Rush by Nicole Edwards Release Date: August 16, 2016 Publisher: Nicole Edwards Limited Contemporary Romance/Sports M/F Book #1 in the Austin Arrows series Number of Pages: 539 Kindle Edition Source: purchased from Amazon Rating: XXX Read 3/7/17 to 3/10/17
I’ve learned over the last few years that I really enjoy sports themed romances. (I absolutely love and recommend the Play-By-Play series by Jaci Burton.) You have the millionaire hero trope, but he works hard for his money. Plus, a built-in reason for him to have a great body! I’ve also found that I sometimes have an issue with hockey themed sport romances. I’ve read a few that the author didn’t seem comfortable with the terminology used in the sport or the fact that, unlike football, hockey is played multiple times a week. As much as I love Nicole Edwards I was also afraid she would have me cringing throughout this story. I’m super happy to report that she got it right! I know she’s a big hockey fan and I think that helped. (I grew up in and currently live in Red Wings country. My husband not only grew up playing hockey but also picked it back up in his 20s and played in some adult leagues.)
The idea that Kinsgton Rush and Ellie have both harbored feelings for each other for about 16 years but kept them to themselves out of respect for his best friend/her brother…I loved that. Right that we get that this isn’t an insta-romance (not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I like a different approach now and then.) There is not only a deep connection between Kingston and Ellie, but also between Kingston and Bianca, Ellie’s daughter. It helps to have a reason a super protective single mom has no problem with her daughter hanging out with her brand new boyfriend…even if he is supposed to be a fake boyfriend.
The fake fiancé, fake girlfriend, fake wife thing is a weakness for me. I don’t know why I enjoy that scenario so much but I do. So this book is right up my alley. You throw in a really great representation of a young teenage girl and the over protective brother and all should be golden.
Bianca is a really good kid but like most kids her age she wants what she wants and doesn’t think through all of the ramifications. It is so true that no matter how hard parents try to monitor their kids’ activities in this age of technology the kids usually can find a way to sneak one past us. And that’s a super scary thing. Plus, the author uses Bianca’s best friend Gabby to show us how insecure kids can be at that age. All the questions Abby had about how the relationship between Kingston and Ellie could possibly spoil Bianca’s childhood dreams really show the up and down emotions of a pre-teen.
I love the chemistry between Kingston and Ellie. I love that Ellie isn’t as sexually bland as she seems to think she is and that Kingston is so great at bringing out that side of her without pushing or making her feel awkward. There is a huge event that occurs that has both of them doubting what the other feels. After all, this is supposed to be pretend. The feelings each go through are totally realistic and appropriate…until those feelings stay bottled up for too long and start to get annoying. Truly, the event that starts the pulling away that they both do is not to be taken lightly. There are a lot of people involved including a child. But it gets to be a bit ridiculous that they’re not only not talking about it to each other but they’re also not talking about it with their closest friends.
I enjoyed meeting some of the players of the Austin Arrows. I know we’ll be seeing a bit more of at least a couple of them and that makes me happy. I love hockey and Nicole Edwards did a great job of portraying that world.
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