In Parental Guidance, hockey player Caleb Stuckey gets caught in a viral video in which he is completely silent while his teammates bash the girls that they’ve slept with which deems him a Horrible Dirtbag in the media. In order to clean up his image and save his teammates from team trading, a plan is devised in the form of the dating application Bramble. Bramble offers a Parental Guidance feature that allows your parents to pick your date for five times.
Hello: Zara Ambrose. Zara is a workaholic artist with a spunky demeanor who loves her dad enough to go through with this dating experiment to help him for his own personal gain. I.e neither Caleb nor Zara particularly wants to be dating the other. They in turn form a coalition where they agree to stick out the five dates for their own personal gain with rules galore of the no-touching variety. Yeah, you can see how this turns out.
This was a quintessential fake-dating story that held a lot of repetitious conversations between characters and repeated internal reasoning for why each character should not be with the other person. There were some endearing moments— Zara’s dog Anchovy really steals the show with his antics, however a dog alone cannot save an entire story from dragging and repeating. Sorry, now I’m repeating.
3 stars, because I smiled a time or two, but I was frequently annoyed by the repetition and feels-done-before fake dating trope.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I love the concept of your parents finding your perfect mate. That’s the premise of this book. Five dates was the agreement. What happens before date five is a beautiful story.

After getting to know a little bit about Caleb in the previous series, I was so excited Avery decided to give us his story! As somewhat of the golden boy of the Ice Knights, all Caleb has ever wanted was to fit in, but when that leads him to hot water with the city and the team, he agrees to whatever he needs to do in order to continue doing what he loves. Zara has a quirky job, quirky dog, and quirky personality, but it doesn’t stop her from putting everyone but herself first. When her best friend blackmails her and her dad guilt trips her into signing up for a dating app, she has low expectations. Thankfully, with Caleb’s mother picking his dates, the two get matched and come to an agreement that changes everything. I really love the approach to comedic romance that Avery takes in this book, much like her others as well. The premise of this storyline is unique yet contemporary and it works so well for readers! I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait to see the next Ice Knight who falls for a girl!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

When I saw the synopsis of this book, it sounded a bit quirky and funny so I figured why not give it a chance? I am glad that I did because this sports romantic comedy had me laughing and some places and happy sighing in others. The concept behind the dating app, Bramble, is quite comical albeit unrealistic because it involves 5 dates and the parents are involved in picking out who they date followed up by TV interviews. Both Caleb and Zara really don’t want to participate, but they each have their reasons for doing so.

I really liked Caleb, a defenseman for the Iced Knights. He lands himself in hot water and I admire that he would do what it takes to protect his team. He has some personal struggles and the author does a beautiful job of showing how it has affected his approach to life. Zara is a likable character as well. She a miniatures artisan who craves stability and order given how she grew up. She is full of sass and I love her sarcastic nature. Zara and Caleb make an unlikely pair, but the two of them together just work. Each date is unique and fun to read and there are a few steamy scenes. The question is, will they admit their growing feelings towards each other and what will happen after those 5 dates?

The secondary characters are a hoot. Zara’s dad is absolutely hilarious when they all have to do the reality TV portion. Caleb’s mom is a ballbuster and I found the banter between the two parents to be quite entertaining. Caleb’s teammates and Zara’s best friend are also great additions to the book.

If you are looking for a light-hearted romantic comedy with likable characters, then you will enjoy this book. I received Parental Guidance for free and I am looking forward to read more books from her Ice Knights series.

I swear even though my name is patricia I am not a horrid little nit when I tell you to READ THIS BOOK! Caleb and Zara are hilarious! Both are so jaded by life but go through with this horrid idea because both have a lot on the line!

I loved how the story was written! Dialogue and setting seemed to flow perfectly and I loved how we had an inside to both characters during crucial moments! I wasn’t left wondering anything and I felt a part of the action! This book was refreshing because it was a twist to the “fake boyfriend” tropes we see a lot! I also enjoyed seeing some of my fave Avery Flynn characters and can’t wait for more!

Parental Guidance was a light and fluffy romcom, but I don't think it was for me. There were some little things that bothered me, like the inconsistency with Zara and Gemma's friendship (have they been friends for only 2 years or since grade school?), the repeated use of the phrase "bag of dicks", and the specific mention of Fallon Hartigan. I normally don't mind when authors include little cameos of characters from their other books, especially if it takes place in the same world, but this is the first novel of a new series, so I don't understand why this particular character had to be mentioned so often. It was a little jarring because I thought I was missing out on some things since she was brought up repeatedly.

I also feel like Zara and Caleb's relationship wasn't well developed. I don't understand why the rules had to be so strictly enforced in the first place and we don't really get a sense of what they see in each other besides physical attraction. I was also hoping for some resolution about Zara's hesitation with Caleb pertaining to his lifestyle as an athlete, but the conflict in the end has nothing to do with it. There was potential with this story, but ultimately it fell a little short for me.

Five Stars!

What a cute read! It’s everything I love in a romance. These two really didn’t want to do the dating app but both did and they both had rules. But rules are meant to be broken. And Caleb and Zara both broke the rules. Five dates and nothing more but what they didn’t realize is they didn’t need five dates. These two were perfectly paired. They fit each other even though they were opposites. And in the end they did get their happily ever after.

Parental Guidance is a must read romance. You get all the emotions and you get a lot of belly laughs with this read.

Highly recommended to any romance lover.

Andrea B
Reviewer for Everything Marie Book Blog.

*I was given an advanced copy of this book by Net Galley in exchange for my honest and voluntary review. All thoughts and opinions are those of my own.*

I really enjoyed reading Avery Flynn's Hartigans series earlier this year so I was excited that she's starting a new series set in that world. The last book, Tomboy, introduced Caleb Stuckey and the rest of the Harbor City Ice Knights hockey team. Zach and Fallon from that book appear in Parental Guidance, along with Lucy from Muffin Top and Mrs. Carlysle from the original Harbor City series.

I enjoyed the romance between Caleb and Zara. The Fake Relationship is one of my favorite tropes and Flynn put an interesting twist on it here. I love it when everyone except the main characters sees how they feel about each other! But the other elements of the story fell a bit short for me. I wanted more build up to the first date and explanation of the dating app plan. There's a reveal at the end that fills in some of the blanks, but I wished that more had been done with that information.

I thought Zara's career as a miniature artist was so interesting. I kept thinking of Anna Farris's character in What's Your Number even though her style is supposed to be quite different. I loved her apartment in the movie so Zara's apartment looked a lot like that too. But mostly I'm intrigued by the guys on the hockey team and I'm looking forward to more of their stories.

I fell in love with Avery's romance books with The Hartigans Series and now I hope to have more sporys romance on the horizon with the Ice Knights.

Caleb and Zara are the perfect duo to trudge through the Brambles app. They both got blackmailed into doing it, but that left the readers with a perfect recipe for romance shenanigans. What I loved most was all the quirks they had and the chemistry was off the charts. It's amazing what happens when you have an athlete with strong matetnal figure and a daddy's girl with an absentee father. Is it going to be Cole, Phillip or Petrov for book two? Either way, I can't wait

**4-4.5 stars**

Hot Hockey Players √ Sexy Times √ Laugh-out-Loud Humor √

Avery Flynn has scored another winner with Parental Guidance, the first book in her new Ice Knights series! This story was so much fun to read!

Caleb & Zara may have been opposites in many ways, but I loved these two together. Their chemistry couldn’t be denied. I loved their “dates” and how much fun they had together. You couldn’t help but root for these two and their HEA! I also have to give a shout out to Zara’s adorable Great Dane “Anchovy”. Loved him!

Avery brings on the sexy, sweet and fun times in Parental Guidance and I can’t wait for more in this series!

After being introduced to the Ice Knights in Tomboy I was hoping with all hope that we would get to see these guys again. So I pretty much squealed and then jumped on the chance to read this book as soon as I learned there was going to be a series for these players. And then once I got my hands on it I pretty much devoured it in one sitting. I'm not even sorry because this story was brilliant.

I loved Zara and her take-no-crap attitude. She made no apologies for who she was and never tried to conform to other people's wants. Which I thought was really fun to read about and it's a quality that I love to see in my heroines. Caleb seemed to like her sass just as much as I did and I really enjoyed that about him. These two fit so well together and they had me smiling like a crazy person on more than one occasion. They are definitely high up on the list of my favorite Avery Flynn characters.

The bottom line is, you need to read this book. It had so many adorable moments that made me happy sigh, and the characters were so easy to fall in love with. I already know I'll definitely be re-reading this book many times in the future. I made the mistake of reading the little teaser for the next book so now I'm going to be even more impatient to get my hands on some more of these hockey players.