This is my second Lia Riley book, and first ARC from her.
I’m a HUGE fan of Bridgerton and read mostly hockey romances, so this was an easy pick up for me. I wasn’t sure how I’d like it, but I was SUUUUPER into it!
A hockey player who is recently in remission from cancer finds himself swerving off the road and into a body of water that ends up being a portal to another time. It sounds CRAZY and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it at first, but it WORKED!
Lizzy and Tucker make a pact to get married and try to get Tuck home to his time. The kicker is that it benefits Lizzy because once a widow, she can have financial independence, which is all she yearns for.
They end up falling in love, meeting another time traveler who recognized Tuck, and traveling back and forth between time so that they can be together while still keeping their solo dreams intact.
The best of both worlds, truly.

I have some questions about how they make things work, and would love a sequel that explores more of that!

This was an enjoyable and charming read. Riley gives a refreshing take on "hockey romance". I quite enjoyed seeing 1812 England through Tuck's 21st century eyes.

I first heard about this book several months ago and was beyond excited to receive an ARC. I'm not into sports, so I've never read a hockey romance, but I love the regency era, and a hockey player time traveling just sounded so chaotic that I had to find out what happened. Unfortunately, the actual plot just didn't live up to my expectations. I thought there would be a lot more hijinks and humor, and there was SOME, but I figured there would be more fish-out-of-water moments with Tuck trying to learn how to fit in in the regency era. I also wasn't a fan of the writing style and the characters didn't have that much chemistry, in my opinion.

That being said, I did really enjoy Lizzie as a heroine, and I loved all the nods to Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice, especially the boiled potatoes reference to the movie. Tuck wasn't a bad character either, but I think it would've been interesting to get more insight into his life and how he felt about his cancer diagnosis. Again, this was addressed, but I felt like there could've been more. But even though I didn't particularly enjoy the romance or the writing style, I was truly invested in the ending and was very curious to see what would happen to their relationship.

I can see why people would enjoy this novel, but it just wasn't a good fit for my personal tastes.

I really wanted to love this book but between the nickname “pocket rocket” and the fact that Tuck came up with the name for Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice I just couldn’t get into the story.

It’s fair to say was pulled in to read this based not the title and the story premise. How could I not want to read this when my bookstagram is called “Pride and Patronus”!? This was my second hockey romance, that said…there wasn’t that much hockey. Prepare for spoilers in this review.

While I didn’t have many notes on Lizzie, I had a lot on Tucker. His character did not seem consistent with an average American man in his 30s. The voice that was written for him didn’t match a modern man in professional sports. To add to that more, he suddenly started talking like he was Mr. Darcy which didn’t make sense as he apparently didn’t know anything about the time period. Speaking of Mr. Darcy, it was baffling that Tucker was written to have never heard of “Pride and Prejudice” ESPECIALLY with a sister who studied English literature. But also, I’m sure many men know of Pride and Prejudice…

About the writing - I was intrigued that Jane Austen was part of this universe and was apparently a friend of Lizzie’s. Bringing it to Lizzie and Tucker - their chemistry was not very believable and needed to be flushed out more. That said, the story did feel dragged out and could have been a bit shorter.

The ultimate decision to their relationship of Lizzie and Tucker jumping between time periods to maintain their relationship was an odd decision to me. I get this is the way that appeases both but it doesn’t make sense for a long-standing relationship. It felt more like a forced happily ever after.

Overall, I found this to be a cheesy, and at times cringey, read. There wasn’t a lot of action happening which may be due to the time period which is okay. However, the dialogue wasn’t carrying the story.

This was a fantastic read! 4.5 ⭐️!! It was such a different romance book to what i usually tend to read but I’m so glad I read it. Time travel is a trope i have never read before but it was so so fun! Please read this book if you love bridgerton and hockey boys because you will love it!

Plot: An American hockey player travels back in time to regency England, meets the actual Jane Austen and falls in love with the woman who will go on to inspire the character of Elizabeth Bennet.

I think it’s fair to say what you see is what you get with this book. It’s a cute, fun read, but I had trouble connecting with the characters to enjoy it as much as I wanted to. Also, the MMC was almost a little too ignorant for me at times.

Thank you to Avon, Harper Voyager and NetGalley for an early copy.

This is my first foray into the Hockey Romance sub-genre, when I saw that this book was also a time travel romance AND hinted at a Jane Austen retelling sort of story, I was IN! Lets clear one thing up, this is not a retelling of Pride and Prejudice, it does feature the character of Jane Austen in a minor capacity, but that aspect is more of a nod to the time period that the hockey player travels to! Now here is the thing, I really enjoyed this book, and that's because both of the main characters were supremely likable! I liked each of them, and it was easy to see why they liked each other, their reluctance to move their marriage of convenience towards a real relationship was purely situational, and also very reasonable. Tucker is a softie, a bit of a bro, but he has respect for women, and when he finds himself in a situation where he has no idea how to behave he is thrilled to have Lizzie there to help, and Lizzie loves how he takes her seriously, and how he trusts her to help him behave in the right ways for this time period. That mutual respect and trust is just delicious. The steamy bits where a pro hockey player tries to respectfully teach an Edwardian era woman how to get off... that was hilarious and I have no notes, things do get pretty steamy but I was just having such a good time with these two!! I raced through this a bit because I just couldn't see how we were going to be able to get to that HEA and I was STRESSED but it was worth it!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Avon and Harper Voyager, for giving me a copy of the book in exchange for this honest review!

Overall I thought the book was pretty cute, the characters were fun and I enjoyed rooting for them. I adore Pride & Prejudice and love all of the retellings (so I’m a tad biased probably).

My only complaint is that it felt like there was an awful lot of telling instead of showing. In the beginning especially it felt like information was being shoehorned into conversation versus the information being revealed and discussed naturally.

Very cute book. Definitely spicier than I imagined it would be considering the time period. He gives her an incredibly unfortunate nickname, but I am very particular about nicknames as it is.

Apparently I have a new favorite genre: absolute bonkers premise + commitment to the bit + CAMP. Perfection.

If you're a fan of any sort of historical accuracy you need to go ahead and run away. If you're willing to embrace the sheer absurdity of everything that is happening, welcome to a real good time.

A pro hockey player goes back in time and meets Lizzy a good friend of JANE AUSTEN. Yes, Jane Austen is a minor character in this novel. Tropes include marriage of convenience and there was only one bed. The romance is earned, the sex scenes are hot and there is no way to explain this novel without sounding like I'm in the middle of a fever dream.

Honestly, I had a great time. Certain things got heavy handed at times, but you know what, WHATEVER. This is a novel about a time traveling hockey player. Sometimes you just have to say why not.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars, I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley, and while I was looking forward to it, it didn’t live up to the hype for me. The premise was fun and the tension between the main characters was great. I just felt like the writing left something to be desired. There were often phrases that were chunky to get through and large paragraphs of info dumps. I do feel like there would be some who really enjoyed this book! It’s a good time if you want to escape and turn your brain off.

Very interesting concept for the book. I was engaged throughout. I thought the storyline was well executed and the characters were likeable.

What a captivating novel about a woman discovering what she wanted for herself when decisions and expectations are made for her. This story had such a fun twist of a storyline. I love how it took a modern day events like Hockey and a classic tail and brought it together. My favorite parts were the scenes with Jane Austen. Such a fun twist, she made you feel like you were right next to her. The spice was just enough. I love how they gave some mystery to it as well. What a great read!
I am rating this book 5 out of 5 stars!!

I absolutely loved this book! I was drawn in by the title and stayed for the time traveling hockey player. This book gives off outlander vibes if she traveled back to regency England instead. I loved the banter and the magic system of how the time traveling worked overall. Plus, we all love a good happy ending and this book has it. This book asked the question of what would happen if a hockey player time traveled to regency England and had to learn to survive. This whole story was a cute fast paced love story and I absolutely loved it. I highly recommend this book if you loved pride and prejudice and time travel.

Hockey romance, time travel, and one of Jane Austen’s besties? That’s all I needed to hear to know that I wanted to read this book. I figured Puck and Prejudice would be a good time, and I was right.

Is it silly at times? Absolutely. Do I think Tuck and Lizzy probably should have had some more dramatic reactions to the differences in their language and lived experience? Probably. Would I recommend the book still? 100%.

It’s a hockey player traveling to Regency England, you do have to be able to suspend disbelief a bit; but, if you can do that, Puck and Prejudice is so much fun. You get time travel, the always fun one bed trope, and a marriage of convenience. The characters are likable. The story flows well and is well written. There were parts that genuinely made me laugh out loud. It’s just plain fun.

I will say if Jane Austen is your favorite author and you take her works very seriously and are serious about Regency era accuracy, you might have a harder time enjoying the book. I love Jane Austen but also have a silly streak so I thoroughly enjoyed “meeting” her and all the references to her various works. As well as the nods to other worthwhile authors of the time.

Plus, if you like spice, there’s some good spice. I’m sure thankful we live in an era where we can read books with such things!

Thank you Avon and Harper Voyager for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This is the type of bananas romance I’m here for and mostly, I really enjoyed this. A hockey player getting sent back in time to the Regency period in England where he’s legitimately clueless worked! I loved how confused he was and how he tries to navigate being a fish out of water…sort of successfully lol the romance was sweet and spicy and really fun!

But, and this is totally a personal caveat and may not affect your reading journey or enjoyment of this book, Tucker is in remission from cancer. And while it’s not necessarily a key point in the story, I struggle with reading about cancer or characters with cancer due to hypochondriasis or health anxiety. So. Not at all the authors fault, but it’s the reason why I could not finish the book. I was too anxious! This in no way reflects my rating and I think someone without health anxiety would love this bonkers story!

A pro hockey player gets sent into the past and enters the regency era? Sign me up!

“Puck and Prejudice” was such a fun read! This is the kind of read for you if you want something light hearted that’ll boost your mood.

I didn’t feel too particularly connected to the characters in the story. I was mostly concerned with how or if the main character would be able to get home. The characters felt kind of shallow to me. The main male lead also felt almost too comfortable with being in the past. Like he accepted it too quickly. If I was put in the past, I think I would have a complete breakdown. But maybe that’s just me!

I do like how the book tackled topics that had to do with the character being in the past. It acknowledged that while there have been many improvements, there are certain aspects of society that have not moved forward for women.

Overall, “Puck and Prejudice” was a pleasant, but not overly rememberable, read!

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

What a ride. Hockey. Pride & Prejudice. What could go wrong? Austen herself makes an appearance as a side character in this (very, very) steamy time-traveling romance. A perfect quick read with a side of strong feminist male lead.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were well developed and lovable. The pacing was perfect and left you wanting to read more. I can't wait to read more by this author!