Overall: 3.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔 (this had great character depth!)
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥 (I think, I might be off)
Humor: A touch
Perspective: third person from both hero and heroine
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? medium
When mains are first on page together: Pretty soon in, 3% (chapter 2)
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: Yes, 6 months later
Format: voluntarily listened to an advanced reader copy through NetGalley in audiobook format
Why I chose this book: I was intrigued by the title and hockey player hero
Mains: This is a M/F relationship between a cishet hero and heroine

Should I read in order?
I believe this stands alone?

Basic plot:
Gemma and Mason meet again on a TV morning show and soon stage a fake date for some positive PR for both of them.

Give this a try if you want:
- contemporary romance
- historical romance author heroine
- hockey player hero
- childhood friends to lovers
- second chance-ish – mutual crushes in high school
- fake romance-ish – things start as a PR stunt
- size difference – I think he’s quite a bit taller
- celibate heroine – it’s been a couple years for her
- pretty strong consent
- lower steam – I might be off on this, but I think there’s only 1 full scene here? There’s some partials and alluded to scenes...

Ages:
- hero is 36, I didn’t catch heroine but they went to school together so something similar

First line:
Gemma Stanton stared down at her newly released first novel and told herself for the hundredth time that the kilted highland laird on the front did not look like Mason Moretti and absolutely no one would realize she’d used the pro hockey player as her inspiration.

My thoughts:
I liked a lot about this one – and I think those that tire or were never drawn to some of the stereotypical romance issues (especially featured in older romance) will really love this. It features heavily on consent and respect and really shows the growth of our hero.

I liked the character development in this one and the focus on getting to know our mains. But my issues were that I was just kind of bored. There wasn’t a lot of angst between them, and the focus was on teaching him to not be a selfish jerk and respecting her and while I really love that for people that want that focus in their romance, I tend to want those more toxic qualities instead 😆 . I was also a bit disappointed in the steam. I don’t think we even got any penetration??? Or I missed it lol….I could have missed it, my note taking was not as good for that, but I do think there were the start to a few scenes I got excited for and then they fizzled to almost nothing.

As for the narration, I really enjoyed both narrators. The duet narration is so good and just is so much more immersive and realistic to me than single narration or dual. I loved both voices and think they did great! Zero issues with the narration and I’d definitely be eager to listen to either of them again (Patricia Santomasso and Sean Patrick Hopkins)

Few random reading stats for this author
# of books read: This is my first!
Average rating from me: 4 stars
Favorite book: This one by default.

Content warnings: These should be taken as a minimum of what to expect. It’s very possible I have missed some.

- heroine had a toxic relationship (ex-husband)
- some elements of bullying of heroine (minor and she comes out on top)
- heroine was cheated on and it resulted in a baby
- parental death

Author content warnings? Didn’t hear any on audio

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes, safe sex aspects, consent, pregnancy/child in the story:

 
Safe sex: 

  I feel like there wasn’t much of a mention of penetration so I don’t think it was mentioned 

 
How’s the consent? 

  It’s good 

 
Pregnancy/children in story? 

  I think I remember a mention that the heroine can’t have kids? They discuss fostering/adoption in the epilogue 

 
79% (chapter 30) – 🔥 kisses in the water at the beach, oral for her on the boat
87% (chapter 33) – kisses

total chapters: 38 and an epilogue