Emily Rath

My name is Rachel Price, and two months ago, I walked away from the perfect man. Sweet and funny, and so hot it should be illegal—we shared one magical night. No names. No strings. I never thought I’d see him again.

I was wrong. It turns out Mr. Perfect is the playboy grinder for the Jacksonville Rays, the NHL’s hottest new hockey team…and I’m his new physical therapist. Oh, and the jerk doesn’t even recognize me!

This fellowship is going to be the longest ten months of my life. Mr. Perfect Mistake will do anything to get back on my good side. Meanwhile, his best friend is the surly new equipment manager always riding my case. Worst of all, I’ve got an uncooperative goalie who thinks I can’t tell he’s hiding an injury!

This is my chance to prove myself, and I’m not risking it for anything. But with one unexpected night, one secret revealed, these men are ready to test all my limits. I can’t fall for a player…let alone three. But if love is a game, these guys are playing to win.

PUCKING AROUND is a spicy ‘why choose’ hockey romance. This book stands alone as the first in a planned series. For a full list of tropes, tags, and CWs, see the author’s website.

Jacksonville Rays Hockey #1

Pucking Around

Sara Poole

He huffs a laugh. "Oh god, really? Practical Magic? Still?" 

"Fucking of course that's my favorite movie!" I say, pushing off him with both hands. "Amy made me watch it like a thousand times growing up. It's amazing. I want that house, Cay." 

"And that's the only reason I learned to flip pancakes in the air," I add. "Girls go crazy for that shit. It's like pussy magic to them." 

"I know. I've seen you in action," he replies.

“Then that is what I want, Rakas. I want to be the one to carry the burden of your fears. Your doubt, your worry, your insecurity-lay them all on my shoulders. I am strong enough. I will not bend. I will not break. I will carry them for you so you can be free, mun leijona.”

This one was a rollercoaster. Don’t know yet if it was a good one or bad one. This is very much instalove but very much so over 700 pages. So like you would think very repetitive in some aspects of the story. Lots of spicy scenes that were advantageous. The book honestly reminded me a lot of Lilac by BB Reid just make it slightly longer and make them all work around hockey in some way. I did listen to it and think the production of it could have been slightly better like having a narrator for each character and they all combine work in the chapter. I think that would have been so much better because of how many people are involved within the book and their relationship. It wasn’t bad but just like everyone say when they see the book way too long for the result that didn’t have to feel so drawn out over making some things so repetitive. 

Priscilla Stanfield

jenna

Olivia Rousseau 

Den er seriøst dårlig. Red jer selv man

Emma Jacobsen 

So much potential but too long and dare I say the smut is getting old and I'm just not in the mood for it lol. Only had 11 chapters left and I'm convinced they kept it going just so more s*x scenes could be added (which I usually don't mind) but honestly I was just over it lol

Manda

Not my usual read but was convinced by a friend to give it a shot.  It is a fun read and my first ever hockey romance/why choose romance. It is a fun read, despite the issues I had with it, I did like reading it. I wanted a fun romance to read and this book delivered.

Some funny moments sprinkled throughout! Very corny but still fun.

I am a sucker for the girl who is a healer/medic/doctor taking care of the soldier/athlete/knight/etc. so this scratched that itch.

Don't need to be a hockey fan to enjoy. It either explains what is happening during games or doesn't pay too much attention to the logistics.

Poorly written lead. Our main lead, Rachel, has no personality. She does/says whatever the plot demands of her and kind of reminds of me of the 'every-man' trope. Because of that, she's just kind of boring and predictable. She also falls into the NLOG trope. At one point, saying straight up 'I curse like a sailor and eat wings and burp and wear jeans' and I just kind of rolled my eyes.

Poorly written love interests. The love interests are just tropes wrapped in human form. One is the 'golden retriever' type who's fun and charming and kind of a himbo, the other is the brooding angsty guy with piercings, and the other is the big strong giant. At least they are characterized though and have set personalites.

Not my usual read but was convinced by a friend to give it a shot.  It is a fun read and my first ever hockey romance/why choose romance. It is a fun read, despite the issues I had with it, I did like reading it. I wanted a fun romance to read and this book delivered.

What I Liked

Some funny moments sprinkled throughout! Very corny but still fun.

I am a sucker for the girl who is a healer/medic/doctor taking care of the soldier/athlete/knight/etc. so this scratched that itch.

Don't need to be a hockey fan to enjoy. It either explains what is happening during games or doesn't pay too much attention to the logistics.

What I Didn't Like

Poorly written lead. Our main lead, Rachel, has no personality. She does/says whatever the plot demands of her and kind of reminds of me of the 'every-man' trope. Because of that, she's just kind of boring and predictable. She also falls into the NLOG trope. At one point, saying straight up 'I curse like a sailor and eat wings and burp and wear jeans' and I just kind of rolled my eyes.

Poorly written love interests. The love interests are just tropes wrapped in human form. One is the 'golden retriever' type who's fun and charming and kind of a himbo, the other is the brooding angsty guy with piercings, and the other is the big strong giant. At least they are characterized though and have set personalites.

“You deserve every good thing in life. Don't wait for it to come to you. Go out and get it.”

Oh my god. This fucking book. I went into this without knowing it was a reverse harem. Not disappointed.

Meghan Morris

“You deserve every good thing in life. Don't wait for it to come to you. Go out and get it.”

Oh my god. This fucking book. I went into this without knowing it was a reverse harem. Not disappointed.

I normally love a reverse harem and hockey romances, but I found this dissapointing. I did not feel a connection between thé characters at all.

Emma Kamer

Did I enjoy the story line? No but chemistry the 4 of them had was just 

Maria Morales 

Did I enjoy the story line? No but chemistry the 4 of them had was just chefs kiss 

A why-choose romance, with some very attractive people, a hockey team, and lots of spice. Oh and everyone gets nicknames.

Tace

was not expecting 90% of the book to be sex 

Morgan Denlinger

Katie Buchanan

“I live with a rope around my heart now, woven through my ribs, and it connects me to you.” 🩵🏒🩵🏒🩵

Rachel has been thinking nonstop about Mystery Guy that she had this amazing one night with…never to see again. She is a sports medicine doc who just got her dream fellowship working with the Jacksonville Rays hockey team. You will never guess who she meets next…👀

This book was 🔥HOT🔥 and also so funny. All the MMC’s had their own quirks that made them so lovable and humorous. JAKE is the lovable golden retriever who has the filthiest mouth 🥵 CALEB is the moody, surfer vibes, Edward Cullen who will make anyone 🫠🫠🫠 and MARS is the quiet, beautiful, Viking Bear 🐻 who has a way with his words and 🍆. 

🧎🏻‍♀️ Why Choose? Reverse Harem

Tess

“I live with a rope around my heart now, woven through my ribs, and it connects me to you.” 🩵🏒🩵🏒🩵

Rachel has been thinking nonstop about Mystery Guy that she had this amazing one night with…never to see again. She is a sports medicine doc who just got her dream fellowship working with the Jacksonville Rays hockey team. You will never guess who she meets next…👀

This book was 🔥HOT🔥 and also so funny. All the MMC’s had their own quirks that made them so lovable and humorous. JAKE is the lovable golden retriever who has the filthiest mouth 🥵 CALEB is the moody, surfer vibes, Edward Cullen who will make anyone 🫠🫠🫠 and MARS is the quiet, beautiful, Viking Bear 🐻 who has a way with his words and 🍆. 

🏒 Sports Romance — Hockey

🧎🏻‍♀️ Why Choose? Reverse Harem

👫 Friends to Lovers

👥 Forced Proximity

🖊️ Tattooed Heroes

🏥 Medical 

😍 Instalove

🖤 Daddy Kíñk

🤰🏻 Breeding Kìńk

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

Pucking Around by Emily Rath

Lydia Enge

This was an incredible read. The relationships are so complex and beautiful, the knowledge of the sport and the community is so well thought out and it is so tastefully and deliciously done. I absolutely couldn’t put this down! 

Dyllan Erikson

I didn’t mean to fall into the hockey romance side of booktok but now I’m hooked! 

I loved watching all of this dynamics grow… and how Jake just accepted that he was in love with Caleb when he had no past relationships with men. That it’s only and will only be Caleb. That he’s willing to share Rachel with their foursome, but isn’t willing to share Caleb with another man. That shit made me swoon okay. 

Cass Paul

I didn’t mean to fall into the hockey romance side of booktok but now I’m hooked! 

I loved watching all of this dynamics grow… and how Jake just accepted that he was in love with Caleb when he had no past relationships with men. That it’s only and will only be Caleb. That he’s willing to share Rachel with their foursome, but isn’t willing to share Caleb with another man. That shit made me swoon okay. 

The way I devoured this book. I'm obsessed !! I love hockey romance and starting to love a why choose sooo this was a no brainer ! The guys were sooo 🥹🫶🏽 in their own little way.

Racquel Echeverria

saying this as a major fan of RH- I almost wish this one wasn’t RH 🫣 I read the prequel and that only involved one of them so I was really primed to be all in on that one and felt like there was enough drama with the dynamics of just that. I did love all the love interests though but almost loved them so much I wish they got their own moment/standalone to shine, particularly Ilmari. The spice is plentiful which is always appreciated but near the end it got almost clinical in a way.. they kept talking about what they were going to do in the moment before doing it and it’s like just do it already! Surprise each other! Overall enjoyed this read though and would recommend it.

Abigail

This book made me laugh and cry🙂 And it had great smut, I didn’t want to put the book down. The story and the characters was written really beautifully written 😍

Karoline Frigaard Rybråten

I was part of the ARC team but still bought the book anyway, as some minor changes had been made to the end version of it.

The book is amazing, even if you’re not interested into hockey or new to Why Choose romance. You’re slowly getting introduced to both of them together with the characters.

All characters are well balanced and respected. One ADHD character, one brooding and thick-headed and a one-syllable character. And not to forget the hyperactive doggo. No one will be forced to change for the story line or for any of the characters. It’s all about accepting everyone the way they are.

The spice is good, and like the author said herself: really hot on an emotional level. You get so emotional invested, you don’t want to put it away. And most readers wait to get to read more of them and the rest of the team. I’m personally waiting for the owner of the Jacksonville Rays, Mark Talbot. ;-)

I’d recommend reading the prequel “That One Night” before reading Pucking Around, as it gives more inside on the relationship between the FMC and one of the MMCs.

Ich gehörte zu den ARC Reader des Buches, habe es mir jedoch auch als Buch gekauft, da noch kleine Änderungen zur Veröffentlichung erfolgt sind.

Das Buch ist umwerfend. Auch wenn man nichts mit Eishockey anfangen kann oder nicht wirklich auf Why Choose steht. Man wird langsam herangeführt und lernt zusammen mit den Charakteren.

Diese sind gut ausgeglichen und ändern sich nicht um für die Geschichte geopfert zu werden. Unter ihnen ein Charakter mit offensichtlichem ADHS, ein dickköpfiger Muffel und ein Einsilbiger Charakter. Ganz zu Schweigen vom hyperaktiven Wauzi.

Die Geschichte ist heiß, aber nicht übermäßig. Es lebt von der emotionalen Spannung. Man wird so in die Geschichte eingebunden, dass man das Buch gar nicht mehr weglegen möchte.

Viele Leser wünschen sich eine Folgegeschichte mit den selben Charakteren oder neuen Figuren aus dem Rays Team. Ich warte auf den Besitzer der Jacksonville Rays, Mark Talbot. ;-)

Es ist empfehlenswert die Vorgeschichte “That One Night” vorab zu lesen, ist jedoch kein Muss. Aber es gibt einen besseren Einblick in die Beziehung der weibliche Hauptfigur mit einem der männlichen Hauptfiguren.

Sandra Kunde

(Deutsche Rezension weiter unten)

Absolut worth reading

I was part of the ARC team but still bought the book anyway, as some minor changes had been made to the end version of it.

The book is amazing, even if you’re not interested into hockey or new to Why Choose romance. You’re slowly getting introduced to both of them together with the characters.

All characters are well balanced and respected. One ADHD character, one brooding and thick-headed and a one-syllable character. And not to forget the hyperactive doggo. No one will be forced to change for the story line or for any of the characters. It’s all about accepting everyone the way they are.

The spice is good, and like the author said herself: really hot on an emotional level. You get so emotional invested, you don’t want to put it away. And most readers wait to get to read more of them and the rest of the team. I’m personally waiting for the owner of the Jacksonville Rays, Mark Talbot. ;-)

I’d recommend reading the prequel “That One Night” before reading Pucking Around, as it gives more inside on the relationship between the FMC and one of the MMCs.

*******************

Absolut lesenswert.

Ich gehörte zu den ARC Reader des Buches, habe es mir jedoch auch als Buch gekauft, da noch kleine Änderungen zur Veröffentlichung erfolgt sind.

Das Buch ist umwerfend. Auch wenn man nichts mit Eishockey anfangen kann oder nicht wirklich auf Why Choose steht. Man wird langsam herangeführt und lernt zusammen mit den Charakteren.

Diese sind gut ausgeglichen und ändern sich nicht um für die Geschichte geopfert zu werden. Unter ihnen ein Charakter mit offensichtlichem ADHS, ein dickköpfiger Muffel und ein Einsilbiger Charakter. Ganz zu Schweigen vom hyperaktiven Wauzi.

Die Geschichte ist heiß, aber nicht übermäßig. Es lebt von der emotionalen Spannung. Man wird so in die Geschichte eingebunden, dass man das Buch gar nicht mehr weglegen möchte.

Viele Leser wünschen sich eine Folgegeschichte mit den selben Charakteren oder neuen Figuren aus dem Rays Team. Ich warte auf den Besitzer der Jacksonville Rays, Mark Talbot. ;-)

Es ist empfehlenswert die Vorgeschichte “That One Night” vorab zu lesen, ist jedoch kein Muss. Aber es gibt einen besseren Einblick in die Beziehung der weibliche Hauptfigur mit einem der männlichen Hauptfiguren.

Pucking Around Jacksonville Rays Hockey #1

Reviews

Highlights