Release Blitz + Review: "Change on the Fly" by Maren Moore

I'm happy to participate in the release/review blitz promoting "Change on the Fly" by Maren Moore, book #1 of the Totally Pucked series. Characters from Moore's last book, "The Newspaper Nanny," also appear in this one, but it reads as a standalone.

 

NHL star Reed Davidson hadn't spoken with his father in years, so he was shocked to receive a phone call from him in the middle of the night. The news wasn't good: Reed's younger half-sister Amelia and her husband had been killed, leaving behind a 3-year-old son, Evan. Reed's terminally ill father was unable to care for Evan, so he asked Reed to step in so that the boy wouldn't be placed in foster care. Despite having no idea that his nephew existed a few hours earlier, his conscience wouldn't allow him to say no, so he brought Evan home to Chicago with him. In desperate need of help with Evan but unable to reach his mother or sister Emery, Reed called Holland Parker, Emery's best friend. Evan seemed to connect with Holland, so Reed decided to offer her a job traveling with him to away games to care for Evan until the end of the hockey season. In exchange, he offered to provide care for Holland's father, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, as well as a substantial salary that would allow her to make some desperately needed repairs to her father's house.

 

Holland had been nursing a secret crush on Reed since she was a kid, but never acted on it because of a promise she made Emery when they were in middle school. As for Reed, while he may have noticed Holland as more than just his sister's friend a few times over the years, he always knew she was off limits. However, in the close confines of their hotel suites, their feelings for each other grew, and it wasn't long before they became friends with benefits. The arrangement was only supposed to last until the end of the season, and neither was supposed to catch feelings, but that proved to be easier said than done. 

I really liked Reed and Holland as a couple, as well as Reed's efforts to learn how to be a good parent to Evan. However, there were a number of timeline inconsistencies and other things that bothered me as I read. For example, if Reed's dad left 20 years ago (when he was 8), how did he have enough time to get remarried and have another daughter (Amelia) who was already old enough to be married and have a 3-year-old son of her own by the time this story began? Was he cheating on Reed's mom before he left and Amelia was already born? Or did Amelia have Evan when she was a teenager? It may be a relatively minor point, but I never could figure out the math.

Overall, I liked "Change on the Fly" and would recommend it for all fans of contemporary/sports romance and romantic comedy. That said, the various inconsistencies took me out of the story at times and it was tough to get past some of them. On balance, the good outweighed the bad, and I’m looking forward to continuing the series.

 

*Review copy provided by the author/publisher via Wildfire Marketing Solutions. All opinions expressed are my own.

 

 

About "Change on the Fly"

Imagine being in love with your best friend's brother.

Then.. keeping it a secret for years.

Ridiculously charming, a total player and a hockey super star... Reed Davidson has been the boy next door who's had my heart for as long as I can remember.

He was the ultimate bad boy, and I was just his sister’s shy best friend.

But when Reed's world is suddenly flipped upside down and he gets custody of his nephew, I'm the only one who can help.

I shouldn’t have agreed to come on the road with them, but Reed wasn’t cut out to be a single dad and I knew he needed help.

I tried to hide my feelings for him, but the two of us, the cutest kid on the planet, and a long hockey season were a recipe for disaster.

Reed was used to getting everything he ever wanted, and this time... He wanted me.

Only now, the stakes are higher and my heart is the one on the line.