Review: Face Offs & Cheap Shots by Eden Finley & Saxon James
SYNOPSIS:
JACOBS
For the last three years, I’ve lived and breathed hockey with one goal: team captain.
There’s only one thing standing in my way. TJ Beckett.
Beck is irresponsible and immature, and I’ve hated him since the moment we met freshman year.
Yet, the coaches see something in him I obviously can’t, and they refuse to choose between us. The captain spot is going to a team vote, and the team thinks that what we need are a bunch of challenges to prove our worth. Challenges that have nothing to do with hockey. Challenges that are throwing me and Beck together.
And he’s still as infuriating as ever.
BECK
I have no idea why Christopher Jacobs hates me, and I can’t say I care. I like pushing his buttons, but the guy needs to loosen up. I’m going to win these stupid challenges easily and spend my senior year as hockey king on this campus.
Tormenting Jacobs at the same time will just be a bonus.
Even if I’m getting confusing feelings toward him, I won’t let it hold me back.
When it comes to competing, I’m all in, and nothing will get between me and the W.
REVIEW:
I have one true weakness in this world and it is enemies-to-lovers books. Jacobs and Beck were the absolute best! The tension was tantalizing and the shenanigans, courtesy of the hockey team, had me grinning non-stop. There is nothing I love more in a story than boys getting up to chaos and falling in love and this story had all of my favorite things.
I was side-eyeing Jacobs since he was introduced in Power Plays & Straight A’s, so I was super excited to see his story was next…Beck on the other hand was a complete surprise. From the start, the animosity and tension between these two is thick. Jacobs loathes Beck and while Beck can’t figure out why the hatred is there, he definitely loves to push Jacobs buttons. But lines truly start to blur during the challenges thrown down for the captain position. A game of gay chicken leaves me laughing out loud and Jacobs and Beck in crisis. I loved how the transition went from tension to sexual tension real fast then.
From there I just couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. The progression of their feelings and relationship was just natural. And while they each had their moments of vulnerability, I loved how obstacles only strengthened their bond. Both men grew and matured over the course of the story and while Beck will be forever a man child, he did have his shining moments of earning my respect.
But most of all, I adored how effortless their relationship was, there feelings came naturally and nothing felt rushed or out of place. And the secondary characters, oh what am I going to do with you sweet, clueless Cohen? The secondary characters are top notch, honestly I could just read a book with them all hanging out. Each page felt like coming home and returning to a group of friends.
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