This was a fun, easy read! I loved Zara and Caleb. I didn't quite get why he was the one who got in all the trouble for the video since he never opened his mouth, but I loved the result of his punishment :)

How would you feel if your parents took over your dating profile?

Because of a viral video fuckup, hockey player Caleb Stuckey is forced to go on a dating reality show where his mom picks out his date. Zara Ambrose is just trying to keep control of her life and advance her career as a miniatures artist when her best friend tells her to go on the dating show in exchange for a meeting with a top art collector. The rules are this: 5 dates, parental guidance after each date via TV interviews, then you’re home free. When Caleb & Zara meet for the first time, they both realize they are only there to get something and love is not it. They form an agreement to get through it but can they really stop after only 5 dates? I love a good fake relationship romance! This one was so fun. I loved the depth of the characters which shows in their getting to know each other but also each of their relationships with their parents. Caleb & Zara had sparks flying from the start and it only got better as they started to realize them.

I thought this was a good read! The writing flowed well for me, and I liked Caleb and Zara together. I thought they had great chemistry, but it was frustrating watching them get in their own way about their relationship. Caleb came around a lot sooner than Zara, and I thought the argument that blew everything up was painful. Zara turned into a b**ch, and said some pretty horrible things to Caleb. Caleb only told her the truth. Caleb was still the one that made the grand gesture, even though I felt like that should have been on Zara. I loved Anchovy, he was a great dog, and added some funny moments to the story. I can't wait to find out what happens with the rest of these hockey players!
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced readers copy of this book.

I love this world that Avery Flynn has created! The Ice Knights game and Harbor City is on my wish list of places I wish I could travel too!


Imagine your parents picked your next date. I know I’d probably hate it. Giving up complete power. Caleb, however, has no choice. The concept of this book is so unique and I loved every minute of it!

This was such a fun, light read. Caleb and Zara’s banter is great. They have great chemistry and they become actual friends. Each is forced to be on the dates, but they have fun anyway. Which was not what either were expecting. It truly was a laugh out loud book. Let’s not forget the ultimate scene stealer, Anchovy! He’s hilarious and smart.

I’m so glad there are going to be more books in the series!. I love all the characters!

This book was a barrel of laughs. The chemistry between Zara and Caleb is amazing, and puts all their five dates only and no strings attached BS in the dumpster where it belongs. Even funnier are their parents. The overbearing mother/hockey coach and a head in the clouds/dreamer dad are just fixing to get a novella of their own. You will meet up with characters from Hartigans and the Harbour City series. I can't wait to see what Avery has in store for the other Ice Knights. Definitely looking forward to Tess's book that is coming up next because she has always intrigued me. This is going to be a great new series.

4.5 Stars
I always look forward to a book by Avery Flynn because I know I'm going to be for a great book and one you're just going to gobble up. I laughed a lot while reading this book. It packs the humor, but it also delivers on the feels. I love Avery Flynn's Ice Knights hockey series. the characters are great. I loved Zara. I want to be friends with her. Her quirky dog Anchovy is awesome. He just added so much to the book. You can't go wrong with adding pets to books. Caleb messed up big, but what should be torture to make it right may just be the best thing to ever happen to him. Zara and Caleb bring out the best in one another and great support for each other as well. I highly recommend this one! I can't wait for the next book in the series!!

Avery Flynn’s latest romantic comedy is sweet, sexy and sassy, and it’s the perfect feel-good summer read. Caleb and Zara meet when they agree to allow their parents to take over their dating app profiles as part of a publicity stunt. Neither is looking for love and both are forthright about their reasons for agreeing to five public dates, but they soon find themselves enjoying each other’s company and leaning into their attraction. They are refreshing, well-matched romantic leads with chemistry that leaps off the page, and their evolution as a couple is both charming and romantic. The memorable cast of secondary characters, including their hilarious parents and a dog named Anchovy, adds to the entertainment and adorableness of this story, and you don’t want to miss Parental Guidance.

3 stars
A very cute idea and the couple have all sorts of chemistry. What could go wrong with the 5 date rule... Well, I don't know, maybe feeling like they want more than the 5 dates, like maybe this is the real thing!

Such a great book
5 stars

This book. Oh, this book. Every now and then I read a book that just grips me by the heart and holds on tight - and this book was it for me. It sucked me right in and I couldn’t stop reading - or thinking about it when I wasn’t able to read.

The first thing I noticed was that it’s witty as hell. I found myself laughing out loud and then highlighting the funny passages, banter and character ponderings as I read. Luckily, it was quite early on when I realised that if I continued, I would end up highlighting the whole damn book. It was just my kind of humour.

The story is a fun and unique take on the dating game - and a twist on the whole ‘fake relationship’ trope - seeing as Zara and Caleb are not a relationship and neither want to be. Right? Right.

But the story was so much more - and that was down to the truly excellent characters. Zara is everything you could want in a heroine. She’s feisty and funny with enough hang-ups and quirks to make her likeable and relatable. She’s insecure in some areas but it never feels like she’s moaning or looking for sympathy. But truly my favourite thing about her is that she’s never anyone but herself. She knows what she wants (and doesn’t want) and who she is and she’s not apologetic for it - but in the nicest possible way! She’s just fab.

And after that glowing character reference - I have to admit that Caleb was even better. Every single author should read about Caleb Stuckey and then make every single other hero in the world just like him. He was everything. He’s tough, kick-ass and knows what he wants - but it’s his vulnerabilities and fears that sucker punched me right in the heart. I felt for him so much which just added to his hotness. The perfect hero all round but more than that, the perfect hero for Zara.

And a quick shout-out to the other hero of the book - Anchovy. I love a dog in a romance novel and Anchovy was a dog and a half. I hope he pops up in the other books in the series.

Speaking of series’, this is the first book in the Ice Knight series. However, the Ice Knights’ captain, Zach Blackwell, is the hero from Tomboy, part of the Hartigans’ series. Zach appears in this book (as does Fallon) and there are a few references to their love story - but this book does stand completely alone. But, trust me, you’re going to want to go back and read Tomboy, and all the rest of Avery’s books - much like I’m about to do. And I CANNOT WAIT for the rest in the Ice Knights’ series where I hope to see Petrov, Christianson and Phillips (with or without Marti) meet their matches.

Ms Flynn’s writing style is so easy to read that it belies just how clever it really is. It’s witty, fun, fresh and by God it keeps you reading and reading - and falling further and further in love with her characters as you go.

I honestly cannot recommend this book enough. It’s one of my best reads of the year so far and I am now a firm fan of Avery Flynn. A definite 5 stars.

Haha!! Totally smitten with this sweet and adorably hilarious romantic comedy! Over the last year or so I have read at least four Avery Flynn books and I'm just so happy to have found an author this just plan tickles me pink!! I love the storyline of a hockey player being disciplined and the punishment is his mom taking over his dating life... or at least with an app he doesn't really want to do... I mean, don’t you just FEEL the hilarity coming for ya?!

In my odd way of reading between the lines, I like the deeper meaning that it isn't ok to just let things happen around you. We should always stand up for what's right. But more so, hockey players should be defending their teammates even if it's from a verbal assault behind someone's bad. Anyway, Zara and Caleb are fabulous together!! I laughed throughout their troubled road while getting where they need to be. I sure hope Avery Flynn keeps these quick-witted and fun characters and storylines coming! I can't seem to get enough of them!

I received an ARC of this book with the hope that I would leave an Unbiased Opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that... my opinions.

Parental Guidance is the first book in Avery Flynn’s Ice Knights series, a spin-off from her Hartigans series. Although it is not necessary to read the Hartigans books first, I do recommend reading them for a lot of fun. When you reach the end of Tomboy, the third book in the series, you’ll be desperate for more of the Ice Knights. Therefore, whilst it’s not necessary to read one to enjoy the other I do recommend reading both series.

In truth, I did not enjoy Parental Guidance as much as I enjoyed the Hartigans books. Despite this, Parental Guidance had me hooked throughout. I powered through the book in a single sitting, addicted in all the best ways. It was a quick and easy read, one filled with quite a few laugh out loud moments, and by the end I was desperate for more of the series.

In many ways, Parental Guidance reminds me of the first Hartigans book. It was a lot of fun and promised plenty of great things to come, although it wasn’t quite everything I had expected. It’s a book filled with promise, and with the way my love of the Hartigans series grows with each book I’m sure the same is going to be true for the Ice Knights series. This first book may not have been perfect, but it’s ensured I’ll be back for more.

Overall, Parental Guidance is perfect for a quick read. If you’re a fan of Avery Flynn’s Hartigans series, you certainly need to pick this one up. There’s no doubt this is another series I’ll be addicted to.

5 Dates and 5 Stars!

Parental Guidance by Avery Flynn was precisely the feel good, laugh-out-loud book I expected. Not only did the author explore some hot button topics in this book, but she set them in the backdrop of of a mother choosing a date for her son, and a father doing the same for his daughter! How can you resist that premise?!

Zara is a workaholic miniatures artist (I learned this is an actual thing!), while Caleb is a hockey player with the Ice Knights. He got himself in hot water when he kept quiet when teammates were commenting about the women they banged, and it was taped. Of course, the conversation went viral! And since Caleb was the most senior there, it was expected he set his teammates straight. To fix his reputation, and save one player from being drafted, he agreed to allow his manager mother to set him up on 5 dates to be reviewed on a morning show. Zara got pulled into 5 dates by her father who is looking for his SAG card and her best friend who believes Zara needs to have some fun in her life.

The results are a messed up but wonderful look as their worlds collide, complete with a Great Dane named Anchovy (I loved this dog!). I knew from the beginning I’d love this book! When there’s a reference to Loki, and you can just picture it, you know you’ve struck gold!

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of Net Galley and Entangled Publishing. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely.

Okay, I’m going to be real honest here. A hockey player having to fix his image, a dating app with parent involvement, and two adults that don’t even want to be on the app? I. AM. HERE. FOR. IT. Then I got to the female lead and PUMP THE BREAKS, a miniature artisan. Um what? How was I going to get invested in this randomness? Then all of a sudden I was half way through this book wanting to be friends with Zara, and completely and utterly invested in both her and Caleb. Avery Flynn’s hilarious writing pulled me all the way in and I COULD NOT PUT THIS DOWN.

I was cry-laughing at Zara’s Dad’s antics when they were first being interviewed on the morning show. I loved it. This is a rom-com at its finest. Not only was I laughing, but I was also feeling the emotions of the characters. I cannot say enough about this book, and I’m so excited for it to be out in the world for everyone to enjoy!

Thank you to Social Butterfly PR, Entangled, and Avery Flynn for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!!

Oh, relationship pacts never end as cleanly as the H/h expect them to! And it's no different for Caleb and Zara in parental guidance. Thanks to some pressure from their respective parents, they meet on a dating app and set out to go on 5 dates and nothing more. But the best laid plans, and all that!

When it comes time for their 5 dates to end, can Caleb convince Zara to take a chance on something more?

The characters have a nice connection, cute banter and are fun together. The supporting players on Caleb's hockey team seemed to take up more page time than I would have liked, but I'm sure AF was planing the seeds for those subsequent books.

What didn't sit well with me was the viral video that was about to ruin Caleb's career. It didn't seem like that big of a deal to me and it was just kind of dropped. It set up the story for him to meet Zara, but I dind't think it was that awful to begin with.

I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.

When a video of Ice Knights hockey players running their mouths off go viral, Caleb is forced to take responsibility as the senior player. He needs his image to be fixed and the best way to do that? To participate in a brand new dating app where users' parents get to pick their dates. And Caleb's mom ends up picking Zara as his date. The dating app requires that Caleb and Zara go on a total of five dates. For their own benefit, the two mutually reach an agreement to pretend to date and their number one rule — no real dating.

As an athlete hero, Caleb was actually very unconventional. He's not a household name, neither is he a womanizer. In other words, Caleb was an absolute breath of fresh air! I totally expected him to be a cocky hockey player, but he was the total opppsite. Zara herself has a pretty unconventional job as a miniature artist. Caleb and Zara are total opposites in terms of physicality and personality. But there are so many sparks between this unlikely couple and they surprisingly get along so well. The chemistry, the banter, and the unconventional "fake" dates were EVERYTHING!!

Parental Guidance was such a blast to read. I giggled, chuckled, swooned, and laughed out loud multiple times. Avery Flynn has totally made her way into my list of sexy-and-funny-rom-com authors. I'm excited to see where this series goes! There's a fantastic set of hockey players waiting to get their HEA!

P.S. I'm dying to read Tomboy now because it's about Fallon and Zach, who's supposed to be a grumpy ass hero.

Parental Guidance

***received a review in exchange for an honest review***

5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Avery Flynn never disappoints with her books and Parental Guidance is on point. Zara is sassy and speaks her mind, while Caleb is sexy and all heart. Together they seem like an unlikely couple but they compliment one another and are able to see one another in ways others can’t. Avery Flynn keeps you invested in what will happen next between these two and there is never a dull moment. I can’t wait to see what happens next with the Ice Knights!

Caleb has just gotten in trouble with not only the team but with most of the population of Harbor City. Now to make sure that everyone knows he has made a mistake and is changing, he is letting his mom chose his date from an app and hopefully everyone will change their mind about him. But what he wasn’t expecting was who his mom set him up with.

Zara is consumed with her work, she does miniatures and is hoping that the right people will see her work and take her to the next level. So when her best friend sets her up with a dating app she doesn’t know what to expect but Caleb is not what she would have chosen.

As they set ground rules for their relationship and make sure that one another knows that nothing will go past the 5th date, they find that maybe spending time with one another isn’t so bad. But will they be able to change their arrangement?

And when it comes time for a 5th date will they take the plunge and go on the 5th date? Or will they deicide that maybe they want to reconsider their rules and give each other a chance?

No good can come from letting your parent(s) run your dating profile and choosing who you date - or can it?

Caleb, a hockey player on the Ice Knights team, is about to find out. In a PR experiment to bring some Ice Knights hockey players back into the good graces with the public, Caleb finds himself on the receiving end. Caleb must partner with a dating app and let his mom control his profile. She also gets to choose his date. Fortunately, it is only for five dates then he and the woman chosen are free to move on with life. Caleb is not excited about the plan but too much is on the line to not listen to his PR agent, coach, and mother.

Zara, in an alcohol-induced don't-care night with a friend, creates a profile on a dating app. She had no idea she was going to be paired with a hot hockey player. Regardless, Zara has rules they are going to follow to get through their five dates. Rules that, as time goes on, Zara and Caleb aren't sure they want to continue to follow. A relationship was not in the plans.

I love Zara and Caleb's story. Two unlikely people brought together in a fun and entertaining story with realism and emotion. I enjoyed how both characters danced around each other in a slow-burning romance. Neither person was looking for anything long term; the entire dating app situation was a means to an end. Fate, however, had other plans.

Avery Flynn is a wonderful storyteller with unique characters, themes, and settings. Her stories pull you in and keep you thoroughly engaged and entertained. I enjoyed Parental Guidance and can't wait for book 2; the teaser at the end of Parental Guidance pulled me in, hook-line-and-sinker.

Fake relationships might be one of my favorite tropes in romance. It’s got a little of a forced proximity vibe, with characters pretending to be in love in order to achieve some other goal, and watching the characters realize they actually do have feelings for each other is always so satisfying! Parental Guidance checked all of the boxes with things I love with fake relationships!

This was my first Avery Flynn and it did not disappoint!! As I was reading, I immediately wanted to start one of her other books, Tomboy. Parental Guidance is the first of her new Ice Knights series, and a bit of a spin off from Tomboy. Even though I hadn’t read any of her other books, I was immediately smitten with the characters in Parental Guidance!

There’s nothing I love more than a female character that can hold her own, but is also quirky as hell and Zara is exactly that! Zara is a miniatures artist, as the daughter of a teddy bear artist who grew up going to doll and bear shows, I LOVED that this was Zara’s profession (Swipe to see some of the critters that I grew up around. My mom made the two bigger ones!) Her mentality of needing to take care of everyone while also keeping her artist career afloat was very relatable. And I was obsessed with her dog, Anchovy!

Caleb was also a fantastic character, I loved that his mom was a well-known female hockey coach. I will say there’s one aspect of Caleb’s character that is revealed about half way through, and it got me right in the feels 😭 I loved the concept of family members picking who they would date, it was such a fun twist to the dating app scenario. And the chemistry between Zara and Caleb was so good 🔥🔥🔥 Flynn knows how to write some damn good banter and steam!

Overall, I absolutely loved this story! Parental Guidance was a 4 star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read for me! I highly recommend checking this one out if you’re a sucker for fake relationships

"Parental Guidance" is the first book I have ever read by Avery Flynn, but it definitely won't be the last. The cover and description really drew me in, and I couldn't wait to read it. It turned out to be a sweet, funny, and sexy story with endearing, well-developed characters that I loved. It might have been helpful for me to have read Flynn's Hartigans series first since there seems to be some overlap with the characters, but I didn't feel lost at all without the additional background those books may have provided.

I'm not usually a fan of sports romances (or much of a hockey fan in general), but this book was so well-written and engaging that I didn't mind the sports element. Hockey was a big part of Caleb's life and the overarching story without being overwhelming or confusing for someone like me, who doesn't have much knowledge of the sport. There were no drawn-out descriptions of practices or games, just enough details about Caleb's training regimen and travel schedule to make me understand what his life was like, and how it would impact his potential romantic relationship with Zara.

I thought that the idea for the dating app, which integrated insight and advice from users' parents, was very unique and interesting, though it was somewhat unclear to me if parents and post-date conversations/videos were always a part of the process, or if they were just part of the publicity campaign set up by Caleb's team to draw attention away from the viral video. Either way, Zara and Caleb's parents ended up playing very important roles in the story, which I enjoyed. Zara's father, in particular, added a lot of humor and heart, as well as important insight into Zara's childhood and character.

Overall, much like Caleb's Ice Knights, "Parental Guidance" is a winner! I highly recommend "Parental Guidance" and can't wait to see what the next book in this series brings.

*ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

Caleb has been roped into using a dating app by his mother to get us of a PR nightmare. Zara has been roped in to the dating app by her best friend. Neither are happy to be doing this but after they meet Zara and Cable agree to continue the required five dates to get it over with. Of course, as with any rom com there plans fail spectacularly.

Caleb and Zara were very likeable characters. I didn’t get why they had to stick to the rules so hard. But I also didn’t think Caleb’s viral flub was that big of a deal. I also felt like things with Zara’s issues weren’t really resolved very well.

Parental Guidance was a cute and fun rom com. If you are looking for light this is what you need. I have to say this isn’t my favorite, but I enjoyed it.