3.25 rounded down!

it waa a cute little story! i was just a little frustrated with the rounds the main leads would go trying to figure out what they wanted from each other. it just seemed unnecessary to make them work THAT hard.

the characters themselves were lovable despite their indecision and i generally liked what their relationship was. their relationship blooming from enemies to lovers was hard to get into just because they were vulnerable and saying mean things. i think if it weren’t so slow burn-y, i would’ve liked it a touch more.

as i look back on it, it wasn’t as memorable a book but it was easy to read and lighthearted. i’m not drawn to reread it but wasn’t an awful book to read. it was very okay with no big red flags.

thank you netgalley and the publisher for a ARC in return for an honest review.

Sports romance girls, this one's for you for sure! The banter, angst, and chemistry were so good. Kennedy and Alexei are perfect for one another. The enemies to lovers aspect was very well done. The development of their relationship was perfect. Loved the tension between them.

We even got to a look into their past, which very much helped to connect with the characters even more. Love a found family trope after the characters have experienced family and life issues. Definitely one to add to the tbr!

This book was super cute and honestly, I adored it. I am a hockey romance fan, so that helped. This book drew me in pretty quickly, I really liked Kennedy from the get-go, she was so relatable and so overwhelmed with life, and who isn't? Volk took me a minute, a brooding hockey star who has gone off the rails.... This was such a quick cute read and if you love a hockey romance you will enjoy it. I am excited to see what Kincaid does next!

What a cute and wonderful story! I love hockey romances and this was great!

Kennedy is the daughter of a professional hockey team owner and she just got dumped by her boyfriend and professional hockey star. On top of that she is still grieving the loss her mother. Kennedy is at a crossroads in her life and she feels stuck and left behind. Alexei is a professional hockey star that just signed with her dad’s team, is her ex’s nemesis and cannot afford any negative press as this is his last chance to play the game he loves. After a photo of them is published out of context, the solution for them is to fake date for 3 months.

What ensues next is cute banter, sexy tension, and a realization that what you may think you know about someone, may not always be true. I love the stories where the heroine or hero thinks the worst about the other because what they hear are other peoples skewed opinions. They realize that the other person is way more than the world gives them credit for. This book is this. I love the growth both individually and between Kennedy and Alexei. They push each others buttons but they also challenge each other. It was a suck fun to have a front row seat to watch it unfold.


Thank you to Kathryn Kincaid, the publisher, and NetGalley for this ARC!!!!

After her boyfriend broke up with her, she decided she was going to try the single life. When her father, the owner of the local pro hockey team, brings on a new player things change. She hates him but she quickly finds out that he has a heart of gold and her dislike is misplaced.

I really enjoyed getting to know these two characters and loved the banter between them. They played well of each other. This was a well written book and you cannot put it down. I highly recommend this book and I would love to see more of Zach.

Received ARC in exchange for voluntary honest review

thank you to netgalley & kathryn kincaid for the chance to read this arc!
i love a good hockey romance and this one was personal for me. sometimes you forget to live when you’re grieving. our girl kennedy slowly came back to a new version of herself with the unexpected help of her ex’s rival. 4.25⭐️

I want to thank NetGalley and Kathryn Kincaid for an ARC of this book!
A perfect mix of enemies to lovers and fake dating tied up in a hockey romance bow. The tension and banter allowed the character’s emotional journey to have a realistic progression that I appreciated. There were a few details surrounding the story that felt a little cliche but it was done skillfully.

Fake Dating
Ex's Rival
NHL hockey romance
Revenge Dating
Enemies to Lovers
Banter and Jabs
Owner's Daughter
Slow burn
Kennedy's life hasn't been the same since her mother passing. When her boyfriend dumps her when he gets traded, she try to get revenge by hurting him back in the form of fake dating his longest rival, Alexei. Alexei is still heart broken himself so a no feelings arrangement. No feelings never lasts long in fake dating, though, and before long Kennedy and Alexei are in way deeper than planned.
When a photo surfaces that is taken out of context, the team publicist confronts them with a solution to stop all the media speculation. The two of them should "date" and that way she can get back at her jerk of an ex and he can restore his reputation. It was inspiring to see how Kennedy found herself again and how Alexei continued to push her outside of her comfort, when it came to her life. He was so supportive of her decisions. Alexei was such a relatable character - almost all of us have been put in a situation where we feel like we've been doubted and it's our chance to prove our worth. I loved seeing the happiness that Alexei found in hockey again with his new team.

4.5 rounded to 5

I really loved this story! It had just the right amount of plot vs. romance. I'd give it 🌶️.5/5 for spice just because there's some scenes but they're not super lengthy. But onto the story, Alexei was dreamy, the hockey was just enough to actually display a solid knowledge of the sport, and Kennedy was likeable despite her flaws. The third act breakup was mildly uninteresting BUT the ending wrapped everything up nicely.

Now I just need an audiobook version so I can listen to Alexei's accent 🤤

Hockey Romance! Fake Dating! Two of my favorite tropes! Thanks so much to NetGalley, the publisher, and Kathryn for this ARC. I saw the cover and read the description and was immediately excited to read this one.
 
This book follows new to the team Alexei after he is traded for the old captain, Justin. Justin’s ex, Kennedy (the owner of the team’s daughter), is still reeling after multiple life upheavals, the latest being dumped by Jared right before the team party. After a picture of Alexei and Kennedy goes viral at the team party, to save Alexei’s image and get back at Justin for saying nasty things about Kennedy to the public, they agree to fake date and I think we all know where this is going. This book was super cute and I really enjoyed it!

Play Your Part by Kathryn Kincaid is unputdownable hockey romance with a fake relationship & forced proximity between the owner’s daughter & her ex’s rival.

This story starts when a compromising photo between the newly traded player & his team owner’s daughter goes viral. Hockey rivalry, exes & an image in need of reviving all lead to fake dating situation sure to have any romance reader flipping the pages straight into the night.

The back stories of both players dealt with emotions, grief, family struggles, life troubles & more. The fake dating between kind of rivals gave almost enemies to lovers vibes in such a fantastic way. The chemistry was fantastic as was the spice, but it was balanced with just enough heart. This deserves to go on hockey romance reads list! The writing & the story had me not wanting to put this down. I adored the team rookie & roommate, Zach. He was such a great character. I sincerely hope this author writes more because this was a fantastic & fun start!

Massive thanks to NetGalley & the author for the gifted arc, which I voluntarily read & reviewed.

I will post this to social media & Amazon this week & add links once I do!

I had a really good time. I was hooked for most of the book because it had a bit of slow burn-y-ness to it, and also some very great "I hate you and don't want to like you, but you're really freaking hot." I felt like her going through the grieving process was representented very well. As someone who has also lost their mother at a transitioning period in their life, this felt very relateable and I truly appreciated this depiction. There was enough comedy to keep it light as well. Just well written and I enjoyed the rest of the crew as well.

Thank you to Netgalley and Kathryn Kincaid for an e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

I really enjoyed Play Your Part, and read it in a day. After reading a couple of books that didn’t suck me in right away, I knew from the start that I was going to enjoy this book.

Both of the MCs were likeable, even when they were meant to be “assholes”. There was enemies to lovers and fake dating, which are two of my favourite tropes. Throw in some hockey (dating the owners boss) and you’ve got me. I’m glad that Kennedy (FMC) got a chance to have a bit of character development and wasn’t the docile doormat that she was at the start.

The side characters were great and I’m hoping there’s going to be a book for Zach in the near future.

CN for grief, death of a parent (off page)

Thanks to #NetGallery and the publisher. I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Genre: Romance
Format: Digital
POV: Dual
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5
Age suggestion: 18+

Kennedy is the daughter of Cane Cole, the owner of the wolves' ice hockey team. Her mother loved ice hockey and Kennedy used to love it too. All she wanted to do was finish her degree and come back to work for the team. However, since Kennedy's mother died, she has been really stuck in a rut, but when her boyfriend is traded and she is dumped she knows things have to change. Enter Alexei Volkov.

Alexei is the supposed bad boy of hockey and after being dumped by his last team he has been picked up by the wolves to not only save their season but also save his career. He gets into hot water the first night his is with his new team when a photo of Alexei and drunk Kennedy goes viral. The wolves marketing team cooks up a crazy idea to make Alexei seem more 'human' and clean up his profile by Alexei and Kennedy fake dating for 3 months.

They hate each other! How will 3 months together work out? Who will be the first to blur the lines between fake and real? Who will be the first to fall? And will this all end in tears?

Oh I loved this story! I loved the character development. The spice was fantastic! Kennedy and Alexei were delightful. I love how much baggage they both have and how they solve each other's problem. They are like the perfect couple, complementing each other.

Big thanks to NetGalley and Kathryn Kincaid for this early release copy.

This book is perfection 🙌❣️ A fake dating hockey romance is right up my alley, and this one really hit the mark!

I loved Kennedy and Alexei together. They have PERFECT chemistry and their banter is hilarious! It was all just really well written with spot on backstories, amazing supporting characters, great spice and just the right amount of hockey.

This is one of my top reads of the summer and it's released TOMORROW!! 🤩🥳 If you're a fan of Icebreaker or The Deal you're gonna love this one!

Playing Your Part a really fun, easy-to-devour, hockey romance from debut author Kathryn Kincaid. It took me a little bit to get into, but I enjoyed the dynamic between Kennedy and Alexei. They had a lot of great chemistry and I believed their angst. It felt like their relationship progressed naturally.

I had a lot of trouble with Kennedy at first - she was extremely unlikable and I couldn’t relate to her. I understood and sympathized with her grief and feelings of inadequacy, but she just felt unnecessarily mean at times. Seemingly overnight, she realized that she was actually attracted to Alexei and things began changing. But once they started growing closer and bonding, I couldn’t help but root for them! They had a lot of similar struggles and I loved how they worked through them together.

I really enjoyed Kincaid’s writing style and character development and I’ll definitely pick up her next works! (I didn’t expect to love self-insert Andrei Svechnikov fanfic…but here we are!)

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy!

I enjoyed this novel. First one I've read by this author. Did remind me of the novel Icebreaker but more about the relationship than the physical. I recommend it. Thanks NetGalley for the advanced copy. #NetGalley #PlayYourPart

I really liked this book. I thought the characters were interesting and fun to read about. I did notice some issues that could be fixed with editing so I expect that they would be fixed before final publication.

I really hate this cover though. The character art is not great and if I saw this on a shelf in a bookstore it would not make me pick up the book.

Thank you NetGalley and Katherine Kincaid for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

As someone who is completely obsessed with hockey, I was so excited to read this novel! It didn't hurt that it had some of my favourite tropes including enemies to lovers, he falls first, and fake dating. Not to mention that it is written in duel POV.

Kennedy and Alexei both have their own personal reasons for getting involved in a fake relationship. Little do they know their hate for one another will quickly develop into something else. You'll find yourself rooting for them and so invested in their love story.

Katherine Kincaid scores a solid 4.5 stars with this debut novel!

I love a hockey romance so much and this one had enemies to lovers and fake dating??? It was so good! There was so much tension and Alexei and Kennedy had such good banter! I also loved all of the secondary characters. They created such a sweet found family which is honestly my weakness. I hope Kathryn is going to write more for these characters! I’d love see more of Kennedy and Alexei, and for sure something about Zach?!

Kennedy and Alexei were both so SOFT. And while they both were kind of rough around the edges with all of the things they were going through individually, it made them even softer! They both needed someone who could really see them and challenge them and that was exactly what they were able to do for each other!

And their chemistry was SO GOOD. Kennedy tried so hard to fight it, she was going to make the fake dating situation as complicated as possible! Until she literally couldn’t resist because she was WILDLY attracted to Alexei. And Alexei was honestly a goner from the start. He knew this wasn’t going to end well, but he needed the good press and wanted to be close to Kennedy! I loved them honestly.

And I loved all the good representation of grief. Kennedy was struggling so much, and she thought everyone just wanted her to move on, but it’s never that easy and she needed to do it at her own pace, with the help of the people around her. By the end she wasn’t whole and healed, because that’s not real life, but she was working towards being better and actually dealing with the grief instead letting it consume her.

Thank you to Kathryn Kincaid and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!!