Remember Amy from Out on the Ice? Jen is the opposite in many ways. Where Amy was bubbly and talkative, Jen sounds as far from warm and fuzzy as can be. At least that’s how it feels to Maisy. The two players have history on the ice and when Jen joins Maisy’s team, they both have a hard time leaving that history in the past.

When I reviewed Kelly Farmer’s debut novel last year, I wrote that I was surprised to find myself caring for the characters a lot more by the end of the story than when I began reading it. My experience with this new book is a bit different, in that I really liked both Maisy and Jen from the start. By the middle of the book, however, I felt it was dragging a little, then the exact same thing happened again and I got carried away until the last pages. The story ends on a really strong note, so much so that I’m not sure I needed the epilogue. Not that it’s superfluous, but the last chapter is so engaging already that I would have been happy even if the story had stopped there.

Beyond the enemies to lovers romance, Unexpected Goals is all about Maisy’s journey to herself, finding her way and deciding how to identify, what works for her and what doesn’t. There’s a lot of character growth for both MCs, as Jen goes from slightly immature to wonderfully supportive, while still being very plausibly flawed. There’s angst and conflict and – that one made me very happy – communication. Maisy and Jen argue and make mistakes without letting them overcome their feelings for one another.

A funs tory with lots of heart as you have the enemies-to-lovers trope that works really well in this setting. I enjoyed revisiting some characters from previous books and seeing the growth of all of them on the pages :)

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

3.5 ⭐️

Kelly Farmer’s Unexpected Goals is a sweet romance between two former competitors with an antagonistic history forced to spend time working & hanging up their gear together as teammates.

Goalie Maisy Goode hasn’t liked fellow pro hockey player Jen Donato since the time she thinks Jen played dirty during a game. Jen hasn’t liked Maisy since Maisy complained about Jen’s supposed bad playing. Ever since the incident in question the media & public take great interest in any of their meetings on the ice & now that they’re teammates things get even more interesting.

The sense of competition in this read is strong & exciting & I love encountering imperfect leads who are trying to figure things out.

In this case, Maisy is experiencing unexpected attraction for Jen which makes her re-examine her past & present to see if she has felt that way for a woman before & how she might label her own sexuality not only for herself but for others.

Both leads really learn a lot about themselves, how they communicate, & what’s important to each other, & I found the efforts they make for each other to be touching.

I would have enjoyed some more passion in their relationship outside of their hockey competition: there’s little on page steam & tension but no third act breakup (which isn’t a necessity for me by any means but the book’s overall effect falls a little flat for me).

Once Maisy and Jen work through their initial conflict Unexpected Goals is largely a gentle read with what feels like quite a lot of introspection.

Unexpected Goals is the second book in the Out on the Ice series from author Kelly Farmer. I'm kind of a sucker for sports and when you combine that with lesbians, I'm all in.

Canadian goalie Maisy Goode is the star goalie for the women's professional hockey team, the Boston Ice. She is shocked when her arch rival American Jen Donato signs with the team. Maisy was the goalie in the Olympics when Jen scored the winning goal for the U.S. Jen had been pushed into Maisy and nothing was called. Maisy has always thought Jen a dirty player and can't believe they are now on the same team.

The two have words on more than one occasion. Jen's flippant attitude gets under Maisy's skin and Jen can't understand why Maisy can't let the past go. Ultimately, they both have the same goal to bring the championship to Boston and agree that will be better accomplished if they work together and put the past behind them.

What starts as an uneasy friendliness turns to friendship when they both realize they have misjudged each other. They watch their favorite nature show together and the friendship turns into attraction for both of them. But Maisy's straight or so she thought!

I like both Jen and Maisy. Jen is super chill. She has a habit of falling for straight girls who just want to experiment. Her feelings for Maisy feel different but she's worried that it will end up just like all of the rest. She's a very likeable character whose intensity on the ice is the complete opposite of how she is off of it. Her big Italian family drives her crazy but she adores them. She is patient and kind and is there to help Maisy deal with her concerns and unease.

I do like Maisy but she also got on my nerves a little. I understand her desire to name her sexuality and her fear over her families reaction to her not being as straight as she had always assumed she was. But thinking more about how the character is so  Type A and has a spreadsheet for everything, her overthinking makes sense.

I read the first book in the series, Out on the Ice and it was good to catch up with some of the characters. I didn't like this book as much as I enjoyed Out on the Ice. Maybe because when I started that book, I thought Amy would annoy me, and then I realized I am Amy!  However, this is a solid read and I am really looking forward to what Kelly Farmer writes next.

ARC received from NetGalley for an honest review

I read Farmer's debut Out on the Ice and enjoyed her take on the queer women in hockey. This was just as good as the first if not better for the familiarity of it all. It was like a warm hug in a book.

The story centers on Canadian Maisy Goode and American Jen Donato, both part of the fictional pro women's hockey team the Boston Ice. When they are on the same team, they have to put scandal from their past to rest to work together as teammates. AS they begin to know each other, they realize there might be something beyond friendship there. Since this is a romance, you can draw your own conclusion on that.

This was a low angst story, which I appreciated. I kept expecting a big bomb to drop somewhere in the story, like fuss over these characters being in a relationship together or about Maisy, who hadn't expressed her queer feelings before falling for Jen. It's the formula to have the big angst, and while the characters here have things to work out to have a strong relationship, I'm pleasantly surprised that Farmer didn't go in that direction.

For those of you wondering about the heat level, there is a funny moment when questioning Maisy starts Googling specifics of what lesbian sex is actually like. Other than that, the characters kiss, but there aren't really any graphic descriptions of sex on the page.

Fans of Gina, who had a significant part of Out on the Ice, will be happy to know she's got a big role in this book. Also, the author has an exclusive Gina story for her newsletter subscribers, so you might want to check that out.

Lastly, there are hardly any men in this book. I've read plenty of FF fiction, but it hadn't registered with other books and only really sunk in with this one toward the end. I think that was because most of the focus was on the leads and their team.

In conclusion, definitely a good read if you love Hockey, ladies who love other ladies (no matter what label they use), and a low-angst enemies to lovers story. Yes, Kelly Farmer proves that you can write the enemies to lovers trope with low-angst.

ARC provided by NetGalley and Carina Press.

I received an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
They say the line between love and hate is thin and this enemies to lovers romance will show you how easily lines can be crossed. Opponents for their entire hockey professional careers, the rivalry between Maisy and Jen is as well known as the players themselves but when a change in club puts them on the same side new feelings might be found lurking beneath old hostilities. A journey of self-discovery and learning to adapt to another person's need this book brings a sweet romance to two athletes. For those who are not big on hockey, this book is set in a professional sports setting but doesn't waste too much time with technical terms or plays descriptions making it easy to follow while still being a sports romance. I especially liked that the author is quick to show us the two main characters interacting not making us wait for too long to start the story and keeping the book focused on the main narrative.

This is a solid lesbian romance. I found it readable and engaging, with likeable characters. I appreciated that it focused on how these two people had to figure out how they fit together in the long term, and do the work to build their relationship beyond the original flush of romance and passion.
Always nice to see a romance that doesn't just throw some big misunderstanding at our leads to break them up for a while.

Also a plus: engagement with ace/aro and non-binary themes in the supporting cast. Warms my diversity-loving heart.

I'll definitely be checking out more of Kelly Farmer's work in the future.

I don’t even know where to start with this book. I was not prepared for how great this was going to be. I read the first in the series immediately before starting Unexpected Goals and I’m glad I did as there are some cute moments with Caro, Amy and Gina.
Unexpected Goals starts out with two enemies on the ice still fighting over an event several years in the past. Maisy and Jen are opposites in every way and have seemed to clash at every turn in the past while on opposing teams. When Jen transfers to the Boston Ice they have to find a way to work together or risk their team’s chances for winning. They find they have much more in common than they thought including an unexplainable attraction to each other.
What sounds like a fairly common enemies to lovers romance also throws in very relatable feelings and events surrounding coming out, first loves and relationships with differing levels of comfort in being part of the LBGTQ community. Maisy finds a new side of herself that she struggles to understand and label and finds it hard to talk with her family even though she’s sure they will support her. Her feelings are something that I have shared and her struggle with that really hit home for me. Add to that Gina and her issues, Caro’s family and depression in Out on the Ice and this series touches on many of the various issues affecting the community in a warming story that I loved. Kelly Farmer has quickly become one of the few authors I will hit the order now button on, no matter the book.

Unexpected Goals is certainly art following life if you are a diehard fan of the rivalry between the USA and Canadian women’s hockey teams. Over the history of the rivalry I have witnessed numerous cross border marriages and relationships come to fruition. So to be able to read a fictionalized version intrigued me.
This is the second book in Kelly Farmer’s Out On The Ice series. Having not read the first book I had no issues reading this as a stand alone novel.
When not playing with team Canada at the international level, Maisy Goode is the star goalie for the Boston women’s professional hockey team. Jen Donato is the new transfer onto her team. She is the Olympic hero for Team USA scoring the clutch goal against Maisy in the gold metal game. A disputed goalie interference goal which Maisy has not been able to get over.
This enemies to lovers story is set up perfectly by this scenario yet it takes a long, long time to get to the lovers portion of the story. There is an extremely slow angst build up which needs to be condensed to hold the reader’s interest.
Farmer wrote the team dynamics and the cross section of player personalities quite well. As well, the hockey games were exciting to read.
This turned into a satisfying read by the end.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley and the publisher for my honest review.

For any sports romance lovers out there this is a nice and quick read about 2 hockey players who go from rivals to lovers. Maisy and Jen are well written characters who quite literally are opposite with Jen being a forward and Maisy being a goalie. And there is the base for the enemies part: after a collision earlier in their career there was definitely no love lost between them.
Kelly Farmer managed to put in a lot of serious topics in this book without it becoming overly heavy in the angst department which is rather well done. Yet it was not an extremely memorable book, more like a nice romantic interlude without needing to think too much. As I am writing this review I feel like most of the plot has already faded so it was enjoyable but not great. Still for those of you who like a bit of sports in their romance, this was one of the books I enjoyed most in that category.

***Thank you Netgalley for supplying an ARC so I could review this book.***

4.5/5

I read this author’s debut novel and knew that I needed to read this one as well. This is a rivals-to-lovers story and I thought it was great! Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC to this book.

Maisy and Jen were both great characters! Jen is a bit rougher around the edges, but I thought she was an absolute sweetheart. I also loved that she had to confront the realities of being a goalie. Doesn’t seem like it’d be a lot, but with how her character had been portrayed up to that point it fit so well. Maisy seemed like a sweetheart with a rough side. She isn’t overly confrontational, but she also won’t let certain things fly. It was great to see her figuring things out and then realizing that…sometimes you don’t have to find exact terms.

I loved the chemistry between these two characters. Their connection was hard fought and had a lot of bumps, but it made the ending payoff feel so good. The relationship was built up from them being rivals to reluctant teammates to friends to more. It felt earned! They had to deal with the nasty parts of their friendship, rivalry, and relationship. They fought with each other and had to actually communicate. It was great.

This is another book where I became obsessed with side characters. I wish this was something that I could stop doing, but I clearly can’t. In this book it was Gina and Summer. Gina is a fellow teammate while Summer is a friend of Jen’s. Both were amazing and I hope to see/hear more of them in the future.

I don’t really think I had any true issues with this book. I was a little annoyed by Maisy’s reluctance, but it was also perfectly understandable and not something I’ll judge someone for. It was just a minor issue and I think it only bothered me because (if I’m remembering my feelings while reading this book correctly) it sometimes made the story drag or feel repetitive. It wasn’t bad enough where I disliked the book because of it, I just hated feeling annoyed with a character that I otherwise loved.

I thought this book was awesome! I loved the characters and thought that they had a great connection with each other. The only thing I want to know now: was Jen pushed? I don’t think we ever got a clear answer to what happened at the Olympics and curious minds want to know.

There’s been a mini-epidemic of Canadian and American lady hockey players entering into lovelocks, marriage and childrearing together - prime romance novel material.  Thus I’ve been yearning for more F/F centered hockey romances (there is a bumper crop of het and M/M ones in the genre), and Unexpected Goals was just the treat I was looking for.  It’s a warm, deeply charming romance with an enemies-to-lovers theme, s greatsense of fun, sprightly sense of humor, and a true love of the game of hockey.

Maisy Goode and Jen Donato are rivals on the ice and polar opposites.  Maisy’s Canadian, Jen’s American.  Maisy’s a goalie, Jen’s a forward.   Jen’s notoriously aggressive and chaotic during gameplay, Maisy is more cautiously strategic.  They’ve hated each other ever since a USA versus Canada game at the Olympics resulted in Jen scoring a goal on Maisy and winning the gold for America.  Maisy has always accused Jen of playing dirty to get that final puck by her, a claim Jen hotly denies.  Now they’re both on the same team – the Boston Ice – and they’re going to have to learn how to work together.

Jen thinks Maisy is hot, but she also thinks Maisy is wrong – about how Jen plays and about how she approaches the game at large.  The fact that Maisy keeps bringing up the notion that Jen cheated the puck by her is annoying – she thinks Maisy just needs to get over it.  They end up clashing in the media, but they’re also stationed side-by-side in the locker room, which means they have to – gulp! – talk to one another.  Because they need to get off their butts and start working together as a team, they spend more and more time together – and have to learn to trust each other in the process.

The Ice start winning thanks to their partnership, and they’re headed for the playoffs, but by then Maisy and Jen are well on their way to falling in love.  For Maisy, that means reckoning with her sexuality – and for both women that means dealing with media coverage of their romance and intrusive eyes peeping inward.  Can they survive the pressure?

Unexpected Goals is so good – so tender and fulfilling – that the only thing I really want to say about it is ‘go read it.’

But I’ll give you more.  Maisy and Jen are complex, imperfect people who learn to love and forgive one another, which is one of my favorite tropes.  Their romance is spicy and funny and filled with banter, and the book always centers their love in a way that makes neither woman ‘wrong’ for their initial impressions but not of them ‘right’ either.  This is a warm and hearty romance about the development of trust, and the way the book goes about portraying this is perfect. The middle ground is that hockey is a tough business that can be hard on the body, and the book never shies away from that fact.  It’s incredibly easy to love both characters, and trust in their love story as it grows beautifully before your eyes.  The way they handle the media is nigh on perfect.

The book’s portrayal of the positives and negatives of life on the ice and in the public eye are flawlessly handled.  There’s a love for the game here – the glory of winning and pain of a clash and how tempers can get the best of anyone while you’re out there.  Caro and Amy from book one in the series (Out on the Ice) pop up again here and are fun as well.

Unexpected Goals is downright perfect and wonderful and romantic – and it’s my favorite hockey romance of the year so far.

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This book is the second installment in Kelly Farmer’s Out on the Ice series. I'd say you need Out on the Ice before reading this one. Farmer’s debut wasn't extremely memorable for me so I was a bit lost for the first third or I of the book when the focus is a lot on the entire crew and not the leads in this book.

Maisy is the goalie we've met in Out in the Ice, or at least I think I remember her. Jen is a new character, I think we've seen her in the other book, but as a rival, but I'm not 100% sure. As I said Framer’s debut was pretty ok, but not memorable. This is a classic enemies to friends to lovers story and it's pretty enjoyable when we are talking about their relationship. Maisy has very limited experience in low, doesn't even know who she fancies, but she's into Jen. Jen is pretty outspoken and I’d say an opposite of Maisy.
The book is pretty low on angst, but it does deal with a lot of topics. Maisy’s coming out, another character finding where she is on the spectrum, friendships and careers. Of course there is some angst around the before mentioned topics, but Farmer really knows how to write that well. I appreciate that the characters do communicate, even if it isn't in their nature. The slow build-up of their relationship is very believable and again, well-written.

I think Farmer is a pretty good writer, but I don't really connect with her characters. For me this is a problem, I always need to feel a connection to at least one of the characters to make me enjoy the story more. Maybe it's because the book is so ice hockey centered, while I like reading about it and catching the occasional recap on tv it's just not a sport I'm too familiar with and have a real interest in. I'd pick up another book in this series for sure, by the time that comes out I will probably have forgotten about this one, but that's ok.
Solid 3 stars.

This was a sweet enemies to lovers sapphic ice hockey romance. Maisy and Jen have had a heated rivalry since an altercation during a US/Canada game during the Olympics. Now that they’re both playing for the Boston Ice they’re going to have to work past their previous issues and learn to be teammates. As they start to get to know one another sparks begin to fly between them.

I don’t normally think of enemies to lovers stories as being low angst, but this one definitely was. Most of the conflicts that come up are understandable and don’t feel like they appeared out of nowhere. Previously Maisy had assumed she was straight and is having to figure out her sexuality and how to tell people about her new relationship. Jen also has some trepidation about wanting to make sure this isn’t like previous times where a woman has used her only to experiment.

The book is written in 3rd person switching between both Maisy and Jen’s POV. At times it got super confusing because their voices were so similar. When they were both in a scene together sometimes I really struggled to tell whose POV the story was being told from in that moment. The sex scenes in this book happen off page, which can be fine. But I think the kissing scenes didn’t do enough to establish their physical connection, they just felt a bit lackluster. Also, while I did find the conflicts to be believable, I do think they got extremely repetitive. It was just the same conversations being had over and over again.

I enjoyed reading this even though it wasn’t the perfect book for me. Sapphic sports romances are becoming a new favorite category for me.

it took me time to finish this book, I found the chemistry missing I dont know, they seems fake in away. Maisy was just looking for a community i think. the writing was fine and found it great at times.

This was a decent, OK novel. It had everything in it to be great, but at times it was too extensive and over-explaining, and sticking with the G rated level didn't help the characters' chemistry: instead of describing it with their mutual scenes, it was sort of told and explained to the readers. Shame about it, because the plot was great.

This is a very sweet romance between two ice hockey rivals who end up playing on the same team. Although they hate each other initially, they end up starting to bond in the team environment and eventually it turns into romance. Maisy always thought she was straight, but her attraction to Jen causes a lot of confusion for her in regard to her sexuality. Although I totally understood this from her character’s perspective, I found it slightly grating how long she obsessed with how she fit with the LGBTQIA spectrum. For me, it took away from the main storyline - the romance between her and Jen.

This novel had all of the characters intimacy occur off the page. To be honest, I believe this was a missed opportunity, as I think their relationship would’ve felt a little more believable if we had been shown their supposed chemistry rather than told.

All in all, a sweet sports romance that features very little angst.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin - Carina Press for a copy of this novel. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

I had really high hopes for this book. I've been dreaming of an f/f ice hockey romance forever. Sadly, this did not deliver. The writing wasn't great, the characters overexplained everything (the dialogue was clunky) and something about the book felt off to me.

Disappointing.

Unexpected Goals is a romance between two hockey players. Maisy is a goalie and has known Jan a forward for some time.
They don't get along and clash at every turn. Now they're playing for the same team and the tension is felt by everyone.
Sooner or later somethings got to give. And that turns out to be their feeling for one another.
How is this going to affect their game and how will the other players feel?
This is a sweet, quick story I think you'll enjoy.

Maisy is a Canadian ice hockey goalie and Jen an American forward. Their rivalry is well known but the main story is about an Olympic game where an incident lead to a goal by Jen and America winning the gold medal. Maisy thinks Jen is reckless and a dirty player and Jen thinks Maisy is a whiner that should move on. They end up not only playing for the same team but seating next to each other in the locker room. What follows is a sweet romance where they put their past behind them and work through Maisy’s sexual identity awakening and their public relationship.
Thank you to NetGalley and Carina Press for an ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.