Narrated by Nicol Zanzarella and Rock Engle
Vintage review – audiobook released January 2017, reviewed January 2019
Hard Hitter is Book 2 in the Brooklyn Bruisers series, featuring the players and associated members of the Brooklyn hockey team (fictional). Patrick O’Doul is the team captain and “enforcer” who has started feeling the effects of too many years of a sport that’s hard on the body. Because of an ongoing hip problem, he has to spend more time with the team’s masseuse – a problem for him because the only touch he can withstand is body slamming in hockey and one-night-stand anonymous sex. He literally flinches whenever Arianna (Ari) touches him in yoga class, and massages are practically torture.
Ari has just recently ended an eight-year relationship that had increasingly become abusive. The ex, Vince, has continued to stalk her, sending threatening texts and phone messages. Although her manner – and yoga training – has been calm and peaceful, her mind is anything but. Her ex had always been jealous of the time she spent with the team, especially on the road, and now he has involved the team by sending Patrick a threatening note after he sees the two together. It’s complicated by the fact that Vince has also been dealing drugs, and Patrick had made an unfortunate connection, once purchasing uppers at Vince’s club in order to enhance his game performance. It was a mistake he regretted and didn’t repeat.
Both Patrick and Ari have some very heavy back stories – Patrick’s inability to create close relationships came from his years in the foster system, where he had to learn to fight just to have his basic needs met. Their road to HEA is paved with missteps and misunderstandings and isn’t achieved overnight. After their flirting turns sexual, Ari, justifiably put off after the treatment she had received, keeps Patrick at arm’s length outside the bedroom, leaving him frustrated and wanting more – a connection he’s never felt before. The internal conflicts more than anything else keep them from really bonding (until they do; yes, there’s an HEA!). While their upbringings are different, each has to find a way to let the other in – perhaps because her experience was so recent, Ari struggles with intimacy even more than Patrick does.
Overall, the plot was interesting, the relationship credible and the sex steamy. The narrators each pulled their own weight well, although the book was written in third person which is a little out of the ordinary for dual-POV contemporary romance right now. Each was able to bring authenticity to the characters through subtle-enough accents, differentiating well between the various team members and employees and the Vince-subplot actors. I don’t think I’ve heard Rock Engle before this series – at least, I didn’t recognize either the name or the voice, even though it might be vaguely familiar (what with pseudonyms and all). His Patrick was excellent, with a hint of vulnerability under the brash macho, turning into totally besotted midway. Nicol Zanzarella also did well with Ari, who is a Brooklyn native, by giving her a very Brooklyn/New York feel under the calm yogi persona.
The series does bring some of my favorite elements together – although I’m not really a sports fan (ok, I’m a fair weather fan at best!), I’ve always enjoyed sports romance, plus this has a slight Dharma and Greg feel to it, with Ari the gentle, optimistic hippie/yogi. Patrick is not the conservative Greg but in many ways he is the opposite of Ari – he’s a brawler who had to use hits fists and punches to get by. I’m enjoying the series, which is currently in the Audible Romance Package.
Melinda
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