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Hawkeyes Hockey #1
Cocky Score
***A Fake Relationship, Brother's Best Friend, Steamy Hockey Romance***
What’s worse than being in a fake relationship with my childhood crush? When he's a notorious NHL party-boy and my brother’s best friend! Being hired as the PR representative for the hockey team I’ve always been a fan, should be a dream come true, especially because my old crush plays for them. My suggestion to save Briggs's career is solid… have him fake date someone wholesome who can change his image. That’s when my big mouth gets in the way and I admit to being the-girl-next-door. Now… my boss is offering me the promotion of a lifetime, but it comes with strings… Fake date Briggs Conley! Now I have to fix Briggs’ reputation, lie to our families, keep my MMA fighter brother from pummeling his best friend, and stop myself from falling further for my childhood crush, all while we're forced to live together and pretend to be madly in love in front of the cameras. What could possibly go wrong? How about when my brother ends up in our guest bedroom and I end up with a pro hockey player in my bed.
What’s worse than being in a fake relationship with my childhood crush? When he's a notorious NHL party-boy and my brother’s best friend! Being hired as the PR representative for the hockey team I’ve always been a fan, should be a dream come true, especially because my old crush plays for them. My suggestion to save Briggs's career is solid… have him fake date someone wholesome who can change his image. That’s when my big mouth gets in the way and I admit to being the-girl-next-door. Now… my boss is offering me the promotion of a lifetime, but it comes with strings… Fake date Briggs Conley! Now I have to fix Briggs’ reputation, lie to our families, keep my MMA fighter brother from pummeling his best friend, and stop myself from falling further for my childhood crush, all while we're forced to live together and pretend to be madly in love in front of the cameras. What could possibly go wrong? How about when my brother ends up in our guest bedroom and I end up with a pro hockey player in my bed.
408 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2023
4630 people are currently reading
13179 people want to read
About the author
Kenna King
28 books585 followersAs an avid reader myself, and a Westcoast girl, I love two things: swoon-worthy pro athlete book boyfriends, and writing stories about them living in the beautiful Northwest where I'm blessed to call home.
I do my best work late at night after I’ve tucked in my three littles, and my hard-working husband.
I do my best work late at night after I’ve tucked in my three littles, and my hard-working husband.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 945 reviews
did-not-finish
October 19, 2023DNF
Maybe I'm being too sensitive, but out of everything this author could have chosen to show a hockey player with a bad reputation why would she pick a false rape allegation? Why are we perpetuating the idea that women who come forward about rape shouldn't be believed?
Maybe I'm being too sensitive, but out of everything this author could have chosen to show a hockey player with a bad reputation why would she pick a false rape allegation? Why are we perpetuating the idea that women who come forward about rape shouldn't be believed?
January 14, 2024
ONE MONTH of fake dating and a proposal a hour after saying their first i love you????
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 24, 2023
3.5
I'd give it more stars but omg did this book have a lot of errors. It took away from reading and was very annoying. Grammar and spelling mistakes but also minor plot holes. The book itself was really good. I just didn't focus on it as much as I should've because of all the errors.
I'd give it more stars but omg did this book have a lot of errors. It took away from reading and was very annoying. Grammar and spelling mistakes but also minor plot holes. The book itself was really good. I just didn't focus on it as much as I should've because of all the errors.
August 2, 2024
Why am I crying?! 😭 😂 this book was so stinking cute
April 28, 2024
KINDLE UNLIMITED IS A SICKNESS
January 15, 2024
Quickest fucking DNF of my life.
I’m literally 7 pages in and why is it a woman lying about an accusation against the MMC and 2 other teammates of his of sexual assault the thing that “tarnishes his reputation” and be the thing that he needs to “change his image” for? The author could have taken this in a several different directions but why this one?
“Look at me I’m a bad boy because I was accused of sexually assaulting a woman BUT DONT WORRY SHES LYING ABOUT IT but it’s my image problem to fix with the public and I need my best friend’s little sister to fake date me to prove I’m not actually a bad dude.”
I went in blind but not even getting through the first chapter made me read the blurb and does this read as the fmc is the “quirky, doesn’t know she’s beautiful under her glasses, who needs a makeover so her crush can “see” her” kind of pick me energy.
I’m literally 7 pages in and why is it a woman lying about an accusation against the MMC and 2 other teammates of his of sexual assault the thing that “tarnishes his reputation” and be the thing that he needs to “change his image” for? The author could have taken this in a several different directions but why this one?
“Look at me I’m a bad boy because I was accused of sexually assaulting a woman BUT DONT WORRY SHES LYING ABOUT IT but it’s my image problem to fix with the public and I need my best friend’s little sister to fake date me to prove I’m not actually a bad dude.”
I went in blind but not even getting through the first chapter made me read the blurb and does this read as the fmc is the “quirky, doesn’t know she’s beautiful under her glasses, who needs a makeover so her crush can “see” her” kind of pick me energy.
June 26, 2024
A sick parent, a proposal next to the hospital bed after fake dating for 5 weeks, and blackmail; the trifecta of garbage
July 2, 2025
I really liked this one! It was a cute and fun read, though the ending felt a bit rushed
September 29, 2023
Rough Drafts Shouldn't Be On Amazon
If I wanted to read a rough draft I'd join a critique group. I get that typos happen but come on, any word processor spell check could point out that the word Errupt begins with the letter E not the letter I. That's just one example out of countless other spelling mistakes, typos, missing words, wrong words and other glaring editing errors in this manuscript.
In addition to this it skips most of the plot necessary scenes to get to the next sex or makeout scene, summarizing them as events happening off page instead of actually writing the scene. With the lack of seeing the scenes where they interact and build actual rapport with each other its ridiculous to even consider the idea that they're in love.
There's also no build from strangers to relationship. Even growing up together they've been out of each other's lives so long they're strangers. They're not going to instantly comfortable with each other and the intimacy required of them.
Additionally pretty much all of the male characters are sexist and condescending behaving as if the female characters are incapable of making their own choices or protecting themselves and it's played off like this is somehow acceptable and attractive.
Finally certain moments, especially that ending are beyond corny and unrealistic. Like his mom just happens to have an engagement ring handy at the hospital? Seriously?
Overall the premise was a good idea. I'm all about a good fake relationship story but this story isn't anywhere near publication ready and therefore does not measure up to expectations.
If I wanted to read a rough draft I'd join a critique group. I get that typos happen but come on, any word processor spell check could point out that the word Errupt begins with the letter E not the letter I. That's just one example out of countless other spelling mistakes, typos, missing words, wrong words and other glaring editing errors in this manuscript.
In addition to this it skips most of the plot necessary scenes to get to the next sex or makeout scene, summarizing them as events happening off page instead of actually writing the scene. With the lack of seeing the scenes where they interact and build actual rapport with each other its ridiculous to even consider the idea that they're in love.
There's also no build from strangers to relationship. Even growing up together they've been out of each other's lives so long they're strangers. They're not going to instantly comfortable with each other and the intimacy required of them.
Additionally pretty much all of the male characters are sexist and condescending behaving as if the female characters are incapable of making their own choices or protecting themselves and it's played off like this is somehow acceptable and attractive.
Finally certain moments, especially that ending are beyond corny and unrealistic. Like his mom just happens to have an engagement ring handy at the hospital? Seriously?
Overall the premise was a good idea. I'm all about a good fake relationship story but this story isn't anywhere near publication ready and therefore does not measure up to expectations.
July 18, 2024
I enjoyed the concept of this book. But, there were way too many errors with continuity, grammar/punctuation, and plot holes. I’ll give the second book a try. But if it’s just as poorly written, I’m not sure I will continue the series.
February 22, 2024
i liked but didn’t need all the extra details that were included
July 22, 2024
Genuinely cannot believe this book made it to the publisher. I also can’t believe I finished it so giving it two stars for that. Don’t read this
January 15, 2024
So first of all, i thought the story was okay.
Autumn and Briggs had a few cute moments which i enjoyed. However, the ending with them being engaged/him proposing made not much sense given that they only started officially dating literally 20 minutes prior. And Autumn even thinks to herself after he asks her to move in together (before the proposal) that she would normally think it would be too early to move in… but then she says yes to his proposal mere minutes later?? And also, i haven’t mentioned yet that they said „i love you“ for the first time ever just before that!!
Additionally the story with the blackmail and threat to his job (which is the reason they have to fake date) is mentioned in the beginning and then forgotten for 70% of the book only to be resolved in maybe 3 sentences!?
And we don’t even get to see Autumn confront Dixie about the accusations. Rather we get half a page about Briggs eating stake with his work buddies and then Autumn coming back home and telling him what happened to her at the bar with Dixie!
We don’t even get to meet Dixie (the main antagonist for most of this book) once, instead they only ever talk about her.
However, the plot isn’t why i wanted to write this review.
At about 38% into this book i really noticed how many spelling mistakes there were and started to mark them just so i can see how many i find.
I found 46 spelling and grammatical mistakes, which is way to many for a published book.
I usually don’t mind the occasional mistake in a book because stuff like this can happen. We‘re all humans and we‘re not perfect. But 46 mistakes in about 60% of a book is really a lot! (Stuff like „my“ instead of „by“, or „hear“ instead of „ to hear“ or maybe even „hearing“, „watching“ instead of „walking“, „a“ instead of „I“, „kids in foster kids“ instead for „foster care“, and i could go on!)
English isn’t my native language, so to find all of those mistakes makes me think what native speakers/readers find and how annoying this must be for them.
And this doesn’t even count the plot holes. Sometimes it was just someone sitting down on a kitchen counter only for them to sit down on the kitchen counter 2 paragraphs later without ever standing up in between (stuff like that happened multiple times) or mentioning talking with a character who shouldn’t know about the fake arrangement between the protagonists about the relationship (and that it is fake) without ever revealing on the page or in a throwaway sentence that this person now knows about the arrangement.
And other times it was a hole paragraph that was copied from a few chapters prior. This paragraph also mentioned Autumn‘s brother still visiting them although he already left to go back to Vegas.
It was just thrown in and didn’t match the paragraphs before or after that.
Stuff like that shouldn’t happen.
Or stuff like that should at least be noticed when reading over the manuscript (which i have the strong suspicion neither the author nor any other person like an editor did because i really think that they would notice at least a few of those mistakes).
In general, the writing style wasn’t it for me. There was just so much explaining. I felt as if the author thinks the reader is dumb and needs everything spelled out twice before they understand.
An example: „[…] has me considering leading her downstairs and taking her in the back of her 4Runner parked downstairs.“
The „downstairs“ part doesn’t need to be mentioned twice and this was far from being the only time that happened.
I can’t even count the times i rolled my eyes because of stuff like that.
So in conclusion, I actually enjoyed reading parts of this book (even if it doesn’t quite seem like it in this review), however the annoying parts are a lot more prominent and make the whole experience annoying in retrospect.
At the end i was just continuing reading to see if there are more mistakes (spoiler alert: there were!)
Autumn and Briggs had a few cute moments which i enjoyed. However, the ending with them being engaged/him proposing made not much sense given that they only started officially dating literally 20 minutes prior. And Autumn even thinks to herself after he asks her to move in together (before the proposal) that she would normally think it would be too early to move in… but then she says yes to his proposal mere minutes later?? And also, i haven’t mentioned yet that they said „i love you“ for the first time ever just before that!!
Additionally the story with the blackmail and threat to his job (which is the reason they have to fake date) is mentioned in the beginning and then forgotten for 70% of the book only to be resolved in maybe 3 sentences!?
And we don’t even get to see Autumn confront Dixie about the accusations. Rather we get half a page about Briggs eating stake with his work buddies and then Autumn coming back home and telling him what happened to her at the bar with Dixie!
We don’t even get to meet Dixie (the main antagonist for most of this book) once, instead they only ever talk about her.
However, the plot isn’t why i wanted to write this review.
At about 38% into this book i really noticed how many spelling mistakes there were and started to mark them just so i can see how many i find.
I found 46 spelling and grammatical mistakes, which is way to many for a published book.
I usually don’t mind the occasional mistake in a book because stuff like this can happen. We‘re all humans and we‘re not perfect. But 46 mistakes in about 60% of a book is really a lot! (Stuff like „my“ instead of „by“, or „hear“ instead of „ to hear“ or maybe even „hearing“, „watching“ instead of „walking“, „a“ instead of „I“, „kids in foster kids“ instead for „foster care“, and i could go on!)
English isn’t my native language, so to find all of those mistakes makes me think what native speakers/readers find and how annoying this must be for them.
And this doesn’t even count the plot holes. Sometimes it was just someone sitting down on a kitchen counter only for them to sit down on the kitchen counter 2 paragraphs later without ever standing up in between (stuff like that happened multiple times) or mentioning talking with a character who shouldn’t know about the fake arrangement between the protagonists about the relationship (and that it is fake) without ever revealing on the page or in a throwaway sentence that this person now knows about the arrangement.
And other times it was a hole paragraph that was copied from a few chapters prior. This paragraph also mentioned Autumn‘s brother still visiting them although he already left to go back to Vegas.
It was just thrown in and didn’t match the paragraphs before or after that.
Stuff like that shouldn’t happen.
Or stuff like that should at least be noticed when reading over the manuscript (which i have the strong suspicion neither the author nor any other person like an editor did because i really think that they would notice at least a few of those mistakes).
In general, the writing style wasn’t it for me. There was just so much explaining. I felt as if the author thinks the reader is dumb and needs everything spelled out twice before they understand.
An example: „[…] has me considering leading her downstairs and taking her in the back of her 4Runner parked downstairs.“
The „downstairs“ part doesn’t need to be mentioned twice and this was far from being the only time that happened.
I can’t even count the times i rolled my eyes because of stuff like that.
So in conclusion, I actually enjoyed reading parts of this book (even if it doesn’t quite seem like it in this review), however the annoying parts are a lot more prominent and make the whole experience annoying in retrospect.
At the end i was just continuing reading to see if there are more mistakes (spoiler alert: there were!)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 23, 2024
Cocky Score
4.25⭐️ 3🌶️
🏒 brother's best friend
🩷 fake dating
🏒 forced proximity
🩷 childhood crush
🏒 hockey romance
Mix a sizzling hockey player, a girl who loves to bake, and a dirty mouth, and you’ve got a recipe for pure chemistry. And if you’re looking for a scene to make you blush, Chapter 16 is where the magic happens—trust me, I was squealing and blushing nonstop!
Autumn's dream job as a PR rep for her favorite NHL team turns into a whirlwind when she’s roped into fake-dating her childhood crush, Briggs Conley—a notorious party boy and her brother’s best friend. To save his career, Autumn must pretend to be the perfect, wholesome girlfriend, all while navigating family drama, a sizzling fake romance, and the undeniable chemistry that simmers between her and Briggs. Things go haywire when her brother moves in, and they end up sharing a bed... What could go wrong?
Cocky Score hits all the right tropes—fake dating, brother's best friend, forced proximity—and it’s done so well that I couldn’t put it down. Watching Autumn and Briggs' relationship blossom was such a treat, and honestly, I found myself wishing for my own Briggs! Their willingness to sacrifice everything for each other by the end is the heart of the story, and it’s what love is really about.
That said, I did feel the engagement at the end came a bit too quickly—it felt rushed and out of character. But hey, it’s a romance novel, and sometimes the fantasy is just what you need. Overall, this book is a fun, steamy ride with just the right amount of heart. Highly recommend it for anyone who loves a sweet, spicy, and totally swoon-worthy romance!
4.25⭐️ 3🌶️
🏒 brother's best friend
🩷 fake dating
🏒 forced proximity
🩷 childhood crush
🏒 hockey romance
Mix a sizzling hockey player, a girl who loves to bake, and a dirty mouth, and you’ve got a recipe for pure chemistry. And if you’re looking for a scene to make you blush, Chapter 16 is where the magic happens—trust me, I was squealing and blushing nonstop!
Autumn's dream job as a PR rep for her favorite NHL team turns into a whirlwind when she’s roped into fake-dating her childhood crush, Briggs Conley—a notorious party boy and her brother’s best friend. To save his career, Autumn must pretend to be the perfect, wholesome girlfriend, all while navigating family drama, a sizzling fake romance, and the undeniable chemistry that simmers between her and Briggs. Things go haywire when her brother moves in, and they end up sharing a bed... What could go wrong?
Cocky Score hits all the right tropes—fake dating, brother's best friend, forced proximity—and it’s done so well that I couldn’t put it down. Watching Autumn and Briggs' relationship blossom was such a treat, and honestly, I found myself wishing for my own Briggs! Their willingness to sacrifice everything for each other by the end is the heart of the story, and it’s what love is really about.
That said, I did feel the engagement at the end came a bit too quickly—it felt rushed and out of character. But hey, it’s a romance novel, and sometimes the fantasy is just what you need. Overall, this book is a fun, steamy ride with just the right amount of heart. Highly recommend it for anyone who loves a sweet, spicy, and totally swoon-worthy romance!
January 15, 2024
Would’ve been five stars if not for the ending 🫠
Stop making characters that have been dating for two months get engaged!! It ruined a great book for me.
Stop making characters that have been dating for two months get engaged!! It ruined a great book for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 26, 2024
SO cute
I’m a big fan of this book. I can’t wait to get into this series. Adorable forbidden little sister of childhood bestfriend story. I would recommend. Quick and lighthearted.
I’m a big fan of this book. I can’t wait to get into this series. Adorable forbidden little sister of childhood bestfriend story. I would recommend. Quick and lighthearted.
July 2, 2024
I got this book cause it was free on kindle not knowing what it was. It was fun and easy to read, but it wasn’t very well written and incredibly predictable and downright cringey.
January 27, 2024
the relationship was so fast paced and normally I wouldn’t enjoy that but I loved this!
September 29, 2025
Went kinda slow then super fast out of nowhere… but also still kinda cute?
December 5, 2025
Well, this was kind of like a rice cake in book form. It was a competently written book and professionally polished, which is more than I can say for a lot of books I read lately, but it all felt so bland and flavorless. I'm struggling to remember why this book was even 400 pages. To be honest, nothing really grabbed me. There wasn't really any humor, none of the characters were obnoxious or annoying, but they also weren't very interesting. I never felt any real connection between ANY of the characters, not just the MMC's. Usually there's like some side characters that are amusing, but while it was clear who was being set up for their own books, none of them were very compelling. It could just be me and the fact I've read so many hockey romances that these feel like cookie cutter characters with not a hint of their own flair or personality. It's a tough line to walk, because on the one hand, you don't want to have the MC's so outlandish that no one can relate, but if you try to write them for mass appeal they start to become more and more boring. The other complaint is the spice was abysmal. There was one PnV sex scene, it was a shower scene at a predictable 50% of the book, but it was well before much of a relationship had developed between them and it kinda came out of nowhere and there were no sex scenes after that. We're told they have sex a few times, but it's not actually written. So no sex scenes after they realize how much they care about each other or even as they're growing to care about each other, they just kinda went from "Off-limits" to getting off and we get one lame shower sex scene out if it 🙄. In a 400 page book you've gotta give us more intimacy than 2 foreplay scenes and a 3 paragraph long sex scene. Overall, I just don't think this author's writing style is for me. It would take something really intriguing for me to try another of their books.
May 20, 2025
This is the first in the Hawkeyes Hockey series and so far, there are nine books.
I loved this one and immediately ordered the next three in the series as soon as I finished. I will give the warning that a lot of people didn't like that the book started out with a fake rape allegation. I didn't think that the ultimate truth behind what was going on was as problematic as it could have been when it comes to believing women. However, if this is triggering for you, you may want to skip this one.
Autumn works for a PR firm and is tasked with fake dating a famous hockey player in order to help clean up his image. The problem is that he's her brother's childhood best friend who she has had a crush on her entire life. Obviously, we know what happens.
This one was full of all the romance tropes we know and love. I have read some mixed opinions about the unrealistic ending, but I just accepted it given their history and it worked for me.
This is an open-door romance with spicy scenes.
Overall, this one was cute, and I am going to continue on with the series.
I loved this one and immediately ordered the next three in the series as soon as I finished. I will give the warning that a lot of people didn't like that the book started out with a fake rape allegation. I didn't think that the ultimate truth behind what was going on was as problematic as it could have been when it comes to believing women. However, if this is triggering for you, you may want to skip this one.
Autumn works for a PR firm and is tasked with fake dating a famous hockey player in order to help clean up his image. The problem is that he's her brother's childhood best friend who she has had a crush on her entire life. Obviously, we know what happens.
This one was full of all the romance tropes we know and love. I have read some mixed opinions about the unrealistic ending, but I just accepted it given their history and it worked for me.
This is an open-door romance with spicy scenes.
Overall, this one was cute, and I am going to continue on with the series.
February 1, 2025
we went into this knowing it would be bad and we wanted it to be bad. if we had known it would be THIS we would never have subjected ourselves to this kind of torment. life is so hard and bad literature shouldn’t make it any worse yet here we are. reading parts of it out loud made it more bearable and much more funny but there is no going up from here as a human species if this is what people are reading
“i feel like im questioning every decision ive made in my lifetime that has brought me to this moment” - clare
happy birthday clare
“i feel like im questioning every decision ive made in my lifetime that has brought me to this moment” - clare
happy birthday clare
November 30, 2024
it was cute but I wasn't obsessed
August 6, 2025
I'm a total sucker for a hockey romance. But this was just didn't deliver.
December 3, 2024
ngl i can’t decide if i actually loved this book or not but also i read it so fast & i am still thinking about the characters sooo
September 9, 2025
2💫 Sometimes after a really intense thriller mystery you need a stupid hockey book to take the edge off. Gosh I pray the writing gets better in this series….
December 27, 2024
Cute! Very easy read romance
June 25, 2025
Should’ve dnfed at like 80% but pushed through 😔. Not gonna lie, the build and interaction between the two main characters did not feel like they were in love whatsoever. Apart from the multiple spelling and grammar mistakes, start was good but ending did drag, felt like quite a bit was missing but I liked the side characters so 2.75 ⭐
June 20, 2024
This was such a shocking read for me. Genuinely I’m the person that does judge a book by a cover (sorry don’t hate me) and at first glance the kindle cover gave me the impression it would be just another romance. I was expecting a lil three star maybe 3.5 as most romances are for me, but this gripped me so quick.
The people felt real, I laughed, cried a little, kicked my feet and fell in love with this authors work. Her writing style is so developed and overall made this a one day read for me. I’m not usually interested in the “childhood crush” troupe because it’s too obsessive typically for my taste. But this was done right, it wasn’t driven by that adolescent crush and I loved it🙏🏻
I’ll definitely be continuing this series and find it insane that this isn’t more popular!
(The story begins with faulty SA accusations, they are proven fake in the very first chapter but incase it’s not for you please note that.)
The people felt real, I laughed, cried a little, kicked my feet and fell in love with this authors work. Her writing style is so developed and overall made this a one day read for me. I’m not usually interested in the “childhood crush” troupe because it’s too obsessive typically for my taste. But this was done right, it wasn’t driven by that adolescent crush and I loved it🙏🏻
I’ll definitely be continuing this series and find it insane that this isn’t more popular!
(The story begins with faulty SA accusations, they are proven fake in the very first chapter but incase it’s not for you please note that.)
November 11, 2024
4.5⭐️ and 3🌶️ this book showed up on Goodreads/KU and I had low low expectations (I mean the cover, the title…) however I was pleasantly surprised. This was the typical brothers best friend trope (one of the best) with forced proximity. I loved Briggs and Autumn (and the rest of the characters) plus this reminded me of the same light hearted HEA that is Elle Kennedy. Highly recommend if you’re in the mood for a quick hockey FIAD book. Also…. There’s like 10 in the series so
Displaying 1 - 30 of 945 reviews