REBEL BRIDE (Chicago Players 2) by Kate Meader-review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date October 21, 2025

She just jilted my teammate at the altar and I helped her escape. We don’t get along, but I’ll keep her safe … and pray she never learns how I really feel about her.

Summer

I can’t marry him.

I have no good reason to jilt my hockey player fiancé, except that the closer we get to the big day, the more I feel myself shrinking to a hollow shell. Two minutes after I slip into the church bathroom to calm my pre-wedding jitters, I jump out the window to make my escape …

… and land on Hatch Kershaw, my fiancé’s teammate on the Chicago Rebels.

This guy has always hated me for reasons I can’t fathom. Half the time he looks right through me, like I’m no better than the ice shavings on his skate blades. The other half? That brooding green gaze strips me bare and sees right into my soul.

Neither option is good for me, so I really shouldn’t want his help … should I?

Hatch

The bride hit me like a ton of bricks.

The last thing I expected was for my teammate’s bride to ask for my help in fleeing her wedding. Make that the second last—even more unexpected is that I said “yes.” Before I know it, I’ve driven her to my family’s vacation home because I’m a nice guy and she needs to catch her breath.

Only now, I can’t breathe around her.

Summer Landry and I have never hit it off, so why the hell am I going along with this madness? Every stolen glance and accidental touch tell me she’s off-limits, while each torturous second with her in our lakeside hideaway has me questioning everything I thought I knew about who she is and what she’s hiding.

No one can know what I did—not my teammate, not my family, not the media—or all hell will break loose. Most of all, Summer can never know why I dislike her so much.

Because if she did, I might not recover.

••••••••

REVIEW: REBEL BRIDE is the second instalment in Kate Meader’s contemporary adult CHICAGO PLAYERS erotic,hockey romance series focusing on retired hockey player Theo Kershaw’s progeny, the next generation of Chicago Rebel hockey players. This is hockey player Hatch Kershaw, and PA Summer Landry’s story line. REBEL BRIDE can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Hatch and Summer) REBEL BRIDE follows the almost wedding that wasn’t. Approximately five years earlier Hatch Kershaw fell in love with Summer Landry but life had a way of spiralling out of control. Fast forward to present day, Summer is about to marry Hatch’s teammate and hotel heir Dash Carter but our heroine is unable to commit and with the help of Hatch Kershaw becomes a runaway bride. Hiding out in the Kershaw family cabin in Michigan, Summer and Hatch will come to a detente in their years long battle, a battle of which Summer is wholly unaware until our heroine decides it is time to face the truth, and returns home only to discover there is nothing to come home to.

The world building focuses on the revelation of truths. Summer is not whom she claims to be, and in this, she struggles to fit in, and feels like a fraud. The Kershaw hockey dynasty is growing, and the Rebels continue to welcome each successive generation but Hatch is troubled by the comparisons to his father, and must come to a decision about his future.

The relationship between Hatch and Summer begins acrimoniously as our couple keep their distance . Summer does not understand Hatch’s anger and rebukes but days spent together, hiding in Michigan forces Hatch to open his heart to a woman who recently belonged to someone else. The $ex scenes are intimate and provocative without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

There is a large ensemble cast of familiar,colorful and energetic secondary and supporting characters including the return of Hatch’s immediate family and siblings. We are introduced to Summer’s fiance, and Hatch’s teammate Dash Carter, as well as several cameos from friends, front office personnel and Michigan locals.

REBEL BRIDE is a story of secrets and lies, family and friendships, relationships and love. The character driven premise is inviting, edgy and heartwarming; the romance is seductive; the characters are determined and charismatic.

Click HERE for Sandy’s review of book one SWEET THING

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

Originally from Ireland, USA Today bestselling author Kate Meader cut her romance reader teeth on Maeve Binchy and Jilly Cooper novels, with some Harlequins thrown in for variety. Give her tales about brooding mill owners, oversexed equestrians, and men who can rock an apron or a fire hose, and she’s there. Now based in Chicago, she writes sexy contemporary romance with alpha heroes and strong heroines who can match their men quip for quip.