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Tag Archives: Chicago Players series

Review – Rebel Bride

23 Thursday Oct 2025

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour, Book Review

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Book Review, Chicago Players series, Kate Meader, Rebel Bride

Rebel Bride

Chicago Players #2

by Kate Meader

Blurb:

She’s just jilted my teammate at the altar and I’m the one who helped her escape. We never hit it off, but I’ll still keep her safe … and pray she never learns how I really feel about her.

SUMMER

I can’t marry him.

I have no good reason to jilt my hockey player fiancé, except that the closer we get to the big day, the more I feel myself shrinking to a hollow shell. Two minutes after I slip into the church bathroom to calm my pre-wedding jitters, I jump out the window to make my escape …

… and land on Hatch Kershaw, my fiancé’s teammate on the Chicago Rebels. 

This guy has always hated me for reasons I can’t fathom. Half the time he looks right through me, like I’m no better than the ice shavings on his skate blade. The other half?  That brooding green gaze strips me bare and sees right into my soul.

Neither option is good for me, so I really shouldn’t want his help … should I?

HATCH

The bride hit me like a ton of bricks.

The last thing I expected was for my teammate’s bride to ask for my help in fleeing her wedding. Make that the second last—even more unexpected is that I said “yes.” Before I know it, I’ve driven her to my family’s vacation home because I’m a nice guy and she needs to catch her breath. 

Only now, I can’t breathe around her.

Summer Landry and I have never hit it off, so why the hell am I going along with this madness? Every stolen glance and accidental touch tell me she’s off-limits, while each torturous second with her in our lakeside hideaway has me questioning everything I thought I knew about who she is and what she’s hiding.

No one can know what I did—not my teammate, not my family, not the media—or all hell will break loose. Most of all, Summer can never know why I dislike her so much. 

Because if she did, I might never recover.

Buy Link:

https://geni.us/rebel-bride

*****

Review:

**slight spoilers ahead**

Oh goodness did I love Hatch and Summer together. Granted I got seriously frustrated with both of them – Hatch for his impatience and Summer for her habit of running away – but I embraced the angst and just went with it 🙂 Meader brings the cheese, the banter, the heat, and the heartbreak.

I felt for Hatch and having to hide his feelings and being conflicted about what to do now. I also felt for Summer and how easily she found herself swept away, losing bits of herself along the way, in her relationship with Dash. (And I love love love that Meader had her take that back for herself.)

I’m enjoying this series, and Meader’s writing, so much and as with Sweet Thing there’s a cliff-hangerish moment at the end for the next story that I am definitely here for!

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Review – Sweet Thing

17 Thursday Jul 2025

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour, Book Review

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Book Review, Chicago Players series, Kate Meader, Sweet Thing

Sweet Thing

Chicago Players #1

by Kate Meader

Blurb:

My dad’s teammate needs a nanny and I need a job. Sounds perfect, right? Except for my massive crush on him … the one he knows all about.

LARS

I just found out I’m a dad.

My one-night stand dropped a baby bombshell in my local bar where I was celebrating my team’s win. Then she fled, leaving me holding my new daughter.

Thank God for Adeline. The daughter of my teammate and closest friend on the Chicago Rebels, she practically raised her little sister and knows exactly how to deal with this situation. I need a nanny; she needs a job. Problem sorted, right?

Not so fast …

ADELINE

I think you’re the sexiest guy alive.

That’s what Lars Nyquist overheard me say while recounting my embarrassing crush on him. Yeah, that Lars Nyquist. Defenseman for the Chicago Rebels. Owner of the thickest thighs in the league. More than a decade my senior. Oh, and my dad’s teammate.

My only option? Leave the country, of course. Luckily, I’d already planned a round-the-world trip with my bestie and by the time I returned to Chicago a year later, I expected my blunder would be long forgotten. Shows what I know. Now I’m lying awake in the bedroom next to his while playing nanny to his surprise little girl. But I can ignore this stupid infatuation. I have to. Even though the sight of Lars learning to be a dad leaves me breathless and takes that crush to a whole other level.

One that has the potential to break my sorry little heart …

Sweet Thing is the first book in the brand new Chicago Players hockey series from Kate Meader, the USA Today bestselling author of the Chicago Rebels and Rookie Rebels series.

https://geni.us/sweet-thing

*****

Review:

I’m a little conflicted about this one. I liked the slow burn and the characters are interesting, with their hangups and troubles (although I do wish both of them had gotten some professional help). Plus his daughter, and the relationship he develops with her, is just the absolute cutest. I also like the idea of Addy and Lars together, the way they are brought together and even the way things are resolved between them. It is a little predictable but aren’t most romances 🙂

I did find the age gap a little much for me, just a personal preference when its anything over 10 years and one of them is that young. It helps that Addy is a bit of an old soul so most of the time I didn’t even really think about it unless they brought it up. Some others found issue with the friendship between her dad and Lars but it didn’t really bug me all that much. I found their relationship kinda fatherly anyway.

Overall I liked these two together, loved little Mabel, and enjoyed them figuring out a way to a HEA. There are some hints leading to future books, including a cliff-hangerish moment in the epilogue. I’m definitely intrigued and excited to see where Meader is going to take things.

(There’s a lot of characters that returning readers will know but I got a little jumbled for me as a newbie. But the romance itself will stand on its own.)

*****

Author Info:

Originally from Ireland, USA Today bestselling author Kate Meader cut her romance reader teeth on Maeve Binchy and Jilly Cooper novels, with some Harlequins thrown in for variety. Give her tales about brooding mill owners, oversexed equestrians, and men who can rock an apron, a fire hose, or a hockey stick, and she’s there. Now based in Chicago, she writes sexy contemporary romance with big-hearted guys and strong heroines – and heroes – who can match their men quip for quip..

Connect with Kate Meader:

https://www.katemeader.com/links

~

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FTC Disclaimer - see bottom of page for complete statement, but please be aware that in many cases I am provided a book to read. However my opinions are my own & no guarantee of positive review is given by any party.

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"Like everything else in the Rosewood River series, I enjoyed the heck out of this one." Full review at romanticread.com 🔥COVER REVEAL & PRE-ORDER ANNOUNCEMENT🔥 "From their Hallmark Channel worthy meet-cute to Holly finally finding herself, it’s just so sweet." Full review at romanticread.com "So emotional and with characters that captured me from the first page." Full review at romanticread.com "Loved, loved, loved me some Travis" Full review at romanticread.com Coming soon - REBOUND CONTROL by @jodioliverauthor releasing January 9th! "There’s a reason Piper Rayne is on my must read list and it shows from start to finish here. So much of the feels (heartache and sweet moments alike), steaminess, humor, and love from family, both born & found." Full review at romanticread.com "I just loved the two of them together – the way they kind of accidentally slide into a relationship, complete with teenagers, pets, and a fixer-upper house is just priceless." Full review at romanticread.com "While this the first in this series I’ve read (and this author for that matter), I really enjoyed myself ... their courtship and HEA made me happy." Full review at romanticread.com

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FTC Disclaimer

I have received ARCs of books free from NetGalley (and many moons ago from BookTrib.com) to review but the majority of the stories are either bought by me or provided for free from the publisher, author, or PR company. The opinions I share are my own and in no way are influenced by an author or publisher. There is no promise of a positive review by any party and there is no additional compensation. Unless otherwise noted, I am not affiliated with any contest or other event mentioned on this blog and I do not receive a paid endorsement for any post.

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