Roman by Sawyer Bennett 
Series: Cold Fury Hockey #7
Genres: Sports Romance
Source: ARC, NetGalley
Also in this series: Hawke, Max
Also by this author: Ryker, Hawke, Sugar Daddy, Sexy Lies and Rock & Roll, Max, Sex in the Sticks, Code Name: Sentinel
Goodreads
New York Times bestselling author Sawyer Bennett steams up the ice all over again as the Carolina Cold Fury hockey team’s hottest bad boy gets his first taste of something good.
In a league full of troublemakers, Cold Fury defenseman Roman Sýkora stands out—at least when it comes to negative publicity. When he’s not chilling in the penalty box, the sizzling Czech skate demon is racking up tabloid headlines for his scandalous behavior with the ladies. But now Roman’s feeling the burn from management to clean up his act, or else. Luckily he’s got an enticing distraction: a fun-loving barista who plays the ukulele and brings out a side of Roman he didn’t know he had.
Lexi Robertson came to Raleigh, North Carolina, to finally meet her father, Brian Brannon, and her half sister, Gray, both of whom work in the Cold Fury’s front office. That’s where she first meets sexy, intimidating Roman—who’s really a big softie at heart. As one relationship takes off, another begins: Brian seems to be clicking with Lexi’s boss at the coffee shop. But when the friction between Roman and her new family heats up, Lexi wonders whether she’s a pawn in their game. Feeling hurt and foolish, Lexi’s ready to quit while she’s ahead. Trouble is, Roman’s not ready to quit on her.
Don’t miss any of Sawyer Bennett’s electrifying Cold Fury novels:ALEX | GARRETT | ZACK | RYKER | HAWKE | MAX | ROMAN
“Sawyer Bennett never fails to deliver heroes I fall hard for and heroines I adore.”—New York Times bestselling author Violet Duke
“Wow. Just wow. Sawyer Bennett is my new favorite author.”—USA Today bestselling author Jami Davenport
“Sawyer Bennett had me at hello.”—New York Times bestselling author Lexi Ryan
Includes an excerpt from another Loveswept title.
Roman is the bad boy of the Carolina Cold Fury team. Sex scandals, game ejections, and tardiness to practice are his life. Gray, the GM of the team, however, demands a change in his behavior or the team will have to let him go. On the same day as his meeting with Gray, he meets a very quirky girl waiting to speak to Brian, Gray’s father. He finds her intriguing immediately and is thrilled to run into her again a day later.
Lexi, the quirky girl, was there to meet and introduce herself to her father, Brian, and sister, Gray. She only learned of them 10 months ago. Brian and Gray had no idea she existed. Brian is welcoming but Gray is skeptical and not very kind. She feels that Lexi might have ulterior motives for seeking out the wealthy and connected Brannon family. Lexi however is very kind and gracious even in the face of this treatment from Gray. Lexi was an odd character for me. I couldn’t quite connect to her. She is described as having this weird sense of style, but I never felt like I could picture it. I wasn’t sure what to make of her. But then Roman said something profound about her and she totally made sense to me. I think because she was so very different from me, I couldn’t figure her out. Roman figured her out though, and it was beautiful.
Roman is the type of character I am kind of getting tired of seeing. Bad boy athletes are just getting to be very cliche. But, here is the thing, Roman wasn’t a bad boy in the book at all. Gray treats him like dirt because of his past so I think that affected my perception of him early on; I loved Gray in the previous books, so as a reader, she was more trustworthy to me at the beginning of the book. However, it didn’t take long for me to see she was being unfairly prejudicial.
Roman and Lexi’s story is something I didn’t realize I would love. I couldn’t connect with Lexi and I was so over the bad boy athlete. But, those are stereotypes that were pushed on these characters and their story was nothing like I expected. Roman doesn’t have any ‘other woman’ drama, Lexi isn’t soul searching to find her life’s purpose, and once I got over my preconceived notions about what I thought this book would be, I stayed up way past my bedtime to finish. Worth every lost hour of sleep, in my opinion!
Some chapters are from Brian’s POV and you get a cute, odd love story for him as well.
- POV: dual 1st
- Tears: no
- Trope: bad boy
- Triggers: none
- Series/Standalone: stand alone within an interconnected series
- Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »
- HEA: View Spoiler »
The Hook Up by Kristen Callihan, Face Off at the Alter by Toni Aleo, Home Run by Heidi McLaughlin…then you will probably like Roman!
Roman
In’t it great when o book surprises you like this? I love it when writers find a way to make an “old thing” feel fresh. It seems this “bad boy” got a fresh layer of paint 🙂 Gad you enjoyed it Sam