A fun premise with a lot of promise, but ultimately not a match for me. 🏒💔

I was really excited to dive into I Don’t Date Hockey Players—especially after falling in love with The Sanctuary of Fate & Fire by the author, which was one of my favourite reads of the year. The cover is adorable, and the blurb hooked me right away with the promise of a sizzling love triangle set against a high-stakes hockey rivalry.

While I enjoyed the concept and setting, the story didn’t quite deliver the emotional tension or character dynamics I was hoping for. The romantic plot felt a bit forced at times, and the love triangle didn’t unfold as the description suggested. That said, there’s a lot of potential here, especially for readers who enjoy sports romance tropes and behind-the-scenes team drama.

Looking forward to seeing what Lolu Sinclair writes next—I’ll always be excited to pick up her future work.

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

2/5!

Sadly had to DNF this one, I just couldn’t get into it and it became annoying to read. I liked the idea of the book and could see the vision of what the author was going for but it really just fell flat and the 3rd pov turned into she did this and then she thought this.

Thank you netgalley and Lost Lust for the arc!

While there was some plot potential here, the execution was sorely lacking. First, I would absolutely not market this as a “sizzling, high-stakes love triangle with all the tension of a sudden-death overtime”. It isn’t the least bit a love triangle. Anna thinks Blake is cute and Blake (who is one of the worst MCs I’ve ever read) is delusional and ridiculously obsessed with her after like 2 conversations. There is a clear MMC in this book from start to finish. The only tension is between Blake and Charlie as hockey rivals. The highest stake is Anna and Charlie losing their jobs. The sizzle was doused when Anna said “goal” after their first time together. Second, the third person POV was all over the place, switching characters out of nowhere, making it hard to connect to the characters. Third, this really just comes across as the author attempting to capitalize on the popularity of hockey romances and putting no real effort into actually researching and including hockey. Sure they play a game or two on page but it’s kept very superficial. There are better written hockey romances that actually feature the gameplay.

Overall, I really struggled to finish reading this and I wouldn’t recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was sweet to read, however, I struggled to get into the 3ed person writing. It was fun and a quick book when I got into it. I loved the plot and characters. I will be buying the paperback regardless 😂

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC opportunity!

This was tough to get through. I am not a huge fan of 3rd person POV, and we jumped around quite a bit which also made it a little difficult to keep details straight.

I really liked the blurb for this one, but the story and love triangle all fell short for me. At times, it felt like we were causing issues in the plot just to keep it going, not to actually benefit the story. It made it difficult to want to buy into any of the characters.

Thanks to Netgalley and Lost Lust this ARC!

I’m going to start by saying I absolutely hate DNFing books. I’ve made it through some really terrible books and I am usually so strong. I could not bring myself to finish this book and the moment I finally put it down, I knew nothing would bring me to pick it up again. I love sports romances, but hockey romances particularly have my heart. I’ve even read some truly terrible hockey romances that I didn’t enjoy at all and managed to make it through them.

Unfortunately, there was just nothing I enjoyed about this book (other than the cover). I definitely saw the cover and jumped on the book with a mild skimming of the synopsis, but once I read that again I was still interested in the book. I’m not the biggest fan of love triangles in general, but I try to keep an open mind and they’re sometimes done very well! This was not one of those times! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a love triangle I simply couldn’t root for anyone in. I hated both of the MMCs so much and though I didn’t finish the book, they were pretty much irredeemable to me by the time I put it down (I should say I DNF’d about halfway through). The POV writing also just entirely removed me from caring about the characters, which really amplified it when they were so insufferable that I hardly cared to begin with. The FMC is… alright. Definitely the best of the bunch but that isn’t saying a whole lot. Everything in the story just feels so fake and forced and awkward and I just couldn’t bring myself to care about anyone or anything that happened. The POV writing was honestly so hard for me to enjoy and keep track of the story - I do wish the writer wrote it another way because perhaps with a little bit of their internal stuff being shared better, the characters could’ve been more likable? ... Maybe? The cover is SO GOOD and I really wish the book had been as well. I’ve given it 2 stars instead of 1 because there is that small chance that continuing to read it would fix some stuff for me, but I doubt that.

This was a cute and enjoyable read. I love a romance that doesn’t take too much brain power to follow, and this one definitely delivered in that department—it was light, fun, and easy to get lost in.

One of the highlights for me was the amount of drama and the steady flow of problems that kept the plot moving. It added a nice level of tension without ever feeling too heavy or overwhelming.

That said, I did feel like Blake was underutilized. He had such a strong presence at the start of the book, and I was excited to see where his character would go—but unfortunately, he kind of faded into the background as the story went on. I wish we had gotten more from him, especially since he seemed so important early on.

Overall, it was a solid romance read with a lot of charm, just missing a little more depth in some of the character arcs.

I really struggled to finish this book, i personally love sports and hockey romance however the pov's and perspectives were all over the place. of the 2 mmc's one of them was charming and the clear endgame while the other mmc was just sulking like a lovesick puppy, with no action happening. honestly i wouldn't really recommend as there are so many similar hockey remakes with better writing and perspectives.

Thanks to lost lust and NetGalley for this arc.

I hate to give Debbie downer reviews but this one wasn’t my fave. I hate third person writing. And it was very random where it switched POVs. It didn’t deliver on the promised tropes. The best part of the book was the cover. Whoever designed that- shout out to you! It’s amazing.

This book was puzzling to me from the start. Having read the synopsis, I went into the story with a set of expectations. As the book developed, I had a hard time navigating where the plot going. I did enjoy the relationship between Charlie and Anna. The romance between the two was lighthearted and adorable. I enjoyed the underdog story with the hockey teams and the tension surrounding the championship game. One aspect of this book that I did not enjoy, was Blake. Blake was hard to read and frankly annoying for the first half of the book. He was whiny and certainly an unlikable character. I also failed to see the love triangle aspect take place for more than the first third of the book. Given that the synopsis portrayed this book as heavy on the love triangle situation, I was honestly confused. Blake did have a redeeming character arc, however, I could not get on board with his character development given how unlikable and unfriendly he was for the majority of the book. This book was not bad all around, however, I could see myself giving it a higher score if the synopsis was less misleading. I also believe this book could benefit from narrowing down the plot and trying to do less within the time of the story. Overall, not bad, just could use a little defining!

I was really hoping to like this book.

I don't typically migrate to books with love triangle trope. But thought after reading the book blurb I'd give it a go. I just couldn't really get into the story or the characters in this book.

I feel like this book had potential but unfortunately fell short. POV was not my first choice unfortunately.

Due to my preferences in books and that this just wasn't for me I'm still giving 3 stars.

Thank you NetGalley & Lost Lust for this arc opportunity.

This book is an absolute must-read for any sports romance lover. It's not only a cute, feel good story but also such a smooth, easy read that you’ll find yourself flying through the pages. The characters are incredibly lovable, it's so easy to get attached to each one of them. I especially adored watching the relationship unfold between Anna and the two hockey players. Blake and Charlie are complete opposites, and that contrast made the story all the more fun. I fell head over heels for Charlie right away! His sweetness and humility made him an instant favorite.It was also refreshing to see Anna thrive in her role as a sports publicist. Her career felt like more than just a backdrop it added real depth to her character. And the bond between Anna and her dad? So heartwarming. Their close, supportive relationship was beautiful to read about, especially knowing it had been just the two of them for so long.

Overall, this story had just the right amount of charm to keep me turning the pages. I was genuinely invested in seeing how everything would play out and whether Anna would end up breaking her no-hockey-players rule. I’m giving this book 3 stars, mainly because I struggled with the POV writing style. At times, it felt a bit jumbled. The shifts between characters’ perspectives weren’t always clear, which made it hard to follow who was thinking or speaking. It pulled me out of the story more than I would’ve liked.

Off first impressions of reading the synopsis, I thought the premise was cute. One of my fav parts was Alison’s (the bsf) comedic relief. I loved it. This was my first hockey romance to ever reading also, so it was different. I’m not huge into sport romances but I think I want to get into more. I didn’t not feel extremely connected to the characters which isn’t particularly the books fault I think. I didn’t like how mid page we would switch POVs. That would really throw me off tbh.

Besides all that I thought this books cover was incredible and actually was the thing that drew me to request this book. So congrats on an amazing cover design!!

Overall, this book has some amazing qualities and aspects as well as the heart of a truly great tale. My only complaint would be that the story can feel a little overwhelmed with the varying POVs (I realise it's 3rd person but it seemed to jump at random as to who that was biased towards). Other than having a tiny bit too much going on, I thought it was a really promising story.

Cover deeply misleading- also blurb doesn't really convey the tone of the book. This isn't even at the level of a Bromance Book Club, which is still a bit lowbrow for my tastes. The writing felt like middle school level prose, dry and vacuous and boring. The characters are stock, the premise is dull, and I was bored by 5% of the way through. Couldn't tolerate it and had to give up at a certain point.

First of all I wanna thank netgalley and lost lust for the arc in exchange for a honest review!!!! So thankyou!!!

Okay starting off with the 3rd person pov, it annoyed me so much and I feel like I can never connect to characters, when it is.
I should have seen that as the first red flag.
I did like our MFC but because of the 3rd person pic, I COULDNT CONNECT!!!!!!

Our MMC where annoying and stubborn mfs and ONCE again I couldn’t connect

I didn’t read the blurb before asking for the ARC sue me.
I thought it was gunna be an RH romance not a love triangle and if you know me I HATE love triangles!!!!
With my only exception being twilight.

The fatal flaw of this book was that it set up tropes and expectations, and then failed to deliver. And the book description is just horribly misleading.

There's no major conflict when it comes to boosting ticket sales, there's no real love triangle with tension. And the description made it seem like maybe this was going to be a three-way relationship type thing- but it's not that. All the conflicts felt forced and manufactured for the sake of trying to introduce a plot. But there were really no stakes when this story was primed for high stakes.

And then there's Blake. My biggest issue with the book.

At first he's charming. A bit stupid, but charming. But then he does a lot of really, really shitty things and then he never really makes up for them. By the end of the book, I found him to be just horrible.

I liked Anna, but her character lacked depth, and so did Charlies. And every other character in the book.

And for a book where it's plots failed, you'd think the author would have tried to step it up when it came to the hockey/pr related things in the book, but no. Hockey felt like a backdrop, not an integral piece of the story.

This was just a generally bad reading experience.

I did love the green juices though! The Juice is Loose!

Would I recommend this read? No. If you want to read a great hockey romance, go read one of Rachel Reids romances. Heated Rivalry hits so hard on every read.

Thanks to netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

So…..I’m not really a fan of this book. It’s very cute and usually I love why choose hockey romance. This book didn’t do that for me at this time. I’ll give it another go around when it is released.