She’s the coach’s daughter and his rival’s newest target.
Aasher Matthews is everything I detest. Arrogant jock: check. Coy smirk: check. Too hot for his own good: check. To make matters worse, he plays hockey. Unfortunately for him, my father is his coach. Fortunately for me, I’m deemed untouchable.
The only common ground I have with hockey players is our love of the ice, so staying away from them will be easy-peasy.
Until I overhear their bet—who can get Coach’s daughter in their bed first?
I’m ready to bring the entire Bexley U hockey team to their knees. Instead of fleeing, I flirt. Instead of hiding, I run just so they’ll chase me. Luring my father’s players into a trap has a certain appeal to it.
Except, Aasher isn’t fooled by my feigned temptation. He has too much riding on a perfect season and has plans to join the NHL after winning the Frozen Four.
So he proposes our own bet.
If he wins, I stay away from his teammates and stop messing with their heads.
If I win, he tells my father—his beloved coach—about his teammates’ dirty plans for me.
But the more Aasher crosses the lines we’ve carved into the ice, the more I find myself letting him. The only problem is, someone else is in on our gamble, and they aren’t willing to concede.
Ice Bet is a spicy coach’s daughter college sports romance. It is a complete stand-alone. The other books in the series do not need to be read in order, but you will see glimpses of future characters in each book. (From: Goodreads)
My thoughts were wrapped around her like a blanket, and my future was looking a lot like pretty blue eyes in the morning instead of stark-white ice beneath my skates.
***Actual Rating: 5/5 “eyes-batting” stars***
(No pun intended, lol.)
As a slow reader, it usually takes me about 1-2 weeks to finish reading a book (if given enough time every day, that is,) so the fact that I literally devoured this gem in one sitting says a lot about this book, right?
For starters, Ice Bet was the sequel to Weak Side, the first book in the Bexley University series, which totally got me into my hockey romance era. The story followed Aasher Matthews—the next best hockey player (with their captain, Theo, being the best) in BU hockey team—who was destined to join the ultimate dream of all hockey players, NHL, and his “undivided attention” to his coach’s daughter, Riley Lennon. *evil grins*
That was the first night I went to bed thinking about something other than hockey, and I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be the last.
What started as a threat between Aasher and his coach turned into an emotional tug-of-war between Aasher and Riley, constantly building up the anticipation as the story progressed. Needless to say, Aasher and Riley’s slow-burning chemistry and highly addictive sexual tension were killing me throughout the book. There were so many moments that I just wanted to jump into the book and keep them from ignoring their feelings for each other when they were so obviously in love. Honestly, what impressed me most about Ice Bet was hands-down the character development. Our lovely female main character here, Riley, was a smart girl through and through. She was so incredibly fierce and fearless that despite experiencing something as traumatically as she did back in high school, she still never gave up on figure skating, and I also adored how she pretty much revenged on those hockey players’ stupid ice bet. In short, Riley totally got those boys’ asses handed to them and flawlessly put them in their place. Her badassery knew no boundaries for sure. *YOU ROCK, GIRL!!!*
I bent my head low. “I didn’t peg you to be a cheater, Duster.”
“I am not a cheater, Broom.”
“Broom?” I repeated. Did she just call me a broom?
She giggled, and it was sort of cute. “You call me a household tool; I call you a household tool.”
Aside from Riley, our handsome male main character, Aasher, was 100% boyfriend material, lemme tell ya. I meant, who would’ve guessed beneath all that rogue exterior and heavy hockey gear, Aasher was such a thoughtful and sweet cinnamon roll, especially when it came to Riley? He was the best example of learning from the past mistakes and leaving no stone unturned to right a wrong by making his very own ice bet with Riley. The deal they struck after Aasher came to the realization that there was a Riley-shaped spot in his heart however much he wanted to deny was PRICELESS. I’d always wanted to read about romance between an ice hockey player and a figure skater because there was just something exceptionally heart-warming and touching when the couple interacted on the ice. That being said, Aasher and Riley’s slow-burning romantic relationship utterly melted my heart. My personal favorite was when they helped each other out (by reminding something pretty…naughty on a specifically meaningful spot on the ice *wink wink*) and the fact that both were simply THERE for each other when they needed the most. #RelationshipGoal *happy sighs*
”I’ll be right back. I’m getting you a Gatorade.”
She made a noise that sounded like she was on her deathbed, but before I walked out the door she whispered, “Blue.”
“Huh?”
“I like blue.”
“You get what you get, Duster,” I said, but I knew very well that if we didn’t have blue Gatorade in the fridge, I’d make sure to find one for her.
What’s more, not only was the protagonists’ personal growth exciting to read, but the secondary characters in this book were beyond memorable. I was so not expecting how much love and adoration I would have for the side characters such as Ford, Efrain (my newest fav!!!), Berkley, Emory, Sutton (Riley’s roommate), Taytum (Emory’s little sister, whom he was extremely, overly protective of), and even Sully the bully as well as Mya (Riley’s one and only friend from her previous school, Rosewood U,) all of who possessed something extra unique, making them hard to forget after the meet-and-greet in the book. Seriously, how was it possible to be fond of the supporting characters almost as much as the main ones?!
The close-knit friendship (and sportsmanship) Aasher and his team members/roommates formed was one of a kind and should totally be cherished if we got to have that in real life. Besides, the amount of support they showed for Riley when she finally plucked up her courage to get back on the ice completely rendered me speechless. There was so much laughter (the banters among the guys—particularly between Ford and Efrain—were beyond HILARIOUS and I almost cried from laughing so hard at some point,) along with happy (and real) tears in this book that they successfully elevated the pleasure of reading, further turning it into a MUST READ for all romance and non-romance lovers!
”What?” I snapped, becoming impatient. “Listen, if you want to punch my lights out, can you hurry and do it so I can regain consciousness before she gets over here?”
To my astonishment, even the “adult” adults here, a.k.a. Aasher’s and Riley’s parents, were considerate and nice and basically some friendly folks, too. Even though Riley’s dad, better known as THE COACH, sort of warned his entire hockey team that she was 10000000% off-limits, I appreciated how he still managed to see the good in Aasher even after all kinds of shenanigans regarding both Rosewood U (Bexley’s rival) and Bexley U, and simply was the best father/coach anyone could ask for. *teary eyes*
In a nutshell, Ice Bet was indeed a book totally worth SAVORING as the plot was well-thought-out, the character development insanely well-done, and that promising ending brought so much potential and hope for us all. THAT ending was seriously the cherry on top, in my opinion, because I could totally picture the new characters (not gonna spoil you here) with brand-new romance tropes such as childhood-friends-turned-lovers—my ultimate favorite—and small town brewing already. Who knew? Perhaps the awesome author, Sammi, would give us another spin-off series, a book, a novella, or even a teeny, tiny little snippet of those newbies in the near future; whatever it was, we would definitely be in for a delicious treat.
Lastly, I’d like to mention that I initially thought Aasher and Riley’s storyline would come after Theo and Claire’s (from the previous instalment, Weak Side) but apparently that wasn’t the case. Aasher and Riley’s story actually happened at the same time as that of Theo and Claire, so the background setting of both Weak Side and Ice Bet could be considered in the similar, somewhat parallel universe, since the stories were told in different characters’ POVs. Hence, both books could definitely be read as standalones, and I was positive you’d enjoy Theo, Claire, Aasher, and Riley’s journey so very much! Bexley University was a pure dream college to me, and I’d kill to enroll and just befriend with those cool kids. Just saying. *silly grins*
Enough said, please go pick the Bexley U series up now!! Highly recommended both Weak Side and Ice Bet as the stories and characters were all spectacularly unforgettable. Besides, I swore Sammi just kept outdoing herself with every new release! I personally thought the writing style and the way Sammi described the scenes in Ice Bet made it much easier to picture whatever happened in the story than any of her previous work, so what was not to love? You’d fall head over heels for this book before you even realized it, I promised. Happy reading!
***Massive thanks to the author for generously providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.***
Life of a Simple Reader 