Welcome to Destiny Falls, New York, home of Bomb Squad—an ice hockey team full of rugged military heroes. The team’s battling a losing streak, but the season’s biggest game changer is one player’s second chance with the one who got away…

Yoga instructor Marlena Brodie is always up for a challenge, and her new job of snapping Bomb Squad out of their rut is definitely that, even though it means being in close contact with Liam McAllister, her high school crush gone bad. She can feel the damage pouring off of him—but also a wild and sexy strength that calls to her.

The Army turned Liam McAllister into a man, but as a combat medic, he saw far too much to ever be whole again. He’s not interested in the civilian world beyond his job as a carpenter, but he never stopped wondering what might have been with Marlena—and it isn’t long before she’s crashed through his carefully constructed walls. He longs for a new beginning with her, but to be the man she deserves, he’ll have to step out of his defensive zone and score the most important play of his life…

I am one of those people who love a good soldier romance.  There is something sweet about someone who has gone thru so much and sacrificed for others finding their special someone.  And something even more so when it is a damaged soldier and Cutler’s series is just full of them.

Some may be put out by Marlena’s new age beliefs, and they are pretty prevalent, but I actually like her as a person.  She isn’t overly preachy and her attitude of acceptance definitely helps her deal with Liam and his issues.  But the best part is that she has some problems of her own and Liam helps her deal with those as well.  I love the give and take here – it isn’t one sided with one person doing all the helping – it is nice to see that they can support each other.

But Liam definitely has the lion’s share of troubles.  Coming home with PTSD and learning to live as a civilian again has definitely taken its toll.  He’s strong but I do like the fact that he recognizes he needs help and is willing to do what is needed.  He is a bit of a jerk though so you have to be ready for some moments when you don’t like him very much, but seeing his situation from his perspective and getting Marlena’s take on it makes him a very sympathetic character. 

While this is the second book in the series, I once again joined in the middle and didn’t have any issues – Undefeated can definitely stand on its own.  But saying that, Cutler does a fantastic job of giving her readers a great set of secondary characters between Marlena’s friends and the rest of the Bomb Squad.  And although we don’t get a ton of time with them, the appearances they do make definitely has me ready for more stories.  There are a lot of paths that Cutler can go down with these guys and I’m looking forward to seeing what she chooses.

If you are looking for a hard-hitting and emotional read, Undefeated is the perfect choice.  There are times when it got difficult to keep going but the characters grabbed me so I couldn’t stop – I had to know how they got to their HEA.