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Breaking Ryan Baylor
“I’m…kinda meeting myself for the first time ever. It’s weird, but it turns out, I don’t really know me.” Assigned to the AHL affiliate for the New York Islanders after having just missed the cut out of training camp, 23-year-old Ryan Baylor finds himself in uncharted sharing an apartment with the much older (and gorgeous) divorced cousin of his athletic trainer. Realizing things have shifted, he struggles to navigate what his life has suddenly being the small fish in a big pond for the first time ever, his desire to have a meaningful relationship when all he’s ever known are one-night stands, his tumultuous relationship with his new teammate, and his crippling panic attacks. His story is far from perfect; it’s real, it’s raw, it’s angsty, and it’s a downright mess at times. But how do you fix yourself and figure out who you’re meant to be without first breaking through the shell of who you were?
***
If you're interested in a not-so-typical hockey romance, you've found it. Written in third-person omniscient point of view and packed with realistic dialogue, witty banter, and multi-faceted characters who you'll love to hate at times, it captures what we all know to be real love looks NOTHING like it does in books and movies. And sometimes, the "happily ever after" we get isn't necessarily the one we expected.
Please read all tropes and trigger warnings. This story is intended for mature readers ONLY.
Trigger
***
If you're interested in a not-so-typical hockey romance, you've found it. Written in third-person omniscient point of view and packed with realistic dialogue, witty banter, and multi-faceted characters who you'll love to hate at times, it captures what we all know to be real love looks NOTHING like it does in books and movies. And sometimes, the "happily ever after" we get isn't necessarily the one we expected.
Please read all tropes and trigger warnings. This story is intended for mature readers ONLY.
Trigger
361 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 15, 2023
32 people are currently reading
143 people want to read
About the author
C.H. Maddington
4 books23 followersCH Maddington is the pen name of a woman who loves hockey, loves hockey boys, and loves writing, so she decided to put all three together. Having always wanted to publish a book. she's proud to say she's FINALLY done it...and an entire series at that! Her Once Upon a Time in Bridgeport hockey series (featuring book one, Breaking Ryan Baylor; book two, Taming Tyler Hayes; and book three, Finding JT DiMara) is available on both Kindle Unlimited (ebook) and Amazon (paperback).
When she's not writing about troubled hockey boys, she can be found working her full-time day job, spending time with family, reading (For the Fans by Nyla K. is one of her absolute FAVORITE books), running/exercising, cheering on her Flyers and Phantoms, or working on her next book.
She so appreciates all of the love and support she receives from you, the readers, and she could never thank you enough! Please feel free to contact her any time.
Instagram: author_chmaddington
Facebook: CH Maddington
When she's not writing about troubled hockey boys, she can be found working her full-time day job, spending time with family, reading (For the Fans by Nyla K. is one of her absolute FAVORITE books), running/exercising, cheering on her Flyers and Phantoms, or working on her next book.
She so appreciates all of the love and support she receives from you, the readers, and she could never thank you enough! Please feel free to contact her any time.
Instagram: author_chmaddington
Facebook: CH Maddington
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
March 31, 2024
I kept putting off doing this review since Oct 2023 because I knew it was going to be exhausting, there's so much trash in this dumpster fire of a book.
I picked this up because I thought it was going to be an MM romance adjacent book, an MMF book with an older woman, and two younger men. It could be considered in the LGBTQ + category because the author oh so cleverly hints at all types of pairings. But it's an immature fake love triangle between a 41-year-old woman who sleeps with a 23-year-old guy but also wants to get with the 20-year-old guy, but decides she doesn't know how to do friends or FWB or relationships (or anything, actually), so there's a lackluster (and slightly offensive) FMF scene, and later an MFM scene that also causes issues, AND then the book ends with MM and MF (with a new man not related to any of the main "plots".) 🤣 Still with me?
If you like books with characters that slut-shame each other and themselves, describe every single woman who appears in the book first by her looks and breast size, and that uses an abundance of bitch, slut, hoe, whore, douche, pussy, cunt, pussy flare, knockers, stacked, rack, titties, twatwaffles, and older broads, then this book may work for you.
I'm not done yet.
Cover-to-cover internalized misogyny, slut-shaming (men and women), awful writing, the woman in the book hates other women (unless they are ugly and not a threat, LMAO), and the sex scenes were not hot, at all. It's a love triangle MF for most of the book (or 2/3), and then there's some awful fetishizing of MM by, of course, the Heroine. Because that's why gay/bi/any men kiss, so women can say "That's so hot".
The women in the sex scenes (other than the main lead) were treated like props or something to be fucked.
Vocabulary (including the way a 41-year-old woman speaks)
• Fuck: 651 times
• Shit: 293 times
• Bitch: 51 times
• Dick: 43 times
• Hoe: 4 times
• Slut: 20 times
• Whore: 9 times
• Douche: 8 times
• Pussy: 10 times (special mention for pussy flare)
I lost interest in counting, you get the gist.
Did a teenage boy write this? Because the excessive amount of boobs, tits, titties, knockers, rack, stacked, etc is mind-boggling.
There's also little difference between being in the younger men's heads vs the older woman's head, they think, act, and talk the same. Like morons.
Shittastic samples:
• “Was that good, baby?” Ryan lifted his head, which had been pressed firmly against the back of the couch, and opened his eyes. “Mmm. Yeah. Thanks,” he sighed, watching his latest toy peel her face out of his lap, wipe her mouth, and sit up.
• Even though he’d just nutted, he couldn’t stop staring at her massive, natural rack.
• Since they were both pretty lit and neither of them had a condom, it ended up just being a lot of touching, kissing, and a very lengthy, sloppy blowjob from which he barely came.
• Because she was so hot, he was willing to give it one more shot to see if he could seal the deal. When it ended again with her going down on him, he figured he was wasting his time, though this time she let him fuck her giant tits for a bit beforehand. It wasn’t easy to call it quits with her: a blonde with a huge rack, a face full of fillers, and three percent body fat was essentially Ryan Baylor’s kryptonite. But this one definitely wasn’t worth the trouble, especially since the head wasn’t even that good. 😆
• That would excite any normal 23- year- old, but not Ryan. He’d been whoring himself out like it was his full- time job since he ditched his V- card at age 18.
• Sometimes when he was bored, he’d try to calculate his body count, though he knew it was impossible. There were far too many for which he’d been so plastered he could hardly remember. He knew it was an absurd number. If you threw in all the hookups that weren’t full- on penetration, including several of his college teammates and opponents with whom he’d messed around in various states of drunkenness, then it was well into the hundreds. 🥱
• For such a slut, he’d been really lucky. He’d gotten away with just a couple STD scares, which turned out to be nothing, and only knocked up one girl when he was 19. He’d helped her “take care of it” financially, but the anxiety, shame, and guilt that came with that experience almost killed him. He promised himself that from then on, if he didn’t have protection, it wasn’t happening, a promise he’d kept. He remembered that following week well; he’d spent most of it throwing up and sobbing in his brother’s arms, begging him to please not tell their mom, mostly because he found out after the fact that the girl was only 16. (LOVELY.)
• There were four other very large guys and two heavily made up, scantily clad girls sitting in the living room,
• “I don’t know who the fuck the birds are, to be honest. Probably Dalesy’s.” (Women don't have names in this book.)
• She spun around to face him as she got to her door. “What you should’ve done was gone out with the guys and met up with some of your little Instagram slut following.” “What are you talking about?” “Save it. I have internet access. I see all the comments. I see the list of who you’re still following on there. Out of 800, 750 are fake blondes with huge tits and OnlyFans links. I knew this would never work, that I couldn’t compete. And the worst part?” She threw her hands up. “I’m not even that upset about it.” (This woman is 41 years old and every woman she talks about is a 'slut'.)
• “The first day I met you, you got sucked off by two different girls within like a 10- hour period. Tell me your body count.” He lifted his head up and looked at her. “Impossible.” “I’m at 12, 13 including you. And that includes all the dicks, even the ones I just sucked. There. So what number am I?” “I don’t…” “Listen, I don’t actually give a shit. I just wanna see if you’re gonna start being honest with me at some point, or with yourself. That’d be a start.” “I, um, don’t… know. I was blackout for a ton of them.” “Ballpark it.” “Um. Somewhere around… wait, oral shit too, or just sex?” She rolled her eyes, and he took the hint. “OK, oral shit included? Probably somewhere in the ballpark of, and I’m estimating here: five… maybe five hundred- ish, maybe?” She got up off the bed and put a hand over her mouth, pacing. “Wow. OK. I was not expecting that. Oh my God. Yeah, that’s just not normal behavior. Over how many years?” He held up five fingers. “That’s almost 100 girls a year, Ryan.” (This is a conversation between a 23-year-old man and a 41-year-old woman....lol.)
• She smirked at his detailed description of the ‘pussy flare' positives. The kid was ridiculous.
• “Nice to meet you!” Amara shook her hand, staring at her huge tits that were barely covered by her bright yellow halter top.
• “Absolutely not. If anything, this makes me feel even closer to you. Like I said, she was a toy for us to play with. That’s it. Did you see how quickly I got rid of her?” (Women are toys.)
• “You know exactly what I’m talking about. The super- hot, stacked blonde who was molestin’ Rook in the elevator.”
• “Baylor! I’m glad you made it. And… I see you’ve met Kate,” Hughesy said, making his way over and pointing to the short, chunky cute brunette with huge knockers who was hanging onto him.
• I saw Rook downstairs hangin’ with some of the other guys, and this beefy- ass brunette was hawkin’ him hard as fuck, but he was havin' none of it.”
• “Rippin’ lines of coke out of strippers’ asscracks.”
“OK, that’s a very specific accusation. There was one trip to a strip club. There may have been some coked-up sex, but I assure you, no asscracks were involved.”
I'm ashamed to admit that I hate-read this book to see how bad it was going to get. How this got a single 5-star review is beyond me.
I picked this up because I thought it was going to be an MM romance adjacent book, an MMF book with an older woman, and two younger men. It could be considered in the LGBTQ + category because the author oh so cleverly hints at all types of pairings. But it's an immature fake love triangle between a 41-year-old woman who sleeps with a 23-year-old guy but also wants to get with the 20-year-old guy, but decides she doesn't know how to do friends or FWB or relationships (or anything, actually), so there's a lackluster (and slightly offensive) FMF scene, and later an MFM scene that also causes issues, AND then the book ends with MM and MF (with a new man not related to any of the main "plots".) 🤣 Still with me?
If you like books with characters that slut-shame each other and themselves, describe every single woman who appears in the book first by her looks and breast size, and that uses an abundance of bitch, slut, hoe, whore, douche, pussy, cunt, pussy flare, knockers, stacked, rack, titties, twatwaffles, and older broads, then this book may work for you.
I'm not done yet.
Cover-to-cover internalized misogyny, slut-shaming (men and women), awful writing, the woman in the book hates other women (unless they are ugly and not a threat, LMAO), and the sex scenes were not hot, at all. It's a love triangle MF for most of the book (or 2/3), and then there's some awful fetishizing of MM by, of course, the Heroine. Because that's why gay/bi/any men kiss, so women can say "That's so hot".
The women in the sex scenes (other than the main lead) were treated like props or something to be fucked.
Vocabulary (including the way a 41-year-old woman speaks)
• Fuck: 651 times
• Shit: 293 times
• Bitch: 51 times
• Dick: 43 times
• Hoe: 4 times
• Slut: 20 times
• Whore: 9 times
• Douche: 8 times
• Pussy: 10 times (special mention for pussy flare)
I lost interest in counting, you get the gist.
Did a teenage boy write this? Because the excessive amount of boobs, tits, titties, knockers, rack, stacked, etc is mind-boggling.
There's also little difference between being in the younger men's heads vs the older woman's head, they think, act, and talk the same. Like morons.
Shittastic samples:
• “Was that good, baby?” Ryan lifted his head, which had been pressed firmly against the back of the couch, and opened his eyes. “Mmm. Yeah. Thanks,” he sighed, watching his latest toy peel her face out of his lap, wipe her mouth, and sit up.
• Even though he’d just nutted, he couldn’t stop staring at her massive, natural rack.
• Since they were both pretty lit and neither of them had a condom, it ended up just being a lot of touching, kissing, and a very lengthy, sloppy blowjob from which he barely came.
• Because she was so hot, he was willing to give it one more shot to see if he could seal the deal. When it ended again with her going down on him, he figured he was wasting his time, though this time she let him fuck her giant tits for a bit beforehand. It wasn’t easy to call it quits with her: a blonde with a huge rack, a face full of fillers, and three percent body fat was essentially Ryan Baylor’s kryptonite. But this one definitely wasn’t worth the trouble, especially since the head wasn’t even that good. 😆
• That would excite any normal 23- year- old, but not Ryan. He’d been whoring himself out like it was his full- time job since he ditched his V- card at age 18.
• Sometimes when he was bored, he’d try to calculate his body count, though he knew it was impossible. There were far too many for which he’d been so plastered he could hardly remember. He knew it was an absurd number. If you threw in all the hookups that weren’t full- on penetration, including several of his college teammates and opponents with whom he’d messed around in various states of drunkenness, then it was well into the hundreds. 🥱
• For such a slut, he’d been really lucky. He’d gotten away with just a couple STD scares, which turned out to be nothing, and only knocked up one girl when he was 19. He’d helped her “take care of it” financially, but the anxiety, shame, and guilt that came with that experience almost killed him. He promised himself that from then on, if he didn’t have protection, it wasn’t happening, a promise he’d kept. He remembered that following week well; he’d spent most of it throwing up and sobbing in his brother’s arms, begging him to please not tell their mom, mostly because he found out after the fact that the girl was only 16. (LOVELY.)
• There were four other very large guys and two heavily made up, scantily clad girls sitting in the living room,
• “I don’t know who the fuck the birds are, to be honest. Probably Dalesy’s.” (Women don't have names in this book.)
• She spun around to face him as she got to her door. “What you should’ve done was gone out with the guys and met up with some of your little Instagram slut following.” “What are you talking about?” “Save it. I have internet access. I see all the comments. I see the list of who you’re still following on there. Out of 800, 750 are fake blondes with huge tits and OnlyFans links. I knew this would never work, that I couldn’t compete. And the worst part?” She threw her hands up. “I’m not even that upset about it.” (This woman is 41 years old and every woman she talks about is a 'slut'.)
• “The first day I met you, you got sucked off by two different girls within like a 10- hour period. Tell me your body count.” He lifted his head up and looked at her. “Impossible.” “I’m at 12, 13 including you. And that includes all the dicks, even the ones I just sucked. There. So what number am I?” “I don’t…” “Listen, I don’t actually give a shit. I just wanna see if you’re gonna start being honest with me at some point, or with yourself. That’d be a start.” “I, um, don’t… know. I was blackout for a ton of them.” “Ballpark it.” “Um. Somewhere around… wait, oral shit too, or just sex?” She rolled her eyes, and he took the hint. “OK, oral shit included? Probably somewhere in the ballpark of, and I’m estimating here: five… maybe five hundred- ish, maybe?” She got up off the bed and put a hand over her mouth, pacing. “Wow. OK. I was not expecting that. Oh my God. Yeah, that’s just not normal behavior. Over how many years?” He held up five fingers. “That’s almost 100 girls a year, Ryan.” (This is a conversation between a 23-year-old man and a 41-year-old woman....lol.)
• She smirked at his detailed description of the ‘pussy flare' positives. The kid was ridiculous.
• “Nice to meet you!” Amara shook her hand, staring at her huge tits that were barely covered by her bright yellow halter top.
• “Absolutely not. If anything, this makes me feel even closer to you. Like I said, she was a toy for us to play with. That’s it. Did you see how quickly I got rid of her?” (Women are toys.)
• “You know exactly what I’m talking about. The super- hot, stacked blonde who was molestin’ Rook in the elevator.”
• “Baylor! I’m glad you made it. And… I see you’ve met Kate,” Hughesy said, making his way over and pointing to the short, chunky cute brunette with huge knockers who was hanging onto him.
• I saw Rook downstairs hangin’ with some of the other guys, and this beefy- ass brunette was hawkin’ him hard as fuck, but he was havin' none of it.”
• “Rippin’ lines of coke out of strippers’ asscracks.”
“OK, that’s a very specific accusation. There was one trip to a strip club. There may have been some coked-up sex, but I assure you, no asscracks were involved.”
I'm ashamed to admit that I hate-read this book to see how bad it was going to get. How this got a single 5-star review is beyond me.
January 9, 2024
This book deserves to become the next big thing…
Listen, I’m a hockey romance reader. I’m a hockey fan(go Ducks). I’m a hockey romance author. And CH NAILED all the feels in this one.
I found myself trying to decide who my favorite of the three main characters were the whole time and was left to realize I couldn’t pick a favorite because the author has managed to write believable characters that are seriously flawed and believably redemptive.
I’ll start with Ryan because it’s technically his book. Ryan is so damn emotional, but I feel like his emotions are because he is wise beyond his understanding and loves so fiercely. We see Ryan act and react his age and I applaud the author for writing a believable young twenty year old, too many times we see these young hot twenty year old characters that read like grown ass men.
Amara. My god, Amara. I love her. I feel sad for her. I am her. I want to be her. Amara is the perfect age gap character coming in at 20+ years older than Ryan and Tyler, and she hits every emotion you could imagine on her journey with these younger men. She plays their games, she moms them, sometimes she stoops to their immature levels, but mostly she is an older woman who just wants to be loved and seen and feel beautiful as she grapples with heartbreak from a divorce and the inevitable fact that she’s not getting any younger.
Tyler Tyler Tyler… Tyler low key stole the show. He is cocky, but in the best way. He is hot but loyal. He is wise but in a smart ass way. They say the perfect book boyfriend doesn’t exist…Tyler Hayes says hold my beer.
Lastly, I need to mention the realness that is CH Maddingtons dialogue. Holy crap was the dialogue perfect! The banter had me rolling. The old lady/mom jokes, chefs kiss!
More people need to be talking about this book. This book deserves all the hype!
Congrats on a heartbreakingly beautiful MMF age gap, angsty AF, sexy hockey romance! I LOVED this!
Ps. I miss them already. Major book hangover 😭😭
Listen, I’m a hockey romance reader. I’m a hockey fan(go Ducks). I’m a hockey romance author. And CH NAILED all the feels in this one.
I found myself trying to decide who my favorite of the three main characters were the whole time and was left to realize I couldn’t pick a favorite because the author has managed to write believable characters that are seriously flawed and believably redemptive.
I’ll start with Ryan because it’s technically his book. Ryan is so damn emotional, but I feel like his emotions are because he is wise beyond his understanding and loves so fiercely. We see Ryan act and react his age and I applaud the author for writing a believable young twenty year old, too many times we see these young hot twenty year old characters that read like grown ass men.
Amara. My god, Amara. I love her. I feel sad for her. I am her. I want to be her. Amara is the perfect age gap character coming in at 20+ years older than Ryan and Tyler, and she hits every emotion you could imagine on her journey with these younger men. She plays their games, she moms them, sometimes she stoops to their immature levels, but mostly she is an older woman who just wants to be loved and seen and feel beautiful as she grapples with heartbreak from a divorce and the inevitable fact that she’s not getting any younger.
Tyler Tyler Tyler… Tyler low key stole the show. He is cocky, but in the best way. He is hot but loyal. He is wise but in a smart ass way. They say the perfect book boyfriend doesn’t exist…Tyler Hayes says hold my beer.
Lastly, I need to mention the realness that is CH Maddingtons dialogue. Holy crap was the dialogue perfect! The banter had me rolling. The old lady/mom jokes, chefs kiss!
More people need to be talking about this book. This book deserves all the hype!
Congrats on a heartbreakingly beautiful MMF age gap, angsty AF, sexy hockey romance! I LOVED this!
Ps. I miss them already. Major book hangover 😭😭
March 31, 2024
OK, in all fairness to the author, she did disclose all of the trigger warnings in the first pages of the book and I decided to proceed anyway. With that being said, there was so much lacking with the quality of the writing.
And maybe it’s me maybe the purpose behind this book is to really just be porn on ice but it was just really weird how some of the chapters about hockey were super super technical so you could tell the author really knows about the sport, but it was so technical that I felt it alienated anyone who really doesn’t know anything beyond the super basics of hockey.
And basically everyone is having sex with everyone which is why it feels like a porno and if that’s your thing that is totally fine but for me, I was still hoping at least for some decent storytelling and writing but it was just not good.
I stayed pretty dedicated through about 150 pages and then when I got to that point, I just started skimming through and then found it got to be too ridiculous with all these women fighting with each other and it was just not for me.
And maybe it’s me maybe the purpose behind this book is to really just be porn on ice but it was just really weird how some of the chapters about hockey were super super technical so you could tell the author really knows about the sport, but it was so technical that I felt it alienated anyone who really doesn’t know anything beyond the super basics of hockey.
And basically everyone is having sex with everyone which is why it feels like a porno and if that’s your thing that is totally fine but for me, I was still hoping at least for some decent storytelling and writing but it was just not good.
I stayed pretty dedicated through about 150 pages and then when I got to that point, I just started skimming through and then found it got to be too ridiculous with all these women fighting with each other and it was just not for me.
January 10, 2024
This is CH Maddingtons debut and I would argue that she can already keep up with some of the more established writers in the genre.
First let me touch on the dialogue. She managed to give all three main characters their own voices and it was very evident in the dialogue between them who was who. The banter was perfect and loaded with authentic hockey slang and terminology.
The love triangle, age gap, angst, sex, fights and redeeming moments were all there and all executed perfectly.
Ryan Baylor is a young hockey player with a lot of emotions and anxiety, and while he has his moments that show his age and immaturity he isn’t lacking sincerity and a great redemption/maturing arc.
Tyler Hayes is everyone’s new book boyfriend. He manages to be a complete little shit while also being completely loyal and level headed.
Amara is a much older woman with a broken heart, trust issues, and the nagging knowledge that she isn’t getting any younger. She is such an amazing, well thought character that really makes the reader empathize with the need to feel seen and desired as we hit our forties.
Overall this book moved along quickly. I never got bored. There wasn’t a moment that didn’t have my attention. I laughed, cried, had my heart broken and then put back together.
CH writes beautiful, angsty, hockey romance. This is a book that will haunt me for a while in the best way possible!
First let me touch on the dialogue. She managed to give all three main characters their own voices and it was very evident in the dialogue between them who was who. The banter was perfect and loaded with authentic hockey slang and terminology.
The love triangle, age gap, angst, sex, fights and redeeming moments were all there and all executed perfectly.
Ryan Baylor is a young hockey player with a lot of emotions and anxiety, and while he has his moments that show his age and immaturity he isn’t lacking sincerity and a great redemption/maturing arc.
Tyler Hayes is everyone’s new book boyfriend. He manages to be a complete little shit while also being completely loyal and level headed.
Amara is a much older woman with a broken heart, trust issues, and the nagging knowledge that she isn’t getting any younger. She is such an amazing, well thought character that really makes the reader empathize with the need to feel seen and desired as we hit our forties.
Overall this book moved along quickly. I never got bored. There wasn’t a moment that didn’t have my attention. I laughed, cried, had my heart broken and then put back together.
CH writes beautiful, angsty, hockey romance. This is a book that will haunt me for a while in the best way possible!
November 7, 2023
I loved this book. Not only was it entertaining from start to finish, but I utterly adored these characters. They were far from perfect, but that’s precisely what made them so relatable. Life is messy, and the complicated relationship between Amara, Ryan and Tyler portrayed that perfectly. But despite all the angst and the heartbreak, there were several scenes that had me howling with laughter and the banter?!? Top notch!Hockey and MM romance happen to be my favourite combination, so I may be biased, but I can honestly say I enjoyed this book immensely. I’m already looking forward to the sequel, and can’t wait to find out more about Tyler Hayes. His cocky attitude and witty comebacks have already secured him a spot at the top of my list of favourite hockey boys 💕
December 1, 2023
5/5 ✨
Spice 4/5🌶
Gosh! This book was an emotional roller coaster! CH Maddington made me feel like I knew the MC’s in real life! I laughed, got sad, and cried…balled so much! I don’t know how or what drug was put into this book but it was beautifully written!
Love the HEA and seriously can’t wait for book 2!
Spice 4/5🌶
Gosh! This book was an emotional roller coaster! CH Maddington made me feel like I knew the MC’s in real life! I laughed, got sad, and cried…balled so much! I don’t know how or what drug was put into this book but it was beautifully written!
Love the HEA and seriously can’t wait for book 2!
May 30, 2024
Wauw! What a beautiful and amazing story!
You have to get use to the way she put the pov out there but I really loved it. Its how I want to read books, I wanna know how they think in the moment too.
I loved the characters from the start, its a fast love story but a slow personality development. There's a lot of drama and a lot of spice (but there could always be more spice for me 🤭!)
You have to get use to the way she put the pov out there but I really loved it. Its how I want to read books, I wanna know how they think in the moment too.
I loved the characters from the start, its a fast love story but a slow personality development. There's a lot of drama and a lot of spice (but there could always be more spice for me 🤭!)
October 23, 2023
I want to congratulate CH Maddington for her debut novel which was released a couple of days ago.
It’s become one of my favourite hockey romance books and I devoured the story in 24h.
The story revolves around the relationship between Amara, a 41yo divorcée and Ryan and Hayes, two AHL hockey players (23 & 20yo respectively).
.
📚Hockey romance
📚Age gap (she is older)
📚Spicy content
📚Addiction (sex and others)
📚Sexual awakening
The story won’t leave you indifferent. It’s raw and real.
.
.
I truly recommend the book! It’s available on Kindle Unlimited, so run and grab a copy!
It’s become one of my favourite hockey romance books and I devoured the story in 24h.
The story revolves around the relationship between Amara, a 41yo divorcée and Ryan and Hayes, two AHL hockey players (23 & 20yo respectively).
.
📚Hockey romance
📚Age gap (she is older)
📚Spicy content
📚Addiction (sex and others)
📚Sexual awakening
The story won’t leave you indifferent. It’s raw and real.
.
.
I truly recommend the book! It’s available on Kindle Unlimited, so run and grab a copy!
October 17, 2023
Loved loved loved this book!!
I was a beta reader for C.H. Maddington but my review is genuine and honest.
When I say that I fell in love with these characters, I mean it. I was left wanting more in the best possible way! I cannot wait for the next book to come out. It took me a little bit to get used to the third person POV but once I got used to it I read this book so fast. I could not put it down!
I have come to love C.H. Maddington and the way they write!
You get the hockey, the angst, the spice, the heartbreak, and the happy ever after, even if it a happy ever after that you didn’t expect!
Phenomenal job C.H. Maddington. You should be so proud!!
I was a beta reader for C.H. Maddington but my review is genuine and honest.
When I say that I fell in love with these characters, I mean it. I was left wanting more in the best possible way! I cannot wait for the next book to come out. It took me a little bit to get used to the third person POV but once I got used to it I read this book so fast. I could not put it down!
I have come to love C.H. Maddington and the way they write!
You get the hockey, the angst, the spice, the heartbreak, and the happy ever after, even if it a happy ever after that you didn’t expect!
Phenomenal job C.H. Maddington. You should be so proud!!
October 9, 2024
The premise of this one was good. A love triangle and gay awakening mixed with sports romance had me excited.
There were parts I really enjoyed, the HEA and the 3 main characters growing, the healthy approach to getting therapy and the friendship between the trio.
But honestly there were some things I struggled with. As a 40 year old, recently divorced woman I really had a hard time with Amara’s character. I just couldn’t jive with a grown woman behaving the way she did.
The way women in general were described felt icky.
I also very much struggled with the third person writing but realise that’s completely my issue.
All in all, I mostly enjoyed reading it and will read the rest of the series but it’s not one of the better hockey romances I’ve read.
There were parts I really enjoyed, the HEA and the 3 main characters growing, the healthy approach to getting therapy and the friendship between the trio.
But honestly there were some things I struggled with. As a 40 year old, recently divorced woman I really had a hard time with Amara’s character. I just couldn’t jive with a grown woman behaving the way she did.
The way women in general were described felt icky.
I also very much struggled with the third person writing but realise that’s completely my issue.
All in all, I mostly enjoyed reading it and will read the rest of the series but it’s not one of the better hockey romances I’ve read.
August 12, 2024
I decided to read this book after a Tik Tok from the author found me and then more and more showed up on my FYP so I was intrigued.
The premise of the story was good but the execution was SO lacking. The characters (especially the older woman) were SO immature and I don't feel like we knew them at all. There were many times throughout reading the book that I wondered if I has missed a chapter because there was just too much that happened off the page and I felt like we missed all of the relationship development and getting to know the characters stories.
The premise of the story was good but the execution was SO lacking. The characters (especially the older woman) were SO immature and I don't feel like we knew them at all. There were many times throughout reading the book that I wondered if I has missed a chapter because there was just too much that happened off the page and I felt like we missed all of the relationship development and getting to know the characters stories.
August 30, 2024
awesome hockey romance
The author had me hooked at the list of triggers!
Then the book started off with a sprint, you don’t even get to know the characters before there is a massive fight, but it totally works!
I found it amusing when Ryan read a hockey smut book when he was sent to Worcester. Based on the description I read that same book!( all the hockey romances kind of start to blend together) but not this book, it definitely sticks out from the rest and I thoroughly enjoyed it
The author had me hooked at the list of triggers!
Then the book started off with a sprint, you don’t even get to know the characters before there is a massive fight, but it totally works!
I found it amusing when Ryan read a hockey smut book when he was sent to Worcester. Based on the description I read that same book!( all the hockey romances kind of start to blend together) but not this book, it definitely sticks out from the rest and I thoroughly enjoyed it
October 8, 2024
No. Just no. Honestly this book had promise but the love triangle wasn't believable. The older woman bit could have worked but the author wanted us to love Ryan until we didn't. So both characters lost their voice. There was alot of sex in this book. But it wasn't good sex. I felt like I was transported back to high school the way they treated sex here. Now the best part was the anxiety rep. That was realistic and totally heart felt. I hope that going forward the author works on her characters a bit.
May 13, 2024
I was drawn to this book as I’m a sucker for broken yet cocky characters - and this story has them in abundance.
I hadn’t ever read an ice hockey romance before, but the author draws you into the world with an obvious passion for and knowledge of the sport, along with a flare for swearing and sex scenes of various combinations!
As a 40+ year-old myself, I also loved that the FMC was 41, and despite her being somewhat unrelatable, I can’t deny it was fun following her.
I hadn’t ever read an ice hockey romance before, but the author draws you into the world with an obvious passion for and knowledge of the sport, along with a flare for swearing and sex scenes of various combinations!
As a 40+ year-old myself, I also loved that the FMC was 41, and despite her being somewhat unrelatable, I can’t deny it was fun following her.
June 1, 2024
Breaking Ryan Baylor is a story about how messy love can be especially when people are figuring themselves out in the midst of their personal chaos. I found several aspects of the story to be relatable in that love is not always an easy path, and people often have to meander around before finding who they belong with. They make mistakes, they learn, and they grow. The beauty of this book is the growth of the characters.
September 7, 2024
Absolutely loved this book…I’m a sucker for love triangles so I was thoroughly entertained. The angst, heartbreak, banter, and all the emotions the characters were going through were felt, I could not get enough!!! It was messy, but in a great way. I’m glad it ended the way it did, Amara deserved her happy ending. So did the boys, I loved them together!!! I can’t wait to read Tyler’s book next and learn more about him, he stole the show for me on this one
September 21, 2024
If you're looking for an easy read, I would look elsewhere. This is not an easy read. I do believe that with maybe a developmental editor these characters can grow. I'm going to read the second one and hope for better.
There is a lot of high school level 🌶️ involved. The smuttish scenes are juvenile, but thems the breaks I guess. I'm hoping the second one is better because I heard that most indie writers get better with each book. Which is why this gets four stars instead of 3.
There is a lot of high school level 🌶️ involved. The smuttish scenes are juvenile, but thems the breaks I guess. I'm hoping the second one is better because I heard that most indie writers get better with each book. Which is why this gets four stars instead of 3.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 3, 2025
4.5 stars ⭐️ This book could be all about the spice, but instead, the found family ultimately feels front and centre ❤️ and I love me some found family 🥰 It's impossible not to fall in love with these characters! Looking forward to book 2!
January 20, 2024
CH MORE THAN NAILED THIS ONE AND I CANNOT SAY ENOUGH AMAZING THINGS ABOUT THIS BOOK! I loved every single part of it and cannot wait for the next one.
October 5, 2024
This book was decent, though I wasn't fond of how often Ryan flipped out on Amara or whoever else. I did appreciate the many nods to different issues we face daily. Anxiety attacks being prevalent.
January 23, 2025
3.5 stars. This book was certainly an unusual and intriguing hockey story. Not your run of the mill romance.
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