*I was given an ARC of Checking It Twice in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to and Kendall Ryan for my copy of this audiobook*
Synopsis:
Fake dating a hockey player for Christmas wasn’t on my bingo card.
Clare Johnson’s job is handling PR for the Dallas Stampede—not getting tangled up with one of the players. But when Mitchell Drake—charming forward, fan favorite, and very off-limits—asks her to pose as his girlfriend for one week in small-town Minnesota, she reluctantly agrees. What’s the worst that could happen?
Mitchell’s had six months to get over his very public broken engagement, and his family is done waiting. The last thing he needs is pitying smiles and whispered gossip. Clare is smart, sharp, and strong enough to hold her own with both fans and family—the perfect fake girlfriend.
But holiday lights and snowy nights have a way of blurring the line between pretend and real. Clare fits too easily into his world—bonding with his grandma, winning at pond hockey, and looking unfairly good in his flannel. The more time they spend together, the less fake it feels.
Full of small-town holiday magic, meddling relatives, and sizzling chemistry, Checking It Twice is a hockey romance about second chances and falling in love when you least expect it. Perfect for fans of fake dating, one-bed tension, forced proximity, and happily-ever-afters wrapped in Christmas lights.
Because sometimes the best gifts aren’t under the tree—they’re standing right in front of you.
Review:
I’m not sure how it has happened but I’ve become a massive hockey romance lover, I can’t get enough of them. However, I’m not sure this one counts. If you’re the type of person that reads sports romances because you like the sport sections, Checking It Twice may be a little disappointing for you. There’s pretty much no actual hockey played in the entire book. There’s mention of a family game during Christmas but I can’t remember now how much detail you get.
Fake dating at Christmas has to be one of my favourite tropes. It’s such a good time of year for this type of book as the characters spend so much time with their families and there’s a good chance they could get caught.
Speaking of tropes, this book has every trope you could wish for:
- Fake dating
- Only one bed (which happens to be tiny)
- Looks after her when she’s sick
Well, maybe not every trope, but that’s a good selection. It’s actually pretty funny that Mitchell’s parents thought ‘yeah, two grown adults will be fine sleeping in such a tiny bed’. I’m also a sucker for ‘looks after her when she’s sick’. This one does work better when they don’t usually get along (like The Hating Game) but it’s still great either way.
There’s also that pesky miscommunication trope, but thankfully this gets cleared up very quickly – I’m a big fan of that. Instead of Mitchell wallowing in self pity, his teammates point out that it’s his fault Clare is being distant and he should do something about it.
This book has a lot of related phrases “looking at me like I’m something they want to keep” was probably said at least five times by both Clare and Mitchell. I understand why this phrase was used but it could have been said once, readers don’t forget things that quickly. Not enough to repeat it so many times just a few chapters away.
The “two months later” chapter has actually made me deduct my rating of this book. I was seriously enjoying Checking It Twice until this point but then it felt like Clare and Mitchell were completely different characters. Suddenly Mitchell is rude and Clare is jealous – why the 180? This felt like an unnecessary conflict that added absolutely nothing to the story or their relationship.
Also, Checking It Twice kept going and going. So much of the later book isn’t needed. I thought the story was going to end not long after Christmas but it never ended. This again definitely affected my rating of the book.
This review is a little all over the place, but I did genuinely enjoy most of Checking It Twice. I do think it would benefit from cutting out the majority of the second half, but it’s an entertaining read that delivers festive vibes.
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Like this post? Why not read this one too: The 12 Books of Christmas: Any Girl But You by Dana Hawkins