I loved this so much! I love Jess and Blake so much! A fresh romance about hockey by Elle Kennedy! Having loved the off-campus series so much, I had high expectations for this one! They were amazing together. Excellent connection and a strong foundation. I couldn't get enough of th

Thank you to Netgalley, SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books, Sarina Bowen and Elle Kenney for this e-ARC.

Yikes. I am astonished to see this republished with a cute little contemporary cover and then to be confronted by numerous non-consensual sex scenes. Being a airhead-himbo-frat boy-jock seems to be the excuse here, and it really has no place in this story. I stopped reading after the first third.

This story is critically outdated and is clearly republished. The vocabulary and very cliché gay best friend were other obvious standouts. As far as I got with the plot, both characters seem very immature and neither were someone I was rooting for.

eARC provider for review via NetGalley.

I had previously read this book and thought it sounded familiar when I requested. I liked it when I first read and liked it again when I re-read.

3.5 Cheezus Stars ⭐️
Spicy Level 🌶️🌶️.5/5

This entire review is dedicated to Blake Riley...

I think this book taught me not to judge a character by their first impression because if I trusted my first impression, I might have found myself angry with my inner feminist going holy fuck can this guy stop it? He is bordering on the line of sexual harassment and it IS NOT CUTE!!!

But if you give him a little time, he might make you love him. Because I officially love Blake Riley....

𝙎𝙮𝙣𝙤𝙥𝙨𝙞𝙨:
Jess is planning her little brother's wedding and she needs it to be perfect because she needs to prove to her family she can do something right. But the universe has thrown a little spanner in her plans in the form of Blake, who she had a magical one-night stand with and he wants to rekindle their explosive flame but she cannot be distracted as this wedding must be perfect!

𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙁𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨:
See the thing about Blake is that he's the fun guy. Everybody describes him as fun because he adds laughter, joy and enthusiasm into life. He just brings this charismatic spark to everything. But also does this as a defence mechanism. The cliche "Just because he is smiling doesn't mean he is happy". He is hurt and trying to deal with a very messy breakup that has affected who he is and who he is to his family. He portrays himself as this happy-go-lucky guy, pushing the "fake it till you make it" not allowing his emotions to surface. That is until Jess enters his life and makes him start to deal with his issues and how he has been dealing with them.

This IS WHY this book was so eye-opening, as I mentioned at the start, I really didn't like him. He came on way too strong and as much as Jess was telling him no; he kept pushing to the point that he was annoying and very juvenile. It gave off a popular frat boy mentality with his cockiness, arrogance and confidence as "he always gets the girl" and he WILL get her no matter how cheesy, corny or pushy he is.

BUT...to see his development and THE ACTUAL CHARACTER as the story progresses was something else. He has intricate layers underneath his smile, that show he is so much more than what his first perception. His personality is so deep, and his generosity, kindness and heartfelt actions were adorable. He is so sentimental that it is JUST FLIPPING CUTE how genuine and sincere he is. Every little thing that he did, whether he was doing it for Jamie or Wes or Jess, it was just so special. The man has a heart of gold and he wears it on his sleeve. I swooned way too many times at everything that he did and as I kept reading realised how good-natured and kind-hearted he is as all his little good deeds and actions were revealed.

I also loved that he didn't do any of these things for recognition and praise. He is a Hockey Star - he gets enough praise on the rink so doesn't need it; it was really beautiful to see that he wanted to help and do good, just because he is a good guy and likes doing it.

Now I know I might have already known this about his personality before but I didn't. I haven't read Him or Us so this was my first introduction to Black Riley... AND I JUDGED HIM WAY TO HARSHLY!!

I feel like by the end of this I was his biggest cheerleader!

𝙏𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙨 and 𝙈𝙞𝙘𝙧𝙤 𝙏𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙨:
▶ Forced Proximity
▶ Second Chance (Folling ONS)
▶ Dual POV
▶ Hockey Romance
▶ Golden Retriever MMC
▶ Brother's Best Friend
▶ Touch Her You Die
▶ He Falls First
▶ Sarcastic MMC
▶ Cages Her With His Arms
▶ Fake Dating

Overall if you want a sweet little cute Hockey Romance where you will have the bestest best good boy golden retriever MMC - READ THIS!

Thank you to Netgalley, SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books, Sarina Bowen and Elle Kenney for the gifted copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own

after reading him/us/epic i was so excited to finally dive into these guys story after falling in love with the doofus that is blake riley, and while i did enjoy this book it just didnt grab me the way i had hoped it would going into it. blake and jess are adorable and funny as hell but i got pretty tired of “cheezus” fast 😅

i think maybe in the future im going to try and give this another read, see if its maybe just a timing thing that made me not love this as much as i could have

This was a DNF for me, the main character was insufferable and I just couldn’t root for their romance. Cute story and I’m sure other readers will enjoy this book, it just wasn’t my cup of tea!

I loved this so much! It held my attention and had little plot twists I didn't expect or see coming. I loved the characters and the story. There was some more stagnant parts where it felt nothing was happening but other than that it's amazing

Another Elle Kennedy Hockey Romance!! I went into this one with high hopes given how much I’ve adored the off campus series!

Whilst it was quite as earth shattering as The Off Campus series I did still enjoy it - I definitely found the last 30% off the book far more gripping than the start

Overall I enjoyed this book but the J-Babe nickname made me cringe each and every time ahhhh

Review to be posted on @travelthroughpagess_ on Instagram shortly

I love anything Elle Kennedy and she salted again with this book! It was funny and I loved every min of it

A collaboration between Elle Kennedy and Sarina Bowen, Good Boy is the perfect sports romance. With Hocky, puppies, and comedy, what more could you want?

I haven't read anything by Elle Kennedy before, but this was a great, spicy romance! Starting the book, I wasn't sure if I was going to like it since I'm not a hockey fan, but I could relate to the main character (Jess) as she wasn't originally a hockey fan either. I felt like by the end of the book, both of us were rooting for Blake's team! The one thing that I can complain out is that Blake's cocky attitude was kind of annoying and not super realistic at times. I felt like it was like he was a caricature versus a real person. But overall, the book was fast-paced and fun and I can't wait to read the 2nd in the series.

He really is a good boy...

Blake is such a golden retriever lead. He falls first (always a plus).
Jess is a screw up. No way around it. That's a trope I do not care for, not in the male or female lead (not a plus).
But I enjoyed how hard Blake worked at gaining Jess's affection, even if I thought he could do so much better than her.
Recommend.

I love Jess and Blake so much! An adorable golden retriever cinnamon roll hero! I loved Blakey’s jokes and antics. I love how Jess came into her own. She gained confidence in herself and stopped worrying so much about measuring up to her family. Together they were wonderful. Great chemistry and a solid foundation. I couldn’t get enough of them. This was such a great feel good, low angst romcom!! If you want to laugh and smile, don’t miss this book!

I can’t wait to carry on this series!

I really wanted to love this one! I am a huge Elle Kennedy fan, but honestly Blake was such an insufferable man child that I couldn't even finish it. I am chalking this one up to just not being for me.

‘Doesn’t matter if he gave me 3 orgasms in 30 minutes. I will not be tapping that ass again’

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Read if you like:
🏒 hockey romance
🏒 dual POV
🏒 cocky MMC
🏒 LGBTQ+ rep
🏒 a lillll spice 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️
🏒 he falls first
🏒 HEA
🏒 dogs 🐶 🐕 🐩

I love Elle Kennedy so much! I love her writing style with use of cuss words and sarcastic, snarky language; it makes for a very enjoyable read.
I love a dual point-of-view rom-com soooo much because we get to see exactly what both of the characters are thinking! and it makes us that much more excited when the characters finally discover what we see and FINALLY get together 💕
Something I absolutely NEED in a rom-com is some funny banter between the 2 main characters, and boy did this novel have it! I laughed-out-loud on more than one occasion just reading the interactions between the characters 🤣 I love when a book makes me physically laugh!
I love the chapter titles!!! It’s such a little thing but no one does that anymore and I really miss it!! 💕
Being a Canadian myself, I love a Canadian story!! Of course a hockey romance would be set in Canada 🤪🤪
I did not love the female main character, but I absolutely loved the male main character 🤪 so I was really rooting for him to get what he wants 😊
Another smash hit from Elle Kennedy! I love how easy her books are to fly right through, and I am delighted to discover that this book is part of a series and I have more to read! Fantastic!

I enjoyed this hockey romance by Elle Kennedy and Sarina Bowen. Good plot and likeable characters. Looking forward to the next on the series, Stay. Thanks NetGalley for the advanced copy. #GoodBoy #NetGalley

ARC REVIEW❤️

4⭐️

Oh I enjoyed this one so much, I wish I had read HIM because it does mention side characters, but I will be going back now!
This was such a good friends with benefits and I love that trope so much!
The chemistry between Blake and Jess was fire, I could feel it through the writing and I was just waiting till they made it official!
The spice was honestly spicing so much!
And the character development for Jess was done so so well. She started off as someone who's unsure of herself but by the end of the book, she became the best version of herself.

Thank you to NetGalley and Elle Kennedy and Sarina Bowen for the arc.

Second chance is a more difficult trope for me to get fully on board with. I never really felt pulled into the story in the way I hoped. It was a decent read, just not one that will stick out to me.

A delicious hockey romance with off and on ice fun.

If you love a "he falls first, and falls HARD" than this is one for you.

I loved the second chance, friends to lovers with so spicy tension that this will be your new favorite.

When Jess decides to switch her career path will her family be supportive? With all her expenses she decides to pay for this degree and discovers the ups and downs of making ends meet. A new city, a new roommate and a chance to finally pursue a career she loves. Will she survive the crazy roommate and endless hours studying?

Blake Riley is a man who keeps his feelings close to the vest but when he falls hard for a woman who has turned his world upside down will he be able to trust that she won't hurt him like his ex?

A spicy sports romance with characters who make you laugh, cry, and wish they were real. A plot filled with faith, friendship, and excitement as loveable characters finally find love.

I can't wait to read the next installment in this series.

I remembered having a pretty fun time with this when it first came out (granted, in rereading my review looks like I was also in a slump back then so maybe I was nicer than I should've been) and therefore took advantage of this re-release to do a reread because I thought it would kick my butt into finishing this spin-off series (branching from the Him/Us world) of which there is only two books -- meaning it would've taken almost no effort to complete and yet here we are. And.. well, this was such a jarring dislike from almost page one that I nearly considered DNFing and disowning my past self. Also, will I ever finish this series? Unclear.

Suffice it to say, this might be a combination of something not aging all that well and my reading tastes (and standards) being a little (lot) different these days.

There was at least a little substance to these nearly-one-note characters along the way which is what saved it. But this is a mostly surface level romance between the career-shifting sister of one of the Him/Us characters and their goofy teammate, all set against a hockey backdrop (obviously) with an an almost abundance of sex scenes (which I skipped) complete with a bizarre choice of villain -- not because she was an evil ex (typical) but the way she was a villain was bizarre. Everything was kind of bizarre, really. A lot of questionable behaviour was woven throughout.

But it was a quick read. And I managed to go from two books read for the month of August to three. Yay.

1.5 stars