When it comes to hockey romance, my standards are already sky-high, and O.M.G., I absolutely devoured this book. As a fake-dating romance, it follows Elle Townsend (the FMC) and her love triangle with two hot, steamy hockey players—Christian Riley and Preston Lawrence. Seriously, what could possibly go wrong? Christian is your classic womanizer who doesn’t realize what he’s got until it’s gone, while Preston is completely closed off, refusing to let anything distract him from his pro hockey career. The tension between Elle and Preston? Chef’s kiss.
The story was super easy to follow and kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time—giggling, wondering, wishing, and hoping. I loved how the drama, humor, and chemistry all came together to make this such a fun read. If you’re into hockey romance or love the fake-dating trope, this one’s a must-read. Preston had me absolutely swooning, and there were so many moments that left me grinning and feeling giddy—I couldn’t help but fall for this story.

Full disclosure: There were a few misspelled words and grammatical errors that stood out to me, and that kind of thing does take away from the experience a little bit. But honestly? The characters and the tension more than made up for it.

Revenge Puck
Author: L.A Hart
Genre: Sports Romance
Publisher: Editor's Choice Publishing
Publication Date: Feb 1, 2025

Rating:
🌟🌟🌟🌟

Review:
Summary:
Elle gets dumped by her pro hockey player boyfriend Christian. She and her best friend, Audrey get the idea get back at Christian by getting with Christian’s arch nemesis also hockey player Preston. I think you can guess what happens after that 😍😍

What I liked
Overall my favorite part of this book was the characters. Even though their was only a few main characters if felt like I had known them my whole life. I loved the different emotional connections between the characters and their backstory’s which get slowly revealed over the course of the book.

What I didn’t like
My main complaint is that I felt that some scenes were more drawn out then others but some of my favorite scenes went by super fast. Now I could complain about the “Insta-Love” but honestly it felt fun to me. Now if this isn’t your favorite thing I wouldn’t recommend it. But I personally liked it!

Writing Style/Pacing
The book was super super fast paced in my opinion. Finished it faster than I’ve finished a book in a long time! The writing was super easy to understand and was an overall great palate cleanser in between fantasy books.

Final Thoughts
In conclusion I really really enjoyed this book! Would strongly recommend for any fans of hockey (keep in mind it’s a small plot point) romance and easy writing!

Thank you to NetGalley, Editor's Choice Publishing and L.A Hart for providing an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!! 😁😁

ARC Reader (thank you NetGalley)

Revenge puck has a lot of the hallmarks that make hockey romance so lovable! A brooding MMC pro-hockey enforcer and a strong-willed, sex-positive FMC!

Elle and Preston initially get together to spite a common enemy, but as soon as sparks fly they need to figure out if they really want to be together!

At 251 pages spanning across about two weeks, this book is fast-paced and was a quick read for me! I appreciated not having to wait around for things to happen in this novel. For me, it was a page-turner and it took me less than 12 hours to read.

One of my favorite things about interconnected standalone romance series, is the world being built. In this first book of the series, I met characters that I am excited to see fall in love in future books!

I would absolutely recommend this book if you are a hockey romance lover, especially if you have a soft-spot for a broody MMC!

**Spoiler alert**: miscommunication, third act breakup, reuniting with less than 20pp. left

3.5
Thank you Netgally and the publishers for this arc. I really wanted to love this as I’m a big fan of sports romance especially hockey. But it just fell a little flat for me. There wasn’t any character development and the love triangle was a bit weird. But other than that it was a super fun and easy read.

3.5 ⭐

Revenge Puck is a light hearted, sports romance that leans heavily on its tropes. The story follows Elle, who teams up with her ex-boyfriend’s biggest hockey rival, Preston, to get back at him.

The banter between Elle and Preston is sharp, their chemistry builds naturally, and the hockey backdrop will tick boxes for fans of sports romance. It's an easy, fast-paced read.

While fun and engaging, the story is fairly predictable, and the characters’ emotional depth feels surface-level. Still, if you're in the mood for a playful, feel-good romance with plenty of hockey drama, Revenge Puck delivers exactly that, making it an enjoyable pick for fans of its tropes.

What to expect:

🗡️Enemies to loves
💕Fake Dating
😍He falls first
💞Dual POV
😈Jealous MMC

I am a big fan of hockey romance novels and this one had a good premise to start. I think the style of writing was a bit distracting for me, it felt like 90% of the book was dialogue. I would have loved to see more thoughts and emotions from the characters; the result was that the characters were a bit flat even in a first-person perspective and it was difficult to gauge any kind of emotional reaction from them without having some non-verbal cues. Many thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I received an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Normally I’m all down for a hockey romance with some fake dating, But this book wasn’t it.

The book started off well with good chemistry between Elle and Preston but half way into the book the words just started blending into each other, with the repetitive rivalry between Preston and Christian.

The moments between Elle and Preston were cute but not enough to over look the constant rivalry that seemed to be a plot filler in the book, and the lack of personality that both characters had.

Personally I felt that the book would have been a 4 star book for me if it was a short novella and finished about half the way into the story.

4 ⭐
I really enjoyed the story between Elle and Preston. Although at first I did find it moved incredibly quickly I found I loved the story and the characters in it.

I am so happy this isn part of a series because I cannot wait for the second book and I am personally cheering on for one for our girl Aubrey.

Thank you for NetGalley and the author for the ARC.

a grumpy x sunshine hockey romance??? nothing could be more perfect!!! it was such a fast paced, easy read that i never wanted to put it down! i loved seeing Preston’s character growth the more we got to know him and Elle’s banter seriously had me giggling at times, especially with the “ussie”. i really loved this book and can’t wait for the next one!!!

Revenge Puck was pretty cute and fast paced read, but ultimately just didn’t hook me the way I hoped it would.

I received an ARC from Netgalley!

Meet Ellie, a hairdresser with a broken heart. The breaker? A hockey super star who tells her it wasn't serious. His parting gift is saying she's now "free to date other players" all except for one.
Meet Preston, broody hockey super star and the one guy Elle is "forbidden" to date. So who is she going to ask for a pretend date? Ding ding ding!

I absolutely loved Elle and Preston. Their chemistry comes fast but reads quite authentic, two flirty people with a common enemy. Their exchanges got me clutching the kindle to my chest in laughter, sighs and sometimes sadness.

Elle is the perfec portrait of someone confident but who still has insecurities. I loved how she thinks o f them but doesn't focus on them 24/7. It's refreshing to read something when there's insecurities but there's also still confidence. Balance is key, because balance is real.

I loved it. It was a great read, fun, refreshing, fast paced but not rushed. The side characters had layers to them, made them feel like real people and not just plot devices. I came to care for them as well as for Elle and Preston.

My only comment is that there were a few moments when I felt things were tiny bit rushed, little bits. But overall I think it was a very cute read.

This was a delightful “suspend reality” type of romance book. One where you know it’s nowhere near possible but it’s fun to read anyhow. It’s a heartwarming and spicy hockey romance.

My only issue is proofreading, which could have been taken care of in the final copy as I’ve read an ARC. There were a lot of instances where a word was missing, or a wrong word was used. It was distracting. There were all some continuity issues but nothing major.

Overall it was a good read and I will look for book 2 when it comes out!

In L.A. Hart's Revenge Puck our main character Elle is dumped by her NHL star boyfriend, Christian. He tells her he doesn't care who she dates as long as it isn't his rival, Preston Lawrence.

Elle decides to get some revenge of her own and convinces Preston to fake date her to make Christian jealous. Preston has his own reasons for hating Christian and once Elle finds out why, she is all in.

I found it a bit hard to believe that Elle thought she was in a relationship with Christian and he considered her just a hook up. Wouldn't you know?

The book was enjoyable, but I think there was so much build up and back story that the actual switch to real romance between Elle and Preston was rushed.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I absolutely loved Revenge Puck! The book started out kind of slow but before I knew it I was hooked. I loved Preston and Elles love story and I am dying to read Christian and Mayas story!!!!!

Fake dating and an ice hockey romance! This is my go to kind of book and this one did not disappoint!!

Elle gets dumped by her boyfriend who happens to be a pro ice hockey player and masters a plan to fake date his biggest rival on the ice!!

The story was a great read and the characters were ones you get invested with! I can’t wait for the 2nd book in the series following a couple of the side characters from this book.

If you’re a lover of ice hockey, fake dating turning into something more then give this one a go!!

Hockey romances are very in right now and I’ve read a ton of them- even though I don't actually watch hockey. This was exactly what I wanted though- a quick read (I finished this book in a day), with entertaining and fun main characters, and a dual POV.

I’ve never read an L.A. Hart book before this, but it won’t be my last!

My reading of Revenge puck didn’t start of great when I 3% in thought about dnfing it. The thing that bothered me was some fat phobic remarks from the main character Elle about her body. I really don’t like reading about characters that put them selves down, and I think that we can do better than perpetuating the idea that there is something wrong with living in a bigger body.
I decided to give it a chance though and while there was a theme of Elle having self esteem issues there was not that many other mentions that annoyed me. I really liked the premise of this book, with the fake dating to get back at Elle’s ex boyfriend, and I mostly enjoyed the characters. But I have to point out that I thought Preston’s anger management issues went a bit to far at times. Definitely red flag 🚩 Especially when he got mad at Elle for things that wasn’t a big deal or had nothing to do with her. I did appreciate that they called it out, but in real life I would be screaming to Elle to get away from him. So yeah 😅 When he didn’t have temper tantrums I did like him, so I feel like it could have been way better if the author just skipped a few scenes. There was also a side character that I think got away with too much shit (don’t really want to spoil anything if you’re still interested in reading).

So while I mostly enjoyed my reading experience, it was a quick read and had some cute moments, it just had a few too many red flags for me to love.

A thoroughly enjoyable hockey romance

I admit I struggled to get gong a little in this book and found the naivety of Elle painful.

However as the book progressed and the author really got into her groove, I rooted for both Elle and Preston to get over the miscommunications and find their hea.

Struggling to see how Christian is going to become someone I will remotely like in the next book but looking forward to reading more from the author and how she navigates it.

Thank you Net galley for giving me a copy of this book. I really enjoyed this romance as it was a quick and fun read. This book starts off with Elle getting dumped by her boyfriend, Christian Riley, who is a famous hockey player. When they break up, Riley tells Elle she can date whoever she wants and he won't care unless its Preston Lawrence, his rival. This of course motivates Elle to meet Preston and make Riley jealous. It was a lot of fun watching Elle and Preston's romance go from fake dating to real feelings being involved. The banter and interactions between Elle and Preston had me giggling and wanting to read more. For those who like to know the tropes this book has fake dating, grumpy/sunshine romance and sports/hockey romance. I would definitely recommend this book. :)

I finished this book in 2-3 days and it was such a cute book! The MFC decides to get revenge against her playboy ex and the best way to do that is to get with his competitor from another team. The MMC goes along with it and it gets better from there. Love this book. It definitely should be #1 in hockey romance ❤️