Hawke (Cold Fury Hockey, #5)

by Sawyer Bennett

[Linda]

This review was originally posted on (un)Conventional Bookviews
Everybody knows I love Cold Fury Hockey, and Hawke, he definitely made me melt, but then, so did Vale!



Hawke's story is very complicated, because he and Vale were together for four years when they were younger, up until the day he left Sydney for Pittsburg to play professional hockey. Then, she told him she didn't love him, and she never looked back. Fast forward several years, and they meet again, when Hawke starts playing for Cold Fury Hockey, and Vale is the new PT / physiotherapist for the club. All of his feelings of betrayal and hurt come back to the surface, while at the same time he just can't help but feel utterly attracted to her.

The story unfolds at a great pace, not too fast, nor too slow, and while most of the chapters are from Hawke's point of view, there are several from Vale's as well. And if you've been hanging out at my blog for a while, you know that second chance at love is one of my favorite tropes, there is just so many possibilities when a couple who used to have everything find each other again, older, more mature, but still partly the same people as they were before. And when that love still has the spark to ignite them again, the feels are just amazing.

Both Hawke and Vale were still weary because of their past, and they both thought the other had completely shut the door on what they had once had. Hawke's feelings were pretty straight forward, since Vale had looked him in the eye to tell him she didn't love him, then didn't answer his subsequent phone calls. What he didn't know was that later on, she had left him some messages, both on his phone and by e-mail, and she thought he didn't want to talk to her again. Another complication was that Vale was seeing someone when she came to Cold Fury, and on top of that, she was taking care of her father who had a brain tumor he was being treated for at a hospital in town.

Written in first and third person, present tense, and peppered with great dialogues, Hawke managed to show how tentative the two protagonists were now that they had a chance to make something permanent out of that young love they had shared. I really wish Vale would have shared the fact that she had sent those messages to Hawke, though, because she definitely didn't hide anything else. Her reasons for leaving Hawke were understandable, especially because they were so young at the time, with their lives also going in quite different directions. All Cold Fury fans will love this installment, both because this couple was great, and because the players who were the main characters in the prior books were still a part of the team.



It's not like I was happier to be with Vale than building a professional hockey career, but I was okay with the decision to send me back down to the "Q" and so Vale was sort of like a bonus for me.

Never in a million years thought we would ever cross paths again. And as evidenced by the hot flame of bubbling anger sitting low in my gut right now, I'm guessing that I'm still a bit pissed at her.

Don't get me wrong. Todd and I have a nice and healthy sexual relationship. Or we did when I lived back in Columbus. It was natural, safe, and, well... comfortable, I guess.