Off the Ice (Juniper Falls, #3)

by Julie Cross

Next season was supposed to be his year. Junior Tate Tanley had big plans to ride the varsity bench most of the season, but when the Otters star goalie storms out of the arena during the first home game of the season, Tate is in the spotlight and under the gun.

Enter Claire O'Connor, the girl Tate's admired for years, his sister's best friend. Claire's back from a year away at school to take care of her father and help keep the family business-a hockey bar beside the ice rink-afloat. One semester off, that's what Claire promised herself.

And then straight back to school, out of Juniper Falls. And she has dozens of reasons for wanting to get the hell out. Again.

Last year, the night before Claire left, she came to Tate's rescue and what could have been a secret that distanced them ended up drawing them closer the moment she returned to town. For Claire and Tate, leaning on each other feels as natural as breathing but with Claire trying her best to leave again and Tate more rooted to his town than ever, it seems like the worst time to fall in love. Assuming either of them can stop it from happening.

• ISBN10: 1633756556
• ISBN13: 9781633756557
• Publish Date: 28 February 2017 (first published 5 January 2016)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Entangled Publishing, LLC
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 370
• Language: English

Reviews

[Rowena]

Tate and Claire grew up together in the small town of Juniper Falls. Claire is Tate’s older sisters best friend and she’s been away at college. When her father gets really sick, she returns to town a lot sooner than she thought to help out at the family business. She’s not expecting for so much to change. From her to her best friend’s younger brother, Tate. Sure he’s only a year younger than her but seeing him now, he’s grown up. He got muscles and he got taller and he got hot. Claire wasn’t expecting to start liking him but well…it happens.

Tate has always felt something for Claire. He’s always had a soft spot for her so when he breaks up with his girlfriend, he wants to move right on to Claire. It’s not easy but nothing in Tate’s life has ever been easy. He’s got an abusive father, a mother who married the town exterminator and he’s never felt more alone at home. He carries the truth about his father’s abuse to himself because …I don’t know why, it’s probably a teenage boy thing but I never really understood why he kept it to himself. He’s got a lot going on and I enjoyed seeing his character grow over the course of the book.

I haven’t read very many books by Julie Cross so I can’t really tell if this is more of the same that you’d get from her but this was an enjoyable book. The characters felt real and their problems were familiar and real so I appreciated that but as much as I enjoyed it, I wanted more from both Tate and Claire.

I wanted Claire to be above the rumors in the small town. I wanted her to not be so caught up in what everyone was saying and live her life the way that she wanted to live it. I thought it took her too long to come around. The longer she kept Tate at arms length because of what she thought everyone was saying, the more I wanted to pull her hair and slap some sense into her.

Tate was another story. I wanted him to be smarter. I wanted him to open up to someone other than Claire far sooner than he did but I’m glad that it ended the way that it did because there was major growth in his character in the end. I was happy with the way that he really came into his own by the end and he was the guy that I hoped he would be when I first met him.

I’m assuming the next book will either be Leo’s book or Jamie’s. I’m down for either one. All in all, this was a good book that I had some issues with but not enough that my enjoyment of the book was ruined.

3.75 out of 5

[Kim Deister]

When I was offered the chance to read the ARC of this by Entangled Publishing, I jumped at it! I'm all about any book that features hockey at any level of the game. And it is a book that yanked me in from the very first page.

There is a lot to love about the story in Off the Ice. The characters are well-developed and feel like real people. Tate is a goalie on his high school team, thrust into the limelight when the star goalie is suddenly ostracized by most of the town. He loves the game, but it comes with baggage for him and he just isn't sure where he fits anymore. Claire is a year older than Tate, taking a break from college to put her family first during a crisis. She has baggage of her own and there are days when she just doesn't know which end is up.

These are characters that are thrust into adulthood too soon, dealing with issues that they shouldn't have to. And while my heart bleeds for their characters, I can't help but appreciate that they are characters that act with maturity and strength. Their stories aren't all light and happy, but they are real, with all of the emotions that go along with real life. They were both characters that I understood and related to. And most of all, I loved that their romance wasn't the stuff of fairy tales. It had more than its fair share of angst and issues. In other words, it was real

Overall: I didn't want this book to end. I loved it. I loved the story. I loved the romance. I loved the issues and conflicts and that they had the undeniable ring of truth. This was my first book by author Julie Cross, but it won't be my last

[Sam@WLABB]

Rating: 3.75 stars

Claire decided to take a semester off from college and return home to help with the family business during her father's illness. Her world was put in a state of flux, as she struggled with the bills, her father's health issues, and her prolonged absence from university. Right when she thought she was hitting rock bottom, her best friend's little brother, Tate, came back into her life, and unexpectedly gave her a lifeline and more.

"When and how did you become..." I wave a hand dramatically in front of him. "This?"
"What?" He glances down and tugs not he front of his hunter-green thermal beneath his unzipped jacket. "Someone who wears earth tones?"
"No! Th-that," I sputter, blowing hair off my face, "tall and ...not skinny..And the voice.."

I am always up for a good sports romance, and I liked this small town setting, as small towns bring a certain element to the story on their own. As expected, Juniper Falls gave me what I expected from the setting: the gossip, the backlash, the familiarity, the neighborliness, the history, and family ties to the town. I especially liked the hockey family dynasty aspects and how far back the characters went with each other.

These guys don't have the right to suddenly take notice of Claire when I've seen her, admired her for years.

Both Claire and Tate were dealing with a lot of personal issues. Claire had the responsibility of her family's entire existence and her uncertain future weighing her down, while Tate was grappling with his new position as starting goalie and the damaging secrets he was trying to keep hidden. These two sort of broken people were able to lift each other up. They supported each other, they gave of themselves to each other, and I was pretty sold on this romance. This was a healthy romance. These two were honest with each other, they had open conversations, they knew when to push and when to back off, and they never asked the other one to sacrifice something they loved for the sake of the other. And the history! I love when there is history between characters, and these went a loooooong ways back.

What is this thing that Claire and I are doing? It's painful and messy but also exhilarating, like seeing colors for the first time.

But do you know what I loved even more than Tate and Clair together? Tate, Jamie, and Leo together. The relationship between them was pretty brotastic, and I really enjoyed seeing male characters sharing their feelings. There are definitely more stories to tell in this town, and I care enough about these auxiliary characters to want them.

This bridge between Tate and me somehow emerged in the midst of everything falling apart.

Overall: a heartwarming sports romance, which has left me wanting more Juniper Falls stories.

**I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book

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