Power Play - Sophia Henry (Pilots Hockey #2)

I have friends that eat, sleep, and breathe hockey. While I've never been one of those people, one of my best friends definitely made sure I understood just how hot the players were. I can't argue there! Nowadays I go to local games a few times a year, and I admit I sometimes look at the men just to see how good looking they are, but I much prefer book boyfriends to hockey boyfriends. Lucky for me, Sophia Henry's Pilots Hockey series is one I can't put down and I am super excited to share the newest release with you today.

Rating: 4 Stars
Published: February 16, 2016
Many thanks to Netgalley and Flirt for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Amazon Goodreads

Beneath her innocent facade, Gabriella Bertucci has her reasons to be standoffish with guys. Especially guys like Landon Taylor, a star defenseman on the minor-league Detroit Pilots and the object of a serious crush since he first walked into her family's market. But when Landon comes through for her in a moment of crisis, Gaby starts to wonder if there might be more to Landon than hard muscles and fast skates.

Landon isn't afraid of telling Gaby that he's got it for her bad. The problem is, she seems unwilling to believe it. And though Landon enjoys his reputation as a cool-headed athlete, he hates losing—both on the rink and off. It's his competitiveness that makes him so damn good at what he does . . . but it also makes him just a little bit complicated.

One minute Gaby's tempted to give in; the next, she's getting cold feet. How can she trust a guy who's destined for bigger and better things to stick around? Then again, when Landon pulls her close with those powerful arms, the only thing that matters is right now.

I read the first Pilots Hockey novel, Delayed Penalty, when it first released last year. I gave it a 3.5 and knew I wanted to read the next book. While it had some continuity issues for me I still enjoyed the men of the Pilots Hockey team and wanted to know more. Power Play, the second book in the series, took me by surprise. I went into this book thinking it would be fairly similar to Delayed Penalty, and boy was I wrong. Not only is it a cute love story, but the story line flows perfectly and I found myself liking the characters quite a bit. While readers of Delayed Penalty may have enjoyed the constant go-go-go feel and drama, Power Play is similar to a friends to lovers story. Tensions are high among the family, similar to the last book, but this time the hockey player is a little less chauvinistic, definitely more boy next door.

Gabriella, Gabi as she's known by, is a character I related to in more ways than one. I understand having siblings, being treated differently as a girl, and having hard life lessons learned in terrifying ways. She's a strong characters, she's bright, and I liked reading her POV. She was fun and I really liked her spunk, especially her flirty banter with her hockey crush, Landon. Speaking of Landon, he can be my book boyfriend if he wants to. Described as hot and family oriented, Gabi sees a different side of Landon he never shares, on or off the ice. He's got some self esteem issues and he and Gabi work them out on each other. Did I say on? I meant with. They had known each other since childhood, but only found friendship in the midst of a traumatic event. I liked the speed of the relationship, though I would normally complain about it. In this length of novel it just worked, moving from family friends and acquaintances, to dating, to finally lovers. Their relationship was fun, unique, and proved to be really positive for both of them as individuals. While there is less hockey in this book, it's still mentioned often. I definitely liked the introduction of the world of characters in Detroit that the hockey players interact with, because it brought a lot of depth to the Pilots Hockey team. This book is true to reality, written very well, and was an enjoyable fast read. I absolutely recommend the Pilots Hockey series to fellow readers and if you pick up Power Play first, don't worry about it, because it's a standalone!