The Penalty Box (Vancouver Wolves Hockey #3)
Published July 21st 2019 by Odette Stone Publishing Inc., Kindle Edition 369 pages
He's a professional hockey player that lives on the edge. I prefer to play life by the rules.
I’m the personal assistant at a sports agency that no one notices.
Unless they need coffee.
I don’t like sports and I like professional athletes even less.
I’m indifferent to the mostly male clientele, except for one.
Mica “the savage” Petrov.
When it comes to wild antics, Mica is the biggest offender of them all.
He’s reckless, wild and carelessly charming.
I’m mortified that I find him attractive.
But it doesn’t matter because the guy hasn’t taken a second look at me.
Not once. In two years.
Mica's career jeopardizing situation requires drastic measures to be taken to keep him in the game.
He’s got money, I’ve got debt and my boss has a crazy idea.
Which is how I found myself stepping up to save him from himself.
But at what cost?
How long can I keep fighting my attraction?
What ghosts from his past is he brawling with?
All I know is that I need to defend my heart before this big defenseman steals it away.
Can we win this game? Or is it too late for either of us?
The Penalty Box: Fighting Love Has Consequences.
User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
When Penalty Box was published,i can not wait to get my hand on this book. I remember i had such good memory of tje first book in the series.
Now i am left disappointed. Dont get me wrong, Penalty Box has many potential to be a good book. What does not click with me is how the plot executed. The first half of the book was great. Then somehow it goes downhill from there. The plot becomes so weak and meak. Unnecessary plot being added and secondary characters make everything confusing.
The romance is slow burn. Its just not burning hot for me though. There are moments i can not feel the connection between the hero and the heroine.
I still do admire the author talent in writting. She really can write. And because of that i settle with 3 stars.
3 stars
Rating: really liked it
4.5
No one told me this was a hockey romance with a marriage of convenience! From the moment we met Mica and Charlie, I loved how Charlie just could not stand Mica. Mica is a Russian hockey player who has ties to some dangerous people, so he's arrested to get information on them. Because fo this, his reputation is in jeopardy, so he has to get married. Charlie is involved with some not so great people because of her brother, so marrying Mica could help solve her money problems. When they move in together, though, they find it harder to keep their hands off each other. I just loved their banter and how they had an undeniable chemistry with one another. Since this is a hockey romance, I loved when Charlie went to see Mica play and was there for him. This also had some moments of suspense with the dangerous people that Charlie was involved with and I loved how protective Mica became when it came to Charlie. I highly recommend this if you love sports romances and contemporary marriage of conveniences!
Rating: really liked it
damn, at the rate I'm blazing through this series, I'm never going to catch up on my reviews 😭
frtc.
Rating: really liked it
[ with Andrew, seemed a little cra
Rating: really liked it
It felt too real, too intense, to be anything but.The Penalty Box is a slow burn marriage of inconvenience (lol) read. Mica and Charlie are reluctant to get fake married to save Mica’s career on the ice, but once they come together they can’t resist the natural attraction they have toward each other. It’s a slow burn, but once they start burning it is HOTTT. I enjoyed this story, because they truly do fall in love during the story. The attraction is quick, but the feelings take some time. There is a bit of a suspenseful side plot. There’s some angst, but honestly the couple navigates it all well. Such a good read and I can’t wait to see what’s next from this author!!
AVAILABLE NOW on Amazon & Kindle Unlimited!
*ARC provided by BookSprout
Rating: really liked it
Puck Me Secretly - 3.75 stars
Home Game - 3.75 stars
The Penalty Box - 2.75 stars(bumping up .25 for the last chapter & epilogue)
To put it simply, this just wasn’t my cuppa. Which is surprising as it has not one, but two of my handful of favorite tropes/sub-genres(fake marriage & sports). Although I did give dnfing some thought a couple of times(tbh I stuck with it because I wanted know if I was right about a side character), I wouldn’t say I’m incensed by anything as much as I just feel very meh as a whole about it. I found it to be riddled with varying levels of problematic issues.
Such as...
(view spoiler)
[- heroine is a bit of a doormat
- hero’s connection to a Russian kingpin felt a little culturally stereotypical
- flat writing/minimally developed characters
- no chemistry/connection til the end(& that was barely), resulting in a few uncomfortable love scenes
- too little too late attempt at adding character depth
- heroine frequently felt a bit like hero’s possession vs equal
- heroine’s connection to loan shark was shaky at best (hide spoiler)]Hopefully the next is better.
Rating: really liked it
4.5⭐️ My word I didn’t expect to like this book as much as I did, IT WAS SO GOOD 😭. I thought it was just a little sports romance but it was SOO MUCH MORE 😩
Rating: really liked it
3.5 stars. Tough book to rate because I liked the story overall but there were some problematic portions that really irritated me.
Let me first say that this story was entertaining and kept my attention. I really was invested in the story and wanted to see where it was going. There are a few twists and turns and it really does stay interesting throughout (even if some of the twists are fairly predictable).
The issues that I had with this story mainly revolved around the hero and how he treated the heroine. He has been around her for several years and never once felt any attraction towards her. They are forced together and he still sees nothing in her to attract him. Until he sees her half naked, then he looks at her and realizes that she’s very attractive. 🤨🧐 I guess I just felt sad knowing that the hero would NEVER have been even tempted by the heroine if not for the situation they found themselves in. Also, the way he treated her for the majority of the story - by keeping her at arm’s length - was majorly off putting to me. I felt like the heroine was always all in with him, and he always had one foot out the door. The hard part to wrap my mind around, is that his past trauma definitely explained his weariness of relationships. BUT I still couldn’t quite forgive him for his behavior and actions towards the heroine. Maybe if she had had more of a backbone with him… but I felt like she let him get away with too much bad behavior.
Safety info: I’d call this one SWE because of all the OM/OW drama and the mentions of the hero’s past. Hero was a major manwhore, heroine not a virgin, OW drama caused by a jealous woman who the hero had been intimate with once many months earlier but was no longer interested in (she tries really hard to break the couple up), OM drama caused by a friend the heroine makes who wants to be with her. No scenes with OM/OW, the hero’s past is mentioned A LOT, no partners during separation, no cheating.
Rating: really liked it
So far this one has been my favorite of the Vancouver Wolves Hockey series.
I mean... We already established that it is a Hockey romance series with plenty of drama all around and this book is no different, but if you like drama prone hockey stories, you'll like this one as well.
I think I liked this one because, my oh my, it has my favorite subject ever, a forced marriage! So yes, I was going to like it! Charlie and Mica were so cute together, they communicated well enough throughout the story, (I hate all the drama the lack of communication creates... Just sit down and talk people!) and had their goals very clear from the beginning.
BUUTT... The drama! OMG! This writer likes the tension... it started with the SWAT scene in the first book and she kept on bringing it with the rest of the books! I won't tell, but you will see it coming if you read this book... And despite all, you will enjoy it (Hopefully?)
So yes, overall a good entertaining story, with steam and dirty talk, laughable scenes and cute characters.
Rating: really liked it
"Snark seemed to be her middle name, and whenever she bothered to look my way, her glances were often filled with disdain."This is a marriage of convenience romance which is meant to solve both Mica & Charlie's problems but lines start to blur and now they're left questioning their own decisions. Deep down they both know that the marriage feels a whole lot real than it is meant to be but problem is- Mica doesn't believe in marriage and Charlie isn't ready to get her feelings hurt. What will they do? Charlie was pretty cute! I loved her ability to handle Mica and his hot and cold behaviour. She wasn't irrational instead she was mature, patient and understanding. More than that, I loved how Mica was so protective when it came to her!
“If you’re wearing my ring, you’re mine. Not to be touched by anyone.”Mica & Charlie were amazing together and gosh the steam was on a whole another level especially when Mica started his dirty talk! 🤣🤣 🔥🔥🔥 I enjoyed reading Mica's character development and the progress of his relationship with Charlie was so smooth and natural, despite them being basically strangers in the beginning. My only complaint was the amount of drama that took place in the last few chapters, because of that the story felt long and it was too much to process when the book was coming to it's end. Regardless, I adored Charlie & Mica's chemistry and the side characters were amazing too especially Sniper and Sasha. I couldn't resist all the cuteness! If you haven't read this series.... go read it now because you don't want to miss on this marriage of convenience romance with a dirty talker Russian hockey player and the snarky assistant of his PR manager who hates his guts!
Rating: really liked it
I loved it (loved Mica and Charlie!) except for a few tiny things in logic that took me out of the story...
(When you have a stalker after you, roaming your property, and you’re a millionaire athlete living in an upscale community, wouldn’t you have security cameras all around your property? Even a Ring doorbell camera would do the trick!) But...ok, that would take care of the suspense angle of this story so you’d just be left with the fake marriage that turns into a love story which I thought was pretty hot...
Each story in this series gets a little bit better...although there are still a few little mistakes regarding hockey that a lot of authors seem to make that irk me (if you’re losing 4-2 you’re down by two GOALS, not POINTS. And you’re not jumping over the FENCE, you jump over the BOARDS). But that’s just me. Maybe it would help to have a hockey fan doing the proofreading? Maybe I’m just a nit picker...
Still a nice little story with a couple of likable characters, and yeah, it was plenty hot (gotta love a dirty talker) and there was this crazy suspense angle thrown in and it kept me turning the pages. So, a solid 4 1/2 stars.
Rating: really liked it
I really loved this story!! It's not so original or unique but just done so well.
I loved the characters...you got some real depth and development. It seemed realistic.
Charlie crushed on him and he didn't take any (sexual) interest in her for two years when she was assistant to his sports agent. Mica was a NHL player who had plenty of easy conquests.
The need to marry was a bit contrived but we went along with it. Charlie needed a bit of help and Mica could help.
I think the hockey parts were brief but set a realistic tone on those long road trips.
I loved the secondary characters so much.
The twists in the story were many. Hang on.
I had to review some just to keep it all straight.
So well done, Odette. A nice Canadian story!
Rating: really liked it
This book was an absolute train wreck!
Bad writing, lots of telling instead of showing and an incomprehensible amount of subplots.
The love scenes also made me cringe so badly that I knocked an entire star off the rating.
Rating: really liked it
So Mica was all that I had hoped. But OMG did he make me cry. That poor guy had been through so much I just wanted to wrap him up and keep him safe. But he spent all of his time trying to protect and help everyone around him.
And although it was all about Mica for me when I first picked this up I fell in love with Charlie pretty quickly. She was so sweet and even though she was trying to protect herself from being hurt she didn't hide it or play games. She admitted to her feelings and didn't expect anything from Mica he wasn't prepared or able to give her.
I really loved the series and I read the little teaser for the next book before racing to Amazon and discovering it's not out yet and I can't find it anywhere so now I am having a tantrum because I was super excited to dive into Krista's book.
I hate waiting !!!!!
Rating: really liked it
4 Stars
I loved that this was a hockey romance with a little bit of mafia aspects. Our main characters agreed to a marriage of connivence but slowly start to fall for each other. The only thing about this book is that it’s surprise baby and I hateddd it!!!
