Series: Brooklyn Bruisers #1
Audience: +18
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Sports Romance
Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
Release Date: 06 Sep 2016
My Rating: 5 cups
Source: Netgalley
Blurb (from Goodreads):
The first novel in a sexy new series featuring the hockey players of the Brooklyn Bruisers and the women who win their hearts—from the USA Today bestselling author of the Ivy Years series.
In high school they were the perfect couple—until the day Georgia left Leo in the cold...
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...
*Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of this book from Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my opinion or my rating of the book in any way.
Sports romance is becoming one of my top 5 romance subgenres. This paired with my newly discovered love of hockey, made me desperately need to read Rookie Move. Let me tell you, it was an awesome decision.
It's always interesting to read about second chances, about high school sweethearts getting a second chance at a relationship, mostly because it's interesting to see how they evolved and how the relationship can grow, but also because it's cute. I admit it! My inner romantic goes giddy over second chance stories, I think I've already told you that. Georgia and Leo's story is particularly beautiful because of what happened to make them break up. It's a sad story, really.
Georgia was a great character. Her story is heartbreaking. There's a beautiful scene between her and her roommate, Becca, where she realizes that fear and courage aren't mutually exclusive, and I loved that scene. And it also touches on the fact that some crimes affect your loved ones as well. Georgia is fearless even with her past, and I loved reading about that.
Leo was such a sweetheart. I loved him so, so much. I think even as a teenager, he was a great man, and I was so happy that he got to find his happy ending, because a guy like that deserves that and more. We don't get to see much of his life from the time he was apart from Georgia, aside from a few mentions here and there. I would have wanted to see more of that, but this is probably due to the fact that Brooklyn Bruisers is a spin-off to Bowen's Ivy Years, and there's a possibility that some of those scenes are in those books.
I was also glad that there was a lot more sport in this book. The sport wasn't just something some of the characters did, but at times it kind of felt like another character in the book, which was nice. I am curious to see how the author will approach the various aspects of the sport in the future books, depending on the main character's involvement in the team. And, yes, I may be very happy about who the hero of the next book is.
This was my first Sarina Bowen book, but I'll definitely check her other titles out while I'm waiting for the next Brooklyn Bruiser book to come out.
