HOLDOUT BY JAQUELINE SNOWE
Release Date: February 15, 2021
Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/2JD9qSZ
Purchase here → https://geni.us/AmazonHoldout
Audio → https://geni.us/AudibleHoldout
Moo U Hockey: https://hearteyespress.com/wotn#/moo-u-hockey/
Blurb
Jonah Daniels has enough work preparing for his hockey season without spending time interviewing a roommate to help share expenses. So when some dude answers J.D.’s ad and agrees to his terms, he puts a key under the mat and leaves for practice.
What he doesn’t expect is that his new roommate is not a dude at all, but an overtalkative, energetic hottie. What’s worse? She’s the younger sister of his friend on the team, and she’s sworn him to secrecy.
Ryann Reiner needs a place to live, stat. After an incident at the dorms that almost tanked her scholarship, Ryann wants a boring roommate who’ll leave her alone. J.D. almost fits the bill. He lives and breathes hockey, just like her brother, and he wouldn’t know a joke unless it hip-checked him against the boards.
He’s also gorgeous. And broody. And he looks fine on laundry day, in too little clothing. Soon, late-night study sessions turn into dangerous flirting. And then a kiss turns into more. But they’re determined to keep things in the feelings-free zone.
Until lines blur and tensions rise when Ryann’s brother learns the truth. And both their hearts are skating on thin ice...
Without overthinking my decision, I stomped out of my room and snatched a piece of blank paper from the bag hanging from one of the kitchen chairs. “We need rules.”
She tiptoed from her bed to the edge of her room and tilted her head out. “I can stay?”
A growl escaped before I could stop it. “Yes.”
“You sound thrilled,” she said, her annoyingly upbeat voice making everything worse. She continued leaning on her doorframe, her green tank top bearing the word MOO U on her chest, pointing out she was very much a female.
And Michael’s little sister.
“I’m not thrilled.” I narrowed my eyes when she grinned at me, all wide-eyed and happy. It was like she knew the punchline of a joke I wasn’t privy to. “Why are you smiling?”
“You really are grumpy.” She lifted one slim shoulder in a shrug and adjusted her long blonde hair into a ball on the top of her head. Her walk was more of a glide over to the kitchen chair. She sat and pulled her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her knees. “You want to discuss rules?”
“Yes.”
I fumbled around in the side pocket and grabbed a pen, writing RULES in all caps. “No mess, no parties, no friends coming over, no loud music, no hooking up, no girl stuff everywhere.”
“Wait? Whoa, whoa, whoa.” She held up a hand. She wore three small silver rings on her tiny fingers, and the light hit them just right, drawing my attention. “Settle down there, Jonah. You’re going to burst a vein in your forehead.”
I ran a hand over my forehead at her comment, smoothing down the lines that always appeared when I frowned—which was often. “I’m fine.”
“Is this a dictatorship, or am I allowed to offer suggestions?” She tapped her nails on the table, and I hated how I noticed they were purple.
My left cheek twitched at her insinuation, and I swallowed down my initial reaction to tell her to pack her shit and leave. Clearing my throat, I said, “Well?”
“Being clean will not be a problem. I will respect your place. I know the season is long and demands a lot of you physically and emotionally, so there won’t be any parties or friends here. I like music and will listen to it at reasonable hours, but you cannot dictate my sex life. If I want to hook up, I will, while remaining considerate of your boundaries.” Her high cheekbones reddened, but that was the only indication she was embarrassed saying that.
I clenched my jaw, imagining a fling discovering she lived with a guy on the team. If he shared that with his friends, people would show up here. Hockey was life on campus, and crazed fans came in every size, shape, and gender. Everyone wanted a piece of you, and once they got it, they left. “You don’t tell anyone you live with me. Not a person.”
“Deal. I’ll make sure all my hook-ups have no idea a hockey legend sleeps on the other side of the wall.” She grinned and jutted her jaw toward the paper. “Write the rules down, you ray of sunshine.”
I loved this book! This is the first book I’ve read from Jaqueline Snowe and it won’t be the last!
Jonah (or JD) is a hockey player on the Moo U hockey team who desperately needs a roommate to cover the rent and Ryann is looking for a new place to live as she needs to get out of her dorm at Moo U to escape the drama without having to rely on her brother, a senior hockey player on the Moo U team.
Through a bit of confusion, Jonah and Ryann end up living together and while it isn’t ideal for either of them at first they agree to continue to live together but make a set of rules they both have to follow to ensure living together goes smoothly.
Of course one of the rules is that nothing will happen between them because Jonah needs to focus on hockey to keep his scholarship and help his Dad out with money when he can and Ryann promised to never date another hockey player teammate of her brothers after high highmschool relationship ended in disaster and she doesn’t want to make that mistake again when her brother is the only family she has left.
I LOVED Ryann and Jonah together. Neither of them are prepared for their chemistry to go off the charts. Jonah who is closed off to everyone has started opening up to Ryann and Ryann is letting her walls down around a hockey player which she swore she would never do. They both understand each other so well and completely listen to each other. It’s not long until they can’t resist the fire burning between them and they risk everything to be together.
I couldn’t put the book down once they gave into each other, their chemistry flew off the pages and I just wanted to continue reading until they found a way to be together without jeopardising everything else in their lives that they had worked for and the people that they loved.
Both Ryann and Jonah have gone through so much and they are both perfect for each other in a way that shows that they were meant to be. They are so sweet together and you can tell they genuinely care about each other and those that they love.
I loved reading their story as it was like watching two people become best friends and then those best friends falling in love with each other.
I would highly recommend checking this book out if you’re looking for a super sweet romance.
*ARC kindly provided in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are my own*
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