Unsportsmanlike Conduct

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Unsportsmanlike Conduct

Unsportsmanlike Conduct

by: Sophia Henry
My Rating: Props for taking on a difficult disorder!



Published by: Flirt on October 18th 2016
Genres: Adult, Coming of Age, Contemporary, HEA, Romance, Social Issues

ISBN: 1101968532

Pages: 266
Series: Pilots Hockey #4
Disclosure: I was invited by the publisher to read this title in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. I received no monetary compensation, and all comments are subjective and mine alone.



Synopsis

The author of Delayed Penalty returns with the story of a free spirit who believes she’s found forever with a playboy on a singles cruise. Discover why Kelly Jamieson calls the Pilots Hockey series “fun and flirty, warm and sweet.”


Kristen Katsaros wants a life full of adventure and laughter. After a difficult childhood, her motto is to live each day like it’s her last—because it just might be. So when Kristen’s parents send her on a post-grad singles cruise in the Caribbean to meet a Greek husband, she promptly hooks up with the hottest guy she’s ever met. Pasha’s decidedly not Greek, but Kristen gives him a pass because he’s got fun written all over his rock-hard abs.


Pavel Gribov, the cocky playboy of the Detroit Pilots hockey team, can score any girl he wants. But when a teammate drags him on a singles cruise, he can’t resist the chance to help out a drop-dead gorgeous damsel in distress by pretending to be her boyfriend. Before long, the fake fling turns intimate, fueled by something much deeper than lust.


Kristen and Pasha both agree to walk away once the cruise is over, but reality hits like a slap shot when Kristen finds out Pasha lied about everything. Just when she’s ready to start living again, the two stubborn survivors must decide if they can bear to lose the best thing that ever happened to either of them.






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When I read the blurb for this book, I immediately thought of the movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and the line when the lead character says: Greek women grow-up and marry Greek men to have Greek babies… or something like that. And that seems to be what is happening in the book when Kristen’s parents send her on a singles cruise to the Caribbean hopeful that she’ll meet a nice Greek boy to eventually marry.

 

Who she meets is Pasha. He’s your typical brooding bad-boy character. Hockey player. Hot. Oh, and Russian, not Greek. I liked Pasha’s character, other than the lying about who he *really* was. But, I haven’t read any other books in this series, and I got the impression that there is some back story to Pasha that may have been helpful in decoding his character.

 

Kristen was nice. Although, I was put off at times by how she acted toward the guy who has this massive crush on her. I mean, I know it can be cumbersome to have guys falling all over you (not!), but please, be gentle with their feelings.

 

Overall, the characters were written nicely. The world building was done well. The pacing a tad slow for me, but otherwise the book had no execution problems to speak of.

 

But what I liked most about Unsportsmanlike Conduct wasn’t the characters, which is why I haven’t written much about them. Or the secondary characters, the cruise ship, or the relationship between any of them.

 

It’s that the author took on a condition that most would run from. She gave her heroine, Kristen, Cystic Fibrosis. And she didn’t just use it as a plot device. No, she went all in. Showing the ugly parts of the disorder, physical, mental and emotional. It was like CF was another character in the book.

 

I like to see authors who aren’t afraid to tackle the “ugly” parts of life. And when one does it well, like Henry has in Unsportsmanlike Behavior, it touches my soul in a way no other book can. And for that, this book and author get my recommendation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cover not final

 

Hey, everyone! Don’t forget to check out my latest novel, The Stock, at Swoon Reads! You can read it for free, along with other great books! Then, cast your vote for it to when a publishing contract with Swoon Reads, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing. I’d be so grateful! Happy reading!




About Sophia Henry

Sophia Henry, a proud Detroit native, fell in love with reading, writing and hockey all before she became a teenager. She did not, however, fall in love with snow. So after graduating with an English degree from Central Michigan University, she moved to the warmth of North Carolina for the remainder of her winters.

Sophia spends her days chasing after her two, high-energy sons and writing books featuring hot, hockey-playing heroes. In her free time she enjoys watching her beloved Detroit Red Wings and rocking out at concerts with her husband.

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