Great romance book by a great author. Loved the story and plot line. The cover is beautiful and will definitely read from this author again

This was a hot loud hockey romance. I enjoyed the way that the characters had their meet cute and I also enjoyed the way the female in the book had her awkward break up before the book started. The since I found family in this book with strong, and I loved reading the way the author develops the romance, but also just have them be really good friends.

it’s been a while since I’ve read a closed door romance, but this one still kept a good amount of sexual tension and character development. definitely had me cheesing! I would recommend this as a fun closed door hockey romance!

Enjoyed this hockey, friends to lovers romance. Also based in a small town which I love.

Overall a great story and fun characters.

This was such a cute closed door high school friends/crushes to lovers. I loved the small town big dreams idea. The virginity trope was a bit overdone I think but I still really liked the book!

-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Tropes
- fake dating
- small town romance
- friends to lovers
- grumpy x sunshine
- grand gesture
- hockey romance
- brothers best friend

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED this book! I am all in for hockey romances, but the fact that this is a closed-door romance about two people who waiting for the right person, *chef's kiss*.

This follows Evie and Fraser. They grew up as neighbors with Fraser sneaking in to hang out with Evie. Fraser is a hockey player, and Evie is his best critic. Until Fraser abruptly leaves, not giving Evie or her brother (his best friend), Levi, a reason why. Over the years, Levi and Fraser keep in touch, but after a humiliating event that left Evie with a cruel nickname, the friend group reunites.

Evie and Fraser try the fake dating in order to help Evie with her work ratings, but what is the outcome of two people who have loved each other for years, reuniting after some time, only to rediscover their feelings for each other.

I love how the author used the idea of keeping your virginity until marriage. Even when things got difficult, the characters never gave in. That is not really represented in mainstream books.

I also loved the tension between the characters. How they could not figure out each others intentions kept the plot moving and interesting.

Overall, the tropes found in this book include:
Brothers Best Friend
Fake Dating
Enemies to Lovers
Friends to Lovers
Childhood Friends Reunion
Sports Romance - Hockey

I wanted to enjoy reading The Fake Out Flex however; I couldn't get behind the take on the sexuality and virginity that seemed to be promoted throughout. This novel has a cute cover that would be a "hit" for me if that message wasn't heavily put on the page.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this book.

Oh wow!!!!! This was a first for me by this author but will not be my last! Such a good story! The characters worked so well together. Such great chemistry. Good love story!!

This book was cute but maybe a little too cute for me. It felt drawn out in places and I just needed some more from it. It was a good in between book for me though.

Lo0king for a sweet hockey romance? Check out THE FAKE OUT FLEX by Ash Kelly!

Filled with likable main characters and an adorable pairing, I was genuinely rooting for our lovers. Our MM is swoony - he's sweet and thoughful and is an expert at grand gestures.

A must know - this is a closed door romance. If that's not your cup of tea, check out other books because this is a CLEAN story!

Thanks to NetGalley and Victory Editing for the ARC! Opinions are my own

This was a sweet hockey romance.

The main characters were likeable and made a cute pairing. I liked that they had a history together and I was genuinely rooting for them to get together right from the start.

The premise is a good one, its not anything new but it was well written and I enjoyed reading it.

This is closed door romance, this isn't really my thing but I think it was nicely written and I can see that a lot of people would enjoy this. The characters shared certain values about relationships and held onto these despite their increasing feelings towards each other.

All in all this was an enjoyable sweet read

I wanted to love this book,but that just wasn't the case. It was okay, but not really my cup of tea.
It was sweet read. 3 stars

This was off to a good start but then it really started to feel like a Christian romance. Which basically is my biggest ick. The “fast talking four” thing was mentioned atleast 3 times and was cringe. Then I found out she and all her friends are virgins….with a weird nickname for their group and everything. I just can’t it’s too much. All this “waiting for marriage” and “clean romance” is too much. Just ick.

This was a cute and fun debut for Ash Kelly. There were some great scenes, but it did take me a while to get through this one because it didn't hold my attention the whole time. Still a pretty solid first novel in my opinion though! I'm looking forward to number two in the series.

Evie...She honestly seemed a bit immature at the beginning, but I do feel like she grew a lot throughout the story. I also enjoyed her goofy personality and the fact that she knew ALL the hockey things even better than most guys would.

Fraser...Now this guy is swoony! Even though this book wasn't an absolute fave for me, Fraser is what gave it those four stars for me. He's just so sweet and thoughtful and those grand gestures...Geez, Louise!

Things I loved...the fast-talking four/five, glimpses at (hopefully) future couples, the banter between the MCs, Levi (really hoping he gets his own story at some point), Oakey (I mean seriously...what an incredibly sweet kiddo), rep of various disabilities, Evie's talk with her mom, the ultimate closed-door goal, and the down-to-Earth and silly nature of Evie and Fraser's relationship.

⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌶️

I was very lucky to receive an ARC by the author through NetGalley for this book! This was such a cute and sweet read! Both Evie and Fraser were such lovable characters and was so glad I got to read both of their POVs! The banter between was so funny and adorable! I liked all of the secondary characters! This was a closed door romance, so no spice involved, which was actually refreshing and personally I didn’t miss it! It’s the perfect, quick, easy and fun read!

I didn’t quite gel with this book.
It had a lot of the things I love in a romance book:
- Hockey
- Brothers Best Friend
- “he has always loved her”
- Fake dating

I like the flashbacks, it was sweet to see Fraser’s feelings develop and to see how the crush started. It was also nice to build a foundation and highlight that the attraction wasn’t just his best friends sister “getting hot”. The book was genuinely quite funny! I laughed out loud at some moments. Other times I cringed a little haha! But overall it was lighthearted!

However something just didn’t click! I felt I had to keep putting down as my attention wasn’t drawn to it. It had a strange emphasis on virginity and it was strange that there was a shame element associated with it. I also found that the chapters felt too long, often repeating things or having things that didn’t really add to the story. I found myself skim reading to get to the point. The “big secrets” didn’t read well, I don’t think they themselves are bad but the way they were worded felt like there was, once again, an element of shame associated.

It was a sweet ending! And it was nice to see a hockey player MMC displayed differently to a lot of others in the romance category! Yet He was still fiercely protective of Evie! This was a sweet debut by Ash! I’m not opposed to reading more of her stuff!

The Fake Out Flex by Ash Kelly- This was a cute hockey romance but I really wanted more out of it. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it either. I was really invested in the first half of the book. I really enjoyed the banter between Evie and Fraser. I caught myself laughing, and smiling but then I started to get bored in the second half.... It ended up being very hard to pick back up at times. My biggest complaint is the time jumps. I felt like this caused us not to see much of the fake dating. Overall I still enjoyed this book and this was a great debut novel. I can see potential for the rest of the series.
Thank you to the author and NetGalley for letting me read this ARC!

📚 BOOK REVIEW 📚

The Fake Out Flex - Ash Kelly

Thank you to @netgalley for an advanced copy of this book.

I think this is one of the most romantic books I've ever read. The second chance romance was a real hit and I really enjoyed this book.

Fraser and Evie have always been humiliated after a very public break up on reality TV being known as Breakup Sneeze Girl. But she will not let her ex get the better of her and is determined to go to his wedding. She just needs a date. Thankfully her meddling brother calls upon his best friend Fraser who is a famous hockey player now to fulfill the role.

As Evie and Fraser rekindle their friendship, they soon realise that they both want more. This was a slow burn romance but was very sweet and had a few surprises along the way.

I enjoyed this book and liked both the characters as well as the supporting characters. Evie's sarcasm produces some great lines and it was nice to see the character development for Fraser as I believe he came a into his own as the book progressed.

I'm really looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

3. The Fake Out Flex, Ash Kelly, 4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ boldwood
This is a closed door hockey romance. If you like the fake dating, brother’s best friend, and high school crush tropes then this book is for you! I liked it a lot, the main character Evie needs a date to her exes wedding, and her brother gets professional hockey player Fraser to escort her. Evie has had a crush on Fraser for years but no one knows, and Fraser has felt the same way about Evie! I liked the banter between the two, and the romance felt very real.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley, I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I really enjoyed this book, it felt like a nice breath of fresh air that wasn't massively focused on sex or lust. One thing I would have loved was a bit more of a slow burn at the start, it felt a bit too "easy" for them to end up drawn to each other initially
But overall brill