Empty Net

Assassins, Book 3

By: Toni Aleo

Narrated by: Lucy Malone

Audrey Parker is up against the boards. She's stuck in a job she hates and pining for a total jerk. Meanwhile, her sister Fallon is moving out and getting married to hockey star Lucas Brooks. Where is Audrey's Prince Charming? Nothing she does has ever seemed to be good enough for any of the men in her life. Audrey's about to hit rock bottom…until she wakes up next to Tate Odder.

"The thrill of moving up from the minors to the Nashville Assassins was a welcome distraction. But not even becoming the first rookie goalie to tally three shutouts in the Stanley Cup finals alleviates the pain. With the loss of his parents and sister weighing as heavily on his soul as ever, Tate Odder can't keep pretending he's okay. That's when he meets smart, sexy Audrey. Her gentle warmth and quirky sense of humor make him feel whole for the first time in too long. But to stay that way forever, Tate must find a way to accept his past and learn to live for love.

©2012 Toni Aleo (P)2014 Tantor

Loved it

I loved the story of Tate and Audrey. For they had a lot to over come but love concerns all.

very good

Loved it !! this story. the narrator is so fantastic it's like your really there!! After listening to this story,. I totally enjoyed reading this book. It’s well written and the characters were uniquely fantastic. I would suggest this book to my friends that like this sort of genera. this was a good book. The narrator was great.

Empty Net

I said it before this is my second time listening to this series and this so far is my favorite of them all.
Audrey in my opinion has low self esteem and fights her way to loving her self its amazing to listen to it happen. The age difference isn't that big at least not to me. Tate had his own demons to fight through to be with Audrey and I loved that he fought to get her. Makes my heart all warm and gooey inside. I did want to know more about that happens to Levi that would be nice. LOVED that we got to see Ellie and Shea and Fallon and Lucas in this book as well I just <3 them! On to the next book!

Pretty good addition to the series :)

3.5-4 stars

This was a pretty good story. TBH, I wasn't sure if I'd like this one as I'd heard iffy things about the story but I actually liked it more than I expected. Fair warning...there is a couple off things that could cause people issues... 1. Audrey has a hard time letting her Ex, Levi, go and after Audrey and Tate sleep together the first time, she ends up sleeping with Levi again. Now she was thinking of the night with Tate as a one night stand so I wouldn't call it cheating at all but there was a "ick" factor to it. While Audrey was a bit wishy washy about Levi at first, I wouldn't say this would be considered a true love-triangle situation. 2. Audrey does get attacked (but not raped) at one point in the story and is badly hurt.

Audrey is the sister of Fallon (the heroine from book #2). Audrey works as a customer service manager for her family's winery. Unfortunately, Audrey doesn't really like the winery or working customer service so she kind of hates her job. Her pleasure in life comes from her friends and family and she cherishes them.

Tate is a Goaly for a professional hockey team. Tate grew up in Sweden and he's been playing hockey since he was 4 years old. Tate's parents and sister were killed in a car accident and he's never truly recovered from that, feeling very alone now because they were the only family he had. Thankfully, Tate has gotten close to Lucas and the rest of the team and they've become like family to him.

Most of the past year, Audrey has been dating Levi (who used to be Lucas' BFF). Levi treats Audrey like crap but keeps her hanging on with just enough kindness to make her think their relationship could turn good. I couldn't see what she saw in him but Audrey seems to have some major image issues (most likely brought on by Levi's emotional and verbal abuse) at first. It seems like Audrey is so lonely that she's convinced herself that getting some good times out of Levi makes all the horrible crap he does to her worth it. When the story begins, Levi has just called Audrey and broke up with her after admitting to cheating on her and calling her horrible names. And Audrey is hoping that maybe he'll still come back to her... *shakes head* So, Audrey is at a bar that night for Fallon's bachelorette party and meets Tate. She has no idea who he is but he treats her very well and their instant attraction makes her throw caution to the wind and take him to her hotel room. Of course, the next morning, Audrey is embarrassed by the fact that she slept with a guy she barely knows so she takes off without the exchange of names or numbers.

Tate is sad that Audrey left so quickly after their night together and he doesn't understand why she freaked out. It isn't until the wedding that he finds out who she is and vice versa. Unfortunately, when they do meet again, Audrey is freaked out by the fact that she slept with Lucas' newest BFF and he's also her new next door neighbor that she hadn't had a chance to meet yet. She's also tweaked by his age...Tate is only 21 and Audrey is 28 so she also has thoughts that she's robbing the cradle and should be ashamed of herself for that. Tate hasn't been able to forget about Audrey in the week between their night and the wedding so he desperately wants to make things work. Her resistance is confusing for him at first but he wants to be around her so he manages to get her to agree to them becoming friends. Tate then uses their friendship to be near her but also to give him time to work on her defenses. This strategy does take some time but it works and by the end, Audrey and Tate are together and heading towards their HEA.

This was a pretty enjoyable story. Audrey was a surprisingly good heroine. I have to admit that annoying heroines are my pet peeve and with the whole "I love Levi" thing that she was doing at first, I expected to be majorly annoyed. I was a bit annoyed but it was a much smaller amount than I expected and mostly, I was ok with Audrey...I guess the author did a really good job with writing her angst in a way that I could accept it. Tate was a sweetheart and I can't think of any complaints, he was a really good hero. Overall, this was a pretty good story and I'd recommend it. :)

* note - The narration was good but it did seem a bit slow. I set the speed on my Audible app to 1.15 and it to work pretty well for me.

Great book

Really enjoyed Tate and Audrey’s story. I liked the way they came together and found each other. I also enjoyed the angst of there relationship but the other things happening around them.

The characters are really fleshed out

The story is drawn out and gives interesting plot twists and turns. The narrator is excellent, I know what character is speaking immediately.

Audrey finally finds her prince charming.

I really enjoyed the story line for this book. After all of the trouble Audrey went through with Levi in Trying to Score, I was happy to see her get her HEA. Over the course of this book we get to see how bad things between Audrey and Levi actually got/get (and trust me, it's bad). It was great to see Levi finally get punished. Audrey and Tate's romance starts with what was supposed to be a one night stand. As it turns out, they are actually neighbors. That and Tate is younger than Audrey, which really bothers her. She is convinced that a guy so young couldn't possibly be ready to settle down and that he wouldn't want to do so with her especially if she told him her secret. Despite trying so hard to fight the attraction Audrey feels toward Tate, she does eventually give in and fall for him completely. Thankfully she does so before the impossible happens. The two do find their HEA and the book ends without a cliffhanger.

Awsome Series!!

Would you listen to another book narrated by Lucy Malone?

I would listen to a book narrated by this narrator again, as long as there are no accents. There was a Russian and Swedish accent in this book and they both sounded Russian.It would be great if the narrators would use contractions. I am may be written but to make it more personable, I'm should be read. It sounds very much like a robot is reading.

So good

This series is amazing. The best so far, I wish I didn't need sleep so I could listen to them all without stopping.

It was over too soon

I laughed and I cried. I didn't want it to end. The best in the Assassins series so far. You can't go wrong if you want a good book to listen to.