Date with a Devil

A Hockey Romance (Dallas Devils)

By: June Winters

Narrated by: Devon Grace, Troy Duran

Austen Marlowe learned all she needed to know about jocks back in high school: They might be tall, muscular, and hot as hell...but you can never trust 'em. Valuable experience for someone who dates hockey players for a living.

As the host of Date with a Devil, the young journalist is called into action when the captain of the Dallas Devils insults the team's few remaining fans. Austen's mission: save the athlete's beleaguered reputation.

But Dane DeHardt doesn't give a damn about his reputation - and his one-man war against the media threatens both their careers. Worse, "The Big D" can't keep his eyes off of her. Doesn't he know these dates aren't real?

But DeHardt isn't the dimwit she's been led to believe - and when the sinfully sexy hockey star isn't trying to talk the rookie reporter out of her clothes, he's pushing her to get to the bottom of a story she was ordered not to cover.

Can Dane make Austen forget why she swore off jocks in the first place? Is she willing to risk her job because it's the right thing to do? Or is she being played by The Big D?

©2019 June Winters (P)2021 June Winters

Really enjoyed this one!

Dane and his Dallas Devils teammates are great characters. I love the banter and camaraderie between them and Troy Duran brings every bit of it across; he's amazing! I've loved his work for a long time and that's what drew me to this series.

It took me a bit to warm up to Devon Grace, but she's excellent as well and I'm looking forward to hearing her and Troy in the rest of the series.

Overall all I loved the story and give it four and a half stars. I thought the conflict was interesting and realistic. There's certainly plenty of steaminess and sex, although it didn't always sit right with me. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I'll try to explain it the best I can. I was already invested in them before Austen and Dane began messing around, and once they did, I felt like they spoke to each other rather immaturely about it when they were intimate, meaning the talk, the terms they used and sometimes the location.

I know not every relationship is based on love right away, if at all and it's not all neat and pretty and sanitized; trust me, I've listened to plenty of steamy books with lots of details, but for some reason, I just didn't care about that in this book at all and wished there was less of it. I wish more time could have been devoted to them getting to know each other in other ways. They had more going for them than just sex for sure, but it overshadowed the story too often for me.

Still, this is a great listen and I know plenty of people will enjoy the "smexiness". I'm ready for book 2 and looking forward to delving into what happened to teammate Hathaway!

Light

I listened to this fun light story on audio. It was in third person, which would be ok, but phrases such as “the athlete [did this]” were jarring as were some of the word choices throughout the book. The writing and characters lacked maturity. Still, it was fun to listen to and the narration was great.

A compelling book

When I started this book, I wasn’t sure what to think of it. The first chapter was cute, but it didn’t grip me. And then, Dane arrived.

Cynical, grumpy, asshole-ish, Dane is leading the Devils with a lot of love for his team, and a lot of hate for the rest of the world. And the world hates him back. Including Austen, who’s forced to have a fake date with him in a PR move to make him more palatable. After some team drama and various attacks against him, he’s jagged, but you can see his beating heart behind the thorns. I found him endearing–even when he was being rude.

Austen is his complete opposite. She’s an idealist, believing in the truth and the good in people. Except Dane. But she can’t deny her attraction for the sexy captain. Together? They’re explosive, both when they fight and when they flirt. Or more. Damn that was a sexy book.

The writing wasn’t always great, but with such characters, the story basically wrote itself. Add in some hot encounters, a few emotional moments, and an amazing chemistry, and you get a compelling book, no matter the words used.

And as an audiobook, it was a good listen. I wasn’t sold on the female narrator, but the male narrator captured Dane’s essence, with a rough edge to his voice. Worth it just for his performance.

Ahhh love

I was skeptical with some of the bad reviews but I actually really enjoyed this book. I have been listening to every book narrated by Troy Duran for several months now so had to listen to this one too.. but this was a good one. The female narrator isn’t my favorite but Troy makes up for it