Cocktails and Books
Written on Apr 16, 2015
Shannon's Thoughts
Toni Aleo has outdone herself with CLIPPED BY LOVE. I didn't think any character could ever surpass Shea Adler, but Jayden Sinclair did exactly that.
The second book in the Bellevue Bullies series focuses on middle Sinclair brother Jayden, as he focuses on his final year of college hockey. He's determined to be the team's captain, the lead them through to the NCAA championship and to enter high in the NHL draft. It's ambitious, but Jayden is determined to prove that he deserves to be in the NHL and to make sure his mother is taken care. What Jayden didn't plan on is Baylor Moore.
Baylor is a woman with quite a few chips on her shoulder. She's the only female hockey player in the men's collegiate league. She's good enough, to the point she's better than most of the men she plays against, but she pays the price forcing her to develop a skin that is so tough it's almost impenetrable. Then there's her belief that the only person that will ever love her is her dad. The belief is so strong that she erects a wall around her so that no one can ever get close. But when she gets to Bellevue, where her father is the new head coach, she discovers what is means to open herself up to friendship and to love.
I loved Baylor and Jayden. They reminded me of a younger Ellie and Shea. Jayden was open to a relationship with Baylor and would do just about anything to be with her, including hiding their relationship. But he was good for Baylor. He taught her how to open up, how to love and how to trust people with her heart. Baylor didn't always have faith in herself or her relationship with Jayden, but he did. He'd fight for her, even when he was so pissed at her he couldn't be with her. He knew, she was it.
Baylor was harder to warm up to, just because Toni Aleo did an awesome job of making the wall Baylor built around herself almost visible to readers. But as Jayden chipped away at Baylor, it became easier and easier to like her. When she resorted to her old self, as a reader I understood why and didn't hold it against her. In the end, I was pulling for her to step outside her comfort zone and go after what her heart wanted.
In my opinion, this is the best book Toni Aleo's written. It has all the elements that make it a Toni Aleo book, but an added emotional element to these characters that made me fall hard for them. I can't wait to see what Toni has coming next for this series.