Second Shot with #76

Hockey Hotties, Book 5

By: Piper Rayne

Narrated by: Vanessa Edwin, Chance Smolders

My mom always said you don’t get a second shot at making a first impression. I’ve remembered that my entire career. Especially since I’m one of the few Black men who play professional hockey.

I’m calculated and respectful in the way I speak to my coaches, the owners, and the media. I’ve never taken a risk...until her.

I could blame it on the fact that for once I pushed away the pressure of my career for the ocean waves, the sand, and good times with my new teammates. But those are excuses because the minute I saw her at the airport, something lit up inside me and the best week of my life was spent with her in my bed.

After our week in paradise, we said good-bye, exchanged phone numbers, and both assumed that unless one of us was flying through the other’s city on the opposite side of the country, our vacation fling was over.

Then one night after practice I see her. She’s here. In my city. Telling me she moved here for a job. If that’s not fate, tell me what is.

I’ve never wanted a second shot more than I do this time, but she’s determined to leave what we were on the island we left behind.

©2022 Piper Rayne Inc. (P)2022 Piper Rayne Inc.

Hot Second-Chance Hockey Romance

I love the Hockey Hotties series by Piper Rayne! Second Shot w/ #76 is book 5 in the series with this ragtag group of hockey players. I enjoyed the story, the characters, and the continuation of Warner and Imogen’s lovestory from Sneaking Around with #34. Second Shot is a second-chance romance with a twist. This book is a bit more salacious than previous books in the series. Misunderstandings and miscommunications lead to bumpy times and broken hearts. Second Shot is a fun blend of team shenanigans, reformed playboy drama, sweet romance, and family dysfunction.

“I’m pretty sure once this is over, I might break my heart right along with Cory’s.”

Chance Smolders is a new-to-me narrator and hot damn I’m an insta-fan! His performance of the young, hot rookie is perfect. Chance gives Cory lovely emotional depth as he brings the stud to life.
Vanessa Edwin brings the beautiful, quick-witted, darling Ande to life with a wonderful performance. Chance and Vanessa have wonderful chemistry in the booth. Their narrations are flirty, sweet, sultry, and funny. They give each character distinct personalities and breathe life into the story of Second Chance with #76.

Good!

This is the first book I've read in this series and though it wasn't exactly what I expected, it wasn't badly done. I thought this would be just your normal run of the mill second chance story and it certainly isn't that. I didn't expect the revenge aspect at all, but I appreciated it for giving Ande the push that she needed. Did anyone else want to choke her sister for most of the book or was it just me?!

This one got me curious about all the other characters in this series so I'll be diving into the rest of this series when I get a chance to! I'm excited about the lead up to the next book at the end as well and can't wait to see where that story goes. I expect a loooot of drama!

The listened to the audio book and I have to say that both Chance Smolders and Vanessa Edwin did a phenomenal job. I'm new to the audio book scene and this is the first book I've listened to with multiple narrators. It was well done and their voices work together well, making it easy to immerse yourself in the story. I will also say that Vanessa is astoundingly good at doing male voices. Both narrators were very good about shifting their voices for different characters and making things easy to follow with their clear speech. I will jump on anything either of them narrate in the future!

love the series!

absolutely love the series! each one brings a drama and love story like no other!

Not my favorite in the series

I'll be honest, this storyline wasn't my favorite in the series. Kind of contrived.

I enjoyed Vanessa Edwin as Andi, and Chance Smolders as Cory. However, I didn't care for Chance's overall narration, it was hard to tell different characters apart in his narration.

Overall, what I enjoyed about this book was catching up with earlier couples from the series, but I didn't really enjoy Andi and Cory's story overall.

Second chances can be wonderful

I enjoyed this story, at times tho I hated how Andi let her sister treat her, and how York treated her! But I still love this whole gang they always have each other’s back’s no matter what which I wish there was more of in this world

Weird guy reader

I love her stories, so romantic and easy to hook in to. The female audio reader is premium, but the male is robotic and not very natural.

Corey and Ande

A definite exhilarating ride to go on with Corey and Ande filled with misunderstandings, deception, and feelings neither of them expected. I was on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next. I hate to say it, Corey brought a lot of this on himself but at the same time Ande should have be forthcoming. This playboy met his match when he meets this sweet girl who does not trust easily. I enjoyed this story.

Hockey With a Twist

Piper Rayne has created another hockey story, but really gave this one a twist. I loved the sister angle, even though it was clear that York was the villian in this story. I enjoyed the fact that it wasn't a typical Second Chance romance. This was my first Chance Smolders listen and he did a great job, but I think Vanessa Edwin stole the show.

Just Ok

Alright, I love the author duo of Piper Rayne and I love this series. But this book was somewhat disappointing. These authors took a risk with this plot imo and I’m not sure it was the best idea. I was a bit frustrated with this storyline and don’t know how to fully explain it without giving away spoilers. I think I would have skipped this one in hindsight. The problem with that is having missing pieces when moving forward in a series. Ugh! Narration was very well done, 5 stars!

Preposterous!

I’m a big Piper Rayne fan and I’m sorry to say that this is the first time a storyline didn’t work for me for a bunch of reasons. First of all the sexy chemistry Ande and Cory had in the prequel never materialized and I never connected with either character emotionally so their romance fell flat. I also found it preposterous that a professional hockey league would go to such ridiculous lengths to orchestrate romance for their players. Not only is Ande gullible beyond belief in trusting her vengeful sister, but she has questionable morals in the first place if she feels that hurting and humiliating a former lover can be forgiven. I did like the locker room antics, the representation of black players in hockey as well as the camaraderie between the player’s wives and girlfriends but the far fetched romance didn’t work at all for me. I listened to the audiobook and loved the narration performance of Vanessa Edwin and this was my first experience with Chance Smolders.