Hat Trick by Chelsea Curto | Book Review

[ad/gifted - I received an eARC copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.]

Title & Author: Hat Trick by Chelsea Curto 

My rating: 5/5

Publication date: 27th May 2025

Blurb:

Riley Mitchell has everything he could ever want.

He’s a back-to-back Stanley Cup champion. He has great friends, a fun life, and he’s living out his dream of playing hockey in the NHL.

Except one night, everything changes.

After a car accident leaves him with an amputated right leg, he struggles with his identity. Who is he away from the ice? How is he supposed to live without the sport that means everything to him?

Enter Lexi Armstrong, the DC Stars athletic trainer assigned to Riley’s rehabilitation.

Independent, proudly single, and a sarcastic ray of sunshine, she’s determined to help Riley feel better not just physically, but mentally too.

And the friends with benefits arrangement they fall into?

Definitely not part of the rehabilitation plan.

It was supposed to be one night, but when just once turns into something much deeper than a romp in the bedroom, they have a decision to make.

Do they fight their feelings and keep things purely physical? Or can they pull off a Hat Trick and find something that lasts forever?

Review: 

I rave about Chelsea Curto's books so much (and I know I have convinced so many people to read them - thank you to everyone who comes to me to say they loved them too off the back of my recommendation!) but I fear my words can't accurately describe just how passionate I am about each and every one.

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of Face Off, the first in the D.C. Stars series and instantly fell in love. I knew I'd found a new favourite author just from that one book. I then went and binged the entire Love Through A Lens series which I loved just as much. I received ARCs of Power Play, Slap Shot and now Hat Trick and each time I felt like I was going back to a friendship group that I was a part of.

Curto's writing is beautiful and second to none. She always has a real focus on women in sports, women doing well in positions that men don't have to work as hard in and, yes, while we have probably some of the best spicy scenes I have ever read, each book has some form of emotional moment.

Hat Trick was 100% the most emotional of the lot. I was looking forward to Riley's book and I knew it would break my heart, but Curto just managed to put it right back together again.

Riley, one of the defensemen for the D.C. Stars is in an accident and has to undergo an above knee amputation. Being an ice hockey player, this is life-changing for him. Lexi, the team's head athletic trainer is determined to not only aid his rehabilitation to the best of her ability, but to get him back on the ice.

The accident and amputation happens quite early on in the book and by 9% of the way in, I'd already almost cried three times. The way that Riley's emotions following his amputation are written is absolutely perfect. I felt his anguish and anger so vividly as well as his ups and downs throughout the entire book. It felt real.

You can tell that so much research and thought has gone into this book with regards to life as an amputee, rehabilitation in a sports setting following a life-changing incident and the use of prosthetics.

Watching Lexi and Riley's relationship develop was beautiful and you get the sense that they really needed each other. Being back with this group (especially the group chat texts - they are always my favourite parts!) and getting little updates on what they are up to in the current timeline is a nice little extra. 

Chelsea, bring on the next one! 

I Make My Own Fun by Hannah Beer | Book Review

[ad/gifted - I received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.]

Title & Author: I Make My Own Fun by Hannah Beer

My rating: 5/5

Publisher: Atlantic Books

Publication date: 6th March 2025

Blurb:

She's the woman who has everything. But she wants more. She wants you...

Everyone knows Marina, the A-list movie star. But very few know Marina, the absolute monster.

Years at the top have proved that whatever Marina wants, she gets. But when she meets bartender Anna, Marina discovers something that can't be bought: Anna's affection. As Anna remains unmoved, Marina's advances become more desperate - and her obsession more dangerous.

The price of fame is heavy - and someone will have to pay for it...

Review:

Oh I absolutely LOVED this. Literally right from the beginning, I thought "this is going to be fun". It is very much a "rich people doing questionable things" type of book.

Marina is an English movie star in her late twenties. She has been acting for years and has amassed a huge amount of fans. Think "A-lister" with a high profile relationship (more PR than actual relationship) and she is used to getting anything she wants. 

Following an event, she meets bartender Anna and the two spend the night together. Marina becomes obsessed with Anna but does so from afar, truly believing that something more will happen between them.

I love characters like Marina. She is not nice, has a huge ego, speaks horrendously towards her assistant Jules but I thought she was brilliant and her behaviour had me laughing at some parts - I'm not sure what that says about me?! 

There are a few mixed media aspects in this book too like news articles and snippets of fan threads about Marina. I, for my sins, love celebrity gossip and theories and this made her character seem so real.

The obsession Marina has towards Anna kept me hooked because you know they both see what happened between them completely differently. I couldn't wait for the culmination of events and it was better than I thought it was going to be.

The Care Package by Leigh Suznovich | Book Review

[ad/gifted - I received a ebook copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.]

Title & Author: The Care Package by Leigh Suznovich 

My rating: 4/5

Publication date: 18th March 2025

Blurb:

Tania Castillo has been making it on her own for most of her life after enduring a whole lot of tragedy. She definitely does not want to get involved with her flirty, gorgeous co-worker Carlo, no matter how charming and funny he is. Workplace romances just get too messy. When disaster strikes though, he’s there for her in a way no one ever really has been before, and her walls start to crumble. Can he be the peace she has always been desperately searching for?

Carlo Hernandez has been pining for Tania from the moment he saw her walk into their work over a year ago. She politely refused him when he asked her out though, and that was that. Over a year later, she finds herself in a bind that only he can help with. Suddenly, he’s living with his dream woman and her mischievous cats. As their relationship heats up and deepens, he hopes to make her his forever roommate.

Review:

I read The Parcel (the first in the Special Delivery duet) last year and absolutely loved Taran and Lyra so I was excited for Taran's best friend Carlo's book as he seemed interesting in the glimpse of him that we got in The Parcel.

Carlo works for FedEx and over the last year has develop a bit of a crush on Tania who came to work at the same company. She has however, always rebutted his advances as she refuses to mix work and play.

Tania has had to overcome a lot of hurdles in her life. Her parents passed away in a car accident and growing up in the foster system meant that she had to put barriers up and protect her peace. Her own family member is Celeste, her foster sister who is currently wrongly incarcerated.

Following an incident at her apartment where her adorable kitties flooded the place, she finds herself with nowhere to live. Carlo has a guest room so it feels like the perfect solution. He won't see her be homeless and vows to put his feelings aside.

What I love about this book is firstly, the character growth. Carlo and Tania both discover their passions and what they want to achieve in life through each others support. Secondly, the focus on fighting men who abuse their power against women, and finally, both of our main characters families orginate from Spain and El Salvador. Because of this, you really get this sense of family from Carlo's side and although Tania lost her parents young, her going back to Spain to discover where her family grew up is beautiful.

These really give Carlo and Tania this huge, rich background.

A beautiful follow up to The Parcel!

Among The Willows by Jennifer L Strand | Book Review

[ad/gifted - I received an eARC of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.]

Title & Author: Among The Willows by Jennifer L Strand 

My rating: 5/5

Publication date: 21st March 2025

Blurb:

He’s a cage fighting cowboy who never stopped loving his best friend, but all she’s ever done is run.

Romy Miller is a laid-off teacher who hasn’t been home in twelve years. Not since she hooked up with her best guy friend and ran off to college. She has cut all ties to Willows, including her narcissistic father, but when she receives a collect call from her older sister in jail asking for help, she decides there is no choice but to return home.

Since his childhood crush, Romy, broke his heart, Jude Larsen hasn’t been home to the family ranch. Instead, he channeled all his frustration and self-worth into a championship MMA career. That is, until he receives a call from his uncle the ranch is now a crime scene and Romy’s sister is behind bars.

Now both are returning to Willows. While Jude brings his training camp to the ranch in preparation for the biggest fight of his career, Romy embarks on a relentless quest to clear her sister's name. What neither of them knows is that someone else isn't happy that she's returned and will stop at nothing to ensure she doesn't find the truth.

Review:

I was a thriller girlie first and foremost before discovering my love of romances (cowboy romance in particular!). I have read my fair share of cowboy romances and sometimes they can either feel a bit samey or just miss the mark. Among The Willows is like a breath of fresh air. As I was reading I had that feeling of "I will read anything this author writes. I am now obsessed". 

Romy is a teacher who has recently been laid off and has also discovered that her boyfriend has been cheating on her for the last four months. As if things weren't bad enough, she receives a call from her sister Hazel who is in a penitentiary after allegedly shooting and killing her boyfriend. Romy then returns to her hometown, somewhere she hasn't stepped foot in in the last twelve years.

Rhys Larsen is a big shot MMA fighter who used to work at the ranch in Romy's hometown. He also hasn't been back in twelve years, since the morning after he and Romy finally spent the night together at the age of eighteen, then she ghosted him.

This book is just everything. You have small town romance, second chances, a male main character who has been pining for the last twelve years but also that thriller/crime element that I love with regards to Romy's sister. 

It is a spicy read, and those scenes are incredible, but the plot is so full that you don't want to put it down. Perfection.

The Favourites by Layne Fargo | Book Review

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Title & Author: The Favourites by Layne Fargo 

My rating: 5/5

Publisher: Chatto & Windus

Publication date: 16th January 2025

Blurb:

Everyone thinks Heath Rocha was my first love. He wasn't. My first love was figure skating.

Katarina Shaw has always known she’s destined to become an Olympic skater. When she meets Heath Rocha, a lonely kid stuck in the foster care system, their instant connection makes them a formidable duo on the ice. Clinging to skating – and each other – to escape their turbulent lives, Kat and Heath go from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers, captivating fans with their scorching chemistry, rebellious style and rollercoaster relationship.

Until, at the Olympic Games, as the world holds its breath, a shocking incident instantly destroys their partnership.

Ten years later, an unauthorised tell-all documentary reignites the public obsession with Shaw and Rocha. If Kat wants to own her story, she must break her silence. As Kat’s account of her dramatic rise and fall alternates with scandalous interviews from the film, The Favourites spins into a dance between passion, ambition and what it truly means to win.

Sensational rumours have haunted Kat and Heath’s every step for years, but the truth may be even more outrageous than the headlines.

Review:

The Favourites is kind of a modern retelling of Wuthering Heights set in the world of competitive figure skating and I fell in love. So much so that I read it on my Kindle, purchased the hardcover, went on to purchase the Goldsboro special edition and then listened to the audio.

The Favourites was one of my most anticipated book releases of 2025 but it totally blew my expectations out of the water and there is no doubt that it's up there as one of my favourite books ever. I haven't felt this way since I read The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo.

I know nothing about figure skating but feel like I learnt a lot through this novel. The Favourites is told from the point of view of Katarina Shaw, who is recounting her skating career and personal life; from her childhood and meeting Heath Rocha, who would become her skating partner (and much more than that!) up to present day. 

There is also a documentary being made about Katarina and Heath so we have snippets of thoughts and opinions from other skaters, judges and coaches who knew the couple at the height of their careers. (When listening to the audio version, I have to say that Johnny Weir's narration of Ellis Dean was fantastic!) I absolutely love the depth that this adds to the book and it helps build the suspense of what happened next in their lives.

I was totally enthralled by this world, the relationship between Katarina and Heath (which is not at all plain sailing) and the intensity between them but also the love for figure skating, particularly on Katarina's part, and the drama in the skating world when it gets to competitive level.

I feel like my words cannot do justice for how this book made me feel. Just incredible!