Book 1 in the Vancouver Storm series
Reviewed by CJ | Rating: 4/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥 📖
⚠️ This is a full spoiler review. If you haven’t read Behind the Net yet — go read it first. We’ll be here when you’re done.
OPENING HOOK
Grumpy hockey player. Sunshine high school-crush-turned-assistant. A closed-off guy who communicates in one word at a time and a girl who’s spent years being told she’s not enough. Behind the Net kicks off one of my favorite hockey romance series, and even on a reread, I’d say it holds up.
THE FULL STORY — SPOILERS INCLUDED
Jamie Streicher plays for the Vancouver Storm having just moved back home to be closer to his mom, who deals with severe anxiety after losing her husband to a drunk driver when Jamie was younger. He needs an assistant to help him juggle hockey and taking care of her, but the person who shows up at his door is Pippa Hartley. His high school crush. Two years younger than him, but yeah. He definitely noticed her back then. He just doesn’t know that she also noticed him 😉
Pippa’s not in a great place. She dated her friend Zach as high school was ending, and he went on to have some success in music by using her as his songwriting machine the whole time, never giving her credit or enough confidence to stand up for herself. He told her she’d never make it and dumped her as she was supposed to be boarding a plane for his tour, as spectacularly and humiliatingly as possible. So by the time she’s standing in Jamie’s doorway, she’s got zero self-esteem and parents who love her but are pushing her toward a “safe” accounting job because money was always tight growing up and a career in music is too uncertain.
Jamie tries to send her packing at first, and Pippa, to her credit, eventually snaps and tells him to quit being an asshole. That’s pretty much the moment things shift for our plot. She becomes his PA, and they end up living together because her apartment’s a safety hazard of a disaster, and it’s forced proximity done right with closed-off hockey guy, sunshine songwriter, both of them slowly learning to rely on each other. He calls her “songbird” for most of the book once they get close, and come on, that’s adorable.
The real heart of it is Pippa learning to believe in her own talent again, with Jamie standing behind her the whole way supporting her instead of trying to fix her. He doesn’t push her into anything but he keeps showing her what he sees until she starts seeing it too. By the end she’s ready to actually take a shot at music instead of playing it safe.
BEST PART OF THIS BOOK
Pippa’s confidence growing. Watching someone claw their way back to standing tall and believing in themselves after an ex spent years grinding them down — that’s special. Especially when it comes to performing in front of a crowd.
WORST PART OF THIS BOOK
Zach. Easy to hate for a lot of reasons, but the worst part isn’t even that he dumped her like an asshole, it’s that he came back and tried to weasel his way back into her life when he saw her confidence with Jamie. He’s an asshole.
THE STEAM RATING BREAKDOWN
- Yes, sex scenes — multiple open-door, explicit scenes
- Romance is central to the plot, not a side note
- Content warning: references to past emotional manipulation/control in a previous relationship
THE ENDING — SATISFIED OR DISAPPOINTED?
Satisfied. Great ending, and it sets up a supporting cast that will eventually get their own books.
WOULD WE REREAD IT?
Yes. I already have, more than once.
THE CHARACTER WE LOVED TO HATE
Zach. I hate that guy and his stupid clothes.
A MOMENT THAT STOOD OUT
No single standout scene, but Pippa’s dad fully fangirling over the hockey guys was pretty great. My dad would have been exactly the same so it hit made my heart happy.
WHO IS THIS FOR
Any romance reader, honestly. You don’t need to care about hockey for this one to work because the story holds up outside the sport completely.
WHERE TO GET THIS BOOK
📖 Physical Book
Amazon CA | Amazon US | Bookshop.org
🎧 Audiobook
Audible CA | Audible US
🎁 New to Audible? Get 3 months free (US)
🎁 New to Libro.fm? Get 2 free audiobooks
📚 More from the Vancouver Storm series
Book 1 — Behind the Net | Reviewed by CJ | ⭐ 4/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥 — you’re reading it!
Book 2 — The Fake Out | Reviewed by CJ | ⭐ 4.5/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥| Read the Review
Book 3 — The Wingman | Reviewed by CJ | ⭐ 5/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥| Read the Review
Book 4 — Gloves Off | Reviewed by CJ | ⭐ 3.5/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥| Coming Soon
Book 5 — The Wild Card | Reviewed by CJ | ⭐ 4.5/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥| Coming Soon
MORE FROM THIS REVIEWER
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Plot Twisted. 🔥
📖 | Series: Vancouver Storm Book 1 | Genre: Sports Romance | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
TAGS: Hockey Romance, Sports Romance, Second Chance Romance, Grumpy Sunshine, Forced Proximity, Stephanie Archer, Vancouver Storm Series, Book Review, Spoiler Review, Romance Books