I love Helena Hunting books. If you are looking for spice, banter, found family and hot hockey players this is for you. We meet Essie and Nate. They know each since high school they shared a kiss right before going to university things take a turn when Nate ghosted Essie. Years later Nate’s brother is marrying Essie’s best friend. Now Nate and Essie have to deal with one another.

I read the e-book and listened to the audio book. Both are fantastic. You get to catch up with characters from other books which I love! Both Nate and Essie have relationship fears and issues. They both wonder if relationships are for them until they begin spending more time together. They decide that it is just about sex but along the way things change and both are afraid to admit it. These two are the perfect best man/maid of honor for Rix and Tristan. They get stuff done and keep the bad things from spoiling their fun and big day. You see a different side to some of the characters that we see in other books and that has left me on the edge of my seat waiting for their books to come out.

Teddy Hamilton and Savannah Peachwood are the narrator's and they are my favorite!! They really know how to draw you into the story. Teddy reads all the male parts while Savannah does the girl parts which I really enjoyed. I can't wait to read/listen to what Helena Hunting releases next!

Nate and Essie’s story blew me away. I just adored their dynamics. From the hilarious banter, to the sass, spice, and found family, this story is full of all the things I love to read in a rom-com. I was blessed to get an advance copy of the audiobook, and it is so good. Teddy Hamilton voices Nate Stiles, and Savannah Peachwood is our Essie Lovelock in this duet style narration. I am a huge fan of both of them, and together they make this audio immensely bingeable. They’re great at bringing the heat and the heart to life, and maintaining the vulnerability and growth of these characters with their performances.
I Could Be Yours is a fantastic summer read. It’s fun, sexy, emotional, laugh out loud funny, and a great entry point to the world and work of Helena Hunting. As a long time fan of her work, I’ve read through the “Helenaverse” from the Pucked series to the Terror and Tilton U, and this book brings together so many threads from all over. Love the vibes from Kodiak and Lavender? Meet their parents in the Pucked Series, and read their story in the Lies, Hearts & Truth Series. Can’t get enough of Flip’s constant heckling of Nate and find yourself dying to know why everyone is constantly joking about cucumbers? Dive into the Toronto Terror Series. It’s always fun to catch the easter eggs in a book, but the beauty here is that Helena wrote this story so that you could read it and love it as a complete standalone.
Thank you to Helena Hunting, NetGalley, and Dreamscape Media for the ARC/ALC opportunity to review!

4.5☆
I really am loving this current generation of books Helena is giving us. I love the new characters and how they all interact. it gives those strong original Pucked series vibes - teammates, families, and all the friends.
I Could Be Yours takes us on a journey of a duo discovering what love can be like in many different ways. It also brought in soooo many characters that were wonderful to see again

I really enjoyed listening to this book. Savannah Peachwood and Teddy Hamilton are two of my favorite narrators and they did such a great job as Essie and Nate.

I loved Essie. I thought she was such a cute character. She was caring, very organized and such a great friend. I love how much she was always there for Rix and made sure that everything was perfect for her wedding. Even those Essie and Nate had history, she was still there for him and willing to include him in all the wedding planning for their friends.

Nate was truly a grump. He didn’t believe in love and wasn’t scared to share his thoughts on it. He’s had a tough past in regards to the women in his life. This caused Nate to struggle with trust and love. However, I did love when he acknowledged the fact that he may need help so he can move on and have Essie in his life.

I thought Nate and Essie were great together. I loved that Essie was a makeup artist on sets and that Nate wasn’t a hockey player. They were both similar in certain ways, yet so different.

I loved learning more about Tristan and Rix since I haven’t read their book yet. I loved seeing the rest of the characters from the Toronto Terror and Chase Lovett Wants Me. I am also so excited to read about Connor and Dred!

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I thought it was cute and I loved Essie and Nate’s story. I would recommend it!

Thank you to Helena Hunting for the ALC for an honest review.

FMC Essie and MMC Nate are side characters in the Toronto Terror series and while this book is not technically a part of the Terror series is a companion to the series. Essie is best friends with Rix and Nate is the brother of Tristan (the characters from the first book in the Terror series, If You Hate Me). Tristan and Rix are getting married in Aruba and Essie is the Maid of Honor and Nate is the Best Man. These specific characters (and Rix’s brother and Tristin’s best friend, Flip) all grew up together and have history. Essie and Nate shared a kiss the summer after high school and Nate ghosted her after the kiss, because he was off to college and was afraid of a long distance relationship. Essie was the “it” girl growing up. Essie is sunshine, sparkles, rainbows, love, light, and fairytales. Nate is grumpy, moody, cloudy, and very hurt by the relationship with his mother. As with a lot of her books, the found family in this series is amazing and believable. The world building and side characters are great and make you excited to read the other books in the series, as well as the spin offs. I read the Kindle version of this book AND listened to the audiobook. The duet narration by Savannah Peachwood and Teddy Hamilton was great. I loved Teddy Hamilton’s embodiment of Nate. This book was very entertaining and it was very easy to get immersed in this world and the tropical location of the destination wedding!

The way I devoured this book. I absolutely loved Essie and Nate’s story. It was fun, spicy, and a great summer read.

Essie and Nate aren’t strangers, they have known each other for years. Yet, one moment 6 years prior changed a lot between them. I love the back and forth banter between them. I love the chemistry that these two have. They are different, yet balance each other out perfectly. Essie is the sunshine to Nate’s storm clouds. I just couldn’t get enough of these two and I loved seeing their relationship progress throughout the course of the book.

The audiobook is chefs kiss. Teddy Hamilton and Savannah Peachwood both did absolutely amazing at bringing Nate and Essie to life. They both truly brought these characters to life and added to what was already an amazing story.

The entire group together!? I would love to spend a day with them. They all seem like so much fun and there would be no shortage of laughter with everyone around.

If you’re looking for a grumpy/sunshine, opposites attract, forced proximity romance check this one out.

I love the Toronto Terror series, and Helena has been hinting at Nate and Essie’s story since book one. It’s the perfect summer read filled with romantic tension, chaotic wedding shenanigans, humor and banter, and a second chance romance that has to overcome heartache and family drama.

Nate and Essie are the perfect example of opposites attract. He’s a broody engineer (hello hot nerd), and is grumpy, driven, smart, competitive, damaged, and doesn’t believe in love. She’s a cute, fun, bubbly, makeup artist, who falls in love with every guy she’s ever dated and longs for her own happily ever after. She’s super smart, organized, and driven and is tired of men never taking her seriously. She’s sweet to everyone besides Nate, who she’s sassy and a little mean to. I love it.

They’ve always been in each other’s orbits because they grew up around each other and Essie’s best friend is marrying Nate’s brother. They had some romantic run-ins in the past, and have stayed away from each other since then, but now they have to be best man and maid of honor in the same wedding and can’t keep their distance anymore. It started off hilarious with competitive limbo competitions and generally trying to irritate each other, but became really sweet when they both catch feelings and Essie helps Nate when he’s stung by a jellyfish.

The audio was duet narration with Savannah Peachwood and Teddy Hamilton and they were absolutely perfect. They brought Nate and Essie to life and made me laugh out loud with their shenanigans and banter. I highly recommend listening to this one!

Thank you to Helena Hunting and NetGalley for the ARC and ALC. I love being a part of the BBB!

📔I Could Be Yours
✏️ Helena Hunting
📆 July 10, 2025
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

READ IF YOU LIKE:
💄best friend’s fiancé’s brother
💄best men & maid of honor
💄opposites attract
💄grumpy x sunshine
💄second chance
💄dual POV

I Could Be Yours is a complete standalone novel with close ties to both the Toronto Terror and Tilton University series. We follow Nate as he struggles with falling in love with the best friend of his brother's fiance.

Nate is the middle brother, between older brother and hockey star Tristan (from If You Hate Me) and younger brother Brody. Their mother left them when they were young and none of them have ever gotten over it. He has been soured on relationships as he has had them go bad without warning. So instead, he is choosing to just have a simple, physical relationship with the one person he knows he should not be having it with.

Essie is Rix's (from If You Hate Me) best friend since forever. Her little sister, Cami (from Chase Lovett Wants Me), is involved with Nate's little brother's best friend Chase. Talk about six degrees of separation. Throw in the fact that she is the Maid of Honor and Nate is the Best Man for Tristan and Rix which forces them to work together to plan and organize all of the wedding related events.

Essie is a very organized person. She creates lists and schedules to make sure everything gets done, on time and on budget. Nate likes to fly by the seat of his pants. After seeing everything Essie has done to make the wedding events a success, he knows he needs to step up.

Years ago, Nate and Essie shared a kiss. It was right before he left for college. He was supposed to call her, but he never did. She has hated him ever since. But when a mishap occurs and they get locked in the bathroom together, while sniping at each other, sparks start flying. These two have massive chemistry, but are working overtime to ignore it.

But what happens if they decide to just have a physical relationship. No feelings, no expectations. Can they do that?

Nate has had relationships go bad. So has Essie. She is notorious for falling in love immediately and planning her happily ever after too soon. He has mommy issues, and abandonment issues, that he really needs to work through. So what will happen when they both catch feelings?

So many things happen in this story. Baby brother Brody is the drunk of the group. Dad has a new girlfriend. Jelly fish. Young and dumb pranks. Jet skis. A surprise visitor. And an ally no one expected.

So many emotions went through me as I listened to this book. I have to admit I laughed so hard at the the results of the one adventure that ended with vomit. Holy cow, I could totally see that happening. But then my anger rose with the surprise visitor who thought they had the right to attend the wedding. Top it off with the one person I never expected to help clean up this mess, let alone the way it was done, and this story just rocks.

Listening to Tristan and Rix get married and seeing all of the love between them and among all of their friends and family clinched this as one of my favorite Helena Hunting books ever.

Teddy Hamilton has been in my ears a lot lately. That should tell you how much I enjoy listening to him. Savannah Peachwood is one of my absolute favorite female narrators. Sadly, until recently I have not listened to her much. So this was such a nice listen for me.

5 Can She Make Him Believe In Love Stars!

Nate and Essie couldn't be more opposite individually, but they're perfect together as a couple. It wasn’t a smooth road to their becoming a couple that’s for sure. I’m getting a little bit ahead of myself… Nate and Essie are two people that we’ve met previously in this series and I’m so incredibly happy we got their story. This book is filled with some of the best banter, undeniable chemistry and a history that truly affected both of them in different ways.

I absolutely love and adore Essie. She’s a girl that is sunshine personified. She’s had some bad experiences with love, but that doesn’t stop her from finding the good in everyone and still wanting to find love. Preferably with Nate, but this man doesn’t make it easy. Essie has such a deep love for her friends and she’s going all out in the planning and preparation of Tristan and Rix’s wedding and there are some amazing laugh out loud moments that had me rolling!

Nate is a man that has a deep seeded fear of love and being abandoned and for good reason. It broke my heart to get his inner dialogue at times. I mean he’s so attracted to Essie but can’t seem to let himself believe that he’s deserving of all the love she has to give to him. He fumbles and makes some massive blunders and this man is competitive when it comes to planning any of the activities related to his brother and Rix’s wedding…. And I’m there for it all!!

What can’t be denied is the chemistry that’s still simmering between them. It all finally comes to head though at the Doe and Stag Party and let me tell you… not only was it HOT HOT HOT, but I also let out a couple of snort laughs! And that sets the stage for these two to not only make up for lost time, but also for an apology that was long time coming. I loved how Ms. Hunting developed their love and brought us on a journey that wasn’t all rainbows and unicorns but also made me fall in love with these two so much!

I was lucky enough to be able to listen to this book as well as reading it and the duet narration by Teddy Hamilton and Savannah Peachwood was spectacular! They’re both two of my very favorite narrators and I was obsessed with listening to this book. I laughed and swooned and all the emotions in between. While this book isn’t necessarily part of the Toronto Terrors series, all my favorites are in this book and I have a perpetual smile on my face! This is a definite must read/listen for any fan of a grumpy/sunshine, enemies to lovers, second chance romance books.

Rate: 5/5 Spice: 5/5

I loved Essie and Nate’s story! I devoured this book and I can’t wait for more! Essie is a romantic and falls in love fast and now she is trying not to. Nate is the brother of her best friend’s fiancé and they are maid of honor and best man. This book has forces proximity, will they won’t they, f*** it moment, therapy, and found family. I love seeing characters from previous books! I was lucky enough to receive the audio book as well as the ebook and I loved both so much! If you love romance, comedy, and spicy books I highly recommend 💗🪼

I will be an Helena Hunting fan until the end of time. Each series just keeps getting better.

Now, going into I Could Be Yours, I was not sure if I would be as connected to Essie and Nate as I have been to the precious characters. I was definitely wrong. Nate the grumpy bear won me over quickly. I also did not expect Essie to be the ultimate ray of sunshine in a perfect princess package.

In addition to loving this perfect Grumpy/Sunshine romance, we got some fantastic cameos from Lavender and Kodiak. I absolutely love interconnected stories.

The most unexpected surprise from this story was how Connor Grace steps in to save the day during two very pivotal moments. He is really becoming an unexpected here in the series... who knew.

Last, Savannah Peachwood and Teddy Hamilton were exceptional as always.

I Could Be Yours by Helena Hunting brings all the heat, tension, and banter we’ve come to expect!

Essie and Nate have known each other since high school. Essie is best friends with Rix, Rix is engaged to Tristan, and Tristan is Nate’s older brother. Nate and Essie shared a kiss six years ago and then Nate ghosted her. The two see each other from time to time but they mostly try and avoid one another. Now Essie and Nate are the maid of honor and best man in Rix and Tristan’s wedding so they’ll definitely be seeing a lot of each other and maybe that’s not such a bad thing. I LOVED this story! I do think you should read Helena’s Toronto Terror series before I Could Be Yours but you don’t have to, it’s technically a standalone. The book is just more fun knowing all the characters’ backstories. Actually, I think you should read all her hockey books first, we get cameos from some of our favorite families! ☺️
I was lucky to receive an advanced listeners copy of the audiobook which is narrated by Savannah Peachwood and Teddy Hamilton of course they give fabulous performances! I love listening to their narrations, it’s a grantee A+ every time!
Read this if you like:
-grumpy/sunshine
-hot nerd
-second chance romance
-beachy wedding setting
-care and comfort
-sports romance

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️


A big thank you to NetGalley, Helena Hunting, her team, and Dreamscape Media for a copy of this ALC in exchange for my honest review.

The banter between Essie and Nate was amazing, and funny. Having a grumpy Nate with Teddy Hamilton voice was just 🔥. The story was so funny and the slow burn made you desire for them to end up together. The audio was beyond all my expectation. Helena has definitely hit another amazing accomplishment with this story!

Ok I use to hate audiobooks because the narration would suck. I mean they would never really fit the character that I had built in my head. However I must say lately I’m becoming a fan. With narrators like we had for I could Be Yours it makes a huge difference. These two made the picture I had of Essie and Nate come to life from the pages of the book. I love that they actually narrated their part and not like some audiobooks I have heard they have the female narrator so the male part during her chapter and so forth. Which I really hated that. I really am loving audiobooks now this way. This was such a great book and loved listening to it when I could not read like when I had to drive to my sons treatment I didn’t have to stop reading I just followed along with the audiobook. I definitely recommend.
Another amazing book by Helena Hunting you guys if you have not yet read any of her books you are really honestly missing out/ I really enjoyed this book but you guys don’t shoot me for this it wasn’t my favorite. Yes I loved Nathan and Essie however I don’t know if I just hyped them up in my head so much since all of the other books have been phenomenal. I mean don’t get me wrong I still loved Essie and Nate they were both great and I loved them together. My heart broke for them and what that poor excuse that gave birth to them does. So it was definitely not the story maybe I was just expecting it to be different then what it was. I still loved it and I would definitely recommend. You guys I’m extremely excited and I’m hoping and I have a feeling in my gut that my favorite ones are going to be and that they are going to be super emotional and raw well that what I’m hoping for. But I’m hoping that Connor and Dred’s book is going to be on point and burn the pages off the my kindle. However you guys I’m eager awaiting for Flip and Tally. I know those two books are going to be something special at least that’s my hope and I feel it in my bones. Definitely grab this book and stray her if you have not started the series yet. However if you haven’t what are you waiting for your missing out.

This book was SO fun! The maid of honor and best man of my favorite couple of the Toronto Terror series are complete opposites. Essie is a delight! Loves all things pink and princess and is ultra organized. And now has to work with the best man - when she has a history with. This grumpy sunshine love story is such a fun romp through a series of wedding planning activities including the showers, bachelor/bachelorette parties and a destination wedding! Vacation shenanigans and all!

This book made me so happy and you can’t help but to root for these two even as they work through their past relationship trauma. And the spice!!! Classic spicy Helena Hunting! I read the ebook in 2 day, turned around the next week and listened to the audio - it was just that good!!!

This book was so much fun! A little get away from all of the stress of life.

In this book we have the story of Nate and Essie . We had hints about their past in other books in the series ( that you should definitely read if you haven’t)

Our story start in the perpetration for Rix and Tristan wedding as maid of honor and best men, Essie and Nate had to work together and plan the events and the wedding celebrations.
They had a lot of tension and fights at first. But after a while the hate and competition they felt has turned into something more .

The book was so much fun!!
I loved to see all the gang together, and read how Essie is finding her happy ever after.

One thing that really struck me was the epilogue. I won’t go into to detail but OMG
I cannot wait for the next book on the series.
I just love Helena’s books . They give me all the feels . I could be happy and emotional or super embarrassed 😳
The books are the perfect way to escape my day to day life.

Until next time ❤️

I did not want to put this one down. Nate and Essie’s chemistry is on fire. This second chance/grumpy-sunshine storyline will hook you from the beginning and their journey and banter will captivate you until the end. Definitely worth the listen, narration is fantastic!

Six years ago, Essie and Nate shared a kiss that rocked Essie's world. Nate promised to call the next day but ghosted her instead.

Now Essie's best friend is marrying Nate's brother. Essie is the maid of honor and Nate is the best man. They are thrown together more than either is comf with. Each one thinking of what could have been.

But Nate had a terrible home life growing up and was burned in a serious relationship. He feels that relationships are not for him.

Essie has chosen to harden her heart. She has a heart of gold but people have always only seen her as the pretty one. They don't see how smart and capable she is.

Spending time together planning the wedding, Nate and Essie see what is really inside of each other and a connection grows. But can it survive when things happen and everything starts to go sideways?

I loved this story. I think it might be my favorite in the series. I listened to the audio in addition to reading the book. That has become one of my favorite ways to read a book.

Teddy Hamilton and Savannah Peachwood were awesome narrating this story. They really brought the characters to life.

Helena can do no wrong in my eyes and this book just proved that once again! Nate and Essie were total perfection. I was so curious about their history as they've been mentioned in previous books, so I'm so glad we finally got their story. The banter, the spice, the tension, the emotions, it was all just amazing. This book really forced our main characters to tackle their demons and emotions to be better for each other, and I just loved the raw honesty from them as well as the people around them.
This book had so many great cameos from Helena's other series and has set us up really nicely (and left us questioning so many things!) as we head into books 5 and 6 of the Toronto Terror series (if you haven't read this series you need to!). The duet narration on this from Teddy Hamilton and Savannah Peachwood was *chef's kiss*. I always know I'm in for a great listen if a book features either of those two and this was no exception. Please do yourself and don't delay this great read/listen!