ARC Review: "FIND ME IN THE FIRE" (Nighthawks,#5) by Pru Schuyler & "MR. HEARTBREAKER (The Nest, #1)" by Piper Rayne

Hello readers!
How are you?💖
Be prepared because you'll have a good amount of reviews in the following days. Today we talk about sport romance, to be more precise, hockey romance. Do you like them? I do, a lot. I think they're one of my favorite sub-genre at the moment and I just can't get enough.
Here I present you two of new releases I read in the past weeks.

A warm thank you to the authors for the chance to read these books in advance.

FIND ME IN THE FIRE

Title: Find me in the Fire (Nighthawks,#5)
Author: Pru Schuyler
Publishing Date: September 21, 2024
Publisher:  Independently published
Pages: 368 (paperback)
Price: $18,99
Plot: When the inferno begins, will they find each other amongst the flames or become lost in the smoke?

Piper Hartwell exudes confidence and sex appeal, having no problem speaking her mind or going after what she wants. As a highly successful wedding planner, she is detail-oriented and a bit of a control freak. But behind that hardened shell, sky-high walls, and painted-on smile lies a girl who has sworn off love, knowing firsthand the damage it can leave in its wake.

Brett Burns, a powerhouse forward for the New York Nighthawks, lives every second with his heart on his sleeve, loving nothing more than spending time with his family and his team. He is playful, kind, and a hopeless romantic to the core. When the two run into each other at a Nighthawk player’s wedding, they can’t deny their intense chemistry, happily giving in to their every desire. Piper quickly informs Brett of his skillful shortcomings in the bedroom despite his impressive tools.

Desperately wanting to see her again, he offers that they become exclusive friends with benefits. She gets her no-strings-attached relationship while he gets sexy lessons from the girl of his dreams. They are a perfect pairing, but their deal has to remain hidden because Piper is the daughter of one of Brett’s assistant coaches, and their relationship threatens Brett’s professional hockey career. Their plan should go perfectly. But the late nights, intimate moments, and secret hookups in the arena begin to lead to something more. Before they know it, they become intertwined in one another’s lives in ways they never see coming, including discovering a dark secret that lingers in the shadows.

Although their forbidden romance is fiery hot, there’s a problem when you start playing with fire...you can get burned. But sometimes, that blazing heat can forge things stronger than they ever were before.

Review: 

Rate: 3.8 ⭐

First of all, thanks to the author for the chance to read this book in advance.
This is my first Prue Schuyler's book and I'm quite confident it won't be the last.
The starting point was totally cup of my tea, but I didn't expect how this story unfolded. It was a good surprise, a little different from the usual.
I didn't immediately connect with Piper, but just because I'm shyer than her and totally way more insecure; that said, I appreciated her growth during the entire story. I would have been interesting to explore more how the ending between her parents affected her, but what I've read was absolutely enough to create a solid ground to explain Piper's averse feelings towards love and relationships. The scenes between her and her father were so bittersweet they squeezed my heart in a tight grip! (Btw, it would have been amazing to read about Coach's love story too💞)
Brett was my baby since the very beginning. I loved his relationship with Piper. He was always respectful and gave her the time and space to process things, even his feelings, so it was good to see that, when he understood he loved her, he didn't make her consider him just a distraction anymore. It was such a good relationship to read about, I'm totally satisfied with it.
Then: the hockey. 

I'm starting watching NHL for real and that has been useful in matches' chapters and scenes, because Pru Schuyler clearly knows what she's talking about and I loved it! I adore when a sport romance ACTUALLY talks about sport and takes the reader inside its dynamics. Plus, Brett's team was so fun to read I really enjoyed those moments.
So, a good starting point (for me) to discover this author who, I have this feeling, could do even better than this - and "this" is already very good.-

 

 

MR. HEARTBREAKER

Title: Mr. Heartbreaker (The Nest,#1)
Author: Piper Rayne
Publishing Date: October 13, 2024
Publisher:  Piper Rayne Inc.
Pages: 308 (paperback)
Price: $14,61

Plot: I made a deal with my brother a long time ago to never date his teammates.
Technically, Rowan Landry, the hot as hell center for the Chicago Falcons, is no longer my brother’s teammate. Or his best friend. Their college days are long behind them, and they barely talk now.
Also, I’m not dating him—we’re just sleeping together. There’s a difference.
Except there’s not a lot of sleeping going on, and neither one of us wants to stop what we’re doing. It’s all fun and games until my brother is traded to the Falcons, because Rowan doesn’t know I’m the new goalie’s little sister. Oops.

 

Review:

Rate: 3 ⭐ 

Again, thanks to the authors and @valentine_pr_ for the chance to read this book in advance.
This is the first installment of a series that is focused on "The Nest" inhabitants, an apartment building where some of the Falcons' players live.
The novel has a raw start: Kyleigh discovers her mother cheating on her dad and then, while attending a wedding party she helped her mum organizing, she meets Rowan and they end up in bed together. She don't tell him that she already knows him not only as an hockey fan herself, but also because he played with her brother in college - and the two of them were pretty close. It's clear she expects just a night of passion and nothing more, especially after her mother betrayal, that destroys her idea of love and relationships. Unfortunately fate has other in mind: they meet again almost immediately and the urge between them is so strong they decide to continue their only physical relationship until their chemistry will blow out; instead, they find themselves falling in love with each other. And then Connor arrives in the picture.

Generally, I enjoyed this story and I appreciated the comradeship between Rowan and his team, besides Rowan support toward Kyleigh, even if he didn't know what troubled her almost until the very end. After that, I really liked them as a couple, without the stereotypical moment where they doubt they're not good for the other. I also appreciated how Kyleigh and Connor's father dealt with his personal situation (even if his reaction and following actions were always a little bit too... detached? I didn't feel great emotions coming from him or his wife). Then, the romance. This book has multiple sex scenes that are really well written. So, if you're a fan of an open door story, I think Mr. Heartbreaker could be your cup of tea. If not, you would have to skip a good amount of pages, I'm afraid.
Furthermore, the secondary characters: they were all recognizable, and the authors added little pieces of details that it obvious will create the bases for the next books. I love this kind of things, and I hope that each novel will always have different dynamics to explore.

At the same time, I have to admit that, even if I'm not (at all) against a good amount of sex scenes, having them for the majority of the first 39% of the book has been a little bit too much. I would have loved if they had been more spaced out, leaving room for something else that concretely showed how gradually Rowan and Leigh started to bond and have feelings for each other. In my opinion, the passage between strangers with benefits to friends to lovers could be handled a little bit better, because it's almost nonexistent.
Another thing that didn't entirely convinced me was Connor's reaction. I understood it, but it felt juvenile, especially because no one seemed to find a way to make him come to his senses - and they're all adults. The thing is that every issue in this book misses some depth and empathy. I wasn't able to be totally involved in what I was reading, and that disappointed me because the potential was there to be explored in a better and mature way.

Anyway, with ups and down I still enjoyed the reading and I'm curious about the next book of the Nest series, hoping it will convince me more than the previous one.

Have you already read them?
What did you think about them?

See you to the next reviews!

Chiara