In the Penalty Box by Lynn Rush & Kelly Anne Blount – a Review

Amazon / B&N / Kobo / Google Play / Apple / BAM / Book Depository

Description:
Willow
Figure skating was supposed to be my whole world. But one unlucky injury and now I’m down…but I’m definitely not out. I just need to rehab–a boatload of rehab–and who’d have thought I could do it on the boys’ hockey team?

Of course, the infuriatingly hot captain of the team seems to think I’m nothing but sequins and twirls. What’s a girl to do but put him in his place? Game on.

Brodie
Hockey is my whole world. I’ve worked my tail off getting my team in a position to win the championships–hopefully in front of major college scouts, too–so what’s a guy to do when a figure skater ends up as our new goalie?

Of course, the distractingly sexy skater thinks I’m nothing but a testosterone-laced competitive streak. And surely she’s only biding her time to heal, then she’s gone. Game over.

Review:

It’s been a while since I’ve read any Young Adult stories so took me a while to wrap my head around this one.  Thankfully it was based around my favourite sport of hockey so it helped to pull me in and get me into the story.  In the Penalty Box features Willow a figure skater who suffered a devastating injury that knocks her off the Olympic team and Brodie a star hockey player hoping to make a college team with a full scholarship.  Thanks to a chance meeting with Brodie, Willow finds herself on the town’s hockey team as their star goalie.  Yes a figure skater turns hockey player, I really liked that twist in this story. 

Of course becoming their star goalie isn’t an easy task as at first the guys are hesitant about a figure skater becoming a goalie and she’s a girl to top things off.  However, Willow has a feisty, competitive and spunky attitude about her that quickly wins the majority of the team over.  The more she’s around the guys and playing goalie she learns what it’s like to be on a real team and is enjoying herself.  She finds herself torn between her love of figure skating and the love of hockey she’s developing.  On top of all this she’s hopelessly falling for the teams captain Brodie. 

Brodie is you typical jock on the ice. He’s got everything it takes to be a star hockey player including the charms on and off the ice.  Hockey is his life and his escape from what’s going on in his home life.  If it wasn’t for hockey and his teammates Brodie would’ve been lost like his father after his mom died in a bad accident.  Enter Willow the figure skater, Brodie sees something in her that he believes can transform her into the goalie the team needs.  Convincing Willow that she can do this and helping to train her, Brodie finds himself hopelessly falling for her even though he’s sworn off relationships off the ice. 

Both Brodie and Willow have a lot going on in their lives off the ice.  Willow with her injury and wanting back on an Olympic team and Brodie dealing with his father throwing their lives away after his mom died.  Together they wind up leaning on each other and supporting one another through thick and thin.  Spending all this time with each other both on and off the ice they begin to develop feelings for one another and have to keep their budding romance a secret as the coach put out a no fraternizing with teammates order.  Of course there’s your typical teen drama that happens and the drama that comes about when the team finds out they’ve been lying about their romance.  In the end everything does work itself out and Willow and Brodie get their HEA. 

If you’re a fan of the young adult genre and the sport of hockey then this one’s for you.

Until next time, happy reading everyone!

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Marcie