A young woman returns home and ends up catching the attention of the local bad boy hockey star, who needs to clean up his act, in this sports-fueled romance of opposites attracting. Keep reading to get a tempting taste of Ice Burn by L.A. Cotton, along with getting my impressions of this first installment in the Lakeshore U series, then add it to your bookshelf!
From USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Rixon Raider series comes a brand new sports romance series. Lakeshore U, where hockey is religion, and the players are gods. Are you ready to fall in love with a Laker?When Dayna Benson moves home, she doesn’t expect to feel so torn. On the one hand, she’s glad to be back in Dupont Beach. But it means parting ways with her boyfriend and facing ghosts she thought she’d left behind.
Enter Aiden Dumfries.Arrogant. Angry. With enough attitude to freeze over Lake Erie, he’s determined not to let anyone help him.
When he finds himself exiled to the small coastal town after a scandal that could ruin his hockey career before it gets started, his plans for summer break are dashed.
He’s Lakeshore U’s bad boy on the ice. She’s sunshine, smiles, and something that feels a lot like hope. But can Dayna melt Aiden’s heart?
Or will she end up burned?
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MY IMPRESSIONS OF THIS BOOK:
Previously released as a novella in the Reckless Summer Love Anthology, Ms. Cotton has expanded things a bit here to give more insight into this couple, adding more steam, and amping up the emotions Aiden and Dayna are feeling upon returning home. With each turn of the page readers will find this a charming story of opposites attracting, a small town romance of starting over while not letting the pain of your past define you. Ultimately it's a quick read, a satisfying one, that will have you adding this series to your "to buy" shelf.
Aiden Dumfries is the bad boy of hockey, a sexy playboy teeming with arrogance, with a thick wall around his heart. Feeling distrustful of others leaves him with no desire to form commitments. According to others he's a one and done kind of guy, someone who talks dirty and isn't shy in showing that side to the world. There's more to him though than what the world sees and thinks. After being relegated to hiding out in small town America, for yet another misdeed, he slowly discovers more to himself in his instant attraction to a woman with her own demons from the past. Aiden rubs you wrong the moment you meet him. Like others I too thought I knew all there was to him, but as his past was revealed I became drawn to him. His father was truly awful and it had him closing himself off to the world. He hates being compared to such an awful man and his anger over this brings out a self-destructive side. He constantly gives the world a big middle finger in scenes teeming with anger and frustration. The moment he meets Dayna though is the moment when everything changes for him. Being with her brings out a more honest version of himself, a loving and caring side normally reserved for only his mother. Being with Dayna has Aiden being the best he can be, being his own man once and for all, in a sweet and steamy burgeoning romance.
Dayna Benson has returned home too, but not exactly as the person she thought she'd be. She envisioned someone successful and self-assured. But after a recent, tragic, loss she's returned home to lick her wounds as she's a shell of her former self. Returning home gives her the chance to start over though...and start over she does...with the sexy Aiden! They sizzled from the very start in a relationship that evolved very quickly...almost too quickly to savor fully. Through it all I liked her and rooted for her in her dealings with her ex, an ex who played with her emotions by tearing at her self-esteem. Her relationship to Aiden might've started out rocky but their connection grew as truths about themselves were revealed and became a bond between them.
This was a quick and satisfying story, one with likable characters and a nice glimpse of things to come for the Lakeshore U series. While more time spent with Dayna and Aiden would've been appreciated, what was on display was entertaining. Dayna's ex was immensely unlikable and I wish time spent on him would've been spent on this couple's burgeoning romance. Despite those small quibbles I still recommend this book and its charming and steamy small town romance.
My rating for this is a B.
*I got this book from the author for review in exchange for my honest opinion.
*GRAB THE PREQUEL, BITE THE ICE, FOR FREE here.*
AUTHOR INFO:
USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of over forty mature young adult and new adult novels, LA COTTON is happiest writing the kind of books she loves to read: addictive stories full of teenage angst, tension, twists and turns.
Home is a small town in the middle of England where she currently juggles being a full-time writer with being a mother/referee to two little people. In her spare time (and when she’s not camped out in front of the laptop) you’ll most likely find LA immersed in a book, escaping the chaos that is life.
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