Van (Cold Fury Hockey, #9)

by Sawyer Bennett

Graham Halstead (Narrator) and Cris Dukehart (Narrator)

USA TODAY BESTSELLER • Score one for the Carolina Cold Fury hockey team as a stone-cold badass melts for a woman who makes his blood run hot.

As one of the league’s toughest enforcers, Van Turner is ruthless on the ice. He plays hard because it’s the only way to channel the rage boiling inside, and a reputation as an A-hole is better than everyone knowing the truth. Van has spent his entire life running from a secret that’s kept him from getting involved in relationships—or accepting lucrative deals with East Coast teams. Then the Carolina Cold Fury makes him an offer he can’t refuse . . . and Van meets a woman he can’t resist.

Simone Fournier is the stubborn one in her family—and that’s saying something, considering her brothers are two of the Cold Fury’s biggest stars. Simone gets what she wants, and what she wants is Van. Still, there’s a part of him Simone can’t reach, no matter how hard she tries. In private, he’s all fire and passion. In public, he freezes her out. Van may want to push her away, but Simone won’t let him go that easily. Because this time, she’s playing for keeps.

• ISBN10: 1541462408
• ISBN13: 9781541462403
• Publish Date: 28 November 2017
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 14 March 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Tantor Media, Inc
• Edition: Unabridged edition
• Format: Audiobook (MP3)
• Duration: 6 hours and 49 minutes
• Language: English

Reviews

[Canadian Girl Book Blog]

Van is the ninth book in the Cold Fury Hockey Series and can either be read in order or as a standalone novel.

Van is quiet and closed off from everyone. With his past haunting him, Van likes to keep to himself and only make small conversation with his Cold Fury teammates when he has to. His closest friend is Lucas since he lives with him. But his world gets turned upside down when Lucas’s sister, Simone, moves into their house after dropping out of college. Simone is instantly attracted to Van and sees a challenge in front of her to get him to let her in. As her persistence starts to pay off, Van starts to worry that he has the same tendencies as his father, a convicted rapist and murderer and that he should push Simone away. When Van’s past is revealed, the support he receives shocks him.

Simone is one of my favourite heroines by Sawyer Bennett as I love her go-getter attitude. This book made me laugh out loud a few times. The chemistry between Van and Simone was definitely hot.

I recommend this book

[chymerra]

I was so excited when I saw that Van was the next book in the Cold Fury Hockey series. When I reviewed Lucas, Van and Simone made a huge impression on me. I could not wait to read his story. I wanted to know what his deal was. Why he was so grumpy and standoffish with everyone. Well, all that and more was explained in this book. I gotta say, Van has to be one of the best romances that I have read this year.

The author did something awesome in this book. She had it coinciding with Lucas’s story. The author was kind enough to put up a warning at the beginning of the book. I will make this clear, this is a separate story from Lucas. It follows the same timeline until Lucas and Stephanie have their happy ending. But the main focus of the book is Van and Simone. Lucas and Stephanie’s issues are there but not much attention is focused on them.

The plot of Van was straightforward. Van meets Simone, is attracted to her but vows to keep her at arm’s length. Simone attracted to Van, is determined to break through the walls that he has up. They start sleeping together but agree to keep it only sexual. But, as those things tend to go, feelings start to get involved and Van’s walls start to come down. Simone learns why Van is the way he is. When his secret is revealed to the public, their relationship is tested. The question is: will their relationship survive the revelations?

I wanted to reach through the book and hug Van when he started reminiscing about his childhood. I will admit, I did jump to conclusions about what happened to him up to when he went to the prison. The author then threw in a twist that shocked me to the core. I was not expecting what was revealed. It shook me up. It also made me understand why Van was the way he was. Also why he treated Simone the way he did. He was trying to protect himself from being hurt. He knew he wasn’t good relationship material and tried to tell Simone that. Not that she listened. When his secret came out, my heart broke for him. He was so afraid of it happening and pushed Simone away.

Simone was a spitfire and she had me laughing for most of the book. She was a tad over the top but considering who she was trying to seduce, I didn’t blame her.It did make for a very amusing read. I liked that she was trying to be self-reliant. She did not want to depend on her parents for money after dropping out of med school. But she went to extremes to prove them wrong. I also classed her as stubborn. Very stubborn.

The sex in this book was out of this world. What I liked is that the author didn’t keep it vanilla. Van and Simone liked it dirty. Very dirty and I loved it. In my memory, this is the first book that I have read where sexting was used the right way. Not with silly emoji’s. Simone took pictures of herself getting off along with the usual dirty pictures. I loved it and I hope the author keeps it up. Because like I said earlier in the paragraph, the sex was out of this world.

The end of Van was very typical of a romance novel. A breakup, a makeup and then happily ever after. But, the breakup was awful even for a romance novel and the makeup was one of a kind. The happily ever after brought tears to my eyes.

Van is a hot, erotic romance that got me right in the feels. With main characters who have some serious issues, I got pulled into a very well written plot. Like I said at the beginning of this post, this book is one of the best romances that I have read this year.

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Adult

Why: Explicit sex, explicit language, and mild violence

I would like to thank Loveswept, Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review Van

All opinions stated in Van are mine

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

[Sam@WLABB]

I love the Cold Fury books. Although I was not a fan of Van and Simone's physics. relationship, I was so engrossed in Van's backstory, I could overlook that. I was very surprised by the ending, but thought it was quite a nice thing Bennett did for Simone.

[Linda]

This review was originally posted on (un)Conventional Bookviews
Van sure had a troubled past that managed to make his present kind of murky as well. But Simone - she was really something, and totally open to tear his walls apart, while also grabbing him out of his shell.

Story:

These two characters were like water and oil at first, and then, suddenly bam! they were rather like dynamite. Both Van and Simone were strong minded, and they knew what they wanted, or didn't want as it were. Simone wanted to get to know Van better... much, much better. And he was good with keeping her and everyone else at arm's length.

Little by little, both Simone and Van shed their public persona and shared some of their secrets. They also got to know each other on a more carnal level, and their chemistry and hotness was way off the charts! I think one of the tings I enjoyed the most about this story was that the more aloof Van was, the more Simone was ready to give him everything she got. And it took a while for it to work.

Add in some drama because Simone was Lucas' little sister, and you have all the ingredients necessary for a hot, fast-paced contemporary romance. With characters you want to get to know better, as well as a storyline to keep you invested.

Characters:

Simone is Lucas' little sister, and therefore, not for Van. Not that she let details like that stop her. She is a strong female character who knows what she wants, and isn't afraid to go after it.

Van is one of the Fury players I most wanted to get to know. Because he's always been removed, fairly cold towards his co-players. And that truly intrigued me.

Writing style :

Dual points of view in first person, past tense, both of the main characters have their own chapters. These shed light on their inner thoughts, and understanding what make them tick was a wild ride.

Feels :

Once more, Bennett brought me all the feels. Happiness, sappiness, fear, anger, attraction, it was all covered, and it was covered well.



The real pisser of his announcement was that he said his plans were 'hot and dirty.' This sucks, because I can do hot and dirty, and he won't give me a second look.

Instead, I hear the familiar creak of my bedroom door and the taunting call of her sweet voice. "Come on, Van. Show me what you got."