Synopsis:
He’s the hot, grumpy goalie I had a crush on in high school… and now I’m his live-in assistant.
After my ex crushed my dreams in the music industry, I’m done with getting my heart broken. Working as an assistant for an NHL player was supposed to be a breeze, but nothing about Jamie Streicher is easy. He’s an intimidatingly hot, grouchy jerk who can’t stand me. The guy has a massive ego. Keeping things professional will be no problem, even when he demands I move in with him.
Beneath his surliness, though, Jamie’s surprisingly sweet and protective.
When Jamie learns how bad my ex was in bed, his competitive nature flares, and he encourages and spoils me in every way. The creative spark I used to feel about songwriting? It’s back, and I’m writing music again. Between wearing his jersey at games, rowdy parties with the team, and being brave on stage again, I’m falling for him.
He could break my heart, but it might be worth it.
Review:
I’d say I’m somewhat of a fan of Stephanie Archer’s books. I take them at face value: hardcore smut hiding behind thin plot lines. But sometimes that’s exactly what you need and as I’m on a big hockey romance high at the moment, this seemed like the perfect book to read. Now, I probably shouldn’t have gotten the audiobook versions as narrated smut often makes me cringe but I got most of this series in a 2 for 1 deal so I can’t really complain.
The narrators were very good though. Convincing performances and I love a romance audiobook read in duet – the only way they should be done in my opinion. I did feel like I took psychic damage every time Jamie called Pippa songbird though, especially when they weren’t in a relationship.
He was a decent male lead but he did feel pretty shallow. This declaration from him should feel heartstopping “Anything you want, songbird? It’s yours. Where you’re concerned, money is no object, because making you happy is worth it.” However as he’s a multimillionaire hockey player, it feels extremely shallow. Like yeah, you have loads of money why would you worry about buying her something. Now if he was just a regular guy, that would feel different.
Also, Jamie buys Pippa an electric guitar she’s been wanting for a long time. Which is a lovely gift but at no point does she mention having an amp. She’s taken a break from music since breaking up with her musician ex and only has an acoustic with her that she hasn’t played in months. He asks her to play him a song on the new guitar, which would sound very weird without an amp. Am I nitpicking? Yes. But do I have a very decent knowledge of guitars? Also yes – I’ve been in a relationship with a guitarist for 10 years, I’ve learnt a thing or two.
Anyway, I did quite like Pippa. She was headstrong and I love that one of her first interactions with Jamie (as an adult) was telling him off. If only she was like that with her ex.
I think having them know each other since high school was a good idea but it did mean they went from 0 to 100 very quickly – baring in mind neither of them admitted that they remembered the other until they were fully in a relationship. This made their relationship again feel very shallow. I wanted to like them but it felt like they gave me no reason to.
I’d have a lot more to say about Behind the Net if I hadn’t left it three weeks after finishing it to write the review. Almost all thoughts on this book have left my head and have been replaced with better hockey romances in that time.
I’ll likely check out the next book in this series, which I’ve heard is a lot better, at some point, but I’m in no rush to do so soon.
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