Name: Playing for Keeps
Rating: 3.53125 (80 reviews)
ISBN: 9781733672917

Kendall Ryan

One night of passion convinces professional hockey player Justin Brady that Elise Parrish is the only woman for him, except for one catch--she is his teammate's younger sister.

Playing for Keeps

My teammate's incredibly sweet and gorgeous younger sister should have been off-limits, but my hockey stick didn't get that memo. After our team won the championship, and plenty of alcohol, our flirting turned physical and I took her to bed. Shame sent her running the next morning from our catastrophic mistake. She thinks I don't remember that night—but every detail is burned into my brain so deeply, I’ll never forget. The feel of her in my arms, the soft whimpers of pleasure I coaxed from her perfect lips… And now I’ve spent three months trying to get her out of my head. Which has been futile, because I’m starting to understand she’s the only girl I’ll ever want. I have one shot to show her I can be exactly what she needs, but Elise won’t be easily convinced. That’s okay, because I’m good under pressure, and this time, I’m playing for keeps. Get ready to meet your new favorite hot jocks in this series of stand-alone novels. If you like sexy, confident men who know how to handle a stick (on and off the ice), and smart women who are strong enough to keep all those big egos in check, this series of athlete romances is perfect for you!

Kathleen Tom

** spoiler alert **
           So since I’m starting to read from Landon & Aubree story I didn’t really know how all these Hockey Men life before the girls come crushing them down and to read this as a Stand-alone is really something I’m not agree to. So please read from the beginning of the books. 

“𝙋𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢.” 

The first Jocks that end up settling down! 

Who would ever thought that your childhood crush would turn out to be your first love after all.. I just love how strong Elise is, how she handle herself and the girls power around her bring so much positivity except for drunk Becca 🤪

No filter for Drunk Becca! 

And Justin Brandy—Jesus! 🥰💙 I don’t know what to say. Just go ahead and read it. Promise, no regrets! 

Overall the storyline is amazingly beautiful. I love the complicated love-hate friend with benefits between Justin & Elise. The texting. How they sneak behind Owen. I love the “Tampons” part 🤪🤪🤪 

Just—read everything!!

soph <33

Uhhh…yeah.

This book felt like its sole purpose was for sex scenes and then a “plot” is mildly hinted at through empty conversations between the characters. I’m not saying I have a problem with smut, it was just, personally, too much for me without any kind of connection between the characters. In the storyline? Sure, they’ve gotten close. But in terms of connecting to the reader (in my experience) it was lacking and I found more often than not that any scenes where E and J were together they were either thinking about sex or doing it and it just made me uncomfortable. Again, just my own opinion. (I’m in the ace community so I guess that explains it lol)

Also the amount of slut shaming (both towards the “puck bunnies” (yikes) and the guys on the hockey team) didn’t sit right with me. I don’t personally see a problem with anyone sleeping around as much as they want to (as long as they’re responsible etc) and if some of the comments the fmc made towards the guys were the other way round… Yeah. Idk. But that’s just my take from it.

At least the VA for the guy had a nice voice and I got it for free through Audible, positive thinking 😍🤌

- 1.3 stars -

Megan Lowe

This was an okay book. Brother’s best friend books are my jam but I just didn’t feel this one was as fleshed out as it could be.
I felt a lot of the book was rushed, the “pregnancy” bit especially was just info dumped. It would’ve been better had it been played out, especially as Justin uses it for justification later on.
Justin was a good character. I liked his softer side and would’ve liked to have seen more of it.
Elise was solid, but she was written quite young, despite her age.
This was an okay book, I can see where the rest of the series is going to go and it hasn’t got my interest, so I’m going to pass.

My teammate's incredibly sweet and gorgeous younger sister should have been off-limits, but my hockey stick didn't get that memo.After our team won the championship, and plenty of alcohol, our flirting turned physical and I took her to bed.Shame sent her running the next morning from our catastrophic mistake. She thinks I don't remember that night—but every detail is burned into my brain so deeply, I'll never forget. The feel of her in my arms, the soft whimpers of pleasure I coaxed from her perfect lips…And now I've spent three months trying to get her out of my head. Which has been futile, because I'm starting to understand she's the only girl I'll ever want. I have one shot to show her I can be exactly what she needs, but Elise won't be easily convinced. That's okay, because I'm good under pressure, and this time, I'm playing for keeps. Get ready to meet your new favorite hot jocks in this series of stand-alone novels. If you like sexy, confident men who know how to handle a stick (on and off the ice), and smart women who are strong enough to keep all those big egos in check, this series of athlete romances is perfect for you!

Hot Jocks, Book 1

J Ashlie

So so good!!! What's not to love?
Hockey hottie, brothers best friend, virgin romance... not kidding yall, its 👌🏻😍🔥😍👌🏻!! The scene at her school, holy swoon! I love those small details in a story that help you get to know the characters deeper!
I cant wait for the next book in the series! Hopefully we get to know owen better!!

allie

3'5/5⭐
⬇️
Chica enamorada del mejor amigo y compañero de equipo de su hermano mayor. Chico enamorado de la hermana pequeña de su mejor amigo. Esta novela tiene todos los ingredientes para ser una historia estupenda y así ha sido.
La historia de Elise y Justin es fantástica. Una historia cliché, entretenida, con una trama sencilla que te atrapa desde el minuto uno. 
La novela es lineal, sencilla pero no es nada malo.
Elise y Justin han sido estupendos. Me ha encantado la relación de toda la vida que tienen, cómo ha ido poco a poco creciendo a lo largo de los años y cómo los sentimientos también lo han hecho.
▪️
La novela está narrada por ambos personajes y eso es algo que me ha gustado mucho.
Quizá he sentido que se han quedado algunas cosas sin resolver, hay algunas partes, sobre todo de los protagonistas individualmente, que me hubiera gustado que la autora se extendiera más y nos contara más sobre ello.
▪️
"Playing for keeps" es el primer libro de una serie sobre jugadores de hockey profesionales. Una historia divertida, entretenida, ligera, amena, cortita y muy rápida de leer. Es una novela perfecta para desconectar y pasar un buen rato de lectura entretenido.

Elizabeth Hisserich

This was fine.  There was nothing really objectionable, but nothing that stood out either. 

Candyce Kirk

Hockey romances are my absolute favorite and the author didn't disappoint with Playing for Keeps. Justing and Elise are really fun characters. I loved the balance of romance, friendship and in this case hockey. Add falling for your best friend's sister to the mix and you've got the perfect combination.

Elise has always had a crush on Justin, but with him being her brother's best friend, not a chance that was happening. She's a pre-school teacher and loves her job. Elise may have not had much experience with men or relationships, but after one night with Justin she's hooked. I loved her confidence when it was there. There were a few moments that annoyed me, but I definitely understood her insecurities.

Justin is a professional hockey player and is it's known that he doesn't do relationships. His home life wasn't great as a child, so it's hard to believe in love. I loved that he's seen as a player in many ways, but he's actually really sweet. Even though Elise was his best friend's sister, he just couldn't resist. Justin is definitely book boyfriend material though. 

The chemistry between Elise and Justing could be felt while reading and I loved them together. On top of them figuring out what this fling was to them, their friendship made this so much more. There was lots of humor, romance and just simple gestures that showed the other they cared. Yes, there was a little bit of drama, but it wasn't too much.

Playing for Keeps is a fun forbidden romance with humor, romance, steamy moments and characters you can't get enough of! I definitely need more of them soon.

Natasha Anderson

I didn't love this but i like it enough to carry on with the series but not enough to buy the paperbacks
i jsut don't feel connected to the characters and there was barely any hockey
maybe its because the 2 hockey romances series i have read, i love with my whole heart
i hate reviews

isabela. 

[4/5]

What can I say? I am a sucker for brother’s best friend trope.

Playing for Keeps

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