it bad but she won’t give him a chance. She is definitely off limits as the team is working toward the cup and dating the captain’s sister would definitely cause drama. But Bruce can’t resist Farrah or her baking and he’s on a mission to convince her to give him a chance.

Farrah is attracted to Bruce he’s the IRL version of her Disney crush, but she’s older than him and feels she’d hold him back. Due to her struggles with PCOS she doesn’t know if she can have kids and she won’t ask him to deal with that. But she’s finding it harder and harder to resist this swoon worthy man for goodness sake he bought her, the oven of her dreams!

𝙁𝙖𝙫 𝙌𝙪𝙤𝙩𝙚:

“Does my stove turn you on that much? This whole time…all I had to do was show you my oven?”

𝑳𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒀𝒐𝒖’𝒍𝒍 𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒅:

* He’s Ready to Meet the Love of His Life
* Professional Hockey Goalie NHL
* Divorced Baker & Nanny to Her Niece
* She’s 32 & He’s 27
* Off Limits Captain’s Little Sister
* He Gives Her Pet Name in French “Yeux Bleus”
* He Falls First & Has to Chase Her
* Adoption & PCOS Rep
* Found Family
* Dual POV

🧁💕🥅🧁💕🥅🧁💕🥅🧁💕🥅🧁

Secret or Shutout Honest ARC Review:

This is the 3rd book in the series that I have read and I really enjoyed this!

NHL Goalie Bruce McBride walks into a bar to have a drink by himself and ends up meeting the love of his life. He never gets her name. The following morning while visiting his Team Captain, the mystery woman is introduced as Farrah, his Team Captain’s MARRIED sister.

After having just signed divorce papers from an awful marriage, Farrah moves in with her Brother Remy and his wife to act as a nanny for their daughter and bake professionally with Remy’s wife Amber.

The more that Bruce and Farrah see one another, the more their chemistry increases. Will sneaking around prevent issues with Bruce’s best friend and Team Captain or will everything fall apart in the midst of the Stanley Cup?

Filled with complexities such as infertility, adoption relationships and self reflection, this is so much more than a simple romantic comedy. Each topic is approached sensitively and with respect. Main characters have depth and develop further throughout the novel.

I really loved the wholesome vibe in this regarding the families of the players. It was a nice compliment to the romance. Secret or Shutout was entertaining and sweet. I enjoyed it and think it would be a great addition to your TBR!

Thank you for sharing this ARC with me.

Thank you NetGalley and dreamscape media for the audiobook arc. Super cute hockey, teammates’s sister closed door romance. Written well and the duel narration was chef’s kiss. I love duel narrators in books.

She healing from and mentally abusive ex husband and doesn’t want to get into a relationship, but he can’t think of anyone besides her after they share a kiss after they meet in a bar a year before.

She ends up moving in with her brother to be a live in nanny for him while running her bakery business, and that’s when Bruce finds out she’s his teammates sister he tries and fails to hide his affection for her, and showing her time and again that he wasn’t going anywhere despite what her ex made her feel.



🔹PCOS rep
🔹curvy girl rep
🔹hockey romance
🔹teammate’s sister

I looove a brother’s best friend romance!! This is my first read in the DC Eagles series, I definitely need to read the rest of the series.
I really loved the relationships between all the characters and Bruce and Farrah are a perfect fit. Farrah has PCOS and has experienced infertility and Bruce was adopted and provides respite care for a foster child that he calls his little brother. These two were like two missing puzzle pieces and I loved every minute of watching their relationship grow.
The narrators were fantastic and added to the experience, I went and looked for more books they have narrated.

Thank you to the author and Dreamscape Media for the ALC!

🎧𝗔𝗟𝗖 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪 - 𝗦𝗘𝗖𝗥𝗘𝗧 𝗢𝗥 𝗦𝗛𝗨𝗧𝗢𝗨𝗧
🎙️𝗟𝗲𝗲 𝗦𝗮𝗺𝘂𝗲𝗹𝘀 & 𝗔𝗹𝗲𝘅 𝗣𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗱
📖𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆: 𝟰⭐️ | 𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻:𝟰🎧

🥅ᴄʟᴏꜱᴇᴅ ᴅᴏᴏʀ ʜᴏᴄᴋᴇʏ ʀᴏᴍᴀɴᴄᴇ
🧁ʀᴇᴠᴇʀꜱᴇ ᴀɢᴇ ɢᴀᴘ (32ʏᴏ & 26 ʏᴏ)
🥅ᴛᴇᴀᴍᴍᴀᴛᴇ'ꜱ ꜱɪꜱᴛᴇʀ
🧁ʜᴏᴄᴋᴇʏ ɢᴏᴀʟɪᴇ x ʙᴀᴋᴇʀ

💭I really enjoyed this book! It’s such a sweet and uplifting love story that also tackles some real-life struggles that people my age can totally relate to. Farrah's been through a lot, divorced her husband who ditched her when they found out she couldn’t have kids. She’s also been battling PCOS for most of her life, which I think is a really important topic that’s often overlooked. My heart really went out to her, especially when she felt that sting of seeing other people around her getting pregnant. It's not that she’s being petty or selfish—it’s just a tough thing to deal with, and sometimes emotions aren’t something you can control. You only truly understand it when you're going through it yourself.

Then there’s Bruce, who’s just perfect for her. The way he falls for her so quickly and intensely is heart-melting. I loved how he pursued her with everything he had and was always there to catch her when she needed him. As for the brother’s best friend trope... I was a little iffy about it at first. I just didn’t get why they didn’t come clean from the start, considering how sweet Remi is. It would have been so much easier if they just talked things through. But hey, I guess that’s just part of the trope—things getting messy before they get better!

The narrators, Lee Samuels and Alex Picard, really brought this story to life. I had such a great time listening to it—they both did a fantastic job with the characters. Leah Brunner has such a talent for writing those swoon-worthy, Golden Retriever MMCs, and Bruce was no exception. I’m definitely looking forward to diving into the rest of the series!

✨ 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚘 DREAMSCAPE MEDIA 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚒𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝙰𝙻𝙲, 𝙸'𝚖 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠 𝚟𝚘𝚕𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚕𝚢 ✨

This was my favorite book of the series. I just loved Bruce and Farrah's story. The banter between characters, found family, and swoony romance were so well written. Bruce and Farrah had the best chemistry and I was cheering for them the whole time. This was the perfect end to the series. The audiobook added so much to the experience. Highly recommend listening to this on audio!

This book for me is up there with Peyton Corrine, Hannah Grace, and Elle Kennedy's hockey romance books. While those aren't fade-to-black like this one is, the writing style, character development, and just the overall way you learn to love the characters is what puts this book up there with those authors. Being my first book I've read by Leah Brunner, I now have high standards going into the rest of this series of books. While I did read it backwards and read last to first, they are standalones and I did not need to know the other characters in this story to know what was going on.
I did love that the author talked about PCOS and infertitility without getting too in depth about the topics as to avoid bringing too much sadness into their story, however some moments did seem over the top(not discrediting the pain, just the way it was written and seemed rushed). With that though, the way that Farrah handles everything thrown at her is admirable and heartbreaking all at the same time. She deserved her happy ending after everything she went through. But everything she experienced in this story was realistic and could happen to any one of us, or already has happened. Bruce is also an amazing character, walking green flag, cinnamon roll, golden retriever, all things good MMC. He is what every man who wants to care for his partner should strive for IMO. Overall I loved this story, the characters, and the narration! Will be coming back to read the rest of this series!

The night Farrah signs her divorce papers, she meets Bruce at a bar and sparks fly. They kiss and don’t expect to see each other again, but that all changes the next morning when Farrah finds out Bruce plays on the D.C. Eagles hockey team with her brother. Farrah’s brother is the captain, and has made sure the team knows that Farrah is off limits. Farrah isn’t ready for a relationship, but Bruce just can’t stop thinking about her, and eventually they both give into temptation. Sneaking around, hiding their growing relationship is tricky, and eventually they get caught, causing chaos that disrupts the hockey team during an important playoff season.

I thought Bruce and Farrah were cute together. Farrah was a really relatable FMC, with an interesting attraction to Kristoff from Frozen. Bruce fell hard for her which was adorable.I found their romance sweet and enjoyed their fun flirty banter. I appreciated the PCOS and infertility representation in this book and thought those difficult topics were handled with care.

The narrators, Alex Picard and Lee Samuels did a nice job bringing the characters and story to life. The narration really emphasized the emotions of the story.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the ALC.

Ok now this is definitely my favorite of the series
Though story lines that deal with infertility are by definition a hard topic to cover, it is written with delicacy and emotion, without being all encompassing and not allowing you to experience the rest of the plot. It is part of the story but the big theme is love, accepting love. Accepting it for yourself and the love that accepts you fully.
I enjoyed the voice actors thought the male voice actors ‘female voice’ was silly when sped up.
It can be listened to up to 3x for the female voice and up to 2.5x for the male voice

If you’re looking for a closed door, hockey romance, then here is a book (in a series) for you to try! The narration is great, and the story is an easy listen.

Farrah is recently divorced and to celebrate (or help her forget) she goes to a bar and meets Bruce, a hot, 6’5 guy to spend the evening talking with. They have great chemistry and right off the bat they feel a connection. What Farrah doesn’t know is that Bruce is her brother’s teammate on the DC Eagles hockey team.

Read if you like:
Closed Door Romances
Hockey Romance
Flirty texts
PCOS + infertility rep
Frozen references
Brother’s best friend

PS. I loved the Aaron/cyclones cameo!

I enjoyed this hockey romance that came with a strong side of baking. The characters were wholesome and realistic, and the romance unfolded rather organically with a satisfying slow burn that made the payoff even more impactful and rewarding.

Farrah and Bruce had such lovable personalities, both separately and their interactions together. Farrah's bright, resilient spirit came through, especially in her baked goods, even as she wrestled with deeper struggles under the surface. And Bruce? He's the poster child for the golden retriever romantic trope: sweet, loyal, and full of charm. There were several other tropes sprinkled throughout the narrative, but Bruce's gentle, sunny energy really stood out. The book was also peppered with funny moments, witty innuendos, heartwarming family and team scenes, and plenty of baking goodness that gave it a warm, cozy feel. It may have also contributed to me buying a cake for myself.

That said, I did have a small issue with the way Farrah's PCOS was presented. While it's a very real and challenging condition, I felt it was used too heavily as a reason for her to shut herself off from happiness. It almost felt like a roadblock or miscommunication trope, when in reality, I would've loved to see a stronger narrative around living fully with PCOS. A bit more positivity or hope in that aspect could have made a major difference.

Noteworthy is that this is book four in the D.C. Eagles series, but it absolutely works as a standalone, which is exactly how I read it. And now? Well, I'll definitely be diving into the first three. Leah Brunner crafted a heartfelt, humorous story brought to life nicely by narrators Alex Picard and Lee Samuels. Aside from the slightly awkward kid voices (a tough feat for any adult narrator), they did a great job adding personality, emotion, and entertainment to the audiobook. They contributed heavily to me devouring this book within 24 hours of receiving it.

I am thankful to have received a free complimentary advanced listener's copy (ALC) of this book from NetGalley and Dreamscape Media. I am voluntarily leaving this review; all thoughts and opinions are my own.

*** Note, I also posted my review on Amazon as well, but it's pending and link is not available yet ***

This is the first book I have read by this author and won’t be my last. I think the narrators did a great job minus the French pronunciations were hard to understand. Not sure if done correctly or if wrong since I don’t know French I’m not judging. The mmc in this book is a walking green flag snd what other mmcs should aspire to be . He falls hard and fast. He is attentive and there to support when needed and anything you could imagine. This book had good representation from the PCOS to adoption . It was done really well and my heart hurt for Farrah and had been hurt in the past and was reluctant to trust but realize red flags from her ex she may have over looked but the new guy has none of those traits . This book is part of series but can be read as a standalone. Although I want to go read the others so if you don’t want to be hooked don’t read lol

I’ve read all of these books and thoroughly enjoy them. While you could read it as a stand alone, the characters from the other books have a continuing presence, so I think it is best to read them in order.

If I’m being honest, I hate that the MMC’s name is Bruce, but he is as close to a cinnamon roll/golden retriever as a professional hockey player can be and he’s determined to prove it to Farrah who has every possible excuse why they shouldn’t work out. Great characters with genuine issues and development. I would have loved some spice!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ARC!

Farrah and Bruce are so cute. Bruce is the quintessential golden retriever and Farrah is just a slightly less excitable retriever. The story talks about tough subjects and their lives aren’t just magically perfect in the end but that doesn’t mean they didn’t get their happily ever after.

Thank you, Partner, Booked With The Emilys and Leah Brunner for the #gifted ARC and NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC.

This has been such a fun series, and Secret Or Shutout was the perfect way to end it. It’s funny, incredibly romantic, and had an extra sweetness to it that I adored. I loved it!

The flirting and banter between Farrah and Bruce was fabulous, and their chemistry was so tangible. I loved how this big 6’5” hockey player had such a caring heart, and the way he takes care of Farrah was swoony. So was the way he consistently showed her he wasn’t going anywhere.

Farrah’s character deals with PCOS and possible infertility. Leah writes about it with great sensitivity and insight, and in such a way that made my heart ache for Farrah, and anyone who deals with this in real life.

What I loved:
hockey player/baker
brother’s best friend
forbidden love
reverse age gap
he falls fast and hard
dual pov
meet cute
PCOS rep
the way he takes care of her
supportive friends & teammates
fade to black
epilogue

I really enjoyed the dual narration by Alex Picard and Lee Samuels. They both did an excellent job with bringing out the characters personalities and emotions.

This is the 4th book in the D.C. Eagles Hockey series, but can easily be read as a standalone, but if you enjoy sports romances, you’ll want to check out the previous books. They’re all fantastic.

I’ve been waiting for Bruce’s story, and it did not disappoint! I just knew this giant of a man would fall hard for his lady, and he did! Farrah was a great character, and she was very relatable with her struggles. Bruce and Farrah had great chemistry from the beginning. I loved the forbidden romance parts of this book!

I listened to the audio, and it was great!

This series was my introduction to hockey romances, and it’s been so fun to watch these characters find their loves!

Thank you to #NetGalley and #DreamscapeMedia for an advance listening copy of #Secretor Shutout. A great story which incorporates some serious topics. Four Stars.

I've listened to all the books in the D.C. Eagles series and was so excited to listen to Bruce's story! Bruce did not disappoint! Thr narrators for this book were great. You could really hear the emotions in their voices. I think it also helped to listen to this book since Bruce spoke French Canadian to Farrah and we really got the correct pronunciation of those words. A great book. If you haven't read the other D
C. Eagles books this can be read as a stand alone. But it will make you want to read the rest of the series!

I adore this series so much. I have been so excited for Bruce's story!

Farrah and Bruce met as strangers, only discovering Farrah's brother os Remy AFTER an incredible night together. I love that Bruce went all in with her. Farrah's struggles were so heartbreaking, but I loved watching her overcome so much.

These guys are true found family, and I love how supportive they all are of each other. How protective they become of of everyone once your part of the family. I just love this series so much.

The narrators did such an incredible job capturing all the emotion in this book. Some parts were just tugging at your heartstrings and the narrators did such an amazing job.