Whine on Ice

Hot hockey guy falls for insecure babe. OK, I actually like most of the book and found Ellie's insecurities believable. However, in order to throw the final monkey wrench into the plot, the heroine suddenly believes people who have always lied to her, characters who were always straight shooters suddenly beat around the bush, and people stop talking to each other for no real reason except to further the anxiety of our hero & heroine. The last couple of hours of the book ruined what I had previously enjoyed. Too bad.

10 people found this helpful

sweet hockey romance

This is the FIRST book in the Assassins series. For most of the book there was really no conflict, just a budding romance between two very different people. It was simply a love story between a successful woman, Elli, who is loaded with insecurities, and a professional athlete, Shea, who is so amazing. Shea is the captain of the Assassins hockey team in Nashville. The heroine Ellie is sweet, funny, smart, and a incredibly successful photographer. She is also a young southern lady who has insecurity issues. Elli Fisher has been hurt, emotionally and physically, by former loves and her family. After overcoming a medical issues, she stood on her own for so long that she doesn't quite know how to trust others. Shea meets Elli at a team photo shoot where she is the photographer. He gets her to do the photography at party of his and things start to progress from there. This book has it all. Laughter, sexy time, drama, heartache and love. Shea the sexy, sensitive, tattooed hockey player for the Assassins wears geek glasses is muscled, funny, sweet, jealous, possessive and becomes totally in love &devoted to Elli. And Shea’s absolutely adorable with his twin sister, Grace, and her family.  I thought Shea and Elli were so sweet together. However, Elli's excessive doubts throughout the chapters were the only qualms I had with the book, everything else was good. I did appreciate the slow building romance. These two characters did not just meet, had insta-love and lived happily ever after. Oh no, you got to see a build of a fantastic and realistic love. All in all, the book was entertaining and if you enjoy hot hockey players, I recommend it.

34 people found this helpful

Female Lead is Beyond Annoying

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Probably not. The female lead character, Elli, drove me nuts. I can't think of another female character in all of literature who is more of a spineless twit. The other characters in the book were enjoyable but it was almost painful to listen to her inner dialogue. She is plagued by body image issues, has no self-confidence, needs validation from the man in her life (which she repeatedly rejects anyway!!), and continually trusts those she already knows she shouldn't.

Which character – as performed by Lucy Malone – was your favorite?

Elli's best friend. She (eventually) lays it on the line and delivers Elli a giant truth bomb.

Do you think Taking Shots needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

As long as it follows ANY other character in the story and not Elli.

5 people found this helpful

Horrible heroine

I simply could not stand Ellie. She was just awful. The narrator could have been more consistent with Boston and southern accents.

3 people found this helpful

Couldn't get through it, tried to like it...

The male narrator has a bad accent and the story just didn't draw me in.

3 people found this helpful

*Shrug* Unimpressed

At first I thought it was going to be pretty good; unique with a female character that wasn’t the typical beautiful skinny chick, but after a horribly long and drawn out story, she ended up typical and skinny in the end. The plot of the story was okay, until the last few chapters where it just got ridiculous. Her reactions to totally bizarre situations were always predictable and drawn out until the very end when she all of a sudden comes to her senses and it ends in a rushed and unrealistic happily ever after. I’m a sucker for a good romance, but this just didn’t do it for me. I also agree that the narrator’s voice was super nasally and she wasn’t the best at changing voices for certain characters, so it got confusing from time to time. Up to you, but I’m moving on to something else!

2 people found this helpful

3 Taking Shots Stars

I wanted to slap Elli's mother and sister so freaking badly.
I don't think I have ever wanted to jump in to a book before.
Like OMG they made me soooo mad, and on to the dad. Now I know he "tried" to rein his wife and daughter in but really he could have done more I think. Elli's brothers..... it was like they were mutes... WTF.
Loved that Shea broke the glass, I think it total woke Elli up.

There was a little to much self loathing and drama in this book for me. Now when I read it back in 2014 I loved it. half this review was from then. It's not that I didn't like the book I just didn't remember all the dramalama. Still overall its one of my favorite series.

*You don't have to like my review but its 100% my opinion, and I am allowed to have it.*

9 people found this helpful

Has issues

I really wanted to love this book. I love Hockey and BBW fict.

This book is listed under the BBW category but the “BBW” character is max size 10 so ... just no.

It relies on the not communicating trope so often that it gets irritating, so much that sections of the book are best fast forwarded through.

I generally liked the characters and the writing I just wish it didn’t fall flat on the above two points.

1 person found this helpful

Too angsty

I really like the story & the characters, but there was too much unnecessary angst. I felt like the back & forth by the heroine. It was really exhausting & felt like it was just for added length to the story. Loved the narrator, though. She was great at different accents.

1 person found this helpful

Couldn’t finish it

It’s not often I can’t finish a book no matter how bad I thought it was, but I just couldn’t do the last couple of hours. I hate heroines that whine constantly and are stupid, this had both. About the time when the Heroine didn’t believe the man she supposedly loved over her family who treated her like crap, I was done and couldn’t even wait for the happily ever after since she didn’t deserve it.

1 person found this helpful