For The Win (Wynn Hockey #4) by Kelly Jamieson-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date March 3, 2020

Harrison Wynn
Even though I’m the oldest player on the farm team, I’m playing my heart out this year to prove that I have what it takes to play in the NHL.
Everyone expects me to live up to my dying hockey hero dad’s legacy, but my chances are receding every season.
What I need is to focus, but the team’s new yoga instructor is a major distraction; I’ve had my eye on her from the first time we met.
Except she’s not interested—okay, maybe actively disinterested—since I accidentally dumped her into the ocean during our paddleboard yoga class.
How can I prove to her—and to the NHL—that I’m worth taking a chance on?

Arya Ross
Men are the last thing I need in my life.
Yoga is my priority; it helps me center myself and heal my soul.
But I can’t turn down the once-in-a-lifetime offer to be the personal yoga instructor for the local hockey team.
Sure, there are some cute players—including Harrison Wynn, who seemingly won’t take no for an answer, and whose boyish smile and sexy charm are hard to resist.
He seems genuine, and I wonder . . .
Can I put my past behind me to start a future with him?

•••••••

REVIEW:FOR THE WIN is the fourth instalment in Kelly Jamieson’s contemporary, adult WYNN HOCKEY erotic, romance series focusing on the Wynn family. This is twenty-six year olds, NHL hockey player Harrison Wynn, and yoga instructor Arya Ross’ story line. FOR THE WIN can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous instalments is revealed where necessary but I recommend reading the series in order for back story and history.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Harrison and Arya) FOR THE WIN follows two paths including the building romance and relationship between NHL hockey player Harrison Wynn, and yoga instructor Arya Ross, and the illness that is slowly robbing the family patriarch of his mind. Arya Ross moved to California to get away from her past. As a yoga instructor Arya is able to relax and start a new life but meeting hockey player Harrison Wynn forces Arya to look beyond the past, and into a possible future but Harrison is completely unaware of the ghosts that haunt our story line heroine, ghosts about which Arya refuses to talk. As their relationship begins to bloom, Harrison finds himself making one mistake after another, mistakes about which he, once again, is completely unaware. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Arya and Harrison, and the fall out as Arya pushes Harrison out of her life.

Meanwhile, former star hockey player, and team owner Bob Wynn is battling a daily struggle with a debilitating disease. Although his wife Chelsea has kept secret many of the smaller issues, questionable financial transactions and missing money are tearing the family apart. With the truth come questions, questions that no one is able to answer.

The relationship between Arya and Harrison is one of immediate attraction but Harrison and his friends push Arya out of her comfort zone. Arya is hired as the new yoga instructor for the NHL’s California Condors, a position that places Arya in the direct line of fire for Harrison’s advances and growing love but Arya continues to struggle with demons from the past, and in this, their lack of communication set the couple up to fail. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful secondary and supporting characters including the large extended and slightly dysfunctional Wynn family: patriarch Bob Wynn and his wife Chelsea; GM of the Condors Theo Wynn; Theo’s brother and hockey player for the Long Beach Golden Eagles JP Wynn, as well as numerous brothers and nephews including Matthew and Mark Wynn from Bob’s first marriage: Mark’s son Jackson; Harrison’s twin brother Asher, Noah and their sister Everly. We are introduced to Arya’s roommate Taj, and his boyfriend Ziggy, as well as the introduction of several members of the California Condors.

FOR THE WIN is a story of family, friendships, secrets and struggle; of one woman’s battle with the demons from her past, and the lack of communication that threatens the growing love between our leading couple, and in this I struggled with Harrison’s acceptance of blame when, in fact, he had no idea of what happened or why, or how the simplest gestures set off our story line heroine. The premise is engaging and entertaining; the characters are colorful and energetic; the romance struggles in the face of secrets and Arya’s inability to reveal the truth,

Reading Order and Previous reviews
Play to Win
In It To Win It
Win Big

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy