ROOKIE MOVE (The Brooklyn Bruisers #1) by SARINA BOWEN

‘Breaking up with him was something I did because I had to. Not because I didn’t love him.’

After falling in love with Sarina Bowen’s previous work and being big fans of sports romances and second chance romances, it was a no brainer we were going to pounce on the first book in her Brooklyn Bruiser series. Hot hockey players and the women who win their hearts….hmmmm you had us at hello!

Leo Trevi and Georgia Worthington were high school sweethearts but theirs was no puppy love, rather it was the once in a lifetime soul mates love, they were one another’s first everything. First date, first kiss, first love, first heartbreak.

“We don’t have one night stands, Georgia. We have forever night stands.”

Six years ago after a traumatic experience Georgia asks Leo to let her go and considering what she went through, Leo didn’t want to make life more difficult for her and so he granted her wish much to his utter loss and heartbreak. Leo was 19 when they broke up, the pain of losing Georgia, devastated him. He’s never forgotten the love of his life and six years later, seeing her again only recaptures those feelings.

‘Letting Georgia go was the hardest thing he’d ever had to do. And he’d only been able to manage it because he was sure it would help her be happy again.‘

Rookie Move was a sweet and sexy first book in this Hockey romance series with some deeply heartfelt moments and difficult subject matter which was handled sensitively and with love via Sarina Bowens words with Leo especially stealing our hearts. Boy did we experience his confusion, his hurt and the pure soul deep love he felt for Georgia. He is quite a guy who wears his heart on his sleeve.

‘Georgia was his Kryptonite. Nobody else made him feel so alive. He never wanted it to end.’

As the story progresses we are privy to the events that led to Georgia making the most difficult decision of her life in letting Leo go and how those actions affected not only her and Leo, but those around them.

“We used to be equals. But now I’m always going to be the one who’s worried. It’s still the same problem. I used to be fearless ….’

Whilst we did enjoy this first first book in the series, we didn’t experience the wow factor that makes us fall in book love. For us personally, we felt as though we were being told the story rather than being participants, looking from the outside in and for that reason we didn’t feel as emotionally invested in the characters as we had hoped. At the end of the day though, this was a sweet romantic escape with the team brotherhood and camaraderie we love in our sports themed romances! However…..you can bet we’re looking forward to more of this series, and we’re especially keen to hear a lot more about the young billionaire owner of the Brooklyn Bruisers..…now that will be a story to tell!