
Just Don’t Call It Love
Bayou Blades series
by Erin Nicholas
Blurb:
Welcome to Rebel, Louisianaโwhere the humidity feels personal, even the otters hold grudges, and chaos is a competitive sport.
I used to play hockey in sold-out arenas. Now my wrecked knee and I are stuck in a little bayou town thatโs been mad at me for a year. I need a big comebackโand ZERO drama.
So first thing, I get tackled at the airport by a sunshiny woman in yellow overalls whoโs thwarting my kidnappingโฆ by her grandpas.
Thatโs Nora DelauneโParks & Rec director, caffeine-powered menace, and the only person in Rebel willing to give me a chance. She needs me to win games and help save the townโs ice arena before it gets turned into a laser-tag nightmare.
And Iโฆ kind of like being needed by her. Even when sheโs producing a singing, dancing, wig-wearing ice extravaganza that is definitely not hockey.
Then my sisterโthe teamโs new ownerโdrops the bomb: if Nora and I โdate,โ the town might stop hating me.
Fine. Weโll fake it. As long as we donโt call it love.
But between late-night practices, the sugar-addicted swamp-werewolf mascot, otter drama, and the way Nora looks at me like Iโm worth rooting forโฆIโm in trouble.
I came to Rebel to rebuild my career.
I didnโt expect to lose my heart doing it.
๐ ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฟ๐ค๐ฃโ๐ฉ ๐พ๐๐ก๐ก ๐๐ฉ ๐๐ค๐ซ๐ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ต, ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด, ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ-๐ฐ๐ง-๐ฉ๐ช๐ซ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐จ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐บ-๐ด๐ถ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ, ๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐จ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐บ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐จ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ!
Available in KU
*****
Review:
This was such a fun read. Nicholas’s books are always full of humor and quirkiness and small town eccentricities. Throw in a hockey game based off of the zaniness of Banana Ball and it’s a win for me! Readers will need to be OK with what is basically insta-love because the whole book is about a week long ๐ But that doesn’t keep it from being an enjoyable reader.
Nora is very dedicated to her hometown and she has her reasons for wanting to keep everyone happy & to stay in Rebel. It’s complicated but born of love and is handled in a way that totally works. Alex has his own troubles. He’s basically only ever been wanted or needed because of hockey. Finding himself cut from his team leaves him struggling. But time spent with Nora and the rest of the citizens in Rebel has him looking at life a little differently.
From the the very first page, I was hooked. Goofiness mixed with heart is a hallmark of Nicholas’s stories and she brings it in spades. Returning readers will recognize some of their favorite characters but there’s lots of new ones to fall in love with too. From Otter Club to bonkers hockey, Just Don’t Call It Love is all rom-commy fun with a HEA and a glimpse of what’s to come.
*****
Author Info:
Erin Nicholas is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over sixty sexy contemporary romances and rom coms. Her stories have been described as toe-curling, enchanting, steamy, and fun. She loves to write about reluctant heroes, imperfect heroines and happily ever afters. She lives in the Midwest with her husband who only wants to read the sex scenes in her books, her kids who will never read the sex scenes in her books, and family and friends who say theyโre shocked by the sex scenes in her books (yeah, right!).