New Release Review! IN THE PENALTY BOX by Lynn Rush and Kelly Anne Blount

The Cutting Edge meets Friday Night Lights in a sizzling new hockey romance from bestselling authors Kelly Anne Blount and Lynn Rush!

In the Penalty Box 
by Lynn Rush and Kelly Anne Blount  
Genre: YA Contemporary 
Release Date: January 5, 2021
Entangled Teen! 

Willow:
Figure skating was supposed to be my whole world. But one unlucky injury and now I’m down…but I’m definitely not out. I just need to rehab—a boatload of rehab—and who’d have thought I could do it on the boys’ hockey team? Of course, the infuriatingly hot captain of the team seems to think I’m nothing but sequins and twirls. What’s a girl to do but put him in his place? Game on.

Brodie: 
Hockey is my whole world. I’ve worked my tail off getting my team in a position to win the championships—hopefully in front of major college scouts, too—so what’s a guy to do when a figure skater ends up as our new goalie? Of course, the distractingly sexy skater thinks I’m nothing but a testosterone-laced competitive streak. And surely she’s only biding her time to heal, then she’s gone. Game over.

Buy Links:
Amazon
B & N

Review:

I enjoyed the heck out of Willow and Brodie’s story! To be honest, the blurb had me at “hockey”–but throw figure skating in there too? Cue the grabby hands. Honestly, I couldn’t even begin to guess how many times I’ve seen The Cutting Edge, so a YA book that turns it on its end and has the recovering-from-an-injury figure skater rehabbing by taking up hockey? Yes, please!

In the Penalty Box did not disappoint. Willow and Brodie are strong characters, and their chemistry together is great. I enjoyed the heck out of watching them together–whether on the ice, texting, or hanging out with the team–and think I might have been more broken up than even Brodie at the thought of Willow going back to figure skating and leaving hockey (and him!) behind in the end. I mean, States were coming up! Plus, you know–Brodie… 😉

Ms Rush and Ms Blount did a nice job of keeping their characters on the edge of will they or won’t they for just the right amount of time, and having them act like actual teens who have a reasonable amount of intelligence and don’t need to get bogged down in drama. Even when Brodie’s life could have arguably made him a bit angsty, they resisted the urge to go OTT with it. (And can I just say how much I loved reading about a high school athlete who wasn’t 100% sure that going pro was in his immediate future? Brodie was all about getting to play in college, and I freaking loved that.)

Though parts of the story were a tad bit predictable, I thoroughly enjoyed the world that the authors created here. If they decide to revisit any of the other players on the team in the future, I. Am. Here. For. It. (Fingers crossed!)

Rating: 4 stars / A-

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

About the authors:

Lynn Rush: New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author, Lynn Rush, is a full-time writer, wife, and trail runner living in the Sonoran Desert, despite her fear of rattle snakes. Known as #TheRunningWriter, Lynn can’t resist posting epic sunrise pictures while running in the desert with her trail sisters, even if she has to occasionally hop a scorpion.

When she’s not running or writing, she’s watching movies that fuel her everlasting love of superheroes, vampires, and all things Supernatural. The books she reads usually carry the same theme, but this former college athlete loves reading sweet sports romances as well.

She’s madly in love with her Ironman husband of 20+ years who is the inspiration for what true love is. You can find her on social media as @LynnRushWrites and her website is: www.lynnrush.com 

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/LynnRushWrites
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/lynnrush

Kelly Anne Blount: USA Today Bestselling author and Wattpad Star Kelly Anne Blount has more than seventy-three-thousand followers on social media. Her Wattpad stories have been read more than twenty-million times. She’s contributed to Tap, Wattpad’s new app for chat-style stories, where her work has been “tapped” more than fifty-million times. She is a writer and reviewer for SpoilerTV, which has allowed her to develop an incredible network of film and TV stars.

Two of her Wattpad works, including Captured (seventeen-million reads), have been optioned for film by Komixx Entertainment, and she is regularly invited to present seminars about social media at author events.

Stop by any of Kelly’s social-media platforms (@KellyAnneBlount) and stay tuned to this website for announcements and information about upcoming releases and events.

Kelly Anne Blount is represented by Jennifer Wills (jennifer@theseymouragency.com) and Nicole Resciniti (nicole@theseymouragency.com) of The Seymour Agency.

Website: http://www.KellyAnneBlount.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KellyAnneBlount
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/kellyanneblount