Cold Fury Hockey Series
New Adult Contemporary
Released October 14, 2014
Published by LoveSwept (Random House)
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Hockey star Alexander Crossman has a reputation as a cold-hearted player on and off the rink. Pushed into the sport by an alcoholic father, Alex isn’t afraid to give fans the proverbial middle finger, relishing his role as the MVP they love to hate. Management, however, isn’t so amused. Now Alex has a choice: fix his public image through community service or ride the bench. But Alex refuses to be molded into the Carolina Cold Fury poster boy . . . not even by a tempting redhead with killer curves.
As a social worker, Sutton Price is accustomed to difficult people—like Alex, who’s been assigned to help her create a drug-abuse awareness program for at-risk youth as part of the team’s effort to clean up his image. What she doesn’t expect is the arrogant smirk from his perfect lips to stir her most heated fantasies. But Sutton isn’t one to cross professional boundaries—and besides, Alex doesn’t do relationships . . . or does he? The more she sees behind Alex’s bad-boy façade, the more Sutton craves the man she uncovers.
Review
Alex Crossman may know how to play the puck and score goals, but he doesn’t know anything about being a team player, a fan pleaser, or loving the game of hockey just for the sake of the game itself, and he doesn’t give a rat’s ass about those things either. He’s bitter, closed off, and an A one asshole. He could care less about the game, his teammates or the fans of the Raleigh, North Carolina Hockey team Cold Fury. He plays hockey because it was forced on him by a father who lives through him not for him. Since he was young, Alex’s father has only cared about making him a top hockey player, refusing to allow Alex any time for himself or his other passions, and this has led to a very solitary lifestyle as a professional hockey player, and it’s also thwarted his love for a game that he’s played his entire life. Alex plays hockey because that’s what he knows; if he could quit, he would, but there’s nothing for him to fall back on, so he guts out every game, scoring and assisting when he needs to but feeling completely void of any excitement, which shows in how he treats everybody involved in his career.
But all that’s about to change. In order for Alex to remain in good standing with the front office of the Cold Fury, he needs to fine tune his image…show the fans, his teammates, and the suits that he can be the face of the franchise and help put together an outreach program for at-risk youth. He’s all for giving back, but what rubs him the wrong way is the fact that he’s forced to do it in order to not be benched and he won’t give in without making it known how unhappy he is. But what he never factored in was the fact that being required to clean up his act would put him in the position to learn to love the game of hockey again and find a woman who might just soften his heart enough to truly care for someone besides himself.
Sutton Price understands how one’s past shapes his/her future. She understands that people can be conditioned to be a certain way, defining the path they lead in life. She’s no stranger to hardships or a parent who has let her down more times than she cares to count. But unlike Alex, she chose to pave her own way, and instead of being bitter and weighted down by the burdens of her childhood, she reaches out to help support and protect teenagers who have a difficult home life and are at risk of making the same mistakes as their parents. As soon as she meets Alex, she sees behind the cold façade and doesn’t allow him to manipulate her or treat her like shit, which is exactly what draws Alex to her. With Sutton’s help, Alex’s passion for the game of hockey reignites and his overall demeanor changes as well, but can Alex truly change his ways and become a one woman man when he’s only ever used woman for his needs alone, or will all of Sutton’s work be for nothing when at the end of the day, Alex can’t get passed his father’s controlling ways or his messed up brain?
I’m a Sawyer Bennett book junkie. Her books have a way of drawing me in from the start due to her first person perspectives and fantastic characterization. Right away, I saw through Alex’s shitty attitude and knew there was a story there that would explain it all, and that’s exactly what Sawyer gives readers; she slowly shows why Alex is the way that he is and what it will take to break down his walls and open his eyes to the kind of life he’s missing out on by being a cold hearted ass. Sutton is my kind of heroine; she’s feisty and can banter with anyone. I love that she calls Alex on his shit right away and refuses to cower to him; it’s exactly that kind of attitude that allows Alex to shed the frigidness and find himself again. She’s a strong woman who believes in what she does and goes out of her way to truly care for the people she loves. Alex and Sutton have such similar backgrounds, but they had two very different ways of coping and living with the pain caused by being let down by a parent. Sutton’s strength comes from her ability to empathize but firmly lead those who confide in her to a better solution. She wants to be that person for Alex as well; he just needs to let her.
Alex is a steamy, relationship driven read that illustrates how much one’s past can determine one’s present. Alex may act like he cares about nothing and no one, but for those who are willing to take a closer look, they’ll find that behind the terrible attitude is a man who actually just needs someone to help him find his passion again, and Sutton is just the person to do so. I love this new series, and I can’t wait for Garrett’s book.
A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.
4.5 poison apples
Giveaway
About the Author
USA Today Best-Selling author, Sawyer Bennett, is a snarky southern woman and reformed trial lawyer who decided to finally start putting on paper all of the stories that were floating in her head. She is married to a mobster (well, a market researcher) and they have two big, furry dogs who hog the bed. Sawyer would like to report she doesn’t have many weaknesses but can be bribed with a nominal amount of milk chocolate.
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