Checking the Center (The Zamboni Diaries) by Delancey Stewart

 

Title: Checking the Center

Series: The Zamboni Diaries, Book #0.5

Author: Delancey Stewart

Genre: Sports (Hockey Romance), Forced Proximity, Enemies to Lovers

Release Date: August 31, 2023

Cover Design: Kelly Lambert Greer

Cover Photo: Jane Ashley Converse

Cover Model: Tim Reed

“Have you ever read a book and immediately felt like you were watching a romcom on tv? That’s exactly how this book made me feel.” ★★★★★ Pucking Reading

A forced-proximity, naked-man-on-my-couch hockey romcom that'll have you snort-laughing!

You have to be pretty desperate to consult someone referred to as the Drunken Psychic for insight into your perennially single status.

But that's me...

• Working in a bakery despite dreaming of culinary school.
• Hanging out with my happily married friends and trying not to be gut-twistingly jealous.
• And renting a blissfully sweet one-bedroom apartment on the banks of a river that has been a much-needed refuge.

Until now.

Because tonight, after trying to make heads or tails of the psychic's mysterious pronouncements about my love life, I arrive home to find a man on my couch.

A very naked, very muscley, very handsome man.

Did I mention he was butt naked?

And things only get more confusing from there. We have a whole conversation, in which he reveals that he's the star center for the Wilcox Wombats hockey team, Rock Stevens. And that Rock is actually his real name. And that he's in town for a week for an all-star pickleball tournament. And that my apartment is actually his apartment.

And then he refuses to leave. Things only get more confusing from there.

As we try to navigate our sudden forced-roommates situation while the landlord gets to the bottom of the mixup, Rock decides to turn the tables. Instead of being annoyed that I'm in his apartment, he suddenly becomes charming. Sweet, even. And even though I know it's a mistake, he charms me right up onto the kitchen counter, and... well, you can imagine the rest.

The guy's only in town for a week. Surely I can protect my silly single heart for that long? But with every stolen kiss and whispered promise, I can't help but wonder if I'm the one who’s getting played.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

My review:

“It’s like, when I’m holding her, everything I need in the world is already right there, in my arms.”

 Checking the Center is the novella that starts the hilarious The Zamboni Diaries series.  It was short but an easy, light book to read. The prologue was a little confusing to me but once I got to the end of the book it all made sense. 

Drea Coppersmith coming home to a naked hockey star, Rock Stevens, on her couch was a great first met.  It’s not the only fun thing in the book though, the entire book is full of wit and hilarious dialogue.  The characters and the small town theme works perfectly for this novella.  This is the perfect book to start off the author’s new rom-com series and I look forward to the next book.

I received an ARC and am voluntarily leaving a review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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