Marek (Cold Fury Hockey, #11)

by Sawyer Bennett

USA TODAY BESTSELLER • When the Carolina Cold Fury’s hottest young star gets blindsided by an ex with a scandalous secret, it’s game on.
 
“One of the best voices in contemporary romance.”—New York Times bestselling author Lauren Layne
 
Marek Fabritis is used to delivering blows, not receiving them. But when he gets tipped off by an anonymous email about his ex-girlfriend, the news leaves him ice cold—and it’s not because Gracen Moore is getting married to a total jerk. It’s the fact that Marek has a three-year-old daughter he never knew about. Now he’s going back home, not to play knight in shining armor but to make damn sure that no man takes what’s his. For the first time, there might be something more important than hockey.
 
Gracen Moore has always loved Marek. That’s why she let him go, so he could pursue a career in the NHL. And that’s why she never told him about Lilly. Only now does Gracen realize that she made an unforgivable mistake. But is that any reason for Marek to crash her wedding and make an epic scene? If the spark that still smolders between them is to be trusted, maybe. Still, Gracen’s not getting her hopes up. Because she knows better than anyone that appearances aren’t always what they seem. . . .

• ASIN: B0755ZX3PX
• Publish Date: 22 May 2018
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Loveswept
• Format: eBook (Kindle)
• Pages: 226
• Language: English

Reviews

[Canadian Girl Book Blog]

Marek is the eleventh and final book in the Carolina Cold Fury series by Sawyer Bennett, can be read as a standalone or as part of the Cold Fury series and is written in the first-person point of view of both the hero and heroine.

Marek gets tipped off that his ex-girlfriend is about to get married to a complete jerk and that he is the only one that can stop the wedding. When he arrives at the wedding to try and stop it a little girl comes into the room that looks identical to him. Marek realizes that this little girl looks a lot like him and finds out that this is his daughter. Marek tells Gracen that either his daughter and her come with him or he will fight her for Lily.

Gracen does not want to get married and when Marek comes in to stop the wedding and sees the look on his face when he sees his daughter she knows that she has made a mistake by keeping Lily from Marek so decides that she owes Marek the ability to get to know his daughter so she goes with Marek back to North Carolina. Still having feelings for Marek, she hopes that maybe he will forgive her and they can actually be a family.

Just like every other one of the Carolina Cold Fury novels this one did not disappoint. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am sad that the Carolina Cold Fury series has ended.

[Sam@WLABB]

I was looking forward to seeing how Marek and Gracen's story worked out after the very dramatic set up in previous book, and by the end of the story, Marek had won me over.

Marek had walked away from Gracen five years ago, and Gracen had kept his child a secret from him for almost four years. So, both were nursing some wounds, and were therefore, somewhat hostile towards each other. Underneath it all, though, they were each other's first and only loves. Those feelings may have been buried, but they were still there, and being thrust back together was difficult and confusing. Gracen was struggling with the guilt of what she did and her runaway bride antics, while Marek was dealing with his resentment for the time he missed, but as they begin connecting again, both start to see things a little differently.

Second chance romances are among my favorites, and I really enjoyed the way Bennett blended Marek and Gracen's past into this story. They had a passionate past, but they were young. Each has grown and changed since then, and it was something I am glad she explored.

I grew to love Reed so much in his book, and was therefore overjoyed to see him have a large role in this book. I also think I spied the set up for the next (a future?) book, and I suspect it will venture into fun territory. As always, Bennett caught us up with our past Cold Fury faves, and it was fun to hear about all the impending changes in their lives.

Overall: A great second chance romance, that began angsty, but eventually melted my heart. Bring on book 12!

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review.

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[Linda]

This review was originally posted on (un)Conventional Bookviews
*I received a free copy of [title] from [publisher] via Netgalley. This has in no way influenced my voluntary review, which is honest and unbiased *Marek was a really good second-chance-at-love story, and I really enjoyed getting to know the background for his and Gracen's break-up.

Story:

I have to say that in the beginning of the story, Marek acted like a jerk. There really is no other word for it - and while I could totally understand his anger and hurt, he did not try to make things better. Gracen was a real trooper, though, and did her best to take Marek's anger in stride. And I really enjoyed how present Lilly was to the storyline. It's not easy to have a hot romance while also including a young child!

As Gracen and Marek got to know each other again, it was obvious they still had feelings for each other. However, he was really weary, and didn't trust Gracen to stay. Or to be truthful. Which, again, is completely understandable. She kept his daughter hidden from him for over three years!

This story also included almost all the other couples from the Cold Fury Hockey series, and it was so nice to see how they all continue their road to happiness, with lots of hockey action, and building new relationships. Even if this is part of a series, it can be read as a stand-alone.

Characters:

Marek has been in the background in the other novels in the series, so I didn't really know him very well. As I said, in the beginning, he acted like an entitled jerk. When he let the past go, though, he was amazing!

Gracen had lived her life as best she could after her love left her for the NHL. And things had not been easy for her - she felt forced to marry a man she didn't love, and that is what brought Marek back to her life.

Lilly was awesome - exactly like a normal three-year-old girl. She brought some light and love to the story every time she showed up.

Writing style :

Written in dual points of view, in present tense, first person, the story unfolds at a nice pace, and lets the readers get to know the characters very well.

Feels :

I was rather angry with Marek for a while there. But I was also angry with Gracen - I don't think it's ever right to keep a child away from one of their parents! I also felt love, temptation, fear, and hope.



Goddamn Gracen. Keeping such a secret from me. A daughter. Lilly. I'm scared as fuck. I sit in the gloom of the garage, the ticking of my car engine slow and steady as opposed to the beat of my heart, which is erratic.

That gets her attention. "Will Marek be going to the store with us?" I cringe, pulling the refrigerator door open as quickly as possible to hide behind it so she hopefully doesn't see said cringe. It's getting so hard to field questions form her about the man she is very curious about but really doesn't understand who he is.