Rival Darling

The Darling Devils #1

by Alexandra Moody

Fall hard for the Darling Devils in the first in this heartstopping YA rom-com series, for fans of Lynn Painter, Jenny Han and Powerless. Fake datingHe falls first HEACute, clean and wholesome fun vibesNever date a jock – it’s her one rule. He'll do whatever it takes to break it.

When seventeen-year-old Violet is left heartbroken by the captain of her school’s ice hockey team, she vows to never date a jock again. But, in an attempt to prove she’s moved on, she turns to the most unlikely person—her ex’s biggest rival, the notorious captain of the Ransom Devils.

Reed Darling is gorgeous, mysterious and intimidating, both on and off the ice. Wild rumors constantly circulate about him, and the only thing people love to talk about more than his hockey skills are his exploits as a ruthless heartbreaker and bad boy. Who better to serve as Violet’s fake boyfriend until her ex gets the message, right?

But despite the intense rivalry between their two schools and Reed’s infamous reputation, Violet soon starts to wonder if there’s more to him than the gossip suggests. And while she tries her best to control their ‘relationship’ with a list of strict guidelines, Reed has other ideas. He’s set his sights on winning her over and is determined to show Violet he’s not the guy everyone thinks he is.

She should have known better than to make a deal with a devil because this one is going to break all her rules.

Rival Darling is a YA hockey rom-com with a HEA and no cliffhanger and the first in the Darling Devils series.

★★★★★ You don't get how many times I had to stop just so I could contain my giggling. This book is a must!

★★★★★ I fell in love with this book right away. The plot twists. The characters. The love story. Everything. A truly great book if you love romance!

★★★★★ Read this in one day. So cute and wholesome!!! Loved the couple, and all the side characters. Can't wait for the next book!!!

Genres: Romance, Sports Romance, Hockey, Sports, Fake Dating, Hockey Romance, Young Adult

416 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 13, 2025

About the author

Alexandra Moody is an Australian author who writes romance novels for young adults. She lives in Adelaide with her husband, three children and naughty dog. When she’s not busy writing, you’ll find her reading or spending time with her family. She loves to travel, is addicted to caffeine and has a love/hate relationship with the gym.

For more information, visit: www.alexandramoody.com


or follow Alexandra on Instagram or TikTok: @amoodyauthor

Reviews

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Someday I’ll stop mindlessly reading hockey romance novels but today is not that day.

[Callie · Rating 3 out of 5]

He did NOT start doing a figure skating routine in the middle of his hockey game. I’m dead.

[deb ☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

wanted to give it 5 stars but then my dude started figure skating 💀💀

[Mariem · Rating 2 out of 5]

Now was the figure skating part in the middle of the game that necessary?

[Anka · Rating 2 out of 5]

You know how teenagers can be stupid? Well, violet sure could. The first 70% of the book were fine. The story is nothing to write home about or even remotely new, but rarely one is nowadays so I was willing to look over that. However what I couldn't get over was how incredibly stupid violet behaved towards the end. I get she's been burned by a hockey player before, but you mean to tell me that she believes the shit her cheating ex told her without a second thought? the same ex who has been bothering her at every turn bc his ego got bruised? Just not a single intelligent thought went through her head. And when she found out the truth she had the nerve to ask his friend " why ded he keep all that stuff from me?" Like girl? Why tf didn't you just talk to the man and ask him if it was true??
"Deep down, I’d known he (the ex) was just saying those things to get to me," no violet, you really didn't.
I feel like the author just pulled something out her nose so the book would go one for another 60 pages.
Also, if all that woudnt have thrown me off, him breaking out into a figure skating performance mid hockey game gave me the rest. I'm sorry I just can't look past that. It was like when Alex started singing in twisted love.

[vanessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked Reed’s character but I didn’t really like Violet. Also, what happened to her mom? She literally dropped her off at her uncle’s and dipped to pursue her dream job. There was a lot left out and I would’ve liked to have read a scene where Violet confronted her mother over her behavior but it never happened.

[ari [gin’s vrsn 🩵] [semi ia] · Rating 1 out of 5]

1⭐

i wish i could give you zero stars, but i can’t so i give you a one.


now playing: if i can’t have you - shawn mendes

13+

romance: 5/10 (a few kisses. dirty jokes. innuendo. and big romantic gestures)

cursing: 4/10 (semi-frequent damn, hell, ass, shit. non- frequent bitch, dick. no f bombs)

violence: 3/10 (hockey is a violent game, there are fights on the ice, hard checking, etc.)

other: the characters go to a party and consume alcohol underage, and become drunk.

tropes: hockey romance, new girl in town, bad boy, fake dating, he falls first, miscommunication

first person, past tense

dual pov

“it doesn’t matter cuz i’m so consumed spending all my nights reading texts from you”


🏒– OVERVIEW –🏒

buckle up, y’all. this review is 5 pages on google docs with no quotes and it’s entirely me trashing it. have fun.

my first thought with this book was: omg! a clean ya hockey romcom set in minnesota? this is too good to be true!

while all of that IS true, as a minnesotan hockey player, it was not good.

i will try to be as forgiving as possible with this review, giving the author the benefit of the doubt because she’s from australia and NOT this “freezing hellscape” like i am.

she needs to do more thorough research about the places she write about in her books, if this one is any example. my guess is her publisher forced her to hop on the hockey romance bandwagon to sell more books, but even a cursory glance at google would tell you a lot of things that are drastically off in this book.

for 1. this book supposedly takes place in late october/early novemeber, as indicated by the dialouge. i would just like to let you know, that the absolutely FREEZING BELOW ZERO weather is NOT normal in late october/early november. maybe where i live (the icebox of the nation), but not the southern part of the state where this book takes place.

which brings me to the dilema of reed’s perfectly taken care of truck. say the roads really are as icy and freaky and frozen as the author makes them out to be (often times there isn’t even snow on the ground this time of year in the metro yet) then there is NO WAY IN HELL reed’s “hubcaps are gleaming” after driving out in this “freezing hellscape”. there are these lovely things called road salt and slush and there is absolutely NO escaping it in the winter of my lovely lake state. esp in cities where the roads are salted far more often than the county road i live on. (believe me, i spent the majority of my life living in minneapolis)

his wipers may be free of ice, if he has a heated garage, or else, he’s stuck like the rest of us. but it’s repeatedly mentioned that his family isn’t particularly well off, so a heated garage might not even be a possibilty. not to mention that a lot of houses in the city don’t even HAVE garages.

which now brings me to violet’s car, betty. betty was “protesting the change of weather since mom dumped us here over summerbreak” EXCUSE ME, HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN AN MN SUMMER? 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ it’s HUMID AS HELL and 90 degrees, how the crap is her car not liking how cold it is? she’s from the coast of cali which is LITERALLY COLDER? i’ve been to san diego in the heat of august, and the ocean breeze knocks off the heat a lot more than the humidity of mn does, that’s for sure.

i will stand by the statement that dry heat is a lot more tolerable than wet heat.

not me ranting for an entire page just abt the wack weather in this book….

2 this book supposedly takes place in a SMOLL TINY ITSY BITSY town in the south state called sunshine hills (already a gag), across the river is a BIGGER but far less well off city called ransom. if sunshine hills is so ITTY BITTY tell me why is full of richy rick’s and they’re bratty snotball kids?

it’s trying to be minnetonka but it’s failing (no offense if you live in minnetonka…)

and if you know ANYTHINGGG abt mn you would know, that the richy rick’s are where the nice lakes are, not “middle of nowhere freezing hellscapes” with no lakes and a dingy river. it just doesn’t add up.

3 this whole time i’ve been wondering how the crap this lady has published so many books? her writing is reminicent of fanfiction, with the typos, weird grammar, poor structuring, choppy sentences and dialogue, and shallow characters to boot.
it wasn’t quite as bad as anastasis blythe (i would genuinely rather gouge my own eyes out with my hockey stick than read another of her books)

the dirty jokes were funny. it was lighthearted and non serious. but i just couldn’t get past the stupid weather.

4 the way she represented minnesotans made all of us look like all we care abt is hockey and violence – and while i do love a hearty amount of the former, that’s not all we are. it disappointed me, her portrayal of the characters in such a shallow way. it made me sick. is that all we are? hockey, violence, minnesota nice?

if any of you reading this are also from MN feel free to send me a frq or a pm and i’d be glad to chat with you abt HOCKEY 😗🫠

bear with me while i go die in a hole.

5 my brain hurts thinking about this book. and now it is time to crack down on all the hockey mistakes made.

i’m 99.99999% sure this author learned all her facts from smutty hockey romance books bc it was actually the most atrocious thing abt this book, and you saw my rant on the weather.

first of all, you do not “see muscles through hockey padding” NO. that’s not how it works. At ALL.

hockey skates and figure skates are COMPLETELY different, yet somehow, reed manages to do an entire figure skating routine ON HOCKEY SKATES. hockey skates have rounded blades which make those moves he was doing impossible, don’t believe me? you go try.

you don’t check someone against the ice, contrary to what the author wrote.

i just– bro you have no idea how bad i’m fuming rn…

safe to say i’m not going to be reading another hockey romance written by someone who has no experience. if anyone has any recs that have accurate hockey portrayal, PM ME. I’M BEGGING. idec if it has spice, I’LL SKIP OVER IT.

6 the romance was cute at times, although VERY insta love,. and when i say insta love, i mean INSTA LOVE. buddy was going to quit hockey just because violet said she wouldn’t date a hockey player. TWO DAYS AFTER THEY MET. TWO. DAYS. YOU DO NOT THROW AWAY YOUR DREAMS OF THE NHL FOR A GIRL YOU MET TWO DAYS AGO. PERIOD.

and at the end of the book, violet sudden “decides” she loves reed and is going to break her rules for him agian. kill. me.

7 that brings me to the climax of the book. jeremy (violet’s ex who CHEATED on her then LIED TO HER FACE) tells violet that reed is only using her to get in his head and win the big game. and violet, BELIEVES HIM? girl WHAT? why in devils hell is jeremy’s, the lying cheater, word suddenly worth more than reed’s, the guy who’s never hurt you? what is this logic? she’s an idiot. and i think reading this book gave me an aneurism.

i genuinely want to buy a copy just to burn it in my wood stove.


anyhooooo enough self pity and ranting! now to the good parts of the book!

*crickets*


“oh, i’m good at keeping my distance i know that you’re the feeling i’m missing”


🥅– PLOT –🥅

what plot?

violet gets dumped into sunshine hills, violet finds out her boyfriend is a jerkwad, violet dumps jerkwad, violet vows never to date a hockey player ever again, reed vows to make her change her mind, reed does big romantic gesture and changes her mind.

plain and simple.

“you know that i hate to admit it cuz everything means nothing if i can’t have you”


🚨– CHARACTERS –🚨

VIOLET she was extremely annoying. inconsistant. and just a bother. she went on and on and on and on and on and ON about how she would “NEVER date a jock” and yet, she dates one at the beginning of the book, and at the end. it’s quite ridiculous. she had zero personality besides this stupid rule, and was all around flat, and unimpressive.

all we ever heard abt was how small she was, and how her red hair glistened, and how her blue eyes were so big and beautiful. that’s all she was. a collection of features.

REED he had his moments. but he was also getting on my nerves for the majority of the book. he claimed he was so invested in hockey, and that he was going to play for this big college team next year, then what does he do TWO DAYS after meeting violet? OH RIGHT, the completely NORMAL reaction ANY GUY would have. CONTEMPLATE QUITTING HIS LIFE LONG CAREER IN HOCKEY FOR A GIRL.

i’m sorry, what? i think i misheard you.

it was ridiculous.

not to mention this book had my worst pet peeve EVER. the whole “he’s a mountain of muscle that dwarfs her”. I DEPISE IT. it’s nasty and literally makes my skin crawl.

don’t even get me started on his stupid nickname for her. “sunshine”? That’s THE BEST you could come up with? after the town she lives in? ick.

MIA she had more personality than violet and reed combined, but not nearly enough page time to make it worth it.

NICOLE she was a minorrrrr minorrrr MINOR side character. but i loved her and mia’s chaos. they were so fun.

GRAYSON of the three darling brothers, grayson is my favorite. and the ONLY reason i am even considering continuing this series. just so i can see him and paige finally get together.

PARKER this guy pissed me off, but in a good way. he made me laugh, and choke on my tongue with the weird things he says.

PAIGE if i were any of the people in this book, i would be paige. we are like the same person.

“i can’t write one song that’s not about you”

🐕– QUOTES –🐕

take a look at my kindle notes, bc i have no energy to deal with this.

”can’t drink without thinking about you”


🌨️– CONCLUSION –🌨️

this book was an utter piece of crap.
i hope this hate review did it’s job and convinced you not to read it.

“is it too late to tell you that, everything means nothing if i can’t have you”




preread

buddy read with my bestie kenjibea <333

if you skip ahead this time i WILL end you 🔪👹

(last time we tried to read divine rivals tg and she read both books while i was at work…. in one day….)

i can’t wait to trash this book omg 🤧

[inès ˚｡⋆౨ৎ˚ · Rating 5 out of 5]

i’d loved to play with that stick too (talking about hockey here 😙)

[Carolina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 ✰ I love me some fake dating 🙂‍↕️🤭

2️⃣3️⃣🏆 ⋆❆˚｡₊⊹❅⋆ ⋆❆˚｡₊⊹❅⋆ ⋆❆˚｡₊⊹❅⋆

I was going to rate this book 4 stars but then “𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐤𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞” happened and I cringed 😭

It wasn’t the fact that it was a 𝐁𝐎𝐘 doing it, it was the fact that he did it in front of his biggest enemy, in the most important game of the season! Mb mb 😔😔

⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆ ⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆ ⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆ ⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎

𝐕𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐭 - for me this FMC was basic, nothing too special. I think she was stupid asf, I found myself wanting to slap her so many times but again she basically grew up alone.
Her mom just completely bailed on her parental duties and she never met her dad, so I think it’s quite understandable that she was so naive… she is also a teen who didn’t really get any advices other than “don’t date hockey players” 🥱

˙ ✩°˖🪽 ⋆｡˚꩜

𝐑𝐞𝐞𝐝 - his nickname for her was “sunshine”, nothing new in books BUT he made it seem like it was the best thing in the world. This guy fixed a whole bloody car for her with his bare hands and worked extra hours to pay all the repairs so she wouldn’t! 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴! "𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭, 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞. 𝐀𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬."

˙ ✩°˖🪽 ⋆｡˚꩜

𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫 - I WANT HIS BOOK NOW, THIS IS GIBSIE IN A DIFFERENT FONT. HIS BOOK ITS GOING TO BE “COACH’S DAUGHTER AND ENEMIES TO LOVERS” , I’m sat 🤭
It’s also the prettiest book cover in my opinion 😙😙😙😙

˙ ✩°˖🪽 ⋆｡˚꩜

𝐌𝐢𝐚 - I was annoyed at you at first but now I actually quite love you 🥹😁 thanks for being the cupid ( after like 45 % of the book or more lol ) 💓

𝐉𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐲 - ᶠᶸᶜᵏᵧₒᵤ!

⋆˚✿˖°

𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐞 - I’m not gonna drag my thoughts to this review because their book is next and I’ll be reading it soon :) 🩵

────୨ৎ──── ────୨ৎ────

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬!!

𝘏𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 ( 𝐑𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐬𝐨𝐧 ) -

"𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧?"
"𝐒𝐡𝐮𝐭 𝐮𝐩."
"𝐈𝐭 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞."
"𝐎𝐤𝐚𝐲, 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞. 𝐌𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐮𝐝𝐚.” 😂

❄️🌨️☃️⛸️🎧🕯️

𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘌𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦, 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘞𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 🤭

⋆˚☆˖°⋆｡° ✮˖ ࣪ ⊹⋆.˚ ⋆˚☆˖°⋆｡° ✮˖ ࣪ ⊹⋆.˚ ⋆˚☆˖°⋆｡

𝐩𝐫𝐞-𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝: I've had this book on my TBR for quite some time now, what best to start this other than in holidays
time? PLEASE BE GOOD

[har · Rating 1 out of 5]

dnf @ 40%

it got too boring for me 😞 but aaa thank you julia for reading this with me!! hopefully our next br is much better. love you endlessly 💌

[madi · Rating 1 out of 5]

dnf @ 54%
sooo boring. he was ready to quit the nhl a few days after meeting her just bc she didn’t like hockey players 😐

𐙚⋆°｡⋆♡ pre-read ♡⋆°｡⋆𐙚
⤷ i haven’t heard good things about this book, but for some reason i still wanna read it 😛😛

[vanessa ౨ৎ ⋆｡˚ · Rating 5 out of 5]

reed darling, how did i fall in love with u so fast? <3

"you can call me whatever you want, sunshine. as long as you call me yours." ~ darling devil #23

this book had everything i could've wanted & more. it was absolutely perfect, the entire plot was written so well. i have no words. i've never enjoyed a book more.

it was such an easy and enjoyable experience. i was definitely entertained & impressed by it all. the plot and the storyline were just so good. <3
such a cute story with the perfect amount of angst & longing in the love interests.

i'll forever love the darling brothers. 🫶🏻
especially reed ofc.

(ps watch out for the youngest darling brother, parker... he's just so unhinged, he reminded me of a golden retriever with a high ego, who isn't afraid of saying what's on his mind at any given time, he was hilarious & i love him so much)

[McKenzie (writing hiatus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

゜✧
→ Rival Darling

・゜✧ 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫:
→ Alexandra Moody

・゜✧ 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞:
→ Hockey Romance

・゜✧ 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠:
→ ★★★★★★

・゜✧ 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:
→ SCREAMING THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER. THE BOOK WAS A MAGICAL EXPERIENCE AND I LOVE IT SMMMM. THE SETTING COMBINED WITH THE PLOT WAS JUST PERFECT

・゜✧ 𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬:
→ Reed- Omg the bad boy act while being a marshmallow on the inside is adorable. I’m going to have to say I love him more than nick stark from the do over.

→ Violet- yall she was so sweet and honestly I thought she was very realistic with the way her feelings were so conflicted. I love her so much.

→ Mia- Oh. My. Goodness. The perfect little side character to add to the book. I loved the way she helped her cousin and her attitude towards Violet.

・゜✧ 𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐐𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞:
→ “what can I say? I guess I’ve finally found the kind of hockey player whose jersey I want to wear”

・゜✧ 𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬/ 𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝:
→ fake dating, bad boy who’s just misunderstood, he falls first and harder

・゜✧ 𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝?
→ ABSOLUTELY

・゜✧ 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬:
→ This is the absolute perfect book, please read it!!! This book is making me remember why I loved reading in the first place.

Credits go to @jenoodle for making my review template

[clicktojointhemafia · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars ೃ⁀➷ i never thought someone could exceed the level of embarassment i got from alex volkov (iykyk) but ladies and gentlemen here we are.


the book was cute i'm not gonna lie. the characters and romance was set up so nicely and i felt like i could connect with them so well. the romance was so cute and cheesy but in a good way, it had my slutty little heart gigglin' and shit, yk?

this book follows violet and reed. after violet finds her now ex jeremy making out with some girl she decides that she is officially staying away from hockey players forever. that is, until she meets reed darling, her exes nemesis and rival who has countless rumours attached to him and his family name. after a brief encounter they decide to fake date: for violet it's a perfect chance to get back at her ex and for reed he says it's perfect to tame the swarm of girls constantly around him (definitely not because he is smitten with her 😚🤭). but as time goes on both of them uncover feelings they didn't know were there and have to face the question of if they want this relationship to be fake after all.

-also for those of you who don't like smut at all and prefer smut free books this one is perfect! it's YA and the characters are in highschool <3 i definitely didn't expect a YA hockey romance but here we are and honestly with all the spicy hockey romance i've read it was an incredibly difference experience.

but i had some icks about the book:
-inner monologues dragged too much. i do love a good inner monologue but this book took the cake at times. i feel like with how long it was it took so much time away from actual worth while character interactions becauselike there was wayy less dialogue then your usual romance book.
-too much focus on creating this found family dynamic. its okay of you want to create this awesome found family sorta thing but if that's the case, make the book longer so you can actually write some good scenes between the MCs where they are alone and all the tension and yearning is just brewing scrumdiliumptiously. i just felt like in this book violet and reed didn't get much of that.
-they didn't seem like they were in highschool. they definitely gave college vibes.
-his friends/family were too involved in getting them back together at the end. i feel like there should be boundaries when it comes to this and whilst graysons approach was somewhat reasonable, i feel like it was a bit much when paige came. like respect a girls choice, no?
-the miscommunication. WHY. it was stupid. her trust issues triumphed whatever the hell they had and i feel like the whole thing could have been executed better and not so amateurly.
-the book felt incomplete. not only with their romance and all but with their relationship. like nothing was talked out properly and reed didn't address natalie properly after the game. left me slightly miffed.
-last but certainly not least, the skating performance. i shit u not thats the most embarassing thing ever. and the most unrealistic part of the book isn't the romance but how HE WAS PRAISED FOR IT AFTER!!! like he didn't get bullied??? like bffr. like i know white men have their privileges but it doesn't extend THAT far. it was so embarrassing i wanted to cry. dude was meant to fight jeremy, not skate his own socks off. 😭 idk what the author was thinking.


anyways what i did like was violet and reed, mainly at the start during their meet cute and moments they shared alone after that. they were absolute adorable and had exquisitely cute banter i was smiling so much over. reed was quite a charmer.


however i am still gonna rate this book 2.5 stars.

[saisha⊹{new carrd!} · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25✧!!
╰wait this was actually so cute! mini review down below💐

🎧 ~ sparks fly+so high school
“drop everything now
meet me in the pouring rain
kiss me on the sidewalk, take away the pain
‘cause i see
sparks fly
whenever you
smile”

“you can call me whatever you want, sunshine. as long as you call me yours.”

⊹my thoughts!🩵

this was honestly such a cute book omg?! i haven’t read a hockey romance in the longest time so i was a bit skeptical going into it- but it was so much fun!! watching reed try to win over violet and then fake-dating her was too cute<3 he was so protective of her tehee and reed was genuinely so sweet and adorable- under his tough hockey player act. and there were so many cute moments- like when he taught her how to skate or when he visited her at work🤍 there were a few kinda cringey scenes+the insta love(he fell first and kept falling) that i wasn’t the biggest fan of but otherwise it was good! and hello grayson and paige??👀👀 im so going to read their book next because yes. but overall this was a fun cutie light read!💗 i hope ur crs are amazing and that ur doing well!! mwahh😽💋

love,
saisha
- - - -
⋆·˚ ༘ * ⛸️┆ pre-read!
i haven’t read a hockey romance in so long- and this looks super cute!!🤍

[Shakira&#x1f33a; (semi-hiatus, in-a-slump) · Rating 1 out of 5]

1/5⭐️

I could’ve read this on Wattpad in 2016. The whole bad boy trope but he’s not an actual bad boy just misunderstood is overplayed and annoying atp. The mc claiming to “never date athletes” but jumps into 2 of them that quick… girl😭 What also annoyed me was that third act breakup. Like how is it you’re gonna listen to your ex and not even try to talk to the guy you like and see his side. I also just didn’t like how it was set in high school but that’s my fault bc I didn’t know it was ya😶 AND PLEASEEE HIM JUST BUSTING OUT A WHOLE FIGURE SKATING ROUTINE DURING THE GAME WAS CRAZY. I can’t y’all.

[Keertana Manchikanti · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tik tok reeled me in. Never again. If there’s one book that made me want to jump of a cliff it’s this one.

[Maria&#x1f349;(dead poet) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️was going to give it 4 but bro started figure skating and I just couldn’t see past it

[julia ⊹]

dnf at 51 %
bro wanted to end his NHL career two days after meeting violet since she doesn’t like hockey players..

—— thank you har for reading this with me, i love you bestie !! i hope our next buddy read is better!

[ray ౨ৎ (ia) · Rating 1 out of 5]

⤿ ya contemporary romance┆13+ ┆mild language

⛸️ … mini review ᝰ.ᐟ
this was a fever dream 😙 honestly reed was such a cutie patootie 🎀 the insta-love was crazyyyy tho. he literally considers quitting hockey bc of violet’s stupid rule 2 DAYS AFTER THEY MEET. but hot take (??) is that violet didn’t deserve him. literally wouldn’t date him bc he’s a jock and her ex is, but repeatedly believes her ex (who’s also reed’s rival) over reed 😭🙏 honestly if violet got over herself this could’ve been an email 💀 also, the lack of research on hockey pmo. like i don’t play but i’ve been watching games since i was four and when i tell you it started describing reed’s muscles even tho he was wearing hockey padding…no. go talk ab hockey stretches honestly like 👀🍿 and on top of that the writing was choppy!!

[rhiannon ౨ৎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

౨ৎ5 stars౨ৎ


┆.𖥔“you know, if i was your boyfriend, i’d answer your calls and i’d drive you to parties.”₊⊹



౨ৎ ۫ ׅ⟡i honesty was so exited to read this one. alexndra moody is one of my favorite authors (don't judge me 😑) and i've been DYING to read a hockey romance 🤭🤭🤭 so we bought this one bc it was freeeee!!!!! and yeah i'm gonna stop yapping 🫶🏻



꒰❄️ ׅ⟡ violet (vi)
i felt so bad for her for the whole book first she gets dropped off at her uncles house so her mom can work her dream job half way across the world, then she meets a "nice" boy, then he cheats on her with one of his puck bunnies 🙄. like what the heck man. 😒😒😒 then she meets reed and he's nice and they start fake dating ... you can guess the rest but she was a great fmc. 🥳 (taytay reference ⬇️)



┆.𖥔i’m with reed now, and we are never, ever, getting back together.”₊⊹



꒰⛸️ ׅ⟡reed (reedy)
he was pretty basic buttttttt not in a bad way 🤭 and he's dog being named after a STANLEY®(and the fact i was drinking out of mine when he said that 💀) and being all 'scairwee' made the book even more interesting 🧐 lol AND HE FIGURE SKATED for her 🤭🤭🤭🤭🤭🤭🤭🤭🤭🤭🫨🫨🫨🫨🫨🫨 i died a little



┆.𖥔“you can call me whatever you want, Sunshine. as long as you call me yours.”₊⊹



꒰🏒 ׅ⟡reedy + vi
10/1o so cute


┆.𖥔“well, you don’t scare me, reed darling.” “good,” he said. “you’re the last person i’d ever want to scare.”₊⊹





────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────





📝 ۫ ׅ⟡.i love this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




જ⁀➴ happy reading!
love, rhiannon marie


────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────


꒰⛸️‧₊˚❄️｡⋆pre-read
i'm super excited for this one omg! i've been dying to read a hockey romance that's not full of smut 🤭

[scar! . *. ⋆ (Johnny kavanaghs version) · Rating 5 out of 5]

“𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦?” 𝘐 𝘴𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥. “𝘙𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦.” 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘦𝘥. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘙𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥, 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘦. “𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳.” 𝘏𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘮𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘱, 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦.

: ̗̀➛ 𝟱★ | 𝗥𝗶𝘃𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴.

“𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵, 𝘚𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦. 𝘈𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴.”

SCREAMING.

I needed a fan during this, because reed darling is now the loml.

This was a cute non spicy romance and I adored every piece of it. Reed darling was just everything and more. This man fell for violet STRAIGHT AWAY. I need him.

Fake dating, he fell first, AND a hockey romance?? I ate this up I fear.

The whole storyline was so fricking cute, I loved the scenes with reeds family. It was all just so funny and this was such an easy read.

Violet babe, imma hold your hand when I tell you this. A mom should never abandon her kid to go to her dream job. Run away sis, I love you.

Anyways I loved this. Like so much. Everyone thank Kim for convincing me to read this. LOVE YOU GIRL.



500000★

THIS WAS SO CUTE WHAT. I loved this book. Loved it. Everyone thank my girl Kim for inspiring me to read this, LOVE YOU KIM. I devoured this book. I am in love with Reed leave me alone. My priorities are now higher than ever. I simply do not have the words. Give him to me right now.

[jess.manora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Das Ende, hat mich fertig gemacht. Ich komme nicht darauf klar. 😂

[Judy&#x1f352;&#x1faa9; · Rating 1 out of 5]

The title should’ve stopped me

[jenoodle✮⋆˙ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Girl really wrote a whole book and said "Lets ruin the ending!" **wink wink**

Safe to say i'm done with Alexandra Moody books.

Also every character was so boring. Except Parker. He carried the whole book otherwise this would have gotten one star.

[Hannah Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG OMG OMG this was the first hockey romance I’ve read and OMG it was so good!!! Seriously such a cute book I read it in two days and had to force myself to put it down 😭 I cannot wait for grumpy darling because Grayson and Paige’s friendship thing is just so good!!! Reed being absolutely obsessed with Vi is so adorable in so glad it was a duel pov!!! If you haven’t read this RUN to Amazon and buy it

[thea. [cardan’s version] · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25💫

🏔️🩵🏒
"I barely knew her, but already I wanted to do anything I could to make her smile. And anything to stop her feeling sad."

🏔️ Giggling all the way. And highlighting like mad person . That was me through the whole book. I just couldn’t help myself…
•Storyline? Fun.
•Plot? Fun.
•Story idea? Fun.
I was having a good time ngl, and this book maybe wasn’t a walking masterpiece or having deep and thoughtful plot and heart touching characters, but I enjoyed reading this story and that’s what matters to me.

”What can I say?” I slowly turned and smiled up at Reed. “I guess I’ve finally found the kind of hockey player whose jersey I want to wear.”

🩵Violet? Uhm. Our FMC is a bit naive. On one side i get it why she has that jock rule. But on the other side? She’s breaking it again and again and full book she’s like nah i have this rule and I can’t do this because of this rule but then she broke it and she’s acting like it never happened and it was kind of pissing me off. Plus she was hurting my boy reed and I COULD NOT let that happen (I couldn’t help here much but i was at least mad at her)😁 - just nope, I definitely won’t accept this🫸 And I’m still not getting how could she be so stupid and let a disgusting jerk who cheated on her to talk lies about her amazing "fake" boyfriend like girl how could you be so dumbbb😭😭😭 you’re so aware of jocks but you let the most f*cking one to get into your head and you’re acting so pathetic… Maybe it could look like i hated violet but even though there were moments i wanted to ax murder her (…) she was fine most of the time. But she did a few things that pissed me off…

”You can call me whatever you want, Sunshine. As long as you call me yours.”

🏒 My love Reed is the sweetest boy on this planet.😭🥹❤️ His feelings for Violet?? 🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️

🏒Grayson, you genius grumpy dating guru, I’m so excited for your book you can’t even imagine🤭😏 and thank you for talking some senseee into our confused violet🙏🙏

🏔️If you don’t mind wattpad writing style and you are in a mood for a fun and cute hockey romance without spice , this one is for you. And if you don’t mind short but ugly miscommunication.



———♡———
YA hockey romance? Let’s see….🫣

[shiloh · Rating 3 out of 5]

”He was like a good puzzle, and I didn’t want to put it aside until I’d figured it out.”

3.5 ★ | 15+
rival darling | alexandra moody

↷ 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 ˚❆
so yall. I came into this with LOW expections. like 6 feet in the ground low. so I’m very happy to say this surprised me! I thought it would be all bad, (and there were bad parts) but there were also good parts. I was a little sketchy at first cause the way the minnesota small town was being descibed was NOT it. I’m a native so safe to save it wasn’t accurate lol. but after that things picked up and I got pretty invested!
honestly, if I thought about this more critically, I would probably rate it lower, but honestly I just read it for the vibes and for fun, not to be critical. (this is me trying to not let the peer pressure of my friend’s low ratings affect mine 😭)

↷ 𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐭 ⋆.ೃ࿔
”Never date a jock. It was the one rule I had when it came to boys, but apparently, I was terrible at following it.”
I used to absolutey love the fake dating/contract trope, but I’ve found myself liking it less and less. I guess I get annoyed when the characters both like each other but then all they talk about is how they can’t act on it because of the contract. you definitely get a lot of that in this book, but the rest of the plot was pretty decent. also that ending at the game was so freaking stupid 😭 I’m STILL battling the second hand embarrassment I got reading it

↷ 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 * ❄︎
”There’s only one girl I care about, and she’s standing right in front of me.”
okay. tell me why the romance in this book ATE. like the yearning? reed’s freaking adorable crush from day one? the I need to show her I’m not what she thinks I am? give me 20 more PLEASE. I have to admit I probably would just have called this book mid if it weren’t for reed and his perspective. usually insta-love is so freaking annoying, but somehow alexandra moody wrote it so dang well? idek if it classifies as insta-love, its more reed just had a crush on violet that kept growing. he’s just so adorable I can’t anymore

↷ 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 . ݁˖
”We were supposed to be cruising around in the California sun, not stuck in this freezing hellscape for my senior year.”
sucked. small town minnesota is not hopelessly obsessed with their local hockey team like alexandra moody says they are. and I should know bc my whole mom’s side of family lives in a small town a few hours away from the cities, and my cousins have played hockey for years. do we get passionate and excited about hockey? yes! to the point where the whole entire town is empty during a game? pfff no.
also what the heck kind of a name is ‘sunshine hills’? the neighboring town, ‘ransom’ sounds like a real city, but ‘sunshine hills’ sounds like a place in my little pony. MN small towns have wonky names, trust, not cute hallmark ones.

↷ 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝜗𝜚
”It’s not crazy to look out for someone you love.”
it was good, and kept me hooked!! not really anything memorable or too quotable though

↷ 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄
one thing I was really disappointed by was the crude comments and content. this book is advertised as clean, sweet, wholesome, everywhere! and while it is sweet and wholesome, I would not describe it as clean. there countless instances of unneeded innuendo and jokes, underage drinking, etc. and while I’m okay with these things being mentioned in books (to a degree) I don’t consider these ‘clean’.
here’s an example that was especially unneeded in my opinion:

(TW) “Cammie’s due home from training soon and might actually cut off your balls this time.”
I swallowed. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Our sister was always threatening to permanently dismember one of us.” (TW)

anyways yeah on with the normal review!

↷ 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 ⋆.ೃ࿔
⇢ violet ‘sunshine’ forgot-her-last-name
“I got the feeling that once you were drawn into Reed Darling’s orbit there would be no escaping it.”
she felt realllllly flat to me. and whenever I was reading her POVs I kept wanting it to change back to reed’s. additionally I think it was really stupid how much she listened to jeremy, and honestly the whole ‘never date jocks’ rule in the first place was annoying bc I thought we left toxic stereotyping behind ✋😔 she was kinda stupid overall. like she actually asked ChatGPT what to do when she couldn’t start her car 😭 like HON. your battery is probably too cold, find someone to jump it for you

⇢ reed darling
“Did you know Reed used to bring an apple for our kindergarten teacher every day?”
he carried this book for me! there were definitely some times when his crush on violet felt a little weird (like when he considered quitting his dream of the NHL for a girl he met days ago) but other than that he was such a gentleman, sweet, and kind, ahh I love him!


content considerations:
romance: 2/5 (couple kisses, touching, couple-y stuff)
language: idk like *ss, d*mn, h*ll, sh*t I think that’s all
other: lots of crude comments about sex, getting in people’s pants, alluding to how big a guy’s parts are on multiple occasions, many “balls” jokes/comments, underage drinking, partying, cheating, etc.

[{ ° Olivia ° } · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm gonna need to rant for a sec about the conflict and Violet (if I'm wrong please correct me!) What is the point of Violet's rule to not date hockey players??? like it's not a new year's resolution so why is she making "exceptions" for them?? For the conflict could she not have EASILY started the conversation of "why did you break my ex-boyfriend's nose" and then he would've told her, but when he doesn't start that conversation about being friends with Jeremy she gets pissed? thx for listening to my rant 💗

[Muffinsandbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

C’était un peu longuet parfois, voire répétitif sur certains aspects MAIS, c’est du fake dating avec un joueur de hockey, des protagonistes attachants et très très cuuute, un he fell first de qualitey et beaucoup d’esprit dans les échanges entre les personnages donc JE N’EN DEMANDE PAS PLUS : j’ai beaucoup aimé 🤌