Rinkside Romance

A Timberlake Titans Hockey Romance #1

by Fiona Grace, Vivienne (Synthesized Voice) (Narrator)

In the town of Timberlake, hockey is more than just a sport; it’s a way of life, and semi-pro team the Titans are local heroes. When rising sports reporter Cassidy Turner is assigned to travel with the Titans for a season, she hopes to land a good story—but instead finds herself landing between two players as she falls in love…

Torn between Ethan, the team's virtuous captain, and Tyler, the team's notorious party-loving tough guy, Cassidy faces a tough choice. Who will she ultimately pick?

Genres: Audiobook, Sports Romance, Romance, Hockey Romance, Hockey, Sports, Contemporary

Audiobook

Published January 1, 2024

About the author

Debut author Fiona Grace is author of the LACEY DOYLE COZY MYSTERY series which includes MURDER IN THE MANOR (Book #1), DEATH AND A DOG (Book #2) and CRIME IN THE CAFE (Book #3). Fiona would love to hear from you, so please visit www.fionagraceauthor.com to receive free ebooks, hear the latest news, and stay in touch.

Reviews

[Heather Adores Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

2⭐
Genre ~ sports romance
Series ~ Timberlake Titans #1
Setting ~ Florida
Publication date ~ June 7, 2024
Est Page Count ~ 192 (25 chapters)
Audio length ~ 5 hours 42 minutes
Narrator ~ Vivienne (Synthesized Voice)
POV ~ single 1st, present tense
Featuring ~ sports reporter, hockey player, no steamage

Cassidy is a figure skater turned sports reporter. Problem is she hates hockey, so she's not thrilled her boss wants her to be the reporter for The Timberlake Titans.

So I feel bad about what happened to her in the past, it was not a good situation, but I'm not understanding why she hates the sport because of it. The sport didn't cause the problem, the person that plays it did. Well now she has 2 players fighting for her attention and I'm not too keen on love triangles.

Anyway, it was fine to listen to while I puttered around the house doing this and that.

Narration notes:
I did not listen to this one, but am just giving the info above for reference.

Connect with me ➡ Blog ~ Facebook ~ X

[Delanee · Rating 1 out of 5]

so horrible read it at 4.0x speed

[Micayla · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got to 21% and DNF. I'm glad this was apart of my bonus borrows and I didn't waste a borrow on it. The story is rushed, there is no emotion in these characters and it is SO unrealistic.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Drawn in by the cute covers, I was intrigued by this new to me Hockey romance series and while I thought the audio narration was well done, I couldn't get over the love triangle focus of the whole plot that sees former Olympic figure skating medalist turned sports reporter torn between two hockey players. One is the typical bad boy and the other is the quintessential good guy. I was rooting for the other guy but did come around on the one she ends up with. The other point of contention I had with this book was the conflict of interest aspect of a reporter being romantically involved with two players and still insisting she could remain unbiased. Overall a quick, okay read for me. I may still continue with this series and see how I like the next book. They are easy to read and listen to. Recommended for fans of Hockey romance that is low on steam and big on angst.

[Rachael · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was cute, but I felt it was somewhat rushed.

[Joann · Rating 1 out of 5]

Seemed like a teen romance more than adult story was rush and no depth

[Bonnijean Marley · Rating 1 out of 5]

You might enjoy Rinkside Romance if you like cliched characters and dialog with no actual chemistry between characters. Listening to this story read by AI was excruciating because of the many mispronunciations and inappropriate emotional inflections. The combination of the sappy love triangle story with the horrid narration makes this easily the worst book I've experienced this year.

[Bookworm · Rating 1 out of 5]

The story was bad enough, but the synthesized narration made it terrible. I hope this isn't the future of audio-books, if so they have a long way to go to reach the excellence of some of the great narrator's out there.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

some naughty words, but no spice at all! SUCH a cute story, I couldn't stop reading; hence the 11:30 PM review😂

[McKenna Noelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I want to pretend this doesn’t exist

[bookedallnight withnakita Nakita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Format: Audiobook via Hoopla

Maybe this book just wasn’t for me but I was bored 🥱

I’m not a fan of insta love and she falls hard for both guys immediately. I just didn’t feel the romance connection between any of them. It all felt so forced and rushed.

[Jen Fox · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't like giving bad reviews, but get ready.
This is one of the worst stories I have ever read. I hated all 3 of these characters.
This female character is awful! Such a stupid, vapid, pathetic "girl"! She gives women a bad name.
Cassidy is a new sports reporter writing for the Titans hockey team, and instead of being a good journalist, she's buried in personal drama with hockey players.
Her abusive ex was a hockey player, who pushed her down the stairs. She broke her ankle and couldn't return for her 2nd Olympics.
(She won a silver - Now her ankle hasn't healed for her attempt at a gold).
Now, as a sports reporter, her first day there she falls in "love" with 2 guys.
She bounces back and forth between these 2 hockey players (Tyler and Ethan). Who are horrible men? They aren't always nice. Especially Tyler, who immediately just wants sex from her. Yet, she can't decide which one she likes. They play her against each other. She plays them against each other. The whole population is commenting on her "love triangle" and how she is breaking up the team. She can't decide. They both treat her like crap at times.
It's ridiculous - just an appalling female character. And this all happens within one hockey season.
Would NOT recommend!

[Mrs Moa · Rating 2 out of 5]

🏒 sports romance
⛸️ ex figure skater
🏒 love triangle
⛸️ professional clash
🏒 conflicting emotions
⛸️ must choose
🏒 golden retriever or bad boy

Cassie is tasked with reporting on the Titans hockey team. Despite her aversion to ice hockey players, she falls for two guys on the same team - sparking in team fighting and conflict.

Unfortunately this love triangle just didn’t click for me. Cassie appears immature and incredibly unprofessional. She can’t make up her mind which guy she wants and when one tries to step aside she strings them back in. Their in-house fighting is ridiculous, especially when one claims “they’re like brothers” - never did I see any brotherly/friend connection between the guys.

I listened to this as an audio but struggled with the tone not being consistent with the characters and expressions.

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cassidy is a sports reporter. Ethan is the captain of the hockey team she's assigned to cover for the season. Tyler is the hot head on the team. Cassidy gets wrapped up in a love triangle that threatens to break up the team.

This is clearly AI written. It's disjointed. Scenes repeat on themselves and change direction... It's honestly terrible. If, somehow, Fiona Grace ISN'T using AI, she needs to go back to the editing stage and start fresh.

Oh. And the "audiobook" is "read" by a synthesized voice. So it didn't even pronounce words right.

I will NOT be continuing this series, as much as I like a hockey romance. It is G. A. R. B. A. G. E. What a waste of my reading time.

[Yvanna Hammen-Alvarez · Rating 1 out of 5]

No digs on the author, because the writing was alright. But I don't like love triangles, I think it's such an immature situation in real life so I don't love it at all in a book. I couldn't deal with the main character because she was so wishy-washy– maybe that's a mirror of people in real life but ugh, can't even. I finished it though.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book but I couldn’t. Teammates both like the same girl.. I get it but Ethan was ready to give up his hockey trade to his dream city for a female he barely interacted with. Cassidy is this smart reporter fresh from college, but she kept holding back in the interviews and it was infuriating to read. DNF at 80%.

[Laura Wrijil · Rating 1 out of 5]

Writing is stilted and robotic, emphasized by the narration that sounds like the AI narration on long TikTok videos. Got 17min in and called it quits, she wants to be a big professional sports reporter but doesn’t know the team she’s assigned? Doesn’t take one note during a press conference? Sheesh it’s FMCs like this that make FMCs look bad.

[Hannah Beth (Hannah's Book Cafe) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got some mild enjoyment out of this story but that's about all it was. There is a LOT of language. Also a bunch of innuendos, but no open door scenes. I got this as a bonus borrow on Hoopla. I wouldn't recommend you waste a borrow on it.

[Hannah Bugey]

2.5

[Keeley Lappin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook of this and it was not good at all. It felt like it was written by a high schooler, the plot was shocking (if there even was one). Very much not good lol

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Kloie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was not good. She was so dumb lmao main character was unbelievable. Book was so bad.

[Amanda Vultaggio · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a bonus borrow with hoopla, the narrator for the audio book was bad and the storyline was overdone and a bit disjointed. Not my favorite

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dnf at 40% couldn't do it anymore

[Jocelyn R · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm being generous with the 3 stars.

[Amber · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't love this one. I wasn't invested in them, I also did it on audio book and didn't love how it was narrated so that might be some of it.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF AT 42%…. I just couldn’t do it anymore. The whole who will she pick saga was going on and on with no emotion… so dry and the character development was horrible.
Hoopla bonus borrow

[Deni Tani · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave it a try because it was a bonus borrow on hoopla. I don’t know if it’s the flat audiobook narrator but the story is meh and cheesy. DNF at 25%.

[Jenefer R · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love hockey romance but this was a snooze fest. I did not care for the characters or the story. I didn’t feel anything the whole time.