This one is another case of needed something quick to fulfill a goal. Somehow my TBR is lacking a sports book written by a woman, and Read Harder is asking me for one so I decided to hunt up a quick sports romance novella by a woman to help get my read count up and fulfill the task.
Which brought me to Jillian Arly’s Sticks & Stones. This Olympics set novella (year unclear, location not of a recent Games) focuses on the romantic tension between Charlotte, a USA women’s hockey player, and Lucas, a USA men’s curling skip. They have known each other for 15 years, but he is her older brother’s best friend which has made them off limits to each other (as has the 7-year age gap that Arly handles well). Now they find themselves at their first Olympics together, without Charlie’s brother around, and their spark can’t be denied any longer. And they don’t want to.
I thought this one was perfectly enjoyable and while the steamy scenes weren’t all to my taste in how they were presented still were good. The narration bounces back and forth between Charlie and Luke and is in first person POV, which your mileage may vary on. The ending also swerves a bit as this is part of a larger series I haven’t read. But I appreciated that the author played hockey, and obviously knows a good deal about curling, and that knowledge comes to bear in her writing. The balance of all the things may have been a twinge off, but I enjoyed myself all the same.
Bingo Space: Friends. Brother’s best friend trope is central here.
Bingo 8: Joker, Sheep, Justice, 26, Friends
Bingo 9: Or, Friends, Refuge, Bird, Repair
