Release Boost & Book Review
Title: Winning Hard: A Chesapeake Blades Hockey Romance
Series: Chesapeake Blades Book 1
Publication Date: November 15, 2017
Genre: Sports Romance – Women’s Hockey
Add to your Goodreads TBR: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36138491-winning-hard
*This story is for mature audiences only. Contains explicit scenes and language intended for adults 18+
Taylor LeBlanc has hockey in her blood and the trophies and medals to prove it. Her dreams of playing pro come to an end when the only place for her to go is the newly-formed not-really-pro women’s team, the Chesapeake Blades. It’s not quite what she had in mind, but it’s a start—except half the team is convinced she's receiving special treatment because her step-dad used to be the head coach for the Baltimore Banners and the team's PR Director wants to use her in his marketing campaign. To make matters worse, the PR Director is none other than her childhood nemesis, Chuckie-the-fart--who happens to be all grown-up and too gorgeous for his own good.
Charles Dawson never had the drive or the heart to follow hockey out of childhood. What he does have is ambition and passion—two things he needs in abundance to successfully market the brand-new women's hockey team to a less-than-enthusiastic demographic. He also needs patience—something that’s in short supply when he’s forced to deal with the one woman who has the uncanny ability to make him feel like the bumbling, uncoordinated, and socially awkward thirteen-year-old boy he used to be. Taylor isn’t the mouthy little tomboy he remembers, and sparks fly between the two, igniting an attraction that makes both of their lives unbearable when it becomes harder to ignore.
Taylor and Charles both want to win, but at what cost? Are they willing to trample every obstacle in their way--especially when the biggest obstacle could be the one thing they both need more than any trophy or medal?
Great concept for a new series; a Women’s Hockey League! This first book introduces characters and tells the struggles of the startup of the Women’s Hockey League. The league is somewhere between a recreational league and a professional league, and it shows how difficult it is for the women who chose to play. They face playing on inferior ice, inferior equipment, and low pay that has them having to work another job, sometimes two.
This first book is about Taylor (team captain and player) and Charles Dawson (PR Director for the Blades). They have a history of playing hockey as kids and Charles had a crush on her and he finds out he still does. Taylor comes from hockey royalty and she is scorned by some teammates because of who her family is. Taylor is very talented, and she works hard to prove that she belongs there. Then Charles is introduced at practice and Taylor can’t believe her eyes! Before her stands a gorgeous man not the bumbling, chubby 13-year-old boy. From that day forward Charles works hard to win her heart.
From the start I was captivated by this story. I love reading hockey romance about college and NHL players. I didn’t think I would like this as much but wanted to give it a try. I found I really liked it. The story had a lot of heart and dealt with not only the love story between Taylor and Charles (which was smoking hot); and the development of a team in a new league, dealing with clueless owner, also dealt with issues in the sports world like drug use, jealous and competing teammates, and the inequalities between the women’s league versus the men’s league. The secondary characters were entertaining, and I can’t wait to watch them develop as the series continues.
If you like sports romance, give this new series a try. I have a feeling you will enjoy it as much as I did. I can’t wait for the next book in this series!
ARC kindly provided for an honest review.
Pick up your copy of WINNING HARD at your favorite vendor: https://books2read.com/WinningHard
The Chesapeake Blades series continues with LOVING HARD, scheduled to release on January 17, 2018.
Sometimes love is the hardest game of all...but is she willing to risk everything just to play?
You can preorder your copy of LOVING HARD now by clicking the link: https://books2read.com/lovinghard
Lisa B. Kamps is the author of the best-selling series The Baltimore Banners, featuring "...hard-hitting, heart-melting hockey players..." [USA Today], on and off the ice. Her Firehouse Fourteenseries features hot and heroic firefighters who put more than their lives on the line. She's introduced a whole new team of hot hockey players who play hard and love even harder in her newest series, The York Bombers.
Her newest series, The Chesapeake Blades, focuses on the strong women of ice hockey and the men who love them.
Lisa currently lives in Maryland with her husband and two sons (who are mostly sorta-kinda out of the house), one very spoiled Border Collie, two cats with major attitude, several head of cattle, and entirely too many chickens to count. When she's not busy writing or chasing animals, she's cheering loudly for her favorite hockey team, the Washington Capitals--or going through withdrawal and waiting for October to roll back around!
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