Fans suspect that the bad boy of hockey has a few skeletons in his closet. They have no idea he also has a sparkly bodysuit… #toepick!
When they met at figure skating camp ten years ago, Chase Merritt was a scrappy hockey player from the wrong part of town, and Zoe Carson was the up-and-coming ice princess. They fell in love faster than you can say triple toe loop, until Zoe makes a fateful error that ends up costing Chase dearly.
Almost a decade later, their fortunes are reversed. Chase is the MVP of the New York Legends hockey team, while Zoe—their new skating coach—has years’ worth of personal and professional bruises. It’s hard to face him again—all six feet and two hundred pounds of muscle and swagger.
And anger. Chase is in hot water with management, and refusing to work with Coach Zoe no matter how badly he needs to shore up his stride—and his image. Until a journalist digs up an old video of Zoe and Chase performing a skating program, and the internet goes wild.
Management seizes on the opportunity for a P.R. redemption, ordering Zoe and Chase to reprise their flashy routine.
Skating with him again—to a love song, of course—is pure agony. But it’s also Zoe’s only chance to unpack the truth of what really happened that night ten years ago. And to at least find forgiveness, if she can’t win back his heart.
When they met at figure skating camp ten years ago, Chase Merritt was a scrappy hockey player from the wrong part of town, and Zoe Carson was the up-and-coming ice princess. They fell in love faster than you can say triple toe loop, until Zoe makes a fateful error that ends up costing Chase dearly.
Almost a decade later, their fortunes are reversed. Chase is the MVP of the New York Legends hockey team, while Zoe—their new skating coach—has years’ worth of personal and professional bruises. It’s hard to face him again—all six feet and two hundred pounds of muscle and swagger.
And anger. Chase is in hot water with management, and refusing to work with Coach Zoe no matter how badly he needs to shore up his stride—and his image. Until a journalist digs up an old video of Zoe and Chase performing a skating program, and the internet goes wild.
Management seizes on the opportunity for a P.R. redemption, ordering Zoe and Chase to reprise their flashy routine.
Skating with him again—to a love song, of course—is pure agony. But it’s also Zoe’s only chance to unpack the truth of what really happened that night ten years ago. And to at least find forgiveness, if she can’t win back his heart.
Title: Thrown for a Loop (New York Legends #1)
Author: Sarina Bowen
Publisher: Forever Grand Central Publishing/ Hachette Audio
Expected Publication Date: November 4, 2025
Review:
Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing), Hachette Audio, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
I love me a good hockey romance. And I know Bowen knows how to write hockey (her Him series with Kennedy is amazing). So I was excited to dive into another of her stories and see where she would take it. Plus, she included figure skating and I am a former skater so I wanted to see what she would include.
I alternated between audio and kindle with this book. I wanted to see how the vibe might be different using both, I was pleasantly surprised that I liked both (usually it's one or the other). Brooke Bloomingdale is a narrator that is known to me. I've listened to several of her books and have always liked her cadence and how she voices characters (male and female). I find her very easy to listen to and she makes books very enjoyable. This is my first time listening to Ryan Hudson and I really enjoyed his voice. I kind of wish there was more of him. His narration fell off the last 40% or so of the book since the alternating time lines resolved. I would definitely listen to more by him. He did a great job with the MMC narration.
I really enjoyed learning about Zoe Carson and Chase Merritt. The past and present POVs in the book really helped me understand the characters and leant to their overall development. The past chapters set up the relationship and the conflict really well.
I enjoyed Zoe for the most part. She did let people step all over her at times and this bothered me. But that was part of her character development. I enjoyed watching her grow and change and truly come into herself/stand up for herself. Chase is such a broody character. I do wish I had more from him. While I loved the past chapters that showed his personality, I kind of wish I had present narration from him to really be in his head. I had to rely on Zoe to tell me about him and that made it harder to really see how he was thinking.
As for the romance, second chance romance is one of my favorite tropes. Bowen did a fair enough job with it. I'm not sure I 100% bought it, though, It's been 10 years since these two parted ways with not a word between them since. Suddenly they are pushed back into each other's orbit. This is set up well at the beginning but for me, Chase was too quick to turn around and forgive what happened and Zoe was too quick to have feelings for him again. Especially since she had been married until recently. I needed more angst between these two. I needed more conflict. It just seemed to come together too easily.
The plot was good. It moved along at a good pace. There were a few things introduced that were choppy. And a few of those things were important to character development. Some of them were scattered so much, it kind of left holes in the story. I kept wondering when the author would come back to the points so we could see how they shaped the characters. She did come back around to most of them but with just a mention and then it was over. There was so much more that could be done. I don't want to name the things as I don't want to spoil the story.
Overall, I did enjoy this one despite the holes the author had going on. It was fast paced and there was some great banter that happened. Plus the side characters really made the story. I'm excited for the next relationship between Darcy and Tramaine. I can't wait to see how Bowen shapes it!
3.75 stars rounded to 4
Author:
Sarina Bowen is the 24-time USA Today bestselling and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of contemporary fiction, including: The Five Year Lie, the True North series, and the Brooklyn Hockey series. She's the co-author of Him/Us and the WAGs series with Elle Kennedy. And more!
You can find a complete reading order list of Sarina's books on her website. Or see what's coming next from Sarina, and sign up for her newsletter so you don't miss a new book or a deal.
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