Review: ★One More Shot★ by Victoria Denault

They say you only get one shot at making your dreams come true.

Jordan is determined to take two.

Drafted by the NHL at eighteen, Jordan Garrison was headed for fame, and there was only one person he wanted to share it with—Jessie Caplan. He was crazy in love with her, and had finally told her so. They shared an amazing night . . . and then everything fell apart.
Jessie tries not to think about the night she gave herself to Jordan—or how he broke her heart. She tries not to think about it, but she does. Especially now, when she’s staring into his sky-blue eyes for the first time in six years. After so much time and torment, she can’t tell if she loves him or hates him. But Jordan has learned enough to know a connection like theirs is rare. He was lucky to find Jessie once. No way will he lose her again.

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Thanks to Jessie, I knew love felt like pain. Deep, cutting, dying-inside pain.

One More Shot is the first book in the Hometown Players series, and if you enjoy angsty and sexy second chance romance, it’s one you don’t want to miss. I’ll admit, I was sold the second I read that synopsis. Friends to lovers and a second chance romance? Gimme! I will never pass that up. Add it some angst, a manwhore hockey player and the girl whose heart he broke and who in turn broke his? Yep, that’s a recipe for book gold for me there.

Jordan and Jessie grew up together. The Caplan sisters were practically joined at the hip with the Garrison brothers all through high school. When the Caplan sisters lost their parents at a young age and moved into the small town of Silver Bay to live with their grandmother that wasn’t all that thrilled to have them. Spending most of their time with the Caplan clan allowed them to feel the warmth of family that they were missing, and it also brought together Jordan and Jessie and formed a tight bond of friendship. Growing up they were each other’s world.

Jordan has been in love with Jessie for as long as they’ve been friends, so when the opportunity finally shows itself for him to make his move, he doesn’t hesitate. He takes it and doesn’t look back and the sparks that have been simmering between them through the years finally spark to life.

There’s no faltering. No reservation when our lips touch. There’s only a feeling- like a lighting bolt- that blasts through my body. I feel…bulletproof.

But then much like the typical 18 year old boy, Jordan screws up and breaks Jessie’s heart. Knowing that she’ll only ever be the only one for him, when she moves away from Silver Bay and severs all ties to him, he’s devastated. So he concentrates on all he has left; his hockey career. Being drafted right out of high school allows him to focus all his pain and loss on his hockey. And of course being the typical men, he drowns his pain between the legs of any willing woman…and there’s plenty of them…

Hockey was the only thing in my life that made me feel right. It used to be hockey and Jessie, but then I lost Jessie. It had been hockey and only hockey ever since.

Now six years later, the death of Jessie’s grandmother brings both her and Jordan back to Silver Bay and to face the past that they both tried to ignore or outrun in their own right.

I was trying to find something to numb the pain. Because it never left. I never stopped missing you. I never stopped needing you. There was a constant ache in my chest for you. I tried to convince myself that it was anger, but it was love. And no one could fix it. You’re the only one who can fix it.

One More Shot was definitely heavy on the angst. Jessie and Jordan have a whole lot of unfinished business and miscommunication between them and that all culminates over their 6 years apart to the non-relationship they have now. Jessie has a hard time swallowing Jordan’s past with women especially since his hockey career puts him in lots of headlines…mostly for his womanizing ways. She certainly makes Jordan works for every crumb she throws his way. At times it was almost too much for me. While I understood her hurt and anger she would purposely hurtful to Jordan when everything that Jordan has done was because he didn’t think he had a chance with her and was definitely not with he direct intent to hurt her.

The story is told in flashbacks from past to present though it was smoothly interwoven into the book so it was never confusing or distracting. It gives you Jordan and Jessie’s past piece by piece that ultimately leads to that one fateful “thing” that killed their relationship.

Jordan has always been in love with Jessie and he’s still in love with her now. His efforts to get her back and her outright blowing him off at times was no easy pill to swallow. As much of a manwhore as he may be, I found Jessie to be almost cruel to him at times. His manwhoring ways completely stopped when Jessie came into his life, so although he had plenty of women before, there are no jilted exes when he finally gets back into Jessie’s life.

I really enjoyed this book and all the secondary characters; Jordan’s best friend and two brothers, Jessie’s sisters. This book gave me all my favorite tropes in one angsty and sexy read. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what more Victoria Denault has to offer with this series. The set up for Rosie’s story already has my interest peeked, so I definitely found me a new series to love.