The Fake Out by Stephanie Archer is the second book in the Vancouver Storm series. Archer is an auto buy author for me and this book proves why. The Fake Out follows Rory Miller, the Vancouver Storm’s newest hockey stud and Hazel Hartley, one of the team’s physiotherapists. Rory is nursing a major crush on his former tutor, Hazel and now that they work together he gets to shoot his shot. Hazel is not interested in Rory or any hockey player for that matter. She had her heart broken by a player a long time ago but no one knows the details. She’s happy for her sister Pippa and her fiancé Jamie but she just doesn’t see the same in her future. When a new player joins Hazel’s physio team and Rory gets a promotion he didn’t see coming, fake dating becomes a “necessity” to help the pair navigate these changes. Read this book if you like: 

-fake dating 

-hockey romance 

-excellent banter 

-he falls first 

-sweet and spicy 🌶️ 

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🌶️🌶️🌶️

I loved this book! I loved Hazel’s fire breathing tendencies. I loved the effort Rory put into getting Hazel to trust him. I appreciated how the individual conflicts in their personal lives were handled. This book has great secondary characters and the tease for the next book already has me hooked! My only complaint is that the villain’s name is McKinnon which is one letter away from MacKinnon, my favorite real life hockey player’s name but I’ll forgive Archer since everything else about this book was perfect! 🤣 

A huge thank you to Stephanie Archer and her team for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.