What can I say? I found myself grinning throughout this story. It totally relaxed me.

It is a really excellent feel good story. It makes you happy. Wow! I must be getting soppy in my old age, or its the romantic in me. Who knows.

This is the ideal book to sit in the sun with your feet up, your favourite drink next to you.

If you don't want anything too heavy and in need of a smile this book is for you.

I gave it 5 stars because it made me feel good.

Enjoy!


*ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley*

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4129246045?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/RMTEFMNNVA737/ref=pe_1572281_66412651_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

This was a decent story and I somewhat enjoyed both heroines. Court and Lana were well-written characters. However, nothing really stood out making it a great book.

This was a very satisfying romance because it focuses not only on the budding romance between Olympic gold-medalist Courtney and concert violinist Lana, but also focuses on other important aspects of the protagonists' lives: Court's rival on the ice and Lana's teenage son. The two characters do what is expected of them: the back and forth dance of should we, shouldn't we that keeps us readers engaged and ultimately one receives the nudge she needs to fully commit to the other. I had not read other books by Trebelhorn, and this made me want to explore the author's earlier works.

This is the story of hockey player Courtney and single mom Lana. I liked both of the characters, though some their back and forth bugged me. Their chemistry is fantastic from their first meet. There's a bit of angst and drama thrown in to keep it exciting. I felt some side characters were thrown in and out without need or resolution. Overall, it's a good read that I quite enjoyed.

An honest review thanks to NetGalley. This was an ok read, I started out really liking it but as the story progressed my interest slowly dissipated. What I didn't like was the back, and forth between the two women, one wanted a date, and the other wasn't sure, and the next day it was the complete opposite. Add in Hilton the rival on Court's team, there was nothing resolved there and caused me really disliking a character, and yet no development occurred. Another issue I had was with Lana's family, especially her parents. In the beginning, you could see how she and her brother were close; we got a peak of the problem relationship she had with her parents and the possibility of them having a relationship. Then halfway through and it is as if her parents don't exist anymore. This felt too, and characters were being thrown in and out as well as the two main characters were continually changing their mind, which made for a difficult read.

I would like to thank in particular Bold Strokes Books and the Netgalley website for this partnership.

I was immediately attracted by the cover of this book, you see a young brown woman wrapped in a coat, at the bottom of the cover of this book you see an ice rink with a hockey stick.

There is Courtney, who is an Olympic gold medalist, her dream to play in the NHL, and violinist Lana, who returns home with her son to take care of her father. She doesn't think for a second that she's going to fall for Courtney.

A book read in one go during my break from work, I found the story captivating, moving and full of suspense and twists and turns. Looking forward to discovering more of this author's books.

Oh, this is one of those books I call “sweethearts”! It’s so warm and nice and cozy and it melts you in the loveliest way! And I loved Lana so much - she’s naughty and flirty in the best possible way!

4.5 stars

This book is a romance between hockey player Courtney Abbott and Lana Caruso, a violinist who has to take time off from her orchestra in Chicago in order to help out her family because of her father's health issues. Lana also has a teenage son so there's a single parent trope in this too, which I really liked. Because he's 15 and plays hockey too, he had kind of a important role and I thought the scenes with him were really cute and endearing.

I thought that because the romance was going to be between an athlete and a violinist, this book wouldn't focus so much on the sports element, but I was wrong and I really enjoyed this aspect. Particularly I loved how fierce Court's teammates were when it came to backing up one of their own, even if it was usually against a new member of their own team who caused trouble. In this it reminded me a bit of The Foxhole Court, just in how violent and threatening some scenes were. It's nowhere near TFC levels though. Although at the beginning it was cool to see this strong friendship among women, it also annoyed me that the main conflict had to be a teammate who was causing trouble for no reason other than the fact that she's a bigot and has a problem with Courtney being a lesbian. That grew old soon and it distracted from the romance and the cute scenes. If I'm reading an f/f book I usually don't want to be reminded of queerphobia. I also didn't like the implication that because she's a homophobe she has to be secretly closeted and not accepting of her own sexuality. It's a tired argument that's only meant to justify bigotry.

On Lana's side of the story, she has to help out in her family's pizzeria and try to find a relationship with her parents where she doesn't really have one. I am Italian and I have to say that I recognized Lana's family's mentality as typically Italian and not in a stereotyped way. It was the small things that made it real and I don't know if the author really did her research or what but I thought it was spot-on.

The romance itself was really good. I liked them right away and how flirty they were with each other. I really felt for them because they knew the time they had was limited since Lana would go back to Chicago after a few months. Something that was different compared to other romances was the fact that the book stretched onto a long time period, overall I think about two years? It had some necessary time jumps at the end but that was expected, however even while Lana was still in town sometimes I thought the pacing was a bit off.

There were a few other things that bothered me like the equivalence that having breasts = being a woman, or the fact that sex was treated as something everyone needs to have, and one comment in Court's POV about bisexual women that I thought could have been edited out (Lana is a lesbian but Court initially thinks she's bi because she has a son, and thinks in her internal monologue that she doesn't have a problem with bi women but doesn't want to hear about their sex with men, which....was really not prompted by anything and just made me uncomfortable) but overall I had a really good time while reading this and I would definitely recommend it for fans of f/f and sport romances.

TW: lesbophobia, mention of suicide, past death of a parent, cancer, hospitals, violence, the d slur

This was my 3rd book by Trebelhorn. I have enjoyed them all, but this one was my favorite so far. I have added a few of her other books to my to read soon list. While this was a sports (hockey) book, I didn’t feel like it was the main focus. I know absolutely nothing about hockey. I still enjoyed the book and didn’t feel too overwhelmed with sports info. I thought the book was well written and an enjoyable read. Both main characters are well written and likeable. I really enjoyed it.

I struggled with completing this book and decided not to review it because the review would have been a bit too negative.

Brilliant rom-com fodder for the wlw crowd. The characters are fun, the story is interesting, and the chemistry is evident.

An amazing story of two people find each other during a 10 month visit back home. Will they find love or learn to keep their emotions at bay to enjoy each other's company during their short time together?

Angsty and tearful moments make the story great. A story I didn't want to put down and read it in one night. Would definitely recommend to a friend with similar reading interests.

This is your run of the mill contemporary romance with a bit of angst and a bit of comedy. If you are looking for a cozy read that doesn't push too many boundaries but is still enjoyable hen this would fall into that category.

I did get a bit annoyed by Lana' behaviour but overall it was a good read.

A sweet romance with a bit of steam and bad decisions. Some are good decisions and some are just a little bit selfish. But while there isn't a ton of drama, the story moves at a nice pace and the characters are relatable.

No rating. DNF at 58%.

On the Fly left me feeling really disappointed and frustrated. The reason for the frustration was mostly because I just couldn’t get into the story and found both protagonists rather flat and one-dimensional. The blurb made the book sound so awesome and then just… nothing happened.

Lana is only in town for a limited time, until her dad is well enough to work again. She initially meets Courtney when she’s working at her families pizzeria, where Courtney and a teammate go after a game. The second time they meet is at Courtney’s second workplace: A realtor’s office. Courtney works there because her hockey career alone is not enough to support her financially. She happens to be the realtor Lana has an appointment with.
Lana is looking for a place to live while she’s in town, because her parents home is too small for everyone. Also what grown-up independent mother really wants to move in with her parents again?
From the beginning they feel drawn to each other and while they both say that they can’t and don’t want to start anything serious – because Lana is only there temporarily to help her family – from the get go they behave as if Lana will stay forever and soon somehow just slide into a relationship.

There was no tension between the characters and just nothing happened. You know how we sometimes say we’d even read the most domestic shit for characters we love? This was all domestic stuff and no excitement and I honestly just did not care for either protagonist. I especially didn’t like the casual biphobia by Courtney towards Lana.

Perhaps this just wasn’t my book because I went in with false expectations. I thought the hockey bit would be a bit more prominently featured based on the cover and the title of this book. But the hockey aspect in this romance is miniscule and up until the point I decided to not finish, almost non-existent. And the bit of hockey that was on page was exasperating and hurtful, because most of it featured homophobic bullshit by one of Courtney’s teammates. Which just seemed to exist to create tension!? For me that part of the story just fell flat as well, since it isn’t handled by any of the coaching staff or the league, or anyone really. Since I didn’t finish it might possibly get called out later in the book, but since I already had a hard enough time with the book as it was, I decided to call it quits.

This is a nice romance with a sport theme background. Ms. Trebelhorn was able to weave the play of the ice hockey game throughout the story without detracting from the romance.

There are three main characters in this book. Courtney Abbott is a professional female hockey player who is 36 years old and is getting towards the end of her playing career. Lana Caruso is a professional musician who plays in the Chicago orchestra. She has returned home to help her family when her father has a heart attack. Eric, Lana’s son, is 16 years old and loves ice hockey. He wants to eventually become a professional hockey player. After convincing her son to move back to Pennsylvania for one school year to help with her family’s pizza business, Lana plans to return to Chicago. Courtney and Lana meet and there is instant attraction. They agree to keep their relationship light with no commitment since Lana will be leaving in the late spring.

Ms. Trebelhorn has done a nice job with the plot. It was interesting to learn a little bit about hockey without having to immerse myself in a “How to …” book about the sport. Her writing is smooth. The development of the relationship between Lana and Courtney is believable. What I particularly liked is Courtney’s relationship with Eric.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a nice romance. I rate this book 4-1/2 out of 5 stars.

I was given this ARC in return for a fair and honest review.

I'm a sucker for cute lesbian romances and this one did not disappoint. The premise centred around hockey which was a fun topic as i rarely read books focused on sports of any kind. The main couple Courtney and Lana were really cute and I loved the running joke throughout of Courtney being referred to by Lana as Courtney Court. I'd love to see more from these characters as they had a cute relationship with Lana's son. A great read that is a really heartwarming read.

This was a very pleasant surprise, normally I find PJ's novels just ok, nothing earth shattering. This was not just different but had hidden depths in there w.r.t contact sports, bullying, motherhood, friendships.

I very much enjoyed this and highly recommend it.

Courtney is a hockey player at the semi-pro level who has also been an Olympian (Bronze and Gold). She's an older player with a lot of connections in the community.She meets Lana when she and her friend/coach eat dinner at a local pizzeria. Lana is helping out her brother at the family pizzeria because her father had a heart attack. They meet and flirt. And then their paths cross again when Courtney is the Realtor showing Lana places to temporarily rent.

That's the crux of the tension in this novel. Lana's life (she's an orchestral violinist) is back in Chicago not Pennsylvania (where the novel takes place) and so even though they both start falling in love it seemingly can't last, and they have to figure that out to get a happily ever after.

There was also a crazy subplot with another player on Courtney's team, Jen. And the Jen part of the ending was just too real life. I would have loved if it had been a little more fictional with some comeuppance.

I was also a little sad that there wasn't more violinist stuff or-- well-- any at all. That was part of what drew me in, in the first place.

Still, it was a fun story, and I loved all the hockey stuff.

I received this book via Netgalley thanks to Bold Strokes Books.

Courtney Abbott was one of the few who played women’s hockey, she had even brought home Olympian gold but now she plays on a semi-pro women's team. Lana Caruso, a concert violinist, along with her 15 yr old son moves back to Pennsylvania to care for her father. She has no plans on staying, she has her own life in Chicago and she certainly doesn’t plan on falling in love. We all know how this story will end, or at least we think we know but what makes Ms Trebelhorn a really good story teller is how she takes us with her following this pairs journey to happy ever after. I’ve been a fan and read all of the books she has written so I kind of knew what to expect and she didn’t disappoint me this time either. Very, very nice read. Very enjoyable.
ARC via NetGalley