I’ve read and enjoyed a lot of Kelly Jamieson’s books and this standalone romance is the best so far. It was moving and the characters felt real.

Drew Sellers is a former NHL star with three rings who has had to retire because of a bum knee. Then his golddigger of a wife cheated on him and divorced him. He feels as if he’s reached roc bottom as he spends his days feeling sorry for himself and drinking too much and getting into bar fights.

Then Sara, a woman from his past shows up to tell him that a one-night hook-up 12 years ago in college resulted in a daughter he had no idea about. And on top of that, she is dying of cancer and wants nothing from him but for her daughter, Chloe, to have a chance to meet her father. Drew is very unsure if he can deal with all this drama, but he meets his daughter and Sara’s sister, Peyton. Peyton has taken leave from her job to help her sister in her last days.

Despite this terribly sad set-up, the book isn’t too depressing. It was just fun seeing Drew come out of his funk as he falls for his daughter and Peyton. He realizes that he has to make more of his life than feeling miserable if he is going to be a worthy father. He’s rather adorable as he tries to do his best in a tough situation.

Maybe because he is meeting Peyton in such awful circumstances, they hold off on their mutual attraction because they have to help Sara and care for Chloe. So, unlike a lot of romances, the reader gets to see more of what they see in each other. They actually talk together and get to know one another on an emotional level instead of just being irresistibly attracted to each other. They’re both good people doing their best to help a young girl losing her mother while still trying to figure out what is important in their own lives.

Yes, you’ll tear up in a few spots, but you’ll like these characters so much that you’ll won’t be able to put the book down.

I was given a free ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Three and a half stars.

This was not quite the book I assumed from skimming the blurb, it wasn't the standard billionaire sportsman suddenly has hitherto unknown child come to live with him, but something a bit more nuanced.

Drew Sellers is a former NHL player who has had to retire after several surgeries to his knee. With no back-up plan, his wife has left him for a former team-mate, he is feeling washed up and spends his days drinking too much, throwing a pity party for one and starting bar fights.

One day he runs into a woman, Sara Watt, who claims that they had sex 12 years earlier while they were both at college and she has a 12 year old daughter as a result. She didn't know his last name or which college he went to and therefore couldn't contact him. It was only when she saw his picture on the front of a magazine that she found out his full name. Sara has contacted Drew because she is dying and wants her daughter Chloe to know her father. Sara's sister Peyton is a career woman in New York but she flies to stay with her sister and niece to take care of them.

For the first time since he was forced to retire Drew has a reason for getting out of bed in the morning (as opposed to noon), as Sara gets weaker he steps up to get Chloe to school and doing parental things like homework. As the sparks fly between Drew and Peyton they need to make some tough choices about the future.

Drew was such a sweetheart and came from such a tight family background that I found it hard to believe that he was drowning in self-pity alone. Also I found Peyton to be very judgemental, she takes one incident and refers to it multiple times as is Drew were some kind of deadbeat alcoholic.

I liked this book, it was deeper than I was expecting, not as funny as I was expecting - Drew didn't really make any parenting mistakes - but also not as sad as I would have expected given Sara's terminal illness. This struck me as somewhat of a transitional book (and I may be totally off base here) between an author who has written romantic series about hockey players to an author writing about more 'normal' people. So Drew was an NHL player but he didn't have a long career and he hasn't salted away gazillions. He drives a Porsche but his house is similar to Sara's house (although Sara and Peyton's parents were quite well off and left them the house).

It will be interesting to see whether this the start of a new series or a one-off.