Dropping Gloves by Catherine Gayle Review

Blurb:

She left to follow her dreams; she’s back to follow her heart.

Katie Weber left her heart in Portland to chase a career in Hollywood. Now she has returned to sing the national anthem for the Portland Storm for their annual Hockey Fights Cancer night. Her longtime crush, Jamie Babcock, is hurting just as much as she is. One look in his eyes is all it takes to know that. She's done the Hollywood thing, though, and she's over it, but it might be too late to dig herself out of the hole she’s dug with him.

Jamie’s already done everything humanly possible to let go of Katie, but she keeps coming

back, and she keeps crushing him all over again every time she leaves. His heart has been trampled on more than enough already. At some point, he has to draw the line. Doesn't he?

Only, when it's Katie, he's not sure that's even possible. She's in Portland again right now,

but he can’t be sure for how long. Katie knows she has a fight on her hands, in more ways than one, if she’s going to convince Jamie she deserves another chance, but she’s willing to drop her gloves this time. Because in the game of love, all bets are off.

Reviews:

5 Stars 

I have been waiting for Katie Weber and Jamie "Babs" Babcock's story since I first read Taking A Shot (Katie and Babs' date to her prom) so I was very excited to hear that Dropping Gloves was coming out. I was not disappointed at all. Babs continued to be the great guy he always has been and Katie has matured into a strong woman. 

Having read the entire series thus far, I now know how difficult of a choice it was for Katie to leave Portland and go to Hollywood. If you are a fan of the series you know how hard it has been on Babs every time Katie came into town or any time he heard about her in the news, this book lets you into all the details of the stories he heard that angered him. You get to see that there was way more going on than it seemed. You also learn about how hard Hollywood was for Katie. 

Katie decides that she is going to stick around the Portland area for a time early into the book and because of this she has a lot of occasions to run into Babs. When this happens she knows that she will never feel for anyone else the way she feels about Jamie. I thought their story was moving, fun, sexy, and so packed with heart. Babs love for Katie was so complete and you felt every time he hurt for her. This story was so much more than what I was hoping for when there time finally came. 

I just have to say I also LOVED Webs in this story, he was so great and funny. :) - Jennifer

5 Stars

Perfect next chapter to an awesome series!  Catherine writes so that

you feel like you're in the book and that all characters are real!  You

feel the emotion along with each person and your heart breaks or fills

alongside them.

The long awaited chapter of Jamie and Katie is finally here...and it

doesn't disappoint!!!  What started as puppy love years ago has

blossomed into a mature relationship-full of the ups and downs you'd

expect from Catherine.  The Portland Storm series is written so well

you fully expect you'd meet any of these players on the streets of

Portland.  Well written, suspenseful when necessary and definitely can

get anyone to blush as much as Jamie Babcock!  Very worthwhile read but

will leave you wanting the next book!!!-Elizabeth 

Buy Links:

Barnes N Nobles - Amazon - Google Play - Smashwords - I Tunes - Kobo

Author Bio:

Catherine Gayle is a USA Today bestselling author of Regency-set historical romance and contemporary hockey romance with a New Adult feel. She’s a transplanted Texan living in North Carolina with two extremely spoiled felines. In her spare time, she watches way too much hockey and reality TV, plans fun things to do for the Nephew Monster’s next visit, and performs experiments in the kitchen which are rarely toxic.

If you enjoyed this book and want to know when more like it will be available, be sure to sign up for Catherine’s mailing list. You can find out more on her website, her blog, at Red Door Reads, at Hockey Romance, at Facebook, on Twitter, and at Goodreads. If you want to see some of her cats’ antics and possibly the occasional video update from Catherine, visit her YouTube account.

Release Blitz: Dropping Gloves by Catherine Gayle

Blurb:

She left to follow her dreams; she’s back to follow her heart.

Katie Weber left her heart in Portland to chase a career in Hollywood. Now she has returned to sing the national anthem for the Portland Storm for their annual Hockey Fights Cancer night. Her longtime crush, Jamie Babcock, is hurting just as much as she is. One look in his eyes is all it takes to know that. She's done the Hollywood thing, though, and she's over it, but it might be too late to dig herself out of the hole she’s dug with him.

Jamie’s already done everything humanly possible to let go of Katie, but she keeps coming

back, and she keeps crushing him all over again every time she leaves. His heart has been trampled on more than enough already. At some point, he has to draw the line. Doesn't he?

Only, when it's Katie, he's not sure that's even possible. She's in Portland again right now,

but he can’t be sure for how long. Katie knows she has a fight on her hands, in more ways than one, if she’s going to convince Jamie she deserves another chance, but she’s willing to drop her gloves this time. Because in the game of love, all bets are off.

Buy Links:

Barnes N Nobles

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dropping-gloves-catherine-gayle/1120262938?ean=2940046137194

Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Dropping-Gloves-Portland-Storm-Book-ebook/dp/B00SLECBGI

Google Play https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Catherine_Gayle_Dropping_Gloves?id=q67MBwAAQBAJ

Smashwords

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/471631

I Tunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dropping-gloves/id959320767?mt=11&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Kobo

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/dropping-gloves

Author Bio:

Catherine Gayle is a USA Today bestselling author of Regency-set historical romance and contemporary hockey romance with a New Adult feel. She’s a transplanted Texan living in North Carolina with two extremely spoiled felines. In her spare time, she watches way too much hockey and reality TV, plans fun things to do for the Nephew Monster’s next visit, and performs experiments in the kitchen which are rarely toxic.

If you enjoyed this book and want to know when more like it will be available, be sure to sign up for Catherine’s mailing list. You can find out more on her website, her blog, at Red Door Reads, at Hockey Romance, at Facebook, on Twitter, and at Goodreads. If you want to see some of her cats’ antics and possibly the occasional video update from Catherine, visit her YouTube account.

Breakaway by Catherine Gayle Review

Breakaway by Catherine Gayle

Portland Storm Series #1

The Stanley Cup playoffs start in just a few days and because Catherine Gayle's newest Portland Storm book, Dropping Gloves, releases soon and Toni Aleo's newest book in the Bellevue Bullies series, Clipped by Love, also releases soon, I decided to highlight hockey series that I love for the next few weeks. I am going to start off this week with Catherine Gayle's Portland Storm series. She has a spinoff series, Tulsa Thunderbirds, in the works as well and I can't wait to read about Hunter and Razor. But I digress, back to the Portland Storm series, the first book in the series is Breakaway. I read Breakaway for the first time last April. Toni Aleo, Catherine Gayle, Jami Davenport and 6 other authors had just released the anthology Seduced by the Game. In this anthology I read Taking a Shot by Catherine Gayle and met Katie Weber and Jamie "Babs" Babcock and instantly fell in love with the characters so I just had to read the series that these characters came from. I picked up Breakaway and On the Fly and then after that I have consumed every new book to the series. 

Synopsis: 
She’s reaching for a breakaway pass.

Dana Campbell has spent the past seven years in self-imposed isolation for a crime she didn’t commit. The danger is well in the past, but her panic attacks make it impossible to have a normal, healthy relationship with a man. Even her counselor has given up on her. She has to find someone she trusts to help her fight through the panic, or her seven-year ordeal will become a lifetime sentence. There’s only one man she feels safe enough to ask.

He got caught with his head down.

As the captain of the NHL’s once elite but now fading Portland Storm, Eric Zellinger knows a thing or two about keeping his focus on the job. Questions are flying about his ability to lead the team back to the playoffs. If they don’t make it, he might be shipped out of town. It’s the worst time possible for his best friend’s kid sister to divide his focus. How can he give her what she needs without jeopardizing both the Storm’s playoff hopes and his future with the team?

It’s her only chance, but it’s his last shot. 


Below is my review, my original review of Breakaway. 

4 Stars

I read Ms. Gayle's novella in the Seduced by the Game anthology and loved it so I had to check out her other hockey books. This one wasn't exactly what I was expected based on the blurb, but it was such a good book. Dana is broken because of an event in her past that even with years of therapy she can’t move beyond it, so she asks her big brother’s best friend to help her move on. Eric wants to help Dana but he just isn’t sure she is ready and doesn’t want to hurt her. The book goes back and forth between both of their points of view so you get to see how much Eric cares for Dana and how hard it is for him to help her since he doesn’t want to scare her or hurt her or ever make her feel the way she did after her attack because of something he did. You feel Dana’s pain over what happened, her pain from not being able to move on and her hope that maybe Eric can help her. It was a great book that I had a hard time putting down.

Now that I have read the book more times than I can count I really need to add to it. I need to add that while you see how much Eric cares for Dana, you also see how he is willing to push his feelings for her aside to help her get better. You get to see the extremely tender care that goes into every move he makes when it comes to Dana. You get to see a once strong, confident woman find herself again after a brutal attack and rediscover that not everyone is bad in the world. You also get to see how much of a family the Portland Storm are, not just a team, which is a huge and wonderful theme throughout the whole series. You get to met characters that when their book comes around you just fall more in love with them. It is a book that every time I read it I fall more in love with it. If you haven't picked up this series you definitely should. Now is also the perfect time to do so since the latest book will be out next week, but also because the box set Portland Storm: The First Period is currently on sale for $0.99. This set contains the first 4 FULL LENGTH novels so it is a ridiculously good deal, or if you just want to check out Breakaway it is currently FREE.

Portland Storm: The First Period

Amazon  -  B&N 

Breakaway

Amazon  -  B&N

Author Bio: 

Catherine Gayle is a USA Today bestselling author of Regency-set historical romance and contemporary hockey romance with a New Adult feel. She’s a transplanted Texan living in North Carolina with two extremely spoiled felines. In her spare time, she watches way too much hockey and reality TV, plans fun things to do for the Nephew Monster’s next visit, and performs experiments in the kitchen which are rarely toxic.

If you enjoyed this book and want to know when more like it will be available, be sure to sign up for Catherine’s mailing list. You can find out more on her website, her blog, at Red Door Reads, at Hockey Romance, at Facebook, on Twitter, and at Goodreads. If you want to see some of her cats’ antics and possibly the occasional video update from Catherine, visit her YouTube account.

Cover Reveal!!! Losing An Edge by Cathering Gayle

Blurb

In any other family, Levi “501” Babcock would have been the golden boy. Instead, he’s lived his entire life in the shadow of his almost-perfect older brother. They both play for the NHL’s Portland Storm, but Levi is tired of being the second-best Babcock brother. He’s determined to find at least one thing he can do better. He thinks he’s found it when Cadence Johnson, Canada’s darling at the last Olympic Games, shows up in Portland; he’s going to land a girlfriend who’s more famous than his brother’s Hollywood-starlet wife. Gold medals don’t mean much when every day is a living nightmare. Figure skater Cadence Johnson just did the unthinkable; she left her partner and her coach, and she’s starting over from scratch. New partner. New coach. New choreographer. New hair color. New city. She’s looking forward, not behind, keeping her secrets firmly locked up tight. Her bubbly personality and perpetual smiles conceal a world of hurt she can’t let anyone see. After Levi charms his way into Cadence’s life, hope that it’s all been laid to rest blooms within her. But even the darkest of secrets eventually seek the light. Soon, Levi comes to realize that life with Cadence might not be all sunshine and roses, and attraction isn’t going to be enough to her. Now being the man she needs in her life seems a lot more important than finally besting his brother, but with every step, he feels like he’s Losing an Edge.

Author Bio:

Catherine Gayle is a USA Today bestselling author of Regency-set historical romance and contemporary hockey romance with a New Adult feel. She’s a transplanted Texan living in North Carolina with two extremely spoiled felines. In her spare time, she watches way too much hockey and reality TV, plans fun things to do for the Nephew Monster’s next visit, and performs experiments in the kitchen which are rarely toxic.

If you enjoyed this book and want to know when more like it will be available, be sure to sign up for Catherine’s mailing list. You can find out more on her website, her blog, at Red Door Reads, at Hockey Romance, at Facebook, on Twitter, and at Goodreads. If you want to see some of her cats’ antics and possibly the occasional video update from Catherine, visit her YouTube account.

Cover Reveal!!! Smoke Signals by Catherine Gayle

Blurb:

Growing up poor with a mother who would do anything—even sell her body—to help him get ahead in life had a profound impact on Ray “Razor” Chambers. Now he’s a defenseman for the NHL’s Tulsa Thunderbirds, which allows him the means to make sure his mother never needs to do anything like that again. He’s in Vegas because his best buddy is about to get hitched, but not before Razor and the guys throw him a bachelor party. Viktoriya Dubrovskaya had been studying ballet in California, but money is tight and there’s no help coming from home in Russia. She started out making some extra money as a dancer in a club, and that eventually led her to the adult film industry. Porn may have paid her well, but it stripped her of everything she was and all she wanted. She’s left the business behind, but too late. Now she’s out of time, money, and options. In desperation, Viktoriya makes herself available to Razor on the casino floor. There’s no chance he’ll take her up on what she’s selling, but he offers a counter-proposal—one involving a ring, a green card, and the chance to reclaim her body. It’s an opportunity she can’t pass up. For Viktoriya and Razor, learning to live together as husband and wife is as foreign as interpreting Smoke Signals, but where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire.

Author Bio:

Catherine Gayle is a USA Today bestselling author of Regency-set historical romance and contemporary hockey romance with a New Adult feel. She’s a transplanted Texan living in North Carolina with two extremely spoiled felines. In her spare time, she watches way too much hockey and reality TV, plans fun things to do for the Nephew Monster’s next visit, and performs experiments in the kitchen which are rarely toxic.

If you enjoyed this book and want to know when more like it will be available, be sure to sign up for Catherine’s mailing list. You can find out more on her website, her blog, at Red Door Reads, at Hockey Romance, at Facebook, on Twitter, and at Goodreads. If you want to see some of her cats’ antics and possibly the occasional video update from Catherine, visit her YouTube account.

Review: Comeback by Catherine Gayle

Comeback (Portland Storm #6)

Catherine Gayle

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

Book Blurb: 

Nicklas Ericsson is an addict. He’s also a star goaltender with the NHL’s Portland Storm, or he was until his addiction changed everything. Now he’s throwing himself into doing all the necessary things to pave his path to a comeback, both in his personal life and on the ice. Nicky’s run out of options, and now his sister and her children are in Portland. They need help he has no clue how to provide, though, and figuring it out might derail all the progress he’s made.

For a few years now, Jessica Lynch has been running the Portland office for the Light the Lamp Foundation. Between her work and several people from her past, she knows more than she’d like about addicts. One lesson she’s learned is that even when addicts try to turn their lives around, more often than not, they fail. That’s why she takes a hands off approach, keeping her heart well away from the addicts she works with, like Nicky Ericsson.

Nicky’s recovery efforts put him directly in Jessica’s path, and she can’t ignore his very real need for help. Where Nicky is concerned, she can’t separate her emotions. His niece and nephews further complicate her efforts to guard her heart. The attraction between Nicky and Jessica is instant and mutual, but she’s misplaced her trust too many times before. Can he prove that he won't fall back into old habits in time to complete the perfect comeback?

My Review:  5 Stars

I don’t know where to start with this one. I love Catherine Gayle’s Portland Storm series and since we have only had a few glimpses at Nicky (and most of them weren’t the best) I didn’t know how I was going to feel about this book. Not only was I not sure because of how we have seen Nicky, I wasn’t sure since it more than touches on addiction. As the wife of an addict this topic can be very hard on me. So with all of that, let me just say that I LOVED this book. It is beautifully written. The characters have depth and the book really gets you in the feels. I have read books before and have been emotional, but this book was a first for me because I had actual tears coming down my face (so if you are an emotional reader, don’t read this in public unless you want to be asked multiple times if you are ok).

Nicky is making his comeback from addiction, in his professional and personal life. After a rough few years, he finally gets the chance to get back between the pipes for the Portland Storm and he hopes he doesn’t let anyone down this time. On the personal side of things, he has finally gotten to the point where he feels like he can start being honest about his issues and wants to help out more with the Light the Lamp Foundation (Kally’s foundation) since he was helped by a similar program. He has his head on pretty straight and he is in a good place when he is thrown for a loop. His sister, niece and nephews come into town and he isn’t sure if he can handle all that comes with it (I am not going into detail because it is a very large part of the plot and I hate to spoil things for people, but I will say that the tears started to pool here and eventually they just spilled over).

Jessica works for the Portland office of the Light the Lamp Foundation and in doing so she meets with a lot of addicts and having been married to one as well as raised by and with one she has a lot of experience and has been hurt by addicts too many times to count. She has decided that she can never be more than friends with someone with a history of addiction. She is pretty good at keeping that promise to herself, but every time she meets with Nicky about the Foundation she knows that he could test that decision. But when things start to get bad for Nicky she somehow finds herself being the person he turns to when he needs help or just needs to talk. The more time she spends with him, the harder things become for her.

Ok, so I’m stopping there so there are no spoilers, but I will say that the friendship/relationship that grows between these two is great. They seemed to be able to talk to each other about anything and they take their time getting to know each other (asking a lot of geeky questions, which as a geek, I loved). Like I said before it was beautifully written. The beach scene in particular sticks out in my head, it was a great celebration of life and love and it comes across the page beautifully. This book had some humor, some heartache and so much love (Nicky/his niece, his niece/his sister, all the Portland Storm wives) and I want to read it over and over again. Nicky stole my heart. His character, his heart, his humor just got me and I was cheering for him to fight the good fight and show his addiction that he is stronger than it. So now I sit anxiously waiting for Babs’ book and the continuation of the Portland Storm series that I love so much! 

***Let me finish this post by informing everyone that every time I think about this book/see it this pops into my head... Enjoy!!!***