Book Review
Grade: B+
I don’t want perfection, Reese. I never did. I just want you.
Brenda Rothert’s heroes continue to steal my heart. Especially the ones in her Chicago Blaze Series. I have to admit, Hockey Romances are kinda my thing. If you look in my Goodreads history you will see a LOT of them. That being said, Brenda Rothert’s Hockey books deserve their own special category of awesomeness.
Knox has appeared in the other books – and I have loved his character from the beginning. Tough, gruff, and grumpy – he is a perfect target for all the other guys practical jokes. But you could really see he has a big heart underneath it all. Knox is the son of a hockey great – and has an extremely close family.
Reese went through a truly humiliating and awful scene at her wedding – where her groom decides to “clear the air” at the altar (literally in front of the priest and their family and friends) and tell her that he slept with her maid of honor (and one of the other bridesmaids). Seriously – what did he expect her to say? Oh its ok – I know you’ll be faithful to me now! Geez.
After that – she goes on her honeymoon alone. Towards the end of the honeymoon she meets Knox and they have a spectacular fling. Reese, however, needs time to rebuild herself and her life – so she won’t give Knox her phone number and leaves. Both of them know it was something special – and Knox, in particular, can’t let go.
When they come back together again Knox pursues Reese pretty strongly – but does really leave the ball in her court. They are extremely sweet together. Which made the final drama tough to get through. The final drama is what kept this from being a Grade A read for me!
Spoiler Alert!! Spoiler Ahead!!
Reese was very reluctant to pursue a relationship again after her failed wedding – she had some serious trust issues. That being said, she wouldn’t label their relationship as such – and really seemed to distance herself from having a true attachment. When you are in a relationship, for example, you would usually talk to a partner about a potential job move to another city. She definitely hid that from Knox. It also seemed really clear that she wasn’t planning to tell him at all – maybe not even until she had actually moved. They worked through it – only to be hit not long after with the whammy of Knox’s father dying. He had cancer and had been sick for a long time. Knox didn’t tell Reese about it – and she ended up finding out from the news. Not good. Reese was, very understandably, upset that Knox had never said anything to her about it. The thing was – she also made the whole situation all about her and her feelings. She seemed concerned about Knox, but didn’t call or text him at all. Obviously a complicated situation – but I still think even a single text to say she was there for him when he was ready to talk would have really been the way to go. I think the real reason Knox didn’t say anything about his dad went beyond not wanting to say it out loud – and really went in to not believing that Reese cared enough to support him and being afraid that if they went down to that personal of a level that she would freak out and run. Throughout the book, Knox is just gives and gives and gives. He is willing to pretty much give up anything and everything for Reese. I’m just not sure, even at the end, that she had the same depth of feeling for Knox. Or at least that she had been willing to let herself feel that deeply. I believe, in the end, they got there, but it was tough. I think I would have liked to see a little more recognition of that from Reese.
No matter what – I loved this book ! Sign me up for more Brenda Rothert books – especially more Chicago Blaze books!!!
Want to read this book? You can buy it on Amazon here.
This Book, That's Life 