What do you think?
Rate this book
Portsmouth Navigators Hockey #1
The Contract
He's hockey's most notorious enforcer. She's New England's premier image rehabilitation specialist. Their contract? Pretend to be in love.
Sophie Reynolds doesn't work with athletes. After being burned by a high-profile client who used her professionally and personally, she's sworn off bad boys entirely. But when the Portsmouth Navigators offer her an opportunity she can't refuse, Sophie finds herself face-to-face with Jake Mitchell—hockey's most volatile player and New England's most eligible bachelor.
Jake is one suspension away from being traded to Alaska. His only hope? Follow Sophie's meticulous image rehabilitation plan, including a fake relationship that will show the world he's boyfriend material.
As Sophie drags Jake from charity events to media training, their antagonistic chemistry threatens to derail everything. He's chaotic where she's organized. He's impulsive where she's strategic. He's fire to her ice.
But as Jake begins to reveal the man behind the enforcer reputation, Sophie discovers unexpected depths beneath his bad boy facade. When their staged kisses start feeling too real and their contractual arrangement becomes anything but fake, both must decide if they're willing to risk their careers for a chance at something neither expected.
Some penalties are worth taking—especially when your heart is on the line.
Bad Boy Reformed Forced Proximity Fake Relationship Enemies to Lovers Opposites Attract
Sophie Reynolds doesn't work with athletes. After being burned by a high-profile client who used her professionally and personally, she's sworn off bad boys entirely. But when the Portsmouth Navigators offer her an opportunity she can't refuse, Sophie finds herself face-to-face with Jake Mitchell—hockey's most volatile player and New England's most eligible bachelor.
Jake is one suspension away from being traded to Alaska. His only hope? Follow Sophie's meticulous image rehabilitation plan, including a fake relationship that will show the world he's boyfriend material.
As Sophie drags Jake from charity events to media training, their antagonistic chemistry threatens to derail everything. He's chaotic where she's organized. He's impulsive where she's strategic. He's fire to her ice.
But as Jake begins to reveal the man behind the enforcer reputation, Sophie discovers unexpected depths beneath his bad boy facade. When their staged kisses start feeling too real and their contractual arrangement becomes anything but fake, both must decide if they're willing to risk their careers for a chance at something neither expected.
Some penalties are worth taking—especially when your heart is on the line.
Bad Boy Reformed Forced Proximity Fake Relationship Enemies to Lovers Opposites Attract
358 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 23, 2025
102 people are currently reading
146 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 7, 2025
3.5⭐️
Sophie Reynolds è una famosa specialista di riabilitazione dell’immagine e, dopo essere stata usata da un cliente sia professionalmente che personalmente si tiene lontana dai cattivi ragazzi e dagli atleti. Ma quando i Portsmouth Navigators le offrono un’opportunità impossibile da rifiutare e si ritrova al fianco di Jake Mitchell, un giocatore di hockey che sta avendo problemi col mantenere la calma in campo. Per evitare il trasferito in Alaska, Sophie e Jake insceneranno una finta relazione. Tutto sembra semplice fino a quando Sophie non inizia a scoprire cosa si cela sotto la maschera del cattivo ragazzo e a quel punto dovranno scoprire per cosa vale la pena lottare….
Un romance sicuramente carino e adatto per allontanarsi dalla realtà.
La scrittura non l’ho trovata molto scorrevole, forse a causa dei capitoli lunghi e a volte non riuscivo a capire l’ordine degli eventi narrati…
Sophie Reynolds è una famosa specialista di riabilitazione dell’immagine e, dopo essere stata usata da un cliente sia professionalmente che personalmente si tiene lontana dai cattivi ragazzi e dagli atleti. Ma quando i Portsmouth Navigators le offrono un’opportunità impossibile da rifiutare e si ritrova al fianco di Jake Mitchell, un giocatore di hockey che sta avendo problemi col mantenere la calma in campo. Per evitare il trasferito in Alaska, Sophie e Jake insceneranno una finta relazione. Tutto sembra semplice fino a quando Sophie non inizia a scoprire cosa si cela sotto la maschera del cattivo ragazzo e a quel punto dovranno scoprire per cosa vale la pena lottare….
Un romance sicuramente carino e adatto per allontanarsi dalla realtà.
La scrittura non l’ho trovata molto scorrevole, forse a causa dei capitoli lunghi e a volte non riuscivo a capire l’ordine degli eventi narrati…
August 28, 2025
I love the concept of the book however not the execution. For the first 40% (roughly) I loved the book them it was as though the editing was never finished. There were a few chapters that were written as though it was ideas that were never finished or put into full sentences. Then for the last 50% of the book it was the same exact thing being said but in slightly different ways. It seemed as though the book was written in a few different ways and they never finalized which direction to go with it. I wish the details and writing would’ve been done properly as this most likely would’ve been a 4 star read at least.
August 12, 2025
cute story but poor writing
Difficult to follow- jumps around and contradicts itself. Repetitive at times. Transitions written poorly. Basically should have been edited better.
Difficult to follow- jumps around and contradicts itself. Repetitive at times. Transitions written poorly. Basically should have been edited better.
April 18, 2025
Cute couple story
The content of “The Contract” was great. Kennedy Blake did a fantastic job with the character development of Jake and Sophie and I truly enjoyed the plot progression of the story. Structurally, at times the text was hard to read, there didn’t seem to be “breaks” in the pages to indicate time progression or they weren’t drastic enough to be noticeable so it often felt like the story jumped in time, making it hard to follow and resulting in several instances of needing to re-read the paragraphs. Characters’ internal thoughts also tended to be confusing at times as they weren’t clearly distinguished between dialogue. Overall though I did enjoy the story, characters and plot development and likely continue reading the series, though moving forward some slight editing changes could make a big difference in reader experience.
The content of “The Contract” was great. Kennedy Blake did a fantastic job with the character development of Jake and Sophie and I truly enjoyed the plot progression of the story. Structurally, at times the text was hard to read, there didn’t seem to be “breaks” in the pages to indicate time progression or they weren’t drastic enough to be noticeable so it often felt like the story jumped in time, making it hard to follow and resulting in several instances of needing to re-read the paragraphs. Characters’ internal thoughts also tended to be confusing at times as they weren’t clearly distinguished between dialogue. Overall though I did enjoy the story, characters and plot development and likely continue reading the series, though moving forward some slight editing changes could make a big difference in reader experience.
June 30, 2025
DNF at 65% - needs some serious editing
I couldn't finish the book because of the completely wild changes in the story from one scene to the next.
One minute the ex is a former client that cheated on her, the next he's a rival that stole her clients and broke her heart.
One minute the MMC walks the FMC out after their first night together and the next minute she's walked out on him before saying anything.
The straw that broke me was after they seemingly finally decide to move beyond the contracted relationship and make it real all of a sudden there was no contracted relationship and it was a PR advisor/ client relationship all along ???
It could be a good book with at least an attempt at a proofread to get the story straight.
Okay if you can look past all the leaps and jumps in the story, which I wasn't able to.
I couldn't finish the book because of the completely wild changes in the story from one scene to the next.
One minute the ex is a former client that cheated on her, the next he's a rival that stole her clients and broke her heart.
One minute the MMC walks the FMC out after their first night together and the next minute she's walked out on him before saying anything.
The straw that broke me was after they seemingly finally decide to move beyond the contracted relationship and make it real all of a sudden there was no contracted relationship and it was a PR advisor/ client relationship all along ???
It could be a good book with at least an attempt at a proofread to get the story straight.
Okay if you can look past all the leaps and jumps in the story, which I wasn't able to.
August 16, 2025
I liked the book, I liked the cover, the characters aren't that superficial, also the hockey theme, the enemies-to-lovers trope with forced proximity, with him being the ray of sunshine, was something fresh, my problem was with the sequence of situations: repetitive situation, several times I read that she woke up startled at 5 am and had messages from the assistant, telling her about her professional success. It's repetitive, also the baking at 2 am, or when the rookie asked Jake for advice on his girlfriend. There was another scene where he gives her a gift, they were fine, happy, it ended very beautifully, but in the next chapter it seems like that didn't happen. I think it was a revision problem, either there were too many chapters and they had to cut or there were too few and they had to improvise, and it's strange that your ARC team didn't notice.
September 7, 2025
Good Read
The Contract centers around Sophie, a PR specialist, and Jake, a troubled hockey player. They storyline was good and progressed well, but there were times that the story was jumpy and not clearly edited. There were multiple times that the story just jumped from one thing to the next with no transition or page break to indicate that it was a different day or place. In addition, the way Sophie talked at times was very robot like, it made the story seem less real. I understand that some people are analytical, but it was hard to read at times.
The Contract centers around Sophie, a PR specialist, and Jake, a troubled hockey player. They storyline was good and progressed well, but there were times that the story was jumpy and not clearly edited. There were multiple times that the story just jumped from one thing to the next with no transition or page break to indicate that it was a different day or place. In addition, the way Sophie talked at times was very robot like, it made the story seem less real. I understand that some people are analytical, but it was hard to read at times.
August 20, 2025
I could not finish this book. The inconsistencies drove me crazy, the fact there weren’t scene breaks where there needed to be scene breaks made it confusing to read. The face that she like to stress French pastries but she made a pavlova which is a desert invented in New Zealand. The chemistry between the two main characters died when they decided take their fake dating into the real thing… it became platonic and boring. I had such high hopes that it would get better… but yeah not for me
Read
August 14, 2025J’ai DNF le livre à 47% car je n’arrive pas à continuer.
Je trouve que l’histoire d’amour a été trop rapide, les personnages et leur relation pas assez développés. Et franchement je m’ennuie en lisant…
Je trouve que l’histoire d’amour a été trop rapide, les personnages et leur relation pas assez développés. Et franchement je m’ennuie en lisant…
dnf
October 23, 2025dnf.
this needs serious editing. it jumps around and scenes aren't fully flushed out.
this needs serious editing. it jumps around and scenes aren't fully flushed out.
March 31, 2025
Bonne histoire qui se lit assez rapidement.
Le personnage de Sophie est difficile à suivre à cause de son caractère analytique mais au final on s’attache quand même à elle facilement.
J’ai préféré les pov de Jake mais le personnage aurait été mieux si l’autrice l’aurait plus développé.
Il y a quelques incohérences et beaucoup de répétitions de scènes ça m’a donné l’impression que l’autrice écrit pour écrire cela gâche un peu le livre à mon goût.
Il méritait plus de réflexion car l’histoire est pas mal dans le fond.
Le personnage de Sophie est difficile à suivre à cause de son caractère analytique mais au final on s’attache quand même à elle facilement.
J’ai préféré les pov de Jake mais le personnage aurait été mieux si l’autrice l’aurait plus développé.
Il y a quelques incohérences et beaucoup de répétitions de scènes ça m’a donné l’impression que l’autrice écrit pour écrire cela gâche un peu le livre à mon goût.
Il méritait plus de réflexion car l’histoire est pas mal dans le fond.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews