Pucked by Helena Hunting

 With a famous NHL player for a step-brother, Violet Hall is well acquainted with the playboy reputation many hockey stars come with. She’s smart enough to steer clear of those hot, well-built boys with unparalleled stamina. That is until she meets the legendary team captain—Alex Waters.

Violet isn’t interested in his pretty, beat-up face, or his rock-hard six-pack abs. But when Alex inadvertently obliterates Violet’s previous misapprehension regarding the inferior intellect of hockey players, he becomes more than just a hot body with a face to match.

In what can only be considered a complete lapse in judgment, Violet finds out just how good Alex is with the hockey stick in his pants. But what starts out as a one-night stand, quickly turns into something more. Post-night of orgasmic magic, Alex starts to call, and text, and e-mail and send extravagant—and quirky—gifts, making him difficult to ignore, and even more difficult not to like.

The problem is, the media portrays Alex as a total player, and Violet doesn’t want to be part of the game.

OH! MY!! GOD!!! Pucked was freaking hilarious. The romance is heartbreaking and heartwarming. The sex is unbelievably hot. But it is the massive amounts of humor that Ms. Hunting infused throughout the book that completely made it for me. I chuckled. I giggled (I know!). I snickered. I snorted. I guffawed. I was even ROTBLMAO (B = bed) at this book. You give me a synonym for laugh and I probably did it at least once while reading Pucked.

Violet is a hoot. She is one of those unfortunate souls who is a tad bit nerdy (her opinion), socially awkward, and whose brain-to-mouth (B2M) filter malfunctions regularly. The problem with this is that her stepbrother Buck is a professional hockey player and her stepfather Sidney is a hockey scout, so she often finds herself thrust into social situations that just seem to highlight her B2M filter problems. Well, it’s a problem for Violet, not the reader because we are treated to so much intentional and unintentional humor with Violet’s propensity for mouthing off at Buck and her overall nervousness in social situations. And it seems as though her sense of humor catches the attention of Alex, one of her brother’s new teammates. A teammate whose manwhore reputation rivals that of her brother’s. A teammate who Violet finds herself immensely attracted to yet repelled by because he is a hockey player. But when Alex reveals himself to be more than just a pretty face, all bets are off and Violet gives him a chance to prove that he really does want to be more than his reputation.

Violet and Alex are a great couple. I loved their banter and that they were able to just have fun with each other. That they had chemistry that was only outdone by their sexual appetites for one another was one heck of a bonus because Ms. Hunting can write some REALLY great sex scenes. Their relationship develops gradually and proves to be very entertaining … until the shot heard ‘round the (sports) world. Just friends. I actually groaned in pity for Alex when Violet heard him utter those two words…to a reporter…during a national interview. At least when Alex does it, he does it big (pun intended and an inside joke you’ll get when you read the book). And after such a spectacular failure, Alex had to make an equally spectacular attempt to fix his mistake. I loved that Violet didn’t cave immediately when Alex attempted to apologize. I also loved that her friends and family were there to support her and run interference for her when Alex would try to see her. Thankfully she didn’t have that gaggle of girlfriends who thought that he deserved to be forgiven just because he was a hot hockey player (yep, those characters do exist in books). I absolutely loved the ending, especially the cape – yet another hilarious Violet incident. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I LOVED Pucked. I cannot wait to reread it and I will be purchasing a copy of it for my Kindle library (THAT’S how much I enjoyed reading it).

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