Release Day Review ~ Roman (Cold Fury Hockey #7) by Sawyer Bennett

Book Description:

New York Times bestselling author Sawyer Bennett steams up the ice all over again as the Carolina Cold Fury hockey team’s hottest bad boy gets his first taste of something good.

In a league full of troublemakers, Cold Fury defenseman Roman Sýkora stands out—at least when it comes to negative publicity. When he’s not chilling in the penalty box, the sizzling Czech skate demon is racking up tabloid headlines for his scandalous behavior with the ladies. But now Roman’s feeling the burn from management to clean up his act, or else. Luckily he’s got an enticing distraction: a fun-loving barista who plays the ukulele and brings out a side of Roman he didn’t know he had.

Lexi Robertson came to Raleigh, North Carolina, to finally meet her father, Brian Brannon, and her half sister, Gray, both of whom work in the Cold Fury’s front office. That’s where she first meets sexy, intimidating Roman—who’s really a big softie at heart. As one relationship takes off, another begins: Brian seems to be clicking with Lexi’s boss at the coffee shop. But when the friction between Roman and her new family heats up, Lexi wonders whether she’s a pawn in their game. Feeling hurt and foolish, Lexi’s ready to quit while she’s ahead. Trouble is, Roman’s not ready to quit on her.

Don’t miss any of Sawyer Bennett’s electrifying Cold Fury novels:

ALEX | GARRETT | ZACK | RYKER | HAWKE | MAX | ROMAN

Buy Links:

Amazon UK:  http://amzn.to/2lihvNX

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2m3NLpK

Our Review:

Reviewed by Donna ~ 4 stars

***ARC received for an honest review***

“I’m glad someone sees me for what I am.”

Sawyer Bennett always delivers a swoon worthy romance, especially with the Cold Fury hockey team, however, with Roman she gives us two, double the pleasure.

Roman Sykora is the resident bad boy of the Cold Fury and is frequently butting heads with the General Manager, Gray Brannon. Roman is a loose cannon, his reputation on and off the ice is not fantastic. Frequent brawls and suspensions on the ice and plenty of female unsavoury attention off it has kept his name in the press for all the wrong reasons and yet underneath that reputation is a man who is incredibly misunderstood.

“Roman Sykora is one of the team’s bad boys. Maybe the baddest. He’s a nonconformist, a pure beast on the ice and a man who marches to the beat of his own drum.”

Roman is Czech and rose through the ranks in his home country, being on the road and then being signed here there and everywhere meant that Roman had lost contact with all his family and even when he was at home his parents were always working. Left to his own devices from a young age, Roman found his normal and that led to him being closed off and a loner. Not used to sharing anything, especially his emotions have left him a little cold, but he hasn’t met the woman yet that could possibly warm him up.

Lexi Robertson has recently moved to North Carolina and is still finding her feet. Lexi has just lost her mother and before she died her mother told her of her father’s identity…none other than Brian Brannon, the owner of the Cold Fury hockey team. It is when Lexi goes to meet Brian for the first time that she first crosses paths with Roman and the sparks flew.

“Because you’re a woman who plays the ukulele in a coffee shop for tips and I’ve never seen anyone happier in their existence.”

Lexi was adorable with a capital ‘A.’ There was nothing about her that I didn’t like and she really stole the show for me in this book. Lexi has been through the mill and having lost the only family member she had, all she wanted was to know the one that she didn’t. Lexi lived a simple life, and was an adorable ukulele playing woman with a fantastic sense of humour. Lexi’s quick wit leads to some fantastic dialogue and with every scene she just lit up the page.

I loved the chemistry between Roman and Lexi and you could tell that right from the very start that this was a game changer for both of them. Little actions from Roman would mean so much given his past and my heart still hasn’t recovered from his present to Lexi for her birthday (I melted and may have cried a little).

“If it was hard, everyone would do it. I kind of like the challenge.”

The fact that Lexi was the character that made this book is unusual, but I feel that because we have another side love story too, the focus was taken away from Roman and Lexi. I did feel that we didn’t get as deep and meaningful as we usually do with a Sawyer Bennett book, however, I absolutely adored the chapters from Brian’s point of view.

This book was about family too and as I said above, the chapters where we were treated to Brian’s POV really made this book too. Brian had always been a character that we never really knew much about but his POV’s totally showed him in a different light, silver fox and family man were extremely welcomed. Gray’s attitude throughout was a little off and a far cry from the woman we learned to love in Ryker’s book, however, I understood, and add pregnancy hormones into the mix and every woman is entitled to unleash her inner bitch.

“Gray doesn’t know everything…So stop trying so hard to have something with her that you’ll give up a part of yourself to get there.”

I cannot wait for the next one in this series, these books are as addictive as hell and we have Max’s little brother coming into the team, I believe he is up next!!