This book did not work for me at all. This is going to be a ranty review with spoilers, so brace yourselves.
- This is a poorly executed second-chance romance, with more telling vs showing and larger chunks of recounting vs dialogues
- 50% in, the main characters have shared only ONE encounter (eye-contact) in the "now".
- there is a lot of teasing about the big break-up, but when Lexie finally talks about it to her friends, it gets told in a couple of paragraphs. The breakup event, when told for the first time, does not live up to the build-up.
- the reason for their break-up doesn't make sense to me: <spoiler>Lexie doesn't know if she should be embarrassed by her parents' behavior or Mitch when he defends her against her parents. Girl, what? She's embarrassed and goes off against Mitch, the guy who loves her, for the parents with whom she barely has a relationship? Does not compute.</spoiler> The break-up was such bullshit. And given how the whole story is about this.. yeah.
- Another thing that bothered me: <spoiler>when Lexie finally tells her friends about the reason for their break-up, she mentions how she had called and texted Mitch around 40 times after to try to talk to him. But then from Mitch's pov later in the story, we learn that for the first 3 days after their break-up, he tried everything to get in touch with her, but she never replied and pushed him away. What bothers me is that once Lexie decides to open up about the break-up, she still didn't come clean about how Mitch tried to get in touch with her, but only focused on how she tried.</spoiler> That does not seem to align for me.
- Immediately post break-up, there's this scene where Lexie feels that Mitch just abandoned her and everything. Wait, what?? So she pushed him away, then feels that he abandoned her? This girl needs to be in therapy.
- Yet another thing that bothered me: Lexie goes in this down spiral immediately post break-up. Understandable. She can do whatever she wants. Drink herself into a stupor, sleep around, whatever she needs to deal with her feelings. I think that it was icky though, that the first guy she slept with after breaking up with Mitch happens to be the brother of Mitch's best friend. Girl couldn't have taken it out of the friends circle? At least she acknowledges that that was a bad decision. I'm not at the end of the story yet, but I wonder if this is gonna create some drama later for her and Mitch when they eventually get back together (It did create drama, unnecessary, poorly executed drama)
- The love story seems to be barely there in the "now". It was frustrating because it feels like being left wanting. No satisfaction.
- There seems to be lot of fillers, which I wouldn't mind normally, but they feel like they don't bring much to the core of the story.
- Lexie gets mad at Mitch a couple of times because he doesn't tell her some stuff (one big mad, one "you're a pain in my ass") which is hypocritical from someone who never opens up and had to be carrolled into even admitting that they were in a relationship.
- At 65%, Lexie and Mitch still haven't had a proper encounter in the "now", so I just started skimming.
- They finally meet in the "now"! At the 70% mark!! Party time.
- In the "then" part, the moments when Lexie and Mitch really get to talk about their relationship and get real, those are very well executed. I loved those!
- I agree with Lexie when she says that she doesn't deserve Mitch, that guy deserved way better. There's a lot of how he supposedly didn't fight for her, but she pushed him away. She was reluctant about their relationship the whole time, was even angry at him for being the one to always ask more in their relationship. Then how can she be all "he didn't fight for me, he abandoned me"? What was the guy supposed to do??

The more I go further into the story, the less I like Lexie. She puts on airs when he tries to get her back in the "now". SHE should be the one groveling! I get that she fears abandonment, but she has a funny way to deal with all the issues. At no point does she show that she's ready for something serious. She always has one foot out of the door. I don't get why she's fighting this so much?
Oh and I am so with Mitch when he gives her his pov about the break-up and how it all went down. Truer words!

Thank you to the author for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

I am DNFing this book at 20% and basing my review only on the portion that I have already read, so keep that in mind!

Everything felt a tad overwritten to me, especially the dialogue. The way the characters spoke to one another was stilted and over the top, not natural in my opinion. There was a lot of "telling" vs "showing", especially when it came to the main characters' internal motivations. I don't have a problem with lots of spice, but the scenes need to be written immaculately to be able to pull off so many so early in a book, and I didn't find them to be to my personal taste. Overall, the plot and the characters didn't grip me, and I didn't feel invested enough to continue.

I LOVED this! Second chance romances are one of my favorite tropes and this was done SO well! I enjoyed the characters and the angst and really ate this up!

On the Line by Amanda Chaperon is book #2 in the For the Boys series, but the first I’ve read in the series & can easily be read as a standalone. It’s an emotional second-chance sports romance involving a professional hockey & a successful business woman that also happens to be best friends with the couple from the first book.
This book was rife with drama & emotional turmoil. With rough childhoods & the imperfectness of human nature, especially after trauma, a lot of the emotional roller coaster made sense & created an intense & interesting love story. However, because the drama was cranked up to high, this couple repeatedly did the push & pull dance of their relationship & there came a point where my ADHD brain struggled to not want to fast forward a bit. Miscommunication & lack of communication is one of my least favorite romance tropes, so this could just be a personal preference.
I also wasn’t a big fan of her friends’ slut-shaming her. I understand their intentions were for her to find healthier coping mechanisms but I thought it wasn’t handled as well as it could have been.
I really liked the actual hockey game & practice portions & found those section very entertaining. There was so much jam packed into this novel. The main.characters did have great chemistry & the spice was kicking. I did enjoy how everything came together & I appreciated the characters’ growth, both individually & as a couple.

Massive thanks to NetGalley & Xpresso Book Tours for the arc, which I voluntarily read & reviewed. All thoughts & opinions are my own.

Trigger warnings: This book mentions &/or contains alcoholism, injury, abuse & sexual harassment.

DNF at 91%, a new personal record!

Mitch is a professional ice hockey defenseman, playing for the LA Knights. Two years ago he was playing for the Michigan Warriors when he met Lexie at a club. Before he got his big break playing hockey as a teenager, Mitch and his mother suffered a lot of abuse at the hands of his alcoholic father. Lexie is a successful headhunter travelling the US persuading candidates to accept jobs. The daughter of two highly-successful venture capitalists, Lexie was just a possession to them, something to be trotted out in front of family-focused investors, and she has suffered with abandonment issues ever since which she copes with by never getting close to anyone who could hurt her.

Told both in the present day (which itself moves forward at least a year) and in flashbacks from two years ago, and coming closer in time, we see how Mitch and Lexie met, had a smokin' one night stand, got together again and finally fell in love, only to spectacularly implode when Mitch got traded to the Knights.

Honestly, I really tried to finish this book but when the two of them started over with their push-me-pull-me shenanigans AGAIN I had to bail. When things get tough Lexie runs away (literally and figuratively), when one of them makes an approach to mend the rift the other pushes them away, then they each spend weeks (yes weeks) angsting about what they would have done differently. And then they do it again.

When yet another of these ridiculous scenarios starts for the umpteenth time, I threw in the towel.

Also, be warned, this is the sort of novel where Lexie has two besties from college who will literally shout at her for making it all about her when her boyfriend dumps her, not thinking about how him leaving Michigan affects his friends! These friends are all deeply insightful when it comes to Lexie's problems but I bet good money they were similarly clueless when it came to their own love lives. And fancy thinking that making MItch Best Man and Lexie Chief Bridesmaid at your wedding wouldn't be awkward!

Anyway, when you are forcing yourself to read a book and doing literally anything other than reading, it's time to quit, even if I was close to the end.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Although I loved the plot and the characters, the beginning was a bit confusing trying to figure out the timeline. Around chapter 8 is where the time is explained a bit, tells us what month it is or past/present. The dialogue was great kept the story going. Plot was so good, I found myself holding my breathe in some tense moments. So good.

The spoke was very interesting and fun to read. I like how it followed a different storyline than your typical romance books. I enjoyed that you got to find out about their past relationship and what went wrong via flashbacks throughout the book.

The timeline was very confusing to me. There were so many time jumps in the present day that it made the flashbacks very hard to figure out when they took place.

A professional hockey player MItch and headhunter Lexie met and fall in love... Until he got traded.... Years later, he got traded again and the two meets once more...

Interesting main characters and side characters. Lots of fun scenarios and the characters have great chemistry. A fun read.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

Mitch is a professional hockey player. One night at a bar he meets Lexie and they have immediate chemistry. At the beginning of their courtship, Lexie declares that it will only be a sexual relationship and clearly has issues committing due to her past creating fears. One blow up argument between the two and Mitch's hockey team trading him from Detroit to LA ends their relationship. When fate brings Mitch back to Detroit, the two will need to confront their past and their current feelings.

I LOVED THIS BOOK! It had everything- the drama, the romance, the chemistry. All characters were well developed and extremely likable, but you still wanted to yell at them when they were being idiots. This book would be a slow burn second chance romance if it were not for their past memories (and steamy chemistry) alternating with their present day lives.

- Second Chance Romance
- Steamy, Sports Romance
- Present and Past Timelines
- Dual POV

Thank you Net Galley and Amanda Chaperon for the eARC! I will definitely be recommending!

I’m a sucker for a second chance romance and this one doesn’t disappoint! Lexie never experienced live as kid and now has trouble believing in it until Mitch. But because something going on , they are both heartbroken. Until they were given a second chance. Will it work? This book was so much fun to read. I felt the characters pain at the beginning but towards the end I felt all the love!

Second chance romance, sexy, full of angst, headhunter and professional hockey player.

I received and ARC of this one, and I told myself I was going to wait until closer to pub day to read it, but I could not help myself. Oh my gosh I loved this book so so much. The emotional aspect of this book was top notch, everything was literally jumping off the page. It’s way more steamier than FTB. I could feel all the emotions. I love Mirch and Lexie probably an unhealthy amount, and could relate to the struggles Lexie faces. Mitch likes to portray the image of a fun ladies man, but he is actually the sweetest and fiercely loyal and will do anything for his girl. Lexie grew up without feeling loved, so in turn doesn’t believe in it. Until Mitch. But then everything is ruined. BUT they are given a second chance, but can they finally talk to each other, without yelling) and work things out, and take another shot at their endgame love story? This is the author’s strongest book yet, and I’m DYING for book 3 already! I’ll probably gush more closer to Dec 9!