Solid 4 stars. The pacing is good, the writing is quip and witty. I love how the parts of the hockey game made you feel like you're in the arena but not too technical, just good enough to feel the high emotions.

Preston and Elle are meant to be, they just didn't know it yet. Elle thought she was with the hottest player in the league, turns out she got played. At a whim, she went for his arch nemesis, got a selfie or an ussie to rile up the ex. Turns out, this is the girl Preston gave up his celibacy for. Hard working, hockey is life, focused, grumpy Preston was into messing with his enemy, especially coming down to the championship game, and it worked. Except his heart did not notify him that he's falling for Elle. Elle is kind, insecure, but positive and cheerleader for others, best friend anyone can ask for, swore off hockey players, but here's Preston. He treats her with the utmost respect, and truly treat her like a queen both in public and in private. You want to talk about golden retriever, there's one for you. When sh_t started to get real, they really need to make that effort to turn it real.

The conflict was goofy, and too quick and light - no depth to it. Made you feel like it was not justified. But also impressed that the turn around and leading to the 'right' decisions being made changes 4 people's lives.

I will say, this is a fun, quick and exciting read for me. The first night I opened the book, I read all the way to 60%, until I have to sleep. It's THAT good and pacing kept up. Glad the end came together, even though a bit bumpy. Also prep for the next book. Will definitely read that too.

Thank you to NetGalley & BooksGoSocial for the ARC

I found it very hard to get into this and connect to the characters which I found very disappointing because I love hockey romances. However. I Ddo think that it would be good for a lot of people and the writing style just wasn't for me.

I’m a sucker for a good sports or hockey romance. Elle is a salon manager and is dating Christian Riley from the Bobcats hockey team. He unexpectedly breaks up with her and she devises a plan with her best friend to make him regret it. In comes Preston, the rival hockey player, whose goal is to lay out the other team. The plan works to get under Christian’s skin but no one thought it would develop into more.
Elle’s trust is broken so it makes sense she is so hesitant with Preston. I love their back and forth banter and getting both points of view. At times I was definitely thinking just go for it she loves you too.
The twist and side story of why Preston and Christian already hate each other is perfect. For their story to come full circle back to tolerating each other pulled on my heart strings.
I didn’t want to put the book down and loved it all.

I really enjoyed this book.
Main characters Elle, Preston and Christian. I only add Christian as a main character bc this book has a lot to do with him. Something might be bad ,some thing might be good. You have to make that decision for yourself.
My favorite character was Preston aka the Wooly Mammoth; the beast. lol. He is such a rough but super sweet guy. We get a guy falls first in this book, I feel.
Elle was such an adorable character as well, she seems to bring the best out of everyone and is such a good person/friend, even when she shouldn't have to be.

This book gets you hooked from the beginning and keeps you attached til the end.
There is so much growth and character development in this book and in all of the characters and so nice to read.

The Epilogue is funny, strange and a bit confusing at first til you keep reading for a bit. So much fun.
Loved it!
I am so glad to have had the opportunity to read and review this book.
Can't wait to see what else this author has to read. :)

I enjoyed this book. I liked the fake dating turned into real feelings and the rivalry between the hockey players. There was also a hint at the next book which intrigued me wanting to know what happens. I look forward to reading more in this series!

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

This wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible either. I struggled with the dialogue—it felt immature and uninspired, making it hard to stay engaged. I usually love a good revenge plot, but this one didn’t pull me in.

I wasn’t a big fan of Elle. She came across as self-centered and disrespectful toward others, yet she also lacked confidence in herself and what she wanted. Her dynamic with her ex was strange throughout the book, even toward the end.

The romance felt rushed—despite the hero being portrayed as a grumpy, difficult guy, they were immediately into each other with little build-up. Overall, this one just didn’t work for me.

This book was just ok. MMC had red flags that were just swept under the rug. I still don’t understand the FMC’s character or how they fell in love in under a week. Christian’s character arc was the only thing I liked. That and the cover is nice!

Elle approaches Preston as she knows it Will annoy her ex, but what will happen when feelings get involved in fake dating? I liked how it was told from both points of view. Looking forward to the next book in this series.

Pros
- Loved the concept
- The possessiveness and jealousy was fun
- Really enjoyed the Maya/Christian side plot
- Great chemistry

Cons
- I never felt truly connected to the characters
- This felt like a book 1 of 2 for the couple instead of a complete story

This is the first book by L.A. Hart I have read but I love a good hockey romance so I took a chance. Overall a really good premise for a book and solid writing. I had mixed emotions on this book honestly. When I read the first chapter I was instantly turned off. I did not like the characters and really disliked the cavalier attitude about relationships in the start. But I decided to continue on and give the book a shot and it definitely got better. Honestly I really liked Preston but I had a hard time connecting with Elle in this book. I just didn't jive with her thought processes and how she handled things. That being said, overall I did end up enjoying the book and would recommend giving it a chance.

Basically this story is your mutual revenge plot; the enemy of my enemy is my friend. When Elle gets dumped by her hockey playing "boyfriend" Christian, she is pretty upset. When she learns that Preston is his biggest enemy on the ice, she decides to try to enlist him to get back at Christian. Preston doesn't do relationship...or really people...or really anything except hockey. But he is intrigued when Elle approaches him and is all in when he hears her plan. But what happens when both start to feel more than what the fake relationship started out as? And what happens when Preston may get traded to the other side of the U.S.? And can Elle learn to trust another hockey playing athlete?

I would say this book get 3.5 stars for me overall. It's a good story and well written but I just didn't connect as much.

This was a laugh out-loud, fun romantic comedy. Highly recommend to sports romance readers. Can't wait to read book two of this series later in 2025.

As a NC hockey fan, I loved this story. It was an enjoyable easy read and I plan to read the second one when it. My main critique is just the dialogue was a bit awkward in places.

Sports romance is a genre I forget how much I like until I read another one!
Firstly, I love this title! It makes me giggle so much and when I read the scene in the book with the title I lost it 😂 I really enjoyed the characters and that they were so much more than their first appearances made them out to be. And while the storyline was somewhat predictable, it still had enough mini twists to keep it interesting.
I read it in a day and don’t regret anything, I couldn’t put it down!

How do you get revenge on the hockey player you thought was more than just hookup? You start fake dating his rival. Elle is blindsided when her hockey star boyfriend (or so she thought) dumps her right before the Stanley Cup playoffs. She is jaded and furious so she decides to get the ultimate revenge by fake dating Preston Lawrence after chasing him down at the first playoff game. They conspire to fake date to get back at her ex but quickly start falling for each other in the process.

Family secrets are revealed and we find out why these rivals really hate each other. This is a HEA and book one of a series. This was my first book by this author and I can't wait for the next one!

Tropes:

ex's rival
grumpy/sunshine
second chance romance
mild spice

Thank you to NetGalley and L.A. Hart for an E-ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Listen, I absolutely love hockey romances, but unfortunately Revenge Puck is just…not it. The characters are immature, the dialogue is stilted and the romance happens at warp speed. Other than finding each other hot, I genuinely don’t understand why they like each other. Dash in some fatphobic comments and you’ve lost me.

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

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.
2.75 stars

I was pulled in by the blurp and the hockey romance. Ya girl loves some revenge fake dating and hockey. But this did not live up to my standards.

The plot takes place over the span of a very short time. The first chunk of the book only a couple of days at that. However, we dive head first into the romance. I love myself a slow-burn, but this felt more quick love. Not insta, definitely not. But also quicker than I would have liked. The fact that our MMC agreed to the FMC's request for 'fake dating' seemed appropriate given his relationship with the FMC's ex. However, how quickly the FMC got over her ex-not-ex was a bit unbelievable. This was also noted by the MMC, but I still want to touch upon it.

There's not much happening in the book and it feels like we're mainly jumping from one romance scene to the other. I like some filler scenes where we get to know the characters outside of their relationship with each other.

This book also has a third act break up, so if you're not into that then skip it. This break up took up a lot of pages. Especially compared to the "build up" of romantic feelings between the characters. I didn't like how much of an asshole the MMC was to the FMC. And she took him back super quickly? I would've made him GROVEL.

The writing itself wasn't bad but it also wasn't stellar. At times it felt like too much dialogue and not enough description.

All in all, this was not a bad book. If you're looking for a quick read, do not want to wait around for slow-burn and enjoy hockey and revenge romance this would be up your alley.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book as it had a bit of a clunky start but I was actually pleasantly surprised and ended up getting into the storyline.

I liked both main characters as I felt they had strong and engaging personalities. Elle was a business owner and Preston was a hockey player. Getting even with his enemy who just dumped Elle began their fake romance but it quickly turned real as they got to know each other. No spoilers but there is a great subplot that adds some interesting dynamics too. Overall I saw growth I. The characters even though they may have had a few too many “misunderstandings.” Overall though it was a pretty good read and I would like to read the next one!

Some grammar and spelling errors did take away from the readability of the novel and I’m hoping that might just be because I had the ARC.

Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.

Revenge Puck is a sports romance that intertwines themes of revenge, fake dating and intense rivalries. The narrative centers on Elle Townsend, who after being unceremoniously dumped by her hockey star boyfriend Christian Riley, just before the championship playoffs, devises a plan to make him jealous.
She enlists the help of Christian's arch-rival, Preston Lawrence, proposing a fake relationship to unsettle her ex.
Preston known for his gruff demeanor and on-ice aggression agrees to the scheme seeing an opportunity to gain a psychological edge over christian.
As their Charade progresses the lines between pretense and genuine affection blur.

Elle just got dump by hockey star Christian. And she's not going to go quietly. Good thing Preston, Christian's nemesis on the ice, also hates him. So they decide to fake dating each other not to only make Christian jealous but to get the ultimate revenge.

I don't read a lot of hockey romance. But I'm starting to understand the hype because I enjoyed this book a lot. The characters are sassy and their personalities shine through the pages. The flow of the story was so good! I liked how it navigated from one scene to the next.

And yes, it was steamy! But I really like how the characters came together with their feelings and just how their romance works.

This was a book I enjoyed reading. It was entertaining and I actually breezed through it because I just want to know what was going to happen next.

Since this is a part of a series, I'm looking forward to reading the next one.

Unfortunately this book was not for me and I had to DNF it. I understand it's an ARC, but it needed at least one more pass from an editor and I couldn't connect with the characters. It felt very forced and while I'm sure that some people can really identify with the feelings Elle has about not being thin enough or pretty enough, it read very shallow and fatphobic at a time I personally find triggering in my life.

However I feel it could be setting up for a very classic "make my ex jealous and oops we fall in love while fake dating" which I do generally enjoy and is one of the best tropes!