Hockey with Benefits by Tijan-review tour

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date March 7, 2023

Hockey with benefits. That was what Mara proposed, and I was down.

She said no feelings and she meant it.

Just benefits. No strings attached. Nothing else. Not even friendship.

College was her escape, including us.

I didn’t have time for a girlfriend.

I had classes, the team, my family, and the game.

It was all working too…

Until somewhere down the line, things got messy.

Until somehow we were dealing with threats, secrets, rivals, and so much more.

Until I began to want her in ways that weren’t part of the deal.

Our agreement didn’t just get checked into the wall, it got obliterated.

•••••

REVIEW:HOCKEY WITH BENEFITS by Tijan is a stand alone, contemporary, new adult, erotic, college romance focusing on college hockey player Cruz Styles, and Mara Daniels. HOCKEY WITH BENEFITS is set in, and is interconnected with the author’s Fallen Crest series.

NOTE: Due to the nature of the story line premise including mental illness and acquaintance r@pe, there may be triggers for more sensitive readers.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Cruz and Mara) HOCKEY WITH BENEFITS follows the unconventional relationship between college hockey star Cruz Styles, and Mara Daniels. Mara and Cruz are not quite friends with benefits but have an understanding to be one another’s intimate, sexual partners. Keeping their relationship a secret means the unwelcome scrutiny of, and questions from so-called friends, roommates, other students and bullies. Cruz has caught the eye of every female puck bunny, and Mara must deal with the sl^t shaming and vitriol of the jealous fans but all is not well in the lives of our story line couple as issues of fractured family dynamics and mental illness are slowing destroying the psyche of two young people whose entire lives are still ahead. What ensues is the building but atypical romance and relationship between Mara and Cruz, and the potential fall-out as Mara’s life begins to spiral out of control, wreaking havoc on anyone who has crossed her path.

Mara Daniels has many friends and supporters within the college community but Mara’s secrets are known only by a few. It is these secrets that are about to destroy the strained relationship Mara has with those who have only surmised about the real Mara Daniels, and with it, the spiral that continues to affect her private and personal life. Cruz Styles doesn’t want a girlfriend, and his ‘arrangement’ with Mara is perfect such that no heart will be broken until the heart wants something more than the head is willing to accept. Life as a star; a member of the popular crowd means exposing both the good and bad for our story line couple but no one ever expected that Mara would be thrown to the wolves in the wake of protecting someone else.

The relationship between Mara and Cruz begins as a sexual agreement; a ‘friends with benefits’ type of relationship but a relationship that supposedly starts and ends in the bedroom. Mara never thought she would find someone that would accept the emotional scars that have affected her ability to trust, and Cruz knew his position on the hockey team meant he couldn’t always trust the people who wanted something more than he was willing to give. The $ex scenes are passionate, erotic and intense.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful and wild secondary and supporting characters including several members of the hockey team, roommates, friends, frenemies, rivals and family.

The world building focuses on issues of mental health, and the resulting consequences and ramifications for those standing in the direct line of fire. Until one has lived or experienced the true depth of the pain and heart ache of such an illness, there is always someone waiting to tear you down.

HOCKEY WITH BENEFITS is a story of fractured family dynamics, friendships and relationships, betrayal and mental illness, acceptance and love. The premise is emotional, heart breaking and unique; the characters are broken, damaged yet brave; the romance is seductive and provocative.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

Tijan is a New York Times Bestselling author that writes suspenseful and unpredictable novels. Her characters are strong, intense, and gut-wrenchingly real with a little bit of sass on the side. Tijan began writing later in life and once she started, she was hooked. She’s written multi-bestsellers including the Carter Reed Series, the Fallen Crest Series, and the Broken and Screwed Series among others. She is currently writing a new YA series along with so many more from north Minnesota where she lives with a man she couldn’t be without and an English Cocker she adores. 

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