Thank you to Harlequin books and NetGalley for this e-arc!

Grumpy, black cat wanna-be tattoo apprentice Lucy and naive NHL player Jaylen make a good luck bargain with each other. She serves as his good luck charm and he helps her with her tattoo portfolio.

I’m sorry, but immediately no - letting this author debut after talking poorly again and again on the exact romance book niche she’s attempting to write in is awful. I don’t have anything good to say about this book besides LaFleur attempted to have a diverse cast (which unfortunately felt very stereotypical). I cringe to think about how closely the characters resemble the author’s real life - down to their names.

This is the kind of book that results from allowing a woman with some influence to land a deal without any skill in writing. The whole book was telling not showing, the pacing was off, the inner and regular dialogue was cringey, and the FMC was just unlikable.

I cannot in good will recommend this book. And I do wish she hadn’t dragged Rachel Reid (the queen of hockey romance) into any of her campaign.

This is a fun hockey romance. One of my favorite part was the side character friends of the FMC. They felt like real and well developed people and I loved that they and the FMC were a part of a robust queer community. Just makes everything more fun.

I loved the initial reason the main characters were brought together, the push pull of a one night stand to quasi-workplace/forced proximity. But the reasoning of the MMC wanting their relationship to continue for superstitious reasons when he admits in all his years of hockey he was never that superstitious didn't really make sense to me. I just felt like that plotting could've been tightened up a bit.

Otherwise, it's a fun and spicy time. I didn't really find the black cat FMC unlikeable I honestly loved her.

The narrator for the FMC did a great job. I felt pretty neutral about the one for the MMC but it's always fun to have dual narrators. Thank you to Harlequin audio for the ALC and the Hive for the eARC!

If you loved the novella “That One Night,” but the Jacksonville Rays Series was too spicy for you as a whole, this book may be for you.

I had high hopes for this black cat x golden retriever hockey romance, but it fell flat for me. There is a one night stand where the both believe it is their last night in the city (spoiler it’s not). Then, Jaylen ends up convinced Lucy is his lucky charm and falls head first. Lucy has a fear of commitment and takes a while to come around to the idea.

And . . . That’s all I remember because I got bored and did not connect to the characters.


Thank you the Hive, Harlequin Audio, and Net Galley for a free ALC and ARC in exchange of an honest review.

o start, I’ll say that I’ve been following this author on TikTok for a while, and I always love her peek into the hockey world. Her knowledge of hockey, from rituals to games to the struggles players might face, really comes through in the details in this book.

I liked the main characters (the male had relatable struggles and the female was funny), although they did fall a little flat at times. My biggest struggle when reading this book was that it was hard for me to picture these two characters actually being together. They were verrryyyyy different, and while not impossible, not entirely believable either.

Overall, I’m glad I was able to read this book, even if it won’t claim a top 10 spot. Thank you NetGalley and publishers for the advanced copy!

This book was adorable. I’m always a sucker for a good hockey romance. And this one definitely stepped up to play. The mmc Jay was adorable and was so real when it came to the struggles he faced. And Lucy?! She was witty and fun and I was absolutely obsessed with the banter in this book. It had me giggling the whole time. I really enjoyed this books and cannot thank NetGalley enough for the Arc!

I'd first like to thank Harlequin Audio, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Canary Street Press for both an ALC and eARC of this book on Netgalley.

For me, listening to a book while reading it makes the experience that much *more* and I really enjoyed listening to the narrators tell this story. I do think I would've struggled to get more into Lucy and Jaylen's story had I not been able to listen to it at the same time.

This book felt like an almost fictionalized version of her own romance with her husband, which felt kind of strange to me, but if other like it, then pop off sis!

I did find that when listening/reading to a lot of the hockey talk (yes, I know this is a hockey romance lol) made me kind of want to skim over parts to get to more of the story.

All thoughts in the review are my own.

Also a huge thank you to HTP Hive for allowing me to have read this title <3

The characters in Shoot Your Shot were really great and I was invested in their stories from the get go. The queer representation was a breath of fresh air and made the book even more enjoyable for me. What I had a harder time with was their internal dialogue/narration which felt too 'cerebral' and pulled me out of the story because I felt like no one talks to themselves like that. It was evident that the book was written by someone who is smart and educated and sometimes that made the internal thoughts of the characters too intellectual which then made it hard to relate and clashed with the tone of the book. Overall, it was still very enjoyable and I'd definitely recommend it to fans of hockey romance and especially if they're looking to read something by a Canadian author. Also, Lexi LaFleur Brown knows her hockey, it shows!

3.5 rounded up
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this book but parts of it just fell flat. It was okay. Not bad, not great. It was cute and I liked the characters.

The MCs were definitely loosely based on the author and her husband and I don’t have a problem with that. For a debut novel, it was fine. It was a lot of tell not show. Allll throughout the book. It was just description after description after description and the writing style was just not my favorite.

Finally a hockey romance for people who actually watch hockey! As a fan of Lexi’s tiktoks and the Seattle Kraken I knew I needed this book in my life. It did not disappoint. I found myself constantly laughing but also loved how well the heavier topics were handled. I will say this book is very niche for the gay millennial woman who understands hockey so I understand if not everyone loves it. But as someone who read all of the MMC parts with JTs (Lexi’s husband and Kraken announcer) voice it was a great fun time.

I feel like I’ve been waiting for this book for one thousand years and not just because I’m a huge fan of Lexi on twitter. I love hockey and it’s hard to find a hockey romance that doesn’t make me want to throw up and die immediately from cringe. This healed me from the many books I’ve picked up where it felt like the author googled “hockey slang” and tried to fit in as many as possible. Did the pacing get a little weird in parts? Sure, but it’s a debut and minor errors are to be expected. I cannot wait for the next one!

I think this was a good book for a first time author! Lexi is knowledge about hockey and the lifestyle that accompanies being in a relationship with a professional athlete and I think that is well represented in the storyline. Some of the wording came off a bit awkward and robotic, but I think overall it was still great. There was a good amount of humor and spice with two very lovable characters!

I loved Shoot Your Shot! The author did a great job of letting readers get to know the characters (including the supporting cast), and I really liked both Lucy and Jaylen. I loved that all the characters were real, with real feelings, fears, and insecurities. Shoot Your Shot is different than most of the books I read because of that, and it was great to see both navigate through their demons and grow stronger as individuals while growing stronger as a couple. The author also clearly knows hockey (although I've never heard a +/- rating being called "dash" rather than "minus"); as a hockey fan that was very much appreciated. Can't wait for the next book!

This is a super cute hockey romance with just a little bit of spice! I love the lgbt and mental health representation. This book hooked me in right from the first line.

I honestly thought this was so interesting. I am in love with Hockey related books. I loved the way this book was written the author did a great job writing this. I would definitely recommend this book to my hockey loving friends. This was amazing to listen to and even better to read!

I really enjoyed this one! The two main characters had great chemistry, and I hope to see more queer romances by Lexi LaFleur Brown

I love love love the black cat/golden retriever dynamic they have. It was very enjoyable to read about and their opposing personalities were such a treat

I also really enjoyed the writing style. It had the common rom-com-esque witty style, but the way the characters were so dynamic, and the reader could tell when they let their guards down and let each other in versus when they were putting on a facade was intriguing, and personally, it made me feel more connected to the characters

However, although I loved the main leads, I think the persistence with which Jaylen asked Lucy out felt a bit icky to me. Of course they did end up falling in love, but at First Lucy was very standoffish and I would hope that Jaylen is not actually that persistent. I would have loved it even more if either Lucy accepted him asking her out, or if Jaylen took her no for a no and they ended up meeting again in a similar way.

Other than that, I really loved it. I think it's a sweet and sexy romance featuring main characters with opposing personalities that are completely individual, yet fit compliment each other wonderfully

I would recommend this book to readers who want a book with witty banter, a badass FMC, a golden retriever MMC, and characters who work through their traumas and struggles together

Lucy is trying to focus on her career to land a tattoo apprenticeship and is taking a step back from dating. Jaylen has no time for relationships while trying to get his NHL career back on track. When their paths cross and Jaylen starts playing better, he's convinced Lucy is his good luck charm. But trying to convince her of that might be another story. Can this simple favor stay simple, or will this complicate both their goals?

As a lover of sports romances, and specifically hockey, I enjoyed this. I thought it was a cute story that has a lot of diversity in the characters and their backgrounds. I also enjoyed how accurate the aspects of hockey are portrayed because I think that can be lacking in other sports romances. I think Lucy and Jaylen had good banter back and fourth and I enjoy a story where the guy falls first. They struggle through problems and situations that feel very real to real life. I think if you're looking for a quick and fun read after reading long fantasy books, this is a good choice!

The prose is stilted and awkward from the get-go, making for a weird combination of show and tell that fails to immerse the readers in the story. Instead, both main characters overexplain everything, making the story repetitive and slow-paced. It's difficult to connect with the FMC, even though I was looking forward to a black cat personality from Lucy. While I'm grateful for all the representation, each character is reduced to a few base cliches and stereotypes. The smut, which this book markets as "steamy," comes off as robotic as well.

🏒 Black Cat / Golden Retriever Ship
🏒 He Falls First
🏒 Hockey Player / Artist
🏒 Opposites Attract
🏒 Debut

Thank you NetGalley for trusting me to read and review the ARC of this book.

This book was fun and easy to read at first. But once I got halfway through it seemed to get repetitive and felt like it started to drag. So I did give it 3 stars for the beginning. I did almost DNF this book and took me 3 days to finish the last 10 chapters. However I did like the concept behind the book as well as some of the characters. But both characters being players and her not wanting to settle down was a little off putting for me.

I also wasn’t a fan of Lucy after a little bit as she seemed to push away any relationship and is a one night stand type of girl. Also Lucy’s boss wasn’t it. Giving away the apprenticeship to someone else. But also seemed like Lucy ended up completely taking over the mural project as it seemed her boss only asked her to cover for the one day since Lucy double booked her.
This book was more a one night stand turned to lovers and a little light stalking.
I wanted to love this book since it’s a hockey romance, but it was a little harder to push through. Also how are you in a relationship and not know it? Especially when she was iffy and kept pushing him away from the beginning.

This book was unfortunately flat for me. I was really excited, and you could tell that the author knew her stuff about hockey, which I assume is from her husband, but the rest of it was lacking. The intimate scenes felt very robotic, and I wasn’t a huge fan of the female main character. This is still a fun hockey romance for anyone who wants something Informationally correct, but it was just not for me.

This was a cute debut! I loved the accuracy coming from someone with inside NHL knowledge, I almost wish there was a little more of that. I didn't connect with the characters but could definitely appreciate their personalities throughout the book.