Alex by Sawyer Bennett
Series: Cold Fury Hockey #1
Published by Loveswept
Publication Date: October 14th, 2014
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 300
Source: Publisher
Format: eARC
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New York Times bestselling author Sawyer Bennett scores big-time with the first novel in a sexy new series hot enough to melt the ice.
Hockey star Alexander Crossman has a reputation as a cold-hearted player on and off the rink. Pushed into the sport by an alcoholic father, Alex isn’t afraid to give fans the proverbial middle finger, relishing his role as the MVP they love to hate. Management, however, isn’t so amused. Now Alex has a choice: fix his public image through community service or ride the bench. But Alex refuses to be molded into the Carolina Cold Fury poster boy . . . not even by a tempting redhead with killer curves.
As a social worker, Sutton Price is accustomed to difficult people—like Alex, who’s been assigned to help her create a drug-abuse awareness program for at-risk youth as part of the team’s effort to clean up his image. What she doesn’t expect is the arrogant smirk from his perfect lips to stir her most heated fantasies. But Sutton isn’t one to cross professional boundaries—and besides, Alex doesn’t do relationships . . . or does he? The more she sees behind Alex’s bad-boy façade, the more Sutton craves the man she uncovers.
Alex Crossman is introduced to us as a phenomenal hockey player, but coldhearted on and off the ice and very much a jerk to his teammates and the fans alike. His team management is not amused by his conduct and he is given an ultimatum: fix his public image through community service or get benched. Sutton Price is the social worker he has been assigned to work with. Sutton works with addicts and despite her own history, is actually good at what she does. She isn’t fazed at all by Alex’s attitude, giving as good as she gets despite the fact that she is attracted to him.
I was excited by the premise of the story and liked that Sutton overcame her past to become a strong person, who was dedicated to helping people with addictions defeat them. I was also looking forward to seeing what changes she would bring about in Alex. She gave him a reason to fall back in love with the game of hockey and also opened his eyes to what a loving family looked like, something he never had.
I was delighted with pace of the story and the direction Alex and Sutton were going in until almost at the end when Alex’s ‘prickness’ (yep, new word from me) reared its head again and Sutton was so laidback about all that went down, almost to the point of being a doormat. At that point I totally lost my buzz and even though he redeemed himself at the end, I think Sutton was too quick to forgive him.
This is the first of Sawyer Bennett’s books that I have read and even though it was an okay read for me, I will definitely be reading more from her.
*A review copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
About Sawyer Bennett
New York Times and USA Today bestselling Author, Sawyer Bennett is a snarky southern woman and reformed trial lawyer who decided to finally start putting on paper all of the stories that were floating in her head. Her husband works for a Fortune 100 company which lets him fly all over the world while she stays at home with their daughter and three big, furry dogs who hog the bed. Sawyer would like to report she doesn’t have many weaknesses but can be bribed with a nominal amount of milk chocolate.
Sawyer is the author of several contemporary romances including the popular Off Series, the Legal Affairs Series and the Last Call Series.
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