Review: Good Guy by Kate Meader

GOOD GUY
Series: Rookie Rebels #1
Genre: Contemporary, Sports Romance
Author: Kate Meader
Release Date: July 30, 2019

He’s a Special Forces veteran making his pro hockey debut. She’s a dogged sports reporter determined to get a scoop. She’s also his best friend’s widow…

Fans can’t get enough of Levi Hunt, the Special Forces veteran who put his NHL career on hold to serve his country and fight the bad guys. So when his new Chicago Rebels bosses tell him to cooperate with the press on a profile, he’s ready to do his duty. Until he finds out who he has to work with: flame-haired, freckle-splashed, impossibly perky Jordan Cooke.

The woman he should not have kissed the night she buried her husband, Levi’s best friend in the service.

Hockey-stick-up-his-butt-serious Levi Hunt might despise Jordan for reasons she can’t fathom—okay, it’s to do with kissing—but her future in the cutthroat world of sports reporting hangs on delivering the goods on the league’s hottest, grumpiest rookie. So what if he’s not interested in having his life plated up for public consumption. Too bad. Jordan will have to play dirty to get her scoop and even dirtier to get her man. Only in winning the story, she might just lose her heart…

AMAZON

he was head over skates for her.

I adored Kate’s Chicago Rebels books and was super bummed to see that series come to an end. It became my go-to when I wanted a fun and sexy hockey romance. So when I saw that she’s writing a spin-off series I jumped on it quicker than you can say “puck”. What? Too cheesy? Whatever. You get what I’m saying here, ok?! But whatever. I digress. My point here is I was uber excited for a brand new sports series from one of my favorite authors. Plus have you SEEN that book blurb? Talk about your book crack.

I just so happen to love the broody grumps. And just when I thought no grump could out grump Bren St. James from Hooked On You, in skates Levi Hunt. The man was the most endearing grump I’ve read in a while. The man is a retired veteran, a Green Beret with battle scars and a heart of gold. With his military career behind him, he’s now become hockey’s oldest rookie. And just when he thinks he’s finally got things together, a blast from his past blows it all out of the water.

Jordan is a sports reporter that’s working her tail off in order to prove that a woman is just as deserving of a coveted reporting spot as a man. So when she sees a chance to use her history with Levi as an in to get the chance she’s been waiting for in her career, she’s not above using it. Jordan also happens to be the widow of Levi’s service teammate and best friend. But worse than that she’s always been the woman he coveted from afar but never allowed himself to get. At first she was his buddy’s wife and then she was his widow, so she’s always been hands off.

Levi wasn’t hard to love. The man just tugs at every heart string you have. And the more you learn about his connection with Jordan and peel back the grumpy layers, the more you fall for him. Jordan, admittedly, was a little harder to love. While I love that the relationship with her husband was never diminished, I also struggled with seeing her as a widow. She loved her husband, yes, but I struggled to feel that connection to her. And yes, it’s been 5 years since the loss, but I just never felt that grieving for her. Perhaps that makes it easier to see her move on, but I wished that I got little more emotion from her. She seemed almost standoffish to me at times. And I get that she put her career on the backseat for her husband’s military career those years ago, she was almost a little too…hard…with her career aspirations here. She reminded me a little bit of Harper when it came to how hard she was in order to prove herself, but I just had a tough time connecting to her. She did ultimately win me over, but it did take some time.

If you’ve read the Rebels series, you’ll definitely appreciate all of the cameos in this book. And if you haven’t, I highly recommend you check it out.

Good Guy was a sweet romance that shined a spotlight on several issues like gender inequality in sports, which I really enjoyed. And though the story wasn’t my favorite of Kate’s, it definitely did the trick of hooking me on a new series.