Review: Gauging the Player

Gauging the Player by G.K. Brady
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am not a hockey fan, but thanks to authors like Avery Flynn and Helena Hunting, I have become a fan of the hockey romance over the past year or so. With that in mind, I picked up "Gauging the Player" by G.K. Brady, which turned out to be an enjoyable addition to the genre. The main characters were quite likeable and well-developed, and I couldn't help but empathize with what both of them were going through. The male lead, Gage, seemed pretty straitlaced for a pro athlete, possibly because he was trying to live up to the "perfect" image his family had of him. He didn't really date, choosing instead to focus on his family, hockey, and charity work. Overall, he seemed like a genuinely caring man, but even so, I can understand why the female lead, Lily, was hesitant to get involved with him at first. In addition to her grief following the death of her husband, Jack, the prospect of a partner whose career involved traveling for so much of the year would be daunting for any number of reasons.

Lily seemed like a sweet, genuine person as well, but I have to admit that I was a bit annoyed with her at times because of the way she seemed to treat Gage as nothing more than a booty call or friend with benefits. Gage was very good to both her and her daughter, Daisy, and deserved a lot more consideration than she sometimes gave him. Gage was very patient with her, however, and at least the reasons for her behavior were understandable.

While Gage and Lily's story was mostly a standalone, characters from the first two books in this series made a number of appearances along the way. I haven't read the earlier books yet, and unfortunately felt a bit lost regarding how some of the characters were connected to each other. At least one of them was Gage's teammate, but it wasn't entirely clear how he knew the others at first. Perhaps the author could have provided that background when these characters were first introduced to Lily, who was new to the group, so that readers (like me) who are new to the series wouldn't feel quite so lost or confused.

At any rate, I did enjoy this book and would recommend it for all fans of sports romances. I will plan to check out the next book in the series featuring Gage's sister Sarah.

*ARC provided by the author/publisher via Hidden Gems Books. All opinions expressed are my own.

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