A party girl and a clean-cut college hockey player discover that they’re not so different in this sexy, soulful Bayard Hockey novel from the bestselling author of Shut Out and the Heller Brothers series.

Ella Verran has three goals this semester: get off academic probation, repair her relationship with her friend Skylar, and take some responsibility for her life. All of which are hard enough without hot, snobby hockey player Ben Buckingham around to distract her. Ella can’t stand Ben, and she knows the feeling is mutual. But he’s best friends with Skylar’s boyfriend, so he’s always around—taunting and tempting Ella in ways she never thought possible.

As the star forward of the Bayard College hockey team, Ben has goals too, like playing well enough to land a spot on an NHL roster. Ben is perfectly poised on the ice, so why can’t he keep his cool around Ella? Her wild behavior rubs him in all the wrong ways—and a few of the right ones. But as they skate around each other, Ben learns that there’s more to Ella than her bad reputation. And when the line between love and hate starts to blur, he can’t resist crossing over and sweeping her off her feet.

Review:

Entertaining, sexy, and sincere!

Cross Check, the latest novel in the Bayard Hockey series, is a slightly more emotional tale about the heartbroken, grief-stricken Ella who has been neglecting her studies and masking her sorrow after the loss of one of her friends, and Ben the gorgeous, up-and-coming hockey star who seems positively perfect but has a few dark secrets of his own.

The writing is fluid. The plot is a heartfelt mix that tackles important contemporary issues faced by young people today including friendship, family, campus life, suicide, rape, mental illness, sex, relationships, love, and hockey. And the characters, including all the supporting characters, are kind, engaging, and supportive.

Overall, Cross Check is a romantic, sweet, moving read that has a nice amount of drama, angst, tension, humour, banter, attraction, dirty talk and chemistry and even though it’s not my favourite Jamieson novel I think lovers of the new-age-college-romance genre will certainly enjoy it.

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.