Book picks similar to
Five Hole by Ginger Sharp
do-not-read
goalies
hockey
sport-romance
Canuck
E. Cleveland - 2021
Set some time aside, because you’ll devour this book in one sitting!Canuck. What a weird name. It’s like calling someone The American. It might make sense down at Westbury, where he’s a superstar goalie for the college. In the Great White North (land of maple syrup and Tim Hortons) not so much.He’ll always be Liam Frazier to me. My best friend. The same guy who told me I looked like a tasty piece of chocolate when he tried to pick me up in grade six. That was a fail. One I still like to give him a hard time about ten years later. I still remember him, looking like a horse, with his lanky legs and crazy mullet.Now, he’s gone from colt to stallion. It’s hard not to notice all the ways he’s… filled out. His broad shoulders, cut biceps not to mention the places where I’m not supposed to look! And I don’t look. Usually.Liam is more than the amazing body he’s grown into, impressive as it is. He’s the guy who can make me laugh — even when my life is falling apart. He’s not Mr. Big Time Goalie to me, he’s my best friend. He shows up when I need him, whether it’s moving an apartment full of stuff, or trying and failing to show me up in a dance off.He’s irreplaceable.An irreplaceable friendship isn’t something you should mess up. Not by sleeping with them. Not by living with them. And definitely, 100% not by falling in love with them… so why am I doing all three?
The Instigator
Jonathon Gatehouse - 2012
Many hardcore hockey followers are convinced the commissioner is out to ruin the game this country loves.Still, when Bettman took over in 1992, the gross revenue of the National Hockey League was US$400 million. This season, the figure will be closer to $3.3 billion—an eightfold increase. If that were the only criterion by which to judge Bettman’s tenure, he’d be a business success story. But on his watch, professional hockey has expanded beyond its traditional strongholds and shown it can prosper in unlikely places—even on American networks. And the best players in the world now all ply their trade in the league that Gary built.By taming the NHL’s famously fractious owners, all but busting its players’ union, and by enforcing lawyerly discipline on everything from trash talk to Jim Balsillie’s efforts to crash the party, Bettman has become a figure of almost unrivalled power in the business of sport. His influence shapes leagues in other countries, dictates the schedule of the Olympic Winter Games, and spills onto the ice itself with innovations such as the shootout and a second referee, and with crackdowns on obstruction and headshots.In The Instigator, Jonathon Gatehouse details the unlikely ascension of a lonely New York City kid from a single-parent family who never played hockey and can barely skate to the sport’s biggest job. It examines his motivations, peels back his often aloof demeanour, and explains how a true outsider manages to lead, confound, and keep order in the game Canadians love.
Sports Illustrated: The Hockey Book
Sports Illustrated - 2010
The Hockey Book goes deep into the heart of the game, celebrating with astounding photographs and insightful words the great players and the inspiring teams, as well as an ethos-robust and selfless-that defines the sport as much in its dynamic present as it did in hockey's hardscrabble (and helmetless) past.
Quinn: The Life of a Hockey Legend
Dan Robson - 2015
Tough guys sobbed. Networks carried montages of Quinn's rugged hits, his steely-eyed glare, and his famous victories. Quinn made a few enemies over the years, but there was no one who didn't respect the tough working-class kid who had fought his way to the very top of the hockey world. He had butted heads with superstars, with management, and with the league itself. And he had also succeeded at every level, finishing his journeyman's career as the captain of an NHL team, then quickly emerged as one of the best coaches in the league. He gathered executive titles like hockey cards, and done things his own way, picking up a law degree along the way. He was brash, dour, and abrasive--and people loved him for his alloy of pugnacity and flair, his three-piece suits and cigars, his Churchillian heft and his scowl. In the end, the player who would never even have dreamed of being inducted into the Hall of Fame was the chair of the Hall's selection committee. That is Quinn's story: an underdog who succeeded so completely that his legacy has become the standard by which others are judged. Told by bestselling author Dan Robson, and supported by the Quinn family and network of friends, Quinn is the definitive account of one of the game's biggest personalities and most storied lives.
Blue is the Color
Julia Wolf - 2020
Dalia Brenner dislikes him instantly, but she's stuck sleeping three feet away from him all summer on his tour bus.Dalia has plans for her life once this tour is over, and none of them involve being a rock star's girlfriend. Too bad Nick Fletcher disagrees.Watch Me UnravelA second chance romanceDavid Wiesel lives for making music, partying, and women. Sylvia Price lives for her daughter, theater, and teaching.One drunken night when they were teenagers left them irrevocably bound. Fifteen years later, an accident brings them back together and there is no denying the heat that scorched them when they were young is still there, sparking between them.While David is more than willing to stoke those flames, Sylvia is afraid this time, the fire will burn her right to the ground.Such Great HeightsA forbidden friends-to-lovers romanceTo Jasper, Malka is his best friend's on-again, off-again girlfriend. To Malka, Jasper is the squeaky clean bassist in her ex's band.One night fueled by grief and alcohol changes it all. They finally see each other for who they really are and a connection is uncovered between them that can't be denied.Even though it should be, since not denying it could destroy everything.Under the BridgeA quirky slow burn romanceWhen Ian rescues his new next door neighbor, Valentina, he becomes her hero, a title he doesn’t want. The girl, though? He can’t seem to stop wanting her, even though the last thing he’s looking for is a relationship.The trouble is, Valentina is seeking adventure, and the tall, tattooed drummer next door looks like the exact type of adventure she’s been waiting for.
The Elin Hilderbrand Collection, Vol. 1: The Beach Club / Summer People / The Love Season
Elin Hilderbrand - 2014
This summer his secrets can't stay hidden. Love O'Donnell, a glamorous Aspen native, takes a job at the Beach Club to implement her life plan--to find a man to get her pregnant. Vance Robbins has his African-American pride and festering resentments. This season, a gun and a woman offer him a chance to get even with the man he hates most. Cecily Elliott, the owner's daughter, wild and beautiful at eighteen, is about to do something to break her parents' hearts. And Lacey Gardner, the Grande Dame of the Beach Club for forty-five years, knows about desperate desire--and about the storm coming that will change everything.SUMMER PEOPLEWhen Arch Newton, a prominent New York attorney, dies in a plane crash on his way home from a business trip, his beautiful widow, Beth, can barely keep things together. Still, she decides that she must continue the family tradition of going to Nantucket--and fulfill a promise that Arch made before he died. So Beth invites Marcus, the son of Arch's final and most challenging client, to spend the summer with her and her teenage twins, Winnie and Garrett. Always a place of peace before Arch's death, Nantucket becomes the scene of roiling emotions and turbulent passions as Marcus, Winnie, and Garrett learn about loss, first love, and betrayal. And when they stumble upon a shocking secret from Beth's past, they must keep it from destroying the family they've been trying so hard to heal.LOVE SEASONMarguerite Beale, former chef of culinary hot spot Les Parapluies, has been out of the public eye for over a decade. This all changes with a phone call from Marguerite's goddaughter, Renata Knox. Marguerite has not seen Renata since the death of Renata's mother, Candace Harris Knox, fourteen years earlier. And now that Renata is on Nantucket visiting the family of her new fiancé, she takes the opportunity, against her father's wishes, to contact Marguerite in hopes of learning the story of her mother's life--and death. But the events of the day spiral hopelessly out of control for both women, and nothing ends up as planned.
Bitter Edge
Ariana Rose - 2020
Were they things I even wanted anymore?Spencer Broten was a pain in my backside from the moment we met.I was conned into going on a road trip with him.Within hours, I realized he wasn't just my trainer. He was much more.This unnamed, unplanned winding road turned into us getting to know each other as we truly were.Two broken bodies, two broken souls finding out we were more the same than different.The line between hate and love is a bitter edge.Outside or inside.Where will we land?
Breakaway
Catherine Gayle - 2013
He can’t lose focus now—not with his career on the line. But when his best friend’s little sister makes him an offer he can’t refuse, Eric could lose the drive the team relies on from their captain.Still in a downward spiral after a life-altering event in college, Dana Campbell is desperate to try anything to break away from the horror of that fateful night—even enlisting the help of the only man she trusts completely.No matter how irresistible she is or how tempting the offer, Eric might not be able to cross that line—especially with the team’s chance at the playoffs on the line. Now, Eric has to take one last shot, but will he choose Dana’s Breakaway chance at happiness or the move that could secure his career?
Gates of Paradise, Seeds of Yesterday, & If There Be Thorns
V.C. Andrews - 1989
Breakout
Stephanie Kay - 2017
At least that’s the plan. Six months ago, her world imploded when she walked in on her fiancé with another woman. After calling off her wedding, she spent a week acting completely out of character in the Tuscan countryside with a scorchingly hot man. They didn’t even exchange last names. Ethan Hartnell has grudgingly returned home. He's got an image to fix after being traded to the San Francisco Strikers, due to some questionable behavior. He plans to keep his nose to the ice, focusing on the career he loves. Everything is going according to plan, until he walks into a friend’s bar and sees her. She’d left him in her bed in Italy, with a note, and run. Which is exactly what she does when they see each other again. It should be a sign. So why does he keep chasing her? This is an 83,000 novel with a HEA and NO cliffhanger! Only for readers 18+. This series is connected with the Love by the Bay series, but each book can be read as a standalone.
An Unexpected Christmas
Shannon Richard - 2018
Thanks to her famous A-list actor boyfriend cheating on her! Now that her photo is splashed all over TV, the internet, and tabloids her number one goal is to get away. She heads to her family’s cabin to be alone, but there’s another occupant when she arrives: none other than the frustratingly sexy Jace Kilpatrick… the man she’s been avoiding falling in love with for the past six years.Jace Kilpatrick has never been the biggest holiday guy, and after three months of the NHL being on lockout, celebrating is low on his priority list. Getting the keys to his best friend’s family cabin was supposed to be about being alone. But those plans are foiled by Adele James who brings the mother of all snowstorms with her. Adele is gorgeous, funny, and fiery, but she’s also his best friend’s sister, aka, completely off limits. But when the cabin loses power in the middle of the storm, Jace forgets the rules and spends the Christmas days and nights with Adele wrapped in his arms. Once the snow thaws, they’ll call things off, no harm, no foul… if they can agree to keep their hearts out of the equation.
Exes and Goals
Heather C. Myers - 2017
She has one.Harper Crawford is a big fan of the Newport Beach Seagulls, despite their abysmal previous season. It's been a year since Ken Brown's murder and Seraphina Hanson, Ken's youngest granddaughter, just survived her first year as the new owner and manager of the national hockey team. Barely. The last year was dismal to the point where Seraphina is making drastic changes. Like hiring Harper as their official blogger. Harper gets to travel with the team, write character pieces, critiques, game summaries, and the like. It's her dream job.Another change? Putting together practically a new team, including Zachary Ryan, first line center. At six foot four and two hundred and twenty pounds, he is tall, dark blond, and solid muscle. He's arrogant and direct and the minute he sees Harper at Taboo nightclub during a team bonding session dressed in a plaid shirt and converse sneakers, he has to get to know her better.Except there's a problem from her past that won't go away. Harper has an ex that won't stay in her past - where he belongs. He starts showing up at her place, reminding her of all the wrong choices she made, bringing up things she wants nothing more than to forget. When Zachary gets involved, things get heated and his notorious temper flares.Harper doesn't want to get involved with a hockey player - especially with an overzealous ex who won't leave her alone - but Zachary plans to change her mind. No matter what the cost.
Protected by the Alien Space Pirate
Charmaine Ross - 2020
One stolen human female.Being a space pirate doesn’t make a being rich, which was why Rhilax was dealing with the biggest crime lord in the ten quadrants against his better judgment. He doesn’t know much about the job on offer, but he knows it’ll pay for food and supplies for himself and his brothers. Maybe enough to find a nice, quiet planet somewhere, forget about a life of smuggling and finally settle down.He’s certainly not prepared when a female slave, none the likes he’d seen before, is led naked, chained and helpless to be his fated mate. He definitely wasn’t prepared when he obliterates his dream, along with the crime lord’s head, kidnaps the female and makes a target of himself and his brothers - The crime lord has a brother and the brother wants them all dead.When their ship is destroyed, Rhilax and his brothers are blown into the far reaches of the known universe. To make matters worse, the escape pod is wrecked and his fated mate has escaped. Rhilax must find her before the crime lord’s thugs, or the unknown creatures on this planet, and complete the bond before his mind is lost to the mating urge.She can’t remember her name. Or her life before the cages. Maybe it’s better not knowing. Being trapped in a cage and grieving a beautiful life would be the worst kind of torture. She’s good at zoning out, but it gets harder and harder to disregard the massive blue-skinned alien who tells her he is her fated mate, whatever that is. All she knows is if she doesn’t get away from him, she might never be free again.If you like impossible odds, wilderness planets, sexy alpha blue-skinned aliens and the tension of fated mates, you’ll love Protected by the Alien Space Pirate.
This Is Russia: Life in the KHL—Doctors, Bazas and Millions of Air Miles
Bernd Brückler - 2013
In his memoir, he tells us what it's like to be an import player in Russia, and the challenges he faced with the language, the culture, and the game.He tells stories about life at the "baza," a training base, and how they'd have to spend big parts of the season away from their families. (Unless they sneak out). His driver was also his buddy and a bodyguard. There's the travel, with hours upon hours on planes that are often antiquated, and there are the teammates, the doctors, the pills, the training camps, the saunas, and the money, oh, the money."What an awesome book. If you're a hockey fan, you will love it."—Thomas Vanek, New York Islanders"This is Russia... offers a fascinating first-person look at life in the KHL for a foreigner."—Chris Johnston, Sportsnet, Canada"It's been a long time since I have thoroughly enjoyed a book so much."—Michael Lorber, sports journalist, Kleine Zeitung, Austria
Breakout Play
Rebel Hart - 2020
I had my future mapped out… until a knee injury changed all my plans.My life was on the ice but the future I’d been dreaming of was stolen from me.It took me a long time to get over it. Now I live in my old house, under my parent’s roof. It’s not every girl’s dream, that’s for sure. But things could be worse, right?Cue William Hughes, the ruggedly good looking newest player on the Chicago Blackhawks team.He’s my older brother’s best friend… and my new enemy.Having William around is a thorn in my side. He’s going to be on the road a lot playing a sport that I can’t stomach watching because it reminds me of what I lost.Until that thorn turns into something else…Yeah. I’m doomed.