Loving Literatures

Hi, it’s me again! I finished this hockey romance at the beginning of the month but am just now getting around to write my official review of the book, so sorry, friends.

Shutout follows two new characters from the same universe and friend group as Offside (a hockey romance I read relatively recently). Our main characters in this book are broody mysterious college hockey player/goalkeeper and roommate to Chase (from Offside), named Tyler, and Chase’s very own younger sister, Seraphina (Sera). When Sera transfers to Chase’s university to be closer to their sick mother, Sera realizes Chase’s roommate, Tyler, is the very tatted man she hooked up with at a costume party recently (Hades and Tinkerbell, what a couple). No one knows about Tyler and Sera’s encounter, so while living together, they must act like complete strangers, though we all know that they know each other VERY well, indeed. While initially trying to avoid each other, living together forces them to face each other and their feelings, so they begin a fling in secret, not realizing until it’s too late that their relationship is more than a fling.

I really enjoyed this book, I bought the book initially because my husband’s name is Tyler, and we joked that characters named “Tyler” are always depicted as terrible, rude, etc. and I was curious if the case was true for this book; and this was the first time I loved a character named Tyler, ha!

I’ve noticed I have started writing out certain quotes from books that resonate with me, simply because I want to include them in the book review and I NEVER annotate or sticky note my books. So let me share this part of the book where Tyler realizes he is in love with Seraphina (warning: it’s super romantic): “I’m not just falling for her; I’m already there. Have been for a while. I love her. That final realization hits hardest of all, and it runs through my head of repeat for the rest of the flight.” STOPPPP, I LOVEEEE.

While I loved this book, the characters, the plot, the scenery painted, I am giving this one a 4.5 out of 5 for the following reasons: the MMC’s last name was misspelled multiple times, the MMC’s competitor had two different last names (Caleb Brown vs. Caleb Jones, I thought we were talking about two different people for a moment and was so confused), and the baby name choice in the epilogue (Are there modern adults out there in the world named Calliope? Maybe, I just thought it was different from the choice of character names amongst the rest of the book series). I was also extremely frustrated by how annoying Sera’s brother, Chase, was about Sera and Tyler’s relationship. If you’ve read my review of Offside, you know a bit about Chase and how he was. The double standard, ugh!!

Overall, I really loved this book. May have to read it again!