Rookie Move (Brooklyn Bruisers #1), by Sarina Bowen
Publish Date: September 6, 2016
Publisher: Berkley Romance
Format: ARC, provided by the publisher
Genre: new adult contemporary romance
To Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Rating: 4.5 STARS
(Synopsis) Hockey player Leo Trevi has spent the last six years trying to do two things: get over the girl who broke his heart, and succeed in the NHL. But on the first day he’s called up to the newly franchised Brooklyn Bruisers, Leo gets checked on both sides, first by the team’s coach—who has a long simmering grudge, and then by the Bruisers’ sexy, icy publicist—his former girlfriend Georgia Worthington.
Saying goodbye to Leo was one of the hardest things Georgia ever had to do—and saying hello again isn’t much easier. Georgia is determined to keep their relationship strictly professional, but when a press conference microphone catches Leo declaring his feelings for her, things get really personal, really fast....
I love a good second chance romance story. Reading about two people separated by time and/or logistics, who now have the ability to reconnect for a potentially better future than they could've dreamed the first time around just makes all my feels happy. But, I've come to realize that there's one inherent flaw in this particular trope that you just can't get around.
In nearly all cases, someone was a dumbass. Hence - the initial breakup.
Now, the dumbassery is sometimes intentional, and other times it just can't be helped. But, in every case, it befalls our main couple because they couldn't just freaking talk to each other when it counted.
Case in point - Leo and Georgia.
You know what happens when you make assumptions? Yeah, well, when Leo and Georgia were 18, everyone made assumptions without hearing the truth, and as a result, they broke up and have spent the past six years in closeted misery. But the BEST part of the second chance romance trope is when the planets align and the two star-crossed lovers are thrust in each others' orbits once again, forcing them to finally do what they should've done all those years before. TALK. (Okay - and have lots of lets-get-reacquainted sex)
So, when Leo is brought up to play on the NHL team for which Georgia is the head publicist and her father is the head coach, things get really uncomfortable really quickly. Leo has never stopped loving Georgia, despite the fact that she broke his heart. So, he sees this as a sign that he's being given a second chance. Leo is an amazing man. He's sweet and determined and really only wants to see Georgia happy. And he is not willing to let her go this time, despite her efforts to the contrary.
I wanted to yell at Georgia so many times. This amazing man wants her. STILL. And, yet, she continues to find ways and reasons to keep her barriers up and shut him out. On top of that, it always frustrated me when she saw her father treating Leo like crap, and she did nothing about it. She mused about it - wondered why her father had it out for him. And, yet, she never pressed the issue, even though it obviously had to do with her and their past. How could it not?
As someone with a degree in public relations, I loved the peek inside that part of a professional sports team. It sounds like an incredibly challenging position, and I thought Sarina Bowen did a great job balancing that side with the players' side. Hockey fans will love this book. Heck - I loved this book, and I don't follow hockey at all.
Rookie Move was a fantastic start to this new series. Sarina Bowen treats her side characters with the same care as her main characters - they're colorful and multi-faceted and they all caught my interest. Which is great, since I'm assuming these characters, who are only peripheral ones in this book, will eventually get their own books. It makes me excited and anxious for the rest of their stories.
Regardless of whether you love hockey, if you love a hot romance with plenty of feels on the side, Rookie Move should find a home on your bookshelf.
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