Double Pucked by Lauren Blakely

Double Pucked by Lauren Blakely
Series: My Hockey Romance #1
on June 5, 2023
Genres: Romance
Pages: 384
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Purchase on: Amazon// Barnes & Noble// BookBub
Add to: Goodreads // StoryGraph


A jilted book nerd, a plan for sweet revenge, and the two hockey stars who volunteer as her tributes...
When I discover my boyfriend is cheating on me, I move out right away taking what I love most – my dog. As I fly out the door, I make sure to swipe the thing my ex loves best. The VIP tickets he won to a hockey game, complete with the chance to spend an evening with the city’s two biggest NHL stars. I can’t wait to snap selfies with my ex’s idols and rub it in his face. Except, when I head out with the two hockey studs, they have something else in mind besides sweet revenge. Would I like to spend the night…with both of them? Talk about the VIP experience. That’s what I get for one knee-weakening, sheet-grabbing night. In the morning, I plan to return to my bestie’s house to crash on her couch with my dog. But when they learn what happened with my awful ex, they ask me to be their temporary roomie for the week. Oh, and one of them needs my help with his grumpy reputation. The other? Well, he wants me to be his fake date at an upcoming wedding. Looks like I’m about to get double pucked. Again.Double Pucked is a roomies to lovers, fake dating, image makeover, super spicy hockey rom com with a guaranteed why-choose style HEA! No swords cross. This story is perfect for fans of Lily Gold and Emily Rath!

review

I’m going to be real frank and honest with you. I picked up Double Pucked by Lauren Blakely solely because this was promised to be a hockey romance that was mfm. And it delivered but only in the mfm aspect. Or well, mostly since the romance and relationship portion was severely lacking which was pretty disappointing.

Each of the three characters in this threesome is a caricature instead of actually fully fleshed. Honestly, I couldn’t even remember the FMC’s name as I started writing this and had to skim through the book again to find it (Trina!) Here’s what we know. Trina has a dog that loves to eat dirty underwear, an ex who cheated on her, and loves to work at a bookstore. That’s everything. It’s hinted at her having a possibly strained relationship with her family but we never get into that other than light conversation with them over a meal. Also, the entire dog angle? Hated it. It was weird and made it uncomfortable. Then, we have the MMCs, Ryker and Chase. Apparently, they’re two different characters though they’re written as halves of a whole. Ryker is dark and gloomy and Chase is a golden retriever. That’s everything we know about them. That’s everything Trina knows about them because it’s how she refers to them.

This feels like we’re given stand ins for sex and if that’s all this was going to be, I wish I would’ve known this first. I hate when things are marketed as a romance because they’re too scared to say it is erotica. Trina meets Ryker and Chase who instantly are in love with her. They take her back to Chase’s place and decide to spend the week having wild sex, but then want her to move in permanently because they’re all in love. After a week. It’s so outlandish. I wouldn’t mind it if it knew it was but instead, it tries to be serious. It tries to convince readers this is a romance and not just straight up porn. That’s what annoys me.

Now, you might be asking how did this end up getting 2.5 (rounded to 3 for retail sites) stars? Because it works as intro erotica. If this was just sex and didn’t try to tell me how in love they all are with one another, how perfect a match they are, how, despite never having a threesome, Trina is a natural at it, it would’ve been good! I would’ve rated this higher! But, with the expectations of hockey and romance, this was such a complete letdown.

So, would I recommend Double Pucked by Lauren Blakely? Only if you’re strictly looking for MFM erotica. If you’re actually looking for hockey romance, you will be sorely disappointed. If you’re looking for good dialogue/internal monologue, you will be sorely disappointed.

two-half-stars

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