Scoring Off The Ice

Paisley and Mikah are both sweet characters and they are very well matched. Their story is hilarious, multiple laugh out loud moments provided me with some much needed comic relief. His teammates are a great supportive family. The baby mother's drama, though expected, it seemed to play out in an odd way. Pulled a late nighter with this one, just couldn't stop until the end. Looking forward to reading more about the other single Ice King players. The male narrator was 5* super sexy voice and the female narrator was 4*.

I love finding books where it goes outside the norm. I think it's great that the hero in Scoring Off the Ice is the one who is the shy, inexperienced partner. It's almost always the heroine that is the inexperienced one and that makes this book unique.

I really liked Mikah. The fact that he was shy and almost innocent like didn't keep him from being a possessive guy with the heroine. I'm glad that not all shy men are portrayed as beta men.

Paisley was a great heroine as well. She wasn't immature and handled conflict well. I liked that she also had no idea who Mikah was. I'm also a fan of single parent stories so I enjoyed that there was a baby involved in Mikah and Paisley's.

Overall, this series has been a safer, sweeter, sports themed series. I've been listening to the audiobooks and really enjoy the narrators. You get dual POV and dual narrators.

Heat Factor: These are some horny 20-somethings
Character Chemistry: Sure! It’s fun! But also they’re in their early 20s...
Plot: Young hockey player loses virginity to puck bunny, and his cute neighbor finds a baby left at his door 11 months later.
Overall: I think my favorite thing about this book is that the hero is Danish.

I have been scoping out all of the audiobooks on NetGalley lately, and this one looked kind of light and fun, so I snapped it up. And it is light and fun! So I guess if you’re in the mood for a new adult, surprise baby, hockey romance, I don’t need to give you any more information?

If you do want more information, here it is:

Because this is an audiobook, I’ll start with the narration. (Standard reminder that I listen at 1.5x…) It’s a dual narration story with alternating(ish) 1st person POV. Meg Price narrates the Paisley POV, and James Cassidy narrates the Mikah POV. Cassidy reads Mikah with an accent, which was the number one reason that I picked up the audiobook after listening to the sample. The accent might not actually be Danish (I know nothing about Cassidy, who could very well be a master of Danish, but I do know some Danish native speakers), so I’ll just say that it was good enough that I bought it? His voice is also nice and warm. Price also has a lovely, melodic voice, and she sometimes introduces a little Southern twang when Paisley is reaching her roots, which was fun. The one critique for Price’s reading is that she seemed to alternate between “Mike-ah” and “Mee-kah” pronunciation, which was frustrating. It would have been frustrating enough if she’d just stuck with “Mike-ah” the whole way through (because most European languages use “i” with a long “e” sound), but the alternating indecision was just WUT inducing.

Now that that’s done, let’s talk story.

Mikah has been all hockey all the time since he was a child (not necessarily by his own choice, but getting into the NHL was his way of getting out from under his father’s hyper-critical thumb), so he was a virgin until his 23rd birthday, when his teammates encouraged him to get busy with a puck bunny. So he did. The book begins about 10-11 months later when his baby gets dropped on his doorstep. Short story: Mikah has only been with one woman because after he lost his virginity he decided that sex was all very good, but he was a monogamous type of guy, and focusing exclusively on hockey sort of precluded dating. But he still ended up with a baby.

Paisley, who is house-sitting for her extremely wealthy uncle while he’s on a long-term foreign business assignment and she’s in grad school, lives across the hall from Mikah and has been ogling him since she moved in. Then, one evening, she hears something strange, and when she goes to investigate, she finds a baby left in his infant seat in front of Mikah’s door. It’s a really good thing she used to work as a childcare provider, or this romance might never have happened!

Mikah is completely overwhelmed and out of his depth, and Paisley is a safety net for him. She’s calm and comforting and kind. So when Mikah’s teammate and his wife come over to help Mikah with getting his life sorted, the first roadblock arises when Paisley is effectively warned off because - of course - Mikah doesn’t need someone inserting herself in his life just for his wealth. But they’re able to get past that roadblock when Mikah is at the end of his rope and walks across the hall like, “OMG, you said you’d help me. I haven’t changed clothes in 3 days and I’m covered in spit-up. I NEED HELP. PLEASE HELP ME.” And then they have a really sweet, caring relationship which is most of the fun of the light and fun of this romance.


Line break for maybe spoilery comments…



Which is why the black(ish) moment in the end is so weird. We could see the problem in the rear window, getting closer and closer, but the way Mikah handled the situation didn’t, to me, seem to jive entirely with the relationship that he and Paisley had built. Then too, Paisley being like, “I can’t believe this, and even though I think I understand what’s happening, he broke my trust, so obviously this relationship is going nowhere” before a 180 of, “NVM, it’s all good” made me super confused! It felt a bit rushed.

But overall I had a good time with this book, which didn’t rely on tropes or characterizations that I”ve been finding frustrating lately. It was a nice break from some of the smut drama I’ve been reading.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

This review is also available at The Smut Report.

- Hockey romance
- found family
- refreshing romance
- enjoyed the full cast narration
- loved the whole romance, it felt refreshing as there was none of the usual tropes save for the miscommunication, loved all the supporting characters as well.

This is book 2 in the series and I really liked this book. I received the audiobook from NetGalley and was excited to follow up with the team. Mikah is awesome- really cute fish out of water story (Not only is he relatively new to the US but he's also a new dad. He's also really inexperienced in romantic situations, which is totally amazing given he is a hockey star). One day, he finds out that he's a father (one-night stand) and he has no idea what to do until his neighbor, Paisley, helps. Paisley is wonderful- she has a heart of gold and is so calm and sweet. I loved her character. I loved their growth and while there was a moment of angst, generally, this was a low angst story.

The narration team, Meg Price, James Cassidy, was new to me but was so good. I don't know whether James Cassidy did a good Dutch accent but he sounded really good and did a great job going back and forth in assuming an accent and not. Meg Price has a perfect voice for Paisley- young and sweet, but did a pretty good job with the male characters, including assuming an accent to play Mikah. It was a great narration and elevated the story overall.

What a fun adorably sweet listen! This is the second in the series and I am already looking forward to what is next. Paisley and Mikah are neighbors who though very aware of each other barely acknowledge each other in the hallway. They are both focused on their respective careers. He plays for an NHL hockey team and she is finishing up her masters degree while staying in her uncles apartment. Paisley hears a noise outside her door and what she finds is an adorable infant baby boy with a note on him. And so begins the relationship between Paisley and Mikah when he acknowledges how clueless he is about being a parent and begs for her help. I really enjoyed this listen. The only small issue I had is the narration of the Mikahs character. He is from Denmark so why does his character sound like he is from a combo of Germany and Russia? Its a little weird, but didn’t take away from this great listen. If you need a little getaway and a HEA, slightly steamy sweet becoming a dad and family book this is so for you.

In a single moment Mikah's priority went from Hockey pro to father of a baby he knew nothing about. With the help of his neighbor Paisley he learns the balance between job and family. But will Paisley only be there because of his son? Or will her affection for Mikah only make the relationship stronger. Great characters, great storyline and a perfect addition in the series. The only issue I had was that the accent that the narrator used for Mikah took a little to get used to but once I gave it time I was more comfortable.

This is an audio book review. Narrated by Meg Price as Paisley (the gorgeous neighbor) and James Cassidy as Mikah (the pro hockey player). This is truly a sweet classic love story with a twist. Both narrators did a great job. You could hear the different expressions in their voices. They were not just reading the book. Mikah accent didn’t sound quite Danish but Mr. Cassidy still did a fantastic job. I really enjoyed this story. It was not you typical romance novel. 4 stars for the story and 4 stars for the narrators.

This was such a fun audio book to find on Netgalley!

Narrators:
I always appreciate when dual POV novels have two different narrators to voice the male and female characters.
Mikah (James Cassidy): I admit I was a little distracted by Mikah’s accent...I kept thinking, is this a Danish accent? It veered into “Transylvania” a bit at first. It turns out I ended up enjoying his voice and his accent after listening to it for a while.
Paisley (Meg Price): The narrator did an excellent job with Paisley’s slight southern accent. She sounded appropriate for the region and her age in the book.

The story:
What’s not to love about this story of a hunky Danish hockey player next door? His nervousness and confusion with handling a tiny baby was so endearing. The chapter where Mikah takes Angleo to his first doctor’s appointment is hilarious and so true...dealing with babies, their bodily functions, and the millions of pounds of equipment can be frustrating!

Paisley is a likable character and I love that she knows nothing about hockey. I was a little confused about her career choice/education, but let’s face it, that’s not what this book is about.

This was a steamy open door romance that fit perfectly with the characters and story. The ending was sweet and everything I could have hoped for this couple.

I liked that there were a few on-the-ice hockey scenes in the book, but I would have liked a little more. I also thought the book could have been longer, I didn’t want it to end.

I recommend this to people who enjoy reading sports romance and like the ‘new dad’ trope.

This was a sweet single dad sports romance. Paisley and Nikah were enjoyable characters. The narration by Meg Price and James Cassidy was also pretty good. 3 stars!

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

This is the type of book I love on audio. Light and engaging, it easily kept my attention. I enjoyed the story of two people who were essentially strangers coming together to care for a baby and falling in love while they are at it. Mikah’s accent was distracting at times and didn’t sound to me like any Danish accent I have ever heard but that mattered less than the happy sigh I gave listening to the epilogue.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the second installment of the Ice Kings series. I liked Mikah and would totally be bff's with Paisley. I thought the baby plot was fantastic. I really enjoyed the fact that Mikah had no clue what to do with a baby and we got to see the learning curve that comes with new parenting, especially since he didn't even get to "warm up" to the idea. Paisley was supportive and wonderful, fully understanding that Mikah's number one priority was Angelo. I really like his teammates and I can't wait to read more about them!

Thank you NetGalley for this audio arc!

I had tried to listen to the first book on this series but did not like the narrators but I wanted to give the author a second chance.

This story was cute in a cheesy, sometimes cringey, way. The characters are very two demential and the story is surface level. It’s a great read if you’re looking for something light and fluffy. I think there is a lot of potential here that was missed here.

The author tends to tell us things rather than show us. Instead of showing us that our female lead is a nurturing person who likes to take care of people, the female lead just says it.

The narrators were okay. The male narrator has a great voice and a strong accent. However, he puts random inflections in his sentences when they don’t need to be there.

Overall the book was good but not a favorite. 3 stars <3

Scoring off the ice is a contemporary romance that hits a lot of my favorite tropes: unexpected baby, hot hockey player, and next door neighbors.

Paisley is a master's student who lives next door to a hot guy, but they've never spoken. Mikah is a professional hockey player whose one night stand drops a baby off at his door.

I was looking forward to sparks flying as Paisley helps Mikah out with the baby, but instead they spend a lot of time apart as Mikah makes all the first-parent mistakes. Paisley eventually comes over and does all the hockey player's cooking, cleaning, and baby caring. Paisley seems very young since she spends a lot of time thinking and very little time doing. She does not directly ask for anything she wants. Instead, she spends most of her time denigrating the baby mamma in her head. Mikah spends a lot of time ignoring Paisley and not asking for the help he desperately needs. Since neither of these characters can ask for what they want, or spend much time together, the romance is fairly low-key.

The audiobook is narrated by Meg Price and James Cassidy. Meg Price is an excellent narrator, good at both male and female voices. James Cassidy reads Mikah with a thick Danish accent, which is distracting for a main character, but he does a great job.

Narrator: I was a little bit taken aback by the accent of Mikah's narrator but as I listened to more of the audiobook it wasn't as jarring to me and I got used to it. I love it when an audiobook has two narrators that Scoring Off The Ice had, so I appreciated that.

Scoring Off The Ice is book two in the Ice Kings series by Stacey Lynn. Stacey Lynn is a new to me author, and this is my first book by her. This is Mikah and Paisley's story. Mikah is a professional hockey player who is next-door neighbors with Paisley, a graduate student who just moved into her uncle's empty apartment while she is busy attending college and teaching at a local school. Paisley has secretly been perving on her sexy hockey player neighbor. One night, she gets a knock on her door and it's her sexy hot next-door neighbor, hockey player Mikah, whose holding a baby and saying that it's his. This is their meet-cute.

I enjoyed this book, I thought it was such a cute and fun sports romance, I thought I wouldn't enjoy the baby left on the doorstep trope, but the chemistry between Mikah and Paisley made it worth it. As Mikah handles his newfound fatherhood, Paisley helps him out in any way she can. I loved the scenes in the beginning, especially whenever Mikah didn't know what to do Paisley was there. Mikah is strong, sexy, and dominant but the way he is with his baby made me swoon multiple times throughout the book. I wasn't really surprised when Mikah messed up, but I was glad that once he had his head on straight he quickly moved to fix it. This was a great second book and I can't wait for the next one in this series as well and I will be reading the first book in the Scoring Off The Ice series soon.

Scoring Off the Ice was enjoyable, if not a little bit far fetched in some ways. There were many aspects that felt genuine and the attraction between the Mikah and Paisley was well done.

The dual narration of this book definitely added to the overall story. I always appreciate when a dual POV story is told by two characters, it helps to really bring each of them to life. The accent that was used by the narrator for Mikah did come on a little too strong for me in the beginning, but I was use to it pretty quickly and didn't notice it as much after a while.

I did feel like both characters were written to seem more mature for their age. And give the situation, I did forget how young they were many times. But there were also times that their immaturity was very obvious. I felt that Mikah's innocence was refreshing and I admired Paisley's drive. The only thing I wasn't as crazy about was the short timeline. I found it to be more unrealistic that they meet in August, went thru all that they did and were engaged by Thanksgiving.

Thank you to Spectrum Audio for the free copy of this Audiobook in exchange for an honest review.