Queen Dr. Emily Rath has once again written a beautiful (yet spicy) hockey romance with so much emotional depth, I find myself shocked. I loved this book so so much and I’m so sad that this series is almost over
Pucking Strong by Emily Rath, (List Price: $19.95, Kensington, 9781496752437, August 2025)
Reviewed by Ash Spaulding, Writers Block Bookstore in Winter Park, Florida
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Come on. I thought I was off hockey Romance. Who was I kidding? I freaking loved this one. Literally read it in 8 hours. Super quick. Super steamy. Fantastic chemistry. It does have a third act breakup, so keep that in mind. Overall a fun read. Looking forward to the rest of the series!
Off Your Game by Susan Renee, (List Price: $17.99, Page & Vine, 9781964264158, April 2025)
Reviewed by Amy Jones, As the Page Turns in Travelers Rest, South Carolina
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It would be easy to use boxing similes or metaphors to describe how good this book is (as many a blurb has already done), but to me Headshot is a stunning cubist novel, weaving in and out of the minds of eight young women in a boxing tournament in Reno. In prose as taut as their muscles, we are shown almost simultaneously the fighters’ pasts, presents, and futures, via subtle commentary on social expectations, childhood, and how to hit the person in front of you. Rita Bullwinkel has written a book on boxing as vital as Bryce Courtney or Norman Mailer, because it’s not (just) about the boxing, but about who and what and how to be. Headshot‘s fractured viewpoint reflects and refracts the characters making the fights themselves almost incidental, leaving a short, sharp novel of brutal beauty.
Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel, (List Price: $28, Viking, 9780593654101, March 2024)
Reviewed by Doron Klemer, Octavia Books in New Orleans, Louisiana
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It is hard to explain the exact mixture of nostalgia, joy, and melancholy this book wrung out of me in its short but powerful pages. It is hard to explain the feeling of being an athlete in memory, in learned movements and redirected passion, in stories and instincts and past-tense, but Georgia Cloepfil put into words what bangs around in my heart when I think of soccer. A lyrical and poignant tribute to the beautiful game and the people it turns into players, into teams, into champions, and eventually back into people. Like the game, the ticking clock of turning pages was leading me to an ending I wasn’t sure I wanted to reach yet. Give me one more minute, one more chapter in the environment of the game, in the feeling. But the clock winds down.
The Striker and the Clock by Georgia Cloepfil, (List Price: $27, Riverhead Books, 9780593714881, July 2024)
Reviewed by Morgan Holub, E. Shaver Bookseller in Savannah, Georgia
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In this new romcom m by Karmen Lee, we’ve got BFFs turned rivals meeting again after 10 years when they’re both teaching at the same high school, and sparks are flying! Ava has been teaching at her old high school for several years now, and she’s settled in. But when she discovers that the new teacher is her old best friend who became her biggest bowling team rival, she’s unsettled. Grace is back in her hometown after being dissatisfied with teaching at college and longs for her hometown. But to be honest, she also wants to mend fences with Ava too. But when they both take on the coaching positions of the school’s new bowling team, they find that they’ll definitely have to find a way to get along.
The 7-10 Split by Karmen Lee, (List Price: $12.99, Afterglow Books, 9781335041630, May 2024)
Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in , Georgia
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Frannie and Grandy have a special day planned together but a punny misunderstanding threatens to ruin their day! Young readers and their adults will delight in this adorable book.
Tea Time by Beth Ferry, Dana Wulfekotte (Illus.) (List Price: $17.99, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, 9781524741082, 6/1/2021)
Reviewed by Kate Storhoff, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
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