Maybe This Christmas is a friends-to-lovers sports romance with a holiday theme! Emma, once an Olympic bound athlete, is a physical therapist and her best friends, Asher, is a pro hockey player. Asher is injured and needs Emma's help. Emma has been trying to work up the nerve to tell him she loves him, worried he won't return the feeling.
Asher is consumed by hockey. He welcomes his no strings sex with Emma because it doesn't interfere with his ultimate love, playing hockey. But, his injury forces him back home to recover and spending a lot of time with Emma makes him see things in a different light. Because Emma lost her shot at professional athletics years before (due to injury), Asher is starting to get a sense of how she felt then. Now, Emma has a chance to go to Florida and enter a Ph.D program for physical therapy. The only thing that could alter her course? Asher.
Sometimes I wanted to shake Emma because Asher did not deserve her devotion. But, I understood her. She could no more walk away from the possibility than anyone could. Asher made me crazy with his single minded focus on hockey. However, I understood it. It was his life and he just wasn't ready for anything else until it was forced upon him. I did want to punch Emma's judgmental sister a few times though (she comes around by the end but in the beginning...grrrr)! Her dad and Asher's mom's bickering adds a bit of family angst to the story. Overall, if you enjoy sports romance and Christmas romance, Maybe This Christmas is a great pick! You don't have to have read about Asher's brothers in the previous 2 books to enjoy this book (I haven't read them and it wasn't a hinderance at all!)
- POV: 3rd
- Tears: no
- Trope: friends-to-lovers, hockey
- Triggers: none
- Series/Standalone: stand alone within an interconnected series
- Cliffhanger: no
- HEA: yes no epilogue
Christmas stories and hockey romance...then you will probably like Maybe This Christmas!
See full review on The Book Disciple