By Carmen Jenner
Synopsis
Stella Hart is the hottest thing in country music. For ten years, she’s been Nashville’s darling. She’s pure, sweet, and a positive role model in an industry rife with scandals, sex, and sequins. Men want to own her, women want to be her—everyone wants a piece of her, and Stella? Well, she wants out.
As the center for the Calgary Crushers, Van Ross isn’t afraid of the spotlight, but he doesn’t much like it either. Despite his reputation as a player, the NHL’s bad boy lives for only two things: the game, and his younger brother. That’s why when he comes across a country music superstar seeking refuge at his home in the Canadian Rockies, he’s not too happy with the media shitstorm this surprise houseguest brings.
With a nationwide manhunt, paparazzi dogging their every move, producers of a reality TV show baying for blood, and a record label desperate to see their “good girl” returned safely home, Van and Stella’s lives are snowballing out of control.
While Van would like nothing more than to show the purest of them all how well he handles his er … stick, Stella is no puck bunny. Nor is she as innocent as she’d have the world believe.
With chemistry like theirs, tension runs high on and off the ice, but the end game is the same for both players: line up the puck, take the shot, and score. If only their hearts understood the play.
Puck fame and fortune.
Puck right and wrong.
Puck love.
Review
PUCK LOVE is the first book I’ve read from Carmen Jenner, and overall I found it an enjoyable read.
“Van, what happened to my panties?”
“I took one look at them and they just disintegrated into thin air. That happens quite a bit when I’m around.”
I liked Van. Yes, he could sometimes be a bit of a pig, especially to Stella before they started sleeping together, and he came on to her pretty damn strong, but I did find humour in some of his comments. I loved watching him with his little brother, Emmett, who has Downs Syndrome and who he clearly loved very much and would do anything for. I know there are a few readers who hated him because he “cheated”, but since he and Stella were broken up at the time and he put a stop to it very quickly, I don’t consider what he did cheating, so I’m not going to hold that one scene against him.
I liked Stella, but I don’t really have much to say about her other than she suffered from severe panic attacks when performing, but was suddenly cured after starting a relationship with Van. This was a woman who was questioning her entire career and life choices, but when the time came to return said career, she did so very easily and was suddenly loving it. I guess I just don’t understand how getting a boyfriend can change how you feel about your job.
I thought PUCK LOVE was written well. I didn’t notice any spelling or grammar mistakes, or any inconsistencies, and it did hold my attention pretty well. That being said, there were a few things that slightly bothered me. We never found out how the paparazzi discovered where Stella was hiding. The first half (ish) of the story takes place in the span of a few weeks, but after that the story takes huge skips in time, ranging from one month to four months. After feeling their connection build in those first few weeks, it was hard trying to feel that connection continue when they were apart for months at a time. Lastly, Van and Stella had a huge conflict around the middle of the story, so I thought it was odd to add another conflict at the 90% mark, especially when it was just a misunderstanding and was resolved within a couple of pages. It felt a bit pointless to me.
PUCK LOVE is told in dual POVs and is currently a stand-alone. However, that could change as Van’s friend and Stella’s manager seemed to have a little something going on in this story, but in regards to Van and Stella, they got their HEA.
Puck Love
My Rating: 
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