Lynn Stevens, $0.99, ISBN 978-1005203801
Contemporary Romance, 2021

Welcome to Ridder U… wait, why would anyone even want to go to a place with a name like that? I suppose it could work had Lynn Stevens’s Hooked been a slasher horror story, but no, this is a straightforward romance, so I can only speculate as to why that place is named that.

So, in Ridder U, Grace Addison is the new gal in the campus. She’s actually from around here, having fled town during high school due to plot and angst, in that order.

Star hockey player Nolan Thomas and she went way back, and now that she’s in the neighborhood again, can he finally score and whack it right between her goal posts?

Oh come on, you know I’m going to say that. The author wants me to say that, or else she would have just done the usual city girl running back to her hometown and onto the man she left behind thing!

Well, this one is cute.

No, really. I half expect, given how this is marketed as some kind of new adult thing, that the hero will be an asshole male slut and the heroine reeling from 50 rape and abuse traumas, but what I get are actually two rather adorable sweethearts tentatively and slowly reconnecting.

The story itself isn’t particularly exciting or innovative, but that’s okay, because its strength lies more in little moments. Those sweet little moments of connection when they talk about their past and rediscover all the quaint adorable things they like about one another, and those seemingly casual gestures that actually hold pretty big significance to the person at the receiving—yes, those moments.

Nolan is really good with these moments, especially, and in many ways he breaks the stereotype of the sports star in a new adult story. He is free from misogyny and other tired, played out baggage that too many authors believe are short cuts or even replacements for actual personalities in their romance heroes.

The only issue I have here is the length of the story. In a way, I’m torn about this.

One one hand, the conflict isn’t strong enough to sustain a longer story, so I’m okay with that.

On the other hand, I feel that the shorter length also keeps the romance from being developed into something that can resonate better with the feels. Yes, the current romance has sweet moments, but I’d love it more if the characters and their relationship had been given more room to become something deeper, more memorable.

As it is, it’s just cute. Then again, maybe that’s enough… or maybe not. Like I said, I’m torn.