A patch of black ice is all it takes for Ryan “Preach” Armstrong’s perfectly planned future to skid out of control. The car crash shatters his hockey dreams…and injures Woodhaven’s newest student, Grace Milner. As much as this feisty track phenom gets under Preach’s skin in all the best and worst ways, she might just be his path to redemption…
Grace can’t believe that all it took was seriously bad timing and a hot but prickly hockey player to threaten her lifelong dream of joining the Air Force. Now, instead of prepping for the track season and upcoming start of basic training, she has to complete community service with the absolute last person she would ever want to be stuck with—the guy who shattered her future.
When two fierce competitors collide this hard, the only result is heartbreak…or an epic victory as they cross the finish line together.
Review:
Grace and Preach’s story is such a sweet one! A perfect compliment to In the Penalty Box In the Penalty Box , though it can absolutely be read on its own. (But you’re gonna love Brodie and Willow too, so do yourself a favor and read them both ;))
Grace and Preach might have had the worst meet-not-at-all-cute ever, since the accident that introduces them has truly life-altering consequences for them–consequences that end up affecting them both all the way through to the end of the book. This book could have been a major bummer, honestly, but somehow Ms Rush and Ms Blount manage to balance out the serious stuff with some more lighthearted moments–and through it all give us a really cute romance between two truly likable and relatable characters. Things get really heavy there for a while, for both Preach and Grace (and the reader!), but they still get to their HEA in a believable and totally satisfying way.
Dare I hope that there will be more Woodhaven books to come? I’ll be ready for them if there are!
Not going to lie, Grace’s situation with her brother had me tearing up more than once near the end. So amazingly well written! Dare I hope that the online support group that Grace found out about was TAPS? They literally saved me 20+ years ago when I was struggling on my own journey, and I know they’re still doing as great a job today as they were then (a link at the end of the book would have been nice, but at least it’s here for anyone who needs it. Maybe they even made up a group entirely? But TAPS is real and the work they do is phenomenal, for anyone who needs it)
Rating: 4 stars / A-
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.