A jilted book nerd, a plan for sweet revenge, and the two hockey stars who volunteer as her tributes...
When I discover my boyfriend is cheating on me, I move out right away taking what I love most – my dog. As I fly out the door, I make sure to swipe the thing my ex loves best. The VIP tickets he won to a hockey game, complete with the chance to spend an evening with the city’s two biggest NHL stars. I can’t wait to snap selfies with my ex’s idols and rub it in his face. Except, when I head out with the two hockey studs, they have something else in mind besides sweet revenge. Would I like to spend the night…with both of them? Talk about the VIP experience. That’s what I get for one knee-weakening, sheet-grabbing night. In the morning, I plan to return to my bestie’s house to crash on her couch with my dog. But when they learn what happened with my awful ex, they ask me to be their temporary roomie for the week. Oh, and one of them needs my help with his grumpy reputation. The other? Well, he wants me to be his fake date at an upcoming wedding. Looks like I’m about to get double pucked. Again. Double Pucked is a roomies to lovers, fake dating, image makeover, super spicy hockey rom com with a guaranteed why-choose style HEA! No swords cross. This story is perfect for fans of Lily Gold and Emily Rath!
You can find Lauren on TikTok at @laurenblakelybooks! A #1 New York Times Bestselling, #1 Wall Street Journal Bestselling, and #1 Audible Bestselling author, Lauren Blakely is known for her contemporary romance style that’s sexy, feel-good and witty. Lauren likes dogs, cake and show tunes and she is the vegetarian at your dinner party.
This was painful. An author I like recommended it in an email and I definitely feel like I was lied to. The premise is ridiculous and normally, I can let that go if it’s balanced out with other things, like interesting characters or witty dialogue. But it wasn’t. The dialogue had me cringing and skimming to get past. The characters were all so one dimensional and I didn’t find myself caring about them at all. Even the spice was not interesting and awkwardly done.
I’m at 44%. It’s not going well. The book is trying too hard to hit booktok. The dialogue is weird and cringey. I’m convinced the dialogue was written by a booktok bot.
One MMC keeps calling the other MMC a golden retriever. The comedy bits are just weird. The spice is meh and the dirty talk is almost silly.
The FMC is literally just a vanilla cardboard cutout of an average booktok subscriber. The personalities of the three main characters are literal tropes with no depth. A golden retriever! A grumpy bearded guy! A nerdy book lover! Hockey! *yawn*
They use the phrase repeatedly in one chapter “blow her brains out”, to mean “give an orgasm”. Ummm. What??
Oh. And it’s HONE IN ON. not HOME in on. For a phrase used so many times in this book, you’d think the author would write it correctly.
Here’s an excerpt of the guys explaining hockey. This dialogue is just.. 🙄
“Sure, but I’m a total newbie.” My two guys give me a lesson, showing me videos on their phones, explaining the basics from face-off to goal, blue lines to red lines, and penalties to power plays. Ryker finishes with, “So that’s hockey.” “Basically, it’s exhilarating,” I say, summing it up. “You got it,” Ryker says. “And you have to be fearless.” “Exactly,” Chase adds. I let out a contemplative sigh, connecting all the dots of what they just told me. “You play on ice, but you need to be fueled by fire. That’s the hockey vibe.” Chase laughs, then it turns into a yawn. “That’s all you need to know, Trina. Hockey is a vibe.” “Hockey is life,” Ryker adds. Wait. Wait. I think I understand hockey now. I park my hands behind my head, letting a smile take over. “I’m pretty sure I had a hat trick tonight,” I say, pausing as they both lock eyes, waiting for me. “Of Os.” They both look stupidly happy as they say yes, yes you did. _______________________________________________
I’m going to finish it, but I’m gonna be mad about it. Why have so many of the books I’ve read been duds this year??
Double Pucked is book one in the My Hockey Romance series by Lauren Blakely. What did I love about this book? Everything! This is a MFM sports romance that is sweet, fun, so steamy, and just wonderful.
Trina is twenty five years old and manages a book store in San Francisco. Books and her little dog, Nacho, are her favorite things in life. She lives with her boyfriend but when she figures out that he has cheated on her, she packs up her belongings and her dog to move out. And oh yeah, those VIP tickets to a local hockey game as well because it’s the perfect way to get revenge on her now EX hockey loving boyfriend. It doesn’t matter that she has no interest in sports whatsoever.
Ryker Samuels and Chase Weston are both pro hockey players, each playing for a cross town rivals team. Both are twenty seven years old. Their team’s rivalry doesn’t bother them off the ice. They’ve been best friends since they were six years old. Chase is the forever cheerful one, always trying to please, to cheer you up, the fixer. Ryker is the grump. He loves to play hockey but wants no part of the rest of it, the social media, the interviews. Time with these two after the game is part of the VIP experience Trina has tickets for but none of these three were prepared for how that night would turn out.
One steamy night turns into the offer of a place to stay for Trina until she can move into her new apartment. One week of sharing a bed with the two sexiest men she has ever known. One week of checking some things off a sexy list of experiences she never knew she needed. Their time together has an expiration date. Then they all say good-bye. No problem, right?
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This was so much fun. I adored these three, how they were together. It’s like they were just waiting for each other, they were the missing piece. There are no swords crossing if that’s an issue for you. Personally, I like it when the swords do some crossing. But in this case, Trina was the center of their attention and wow did she get all the attention. These two men treated her like the queen she deserved to be. It looks like the next book in this series will be MF, A Stroke of Puck. I am definitely planning to continue this series.
No, no, and NO. I had high hopes for this book, I absolutely love romances with more than one love interest. But the dialogue and writing in this romance had me wishing I never started it. I don’t even know how to explain it, but the writing was just super awkward and juvenile. The abundance of steamy scenes couldn’t even make up for it…. Everything was just blah, the writing, characters, plot, steam; I could go on and on.
❥ This was the most realistic mfm why choose I’ve ever read. And its perfect if you need a introduction into why choose.
❥ Characters you can instantly connect with and fall for. Great Plot and we get right into everything, this isn’t a slow burn. But the most Loveable thing about this book are the friendships. Ryker, Chase and Trina are everything from beginning to end. And I enjoyed the ending of this book so much!
Oh boy - there is a lot to unpack here, so I'm going to rapid-fire list out issues here.
The plot was basically nonexistent. The female main character was the most special of special snowflakes ever. Every time she was supposed to seem fierce or "badass," I desperately wanted it to end. On top of that, the guys were really pathetic and fell into immediate insta-love with the FMC (who was basically a cardboard cutout). When the guys interacted with her cheating ex-boyfriend, it literally gave me secondhand embarrassment. Everyone's emotions seemed to pivot really abruptly all the time. There were lots of over-reactions. I still don't really understand the third act breakup. There was lots of smut, but it was somehow all underwhelming.
Honestly, this was just not very good, in my opinion. It's a miracle that I finished this book.
1.2 Stars: Disappointed Disclaimer: Please remember that these are my opinions and if you feel differently, that’s okay. Thanks!
Notes: POV = 1st Person, switches between FMC & both MMC #1 and #2 Characters: Trina (FMC) is the most dramatic person I’ve ever read about. Chase (MMC #1) and Ryker (MMC #2) are the same man in different fonts. They are just tropes. Chase is the golden retriever, Ryker is the grump. Chase is light, Ryker is dark. Chase has brothers, Ryker has sisters. Their dads are dead or suck, in that order. Their moms are awesome.
Plot/Story: Boring, dramatic, and repetitive. She literally never stops talking about kinks and how kinky she is. Kink unlocked. New kink. Life kink. Kink, kink, kink. I just wanted her to shut up about it, she used the word kink for everything. Romance: No. This was insta-love in its purest form. They’re fully “in love” after EIGHT DAYS, as in that's when they admit it but happens before that. And the author tries so hard to convince us of this. Quite literally writes the words, “too much, too romantic”. Spare me. Side note: the smut was so cringey, I sincerely cannot.
General: I do not think I can properly express how bad this was. Even if we took out the insta-love, it would have only been 2 stars. I have so many notes complaining, but this would be so long and I cannot do that right now.
Overall: Booktok continues to DUPE ME!!! To read this you have to suspend your disbelief and even then, it’ll still drive you to the edge.
A lot of the language in this book felt like the author was trying too hard to sound younger. It was an interesting premise but fell really short for me. There were a few moments of spice that were good but not enough to redeem it in my eyes.
Soo…. About this book. Here there are two theories: ☝ - this book was avarage or ✌- I just became this twisted person when it comes to polyamory/why choose/rh and I need MOOOOREEE
✔ The book was generally cute. I mainly liked how, differently from the other romances with more than one love interest, the MMCs needed to adjust to the new situation. I imagine, in real life, it would not be easy to let go of jelousy and insecurities. So this I very much appriciated.
✖ The character overall were a little flat for me. The grumpy guy that in reality is a sweetheart, the Golden Retriver that is a little dom in the bedroom. Let´s say that they had two layers and that was it. Trina, the FMC, I liked, but I don´t understand how she can be so secure and insecure at the same time. Not that this is impossible, many people are like this, but it was written in a weird way.
🌶️And lastly, the spice. It felt like the author was scared of writing smut. I liked the dirty talk in between the guys but the scenes were jumping from one place to another and stopping just to restart immediatly after.
My final opinion is that this book was ok, I read it in two sittings so it wasn´t boring or anything, but it wasn´t also sweet and overwhelming or dark and adrenaline-fuelled. It was ok. 🙃
Okay so this is partially my fault, but I didn’t expect this book to be what it was.
I have two rules. I don’t DNF and I don’t read blurbs. I legit just judge a book by its genre, cover and the stars of its reviews. I like to go in blindly so I don’t have any expectations.
Well, I didn’t know what this book was about before I read it. From the cover of this book, I just thought it was a sappy romance that involved a girl falling for two guys and having to choose which one to go for. Except that kinda wasn’t the case. I know hockey romance books are a little spicy - and believe me I’m not a prude, I can read a sexy lil chapter; I appreciate them. However, this was ALOTTT. I like when spicy chapters are BALANCED with plot. But, this book was just all spice and hardly any plot. Just very dull and all the effort was put in to describing the spicy scenes. Like, this book is legitimate 🌽… I’m not joking. This was like more descriptive than Haunting Adeline - accept haunting Adeline was done well and this one was weird.
The book is practically a corn book involving threesomes…. And then it is about exploring polyamory. I would not be mad at the spicy scenes if there was an adequate plot to go with it. I can appreciate a good spicy scene. But it was so boring and was ALLLLLLLLLL sex. Like - pls learn how to balance a good story line and sex scenes - or else, just make corn at this point.
Also, a lot of the writing was kinda cringe. It was very teeny bopper plot - it just gave me 12vie vibes. But also, I would not let a 12vie read corn so I don’t really know what age demographic they were trying to appeal to. Like calling her “the book babe” is so lame and cringe and I just can’t.
So sorry for the brutal review, but this just was not my style.
i was JUST saying more characters need to stop taking the high road and then i’m delivered this great revenge story.
so you find out your boyfriend’s cheating… you can walk away quietly OR you can steal his tickets and go spend the night with two of his favorite players. two players who turn out to be very hot. and very hot for you. and enthusiastically willing to share.
this was surprisingly spicy and the dynamic was just perfect. it’s MMF but ryker and chase has such a strong friendship and perfectly balanced each other out and they were basically just trying to outdo each other with how they could best take care of trina and it was just so cute. they were only ever concerned for her and THE SPICEEEE.
So... I'm not sure about this one. The set up was cute but... somehow the smut didn't match up in this book.
I'm fine that it starts as a one night fun time. But then I never really felt the connection nor did I believe they could be a thrupple. The character work was really lacking for me.
But then again MFM is never really my bag. I'd rather have some sword crossing and angsty feelings between the 2 men. 🤷♀️ I knew I wasn't gonna get that here, so I was prepared. But it left me feeling like something important was missing.
Side note: the humor involving the "pervy dog" was... gross for me. Not cute. Joking about a dog finding completion is... not cute.
WOW this book was FREAKING SPICY and had so many funny moments. Trina is set out for revenge on her ex-boyfriend when she found out he cheated on her in the most unexpected way. I felt really bad that I laughed at how she found out because what the heck, that is the most random thing I’ve ever heard. 😂😭
Trina is such a bada$$ FMC, who’s also very bold and sassy. She begins her revenge by taking her ex-boyfriend’s VIP hockey tickets and going to the game for the meet and greet to meet with two NHL hockey players — Chase and Ryker. These two are polar opposites, one is a grumpy, broody guy while the other is a sunshine golden retriever, alpha, charmer guy. Both Chase and Ryker are on the opposite NHL team, but they are best friends since childhood. Chase and Ryker have made a pact to not let a girl get in the way of their friendship, but upon meeting Trina they find a loophole and come to an agreement to help Trina with her revenge plan.
I really enjoy the insta-crush/attraction between the guys and Trina and how they made her feel confident, carefree, cherished, and desired. The guys are completely obsessed and are super protective of Trina and they treat her so well.
My goodness, my heart was beating so fast reading this light-hearted, sinfully spicy, and funny hockey romance book. Ahhh, talk about a very VIP experience. I recommend this book!
Tropes: ❥ Hockey romance ❥ Sweet revenge ❥ Dirty talkers ❥ Roomies-to-lovers ❥ MFM (why choose style) ❥ Endearingly hot mess heroine ❥ One grumpy x one sunshine hero ❥ Fake relationship vibes ❥ Cinnamon roll hero
The concept of a trio is definitely an unconventional one and I think the author handled it nicely.
The dog, Nacho- He was a funny little (pervy) fellow that brought laughs whenever he entered the book.
Cons:
The FL had scenes with each of the ML separately, not with each other. I would've liked to see what made the trio made fall in love with each other. They had sexual scenes together but not the other situational scene.
I have NEVER DNF’ed a book before ever. But I had to at 58%. I don’t even have words or specific points for when or how it all went wrong.
I feel like a victim of this book honestly. Nacho(the dog) is a victim too tbh. Every mention of the dog just got worse and worse and that’s the main reason I had to dnf. At the point where I stopped it was bordering on sickness because who even thinks to write about a dog in such a manner it was basically being a peeping Tom perv?!? There was so much detail about the DOGS… activities… one time is a mistake twice is a pattern. i say this so seriously someone needs to monitor this author because huhhh
And on top of all of that weirdness the book was plotless and poorly written. The characters legitimately spoke like cave people? not a full sentence in sight. It was so obviously written for booktok I couldn’t take it.
3.5⭐️ This was a decent and quick read. Full of insta love (like REALLY insta love cause they fall for her in a week...7 FUCKING DAYS YO WTF) - so if you hate that particular trope, then stay away lmao. Slightly funny. Slightly cringey. But still a good read to pass some time ig. It's actually funny to me how I give fictional men quite a bit of leeway when my stubborn ass would dump them irl lol (the 3rd act breakup - if you can call it that - got me thinking of this hehe).
again i don’t want to be mean…. but this felt like if you asked the snapchat AI to write a book using buzzwords: hockey, booktok, stereotypical tropes, millennial.
and what the fuck was all that about her dog?? i didn’t need that
anytime something says “i like big books and i cannot lie” i lose 10 years off my life i think
What’s better than one hot hockey player? Two hot hockey players! A hockey player sandwich. For Trina, the answer is yes, please!
A tale of one woman initially set on revenge to finds herself in the company of not one, but two hockey players. It’s unexpected, hot, fun, and something none of them saw coming.
Trina is a bit of a hot mess and her life just imploded. She just wants to get back at her ex, so enjoying his VIP hockey experience tickets seems like a good enough way.
Enter the hockey guys. Chase is charming, smiley, handsome, and has a good boy image and is laser-focused on hockey. But he’s always a man with a plan and likes to take care of people. Ryker is broody, stoic, grumpy, bearded, tatted, and appears to have a bad attitude but he is protective and always gets the job done. They’ve been best friends since childhood, but they play on rival city hockey teams.
Let’s just say the night that they enjoyed was not exactly supposed to be part of the VIP experience. They may be hot on the ice separately, but they are fire in the bedroom focused on one goal…her pleasure. And they are both highly skilled and fiercely determined to give it their all. They will score as many O’s as possible.
And that one night leads to more and they find themselves in a devil's threesome situation with a set timeline. They are determined to help a girl in need and the girl was definitely in need...and she met their needs as well. But the more time they spend together, the more time they realize that they may just all need a little bit more, and trying to figure out how to maneuver that will be a challenge.
This is a spicy, witty, best friends, hockey rivals, MFM romance. The guys are all about her pleasure. I really like the grumpy sunshine aspect of the guys and the fact that there was so much more to them than their public images. They have such a strong connection and understanding of each other, and that really translates into their relationship with Trina.
This is a sports romance about understanding, trust, acceptance, vulnerability, and embracing happiness even if it is in an unconventional way.
I’m always a sucker for hockey romance and I really enjoyed this one even though I don’t read that much MFM. If I had to choose one of the guys for her, I couldn’t do it. Because I loved Chase and Ryker so much and their dynamic is such that they really do bring so much to the relationship and also care about each other’s happiness and it’s obvious she could handle them both. They really are a wonderful triad. I hope the author makes it into a series and we see some other developments. there are definitely some contenders for more stories with side characters.
Ah. My expectations were so high, but ultimately this just wasn’t for me.
The beginning where she vividly describes her dog eating her panties… then dog proceeds to puke up panties… realizes panties are not hers..and her boyfriend cheated on her.
This gave me the ick right off the bat but I kept on moving.
then she decides to steal his vip meet and greet tickets with his fav hockey players…who she ends up having sex with. Love this revenge plot. Srsly here for it!!
As we got into it the dialogue was cringe in some parts for me.
I've read Lauren Blakely before and I've always found her books to be easy and enjoyable reads. But this one just didn't do it for me. The story itself wasn't bad and I do think the whole, revenge on a cheating ex, thing was interesting, but the way it was written seemed rushed and jumbled. The dialogue between characters felt very forced and was if they were older people trying to be "young and hip"
I've said it before and I clearly didn't listen, but if the title of a book has any variation of the word "puck" in it I'm going to slap myself so hard for picking it up and I really only have myself to blame. I can see why people enjoyed this story but it wasn't for me I guess
I was so excited to read this but I had to DNF at the 22% mark.
The H’s really don’t shut about about their sexual history (I’m their thoughts especially) and how they fucked the same girl without knowing in the past. Oh and one H is still majorly hung up over his ex (the one the other H accidentally fucked since he didn’t know she was dating the other H) I would almost call them manwhores because they had a lot of experience. Mention of one H having multiple threesomes before and he thinks about the dynamics of his past threesomes.
Not for me. Especially when the FMC doesn’t have a lot of sexual history yet the guys have so much with other women.
When I search the ex girlfriends name, she comes up multiple times throughout the whole book so possibly some drama there.
I loved this book so much. The communication between the three of them made this book so much better, it’s definitely one of my favorite things about it! I loved that there wasn’t so drama between the three of them or one of the guys being over jealous. They made sure the other wasnt feeling left out and always using “us” “we” warmed my heart. Chase and Ryker being best friends since 6 years old, being opposite of each other and being “rivals” was great because they evened out the relationship perfectly. The blurb did not lie when it said they were all about her.
Trina is amazing I love her so much, I’m so happy she was able to find herself and become so more confident being with Ryker and chase. Even before them she still valued her self so much, I mean the revenge on her ex bf which started this whole thing was perfect.
The bonus epilogue was definitely my favorite even though it wasn’t an actual chapter in the book. In one of my updates I said if she didn’t marry both of them I would cry and I’m so happy I only had to cry happy tears.
Spice level 4/5
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Dnf at 52 pages. Some of the terms used felt off and forced. The whole dog with the panties thing threw me off 12 pages in and almost stopped. I’ve read other sports romance by this author and had high hopes
First I will start off with what I actually liked. I like Nacho the three legged pooch who liked to eat undies. I liked that Ryker was a nerd. And that’s about it.
The dynamic between the three of them was okay, it was particularly my favorite, but it was decent enough. Enough to keep me entertained for about 100 or so pages then it just got boring. Just felt very repetitive and nothing special happened it was all just very meh. Not to mention I found it so cringey and it gave me the ick so many times I lost count. This is the second Lauren Blakely book I have read and I’m sorry, but I’m not impressed. Maybe I will read another one by her if she has a co-author. But so far by herself, I just find them too repetitive, too gross. Not to yuck someone’s yum, but this was just not for me. I almost dnfed but I pushed through.