3.25 ( )

This one is an outlier from the rest of the series as it’s about a player from a different team, but since Noah was kind of the impetus for all the other books it was needed. I did enjoy the second chance here that Simon and Noah got to have, and their story felt real. My hard line of disbelief though is accepting that someone can open an art gallery on the Michigan side of Sault Ste Marie and supposedly be successful at it. I’m from Michigan and am not buying it (neither does my mom who I told about it too because I needed some validation in my disbelief); I actually thought the premise of a different KU where an American went from eleventh to first in line as heir to the British throne and falls in love with the Prime Minister was more probable than it, but I guess everyone needs a dream. ( )

This was a sweet romance novel, with Noah and Simon reconnecting years after being friends in college and not having an opportunity to explore a relationship then, in the shadow of Noah's final stretch of rehab from a knee operation and return to his team to try to win the Stanley Cup. ( )