I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily writing a review.
The Pucking Coach's Daughter is a dark romance reverse harem hockey book by S. Massery.
Book Info
Title: The Pucking Coach's Daughter
Author: S. Massery
Publication Date: July 23, 2024
Category: Contemporary Dark Hockey Romance
Relationship: Reverse harem/why choose with three men and one woman. There is group sex but not between the male characters.
Men: Carter, Penn, and Oliver "Ollie" (Gabriel) - There is also mention of "L./Lucas" which I will not explain as to not spoil anything.
Woman: Sydney aka Syd, dream girl, princess, mi nena
Ages: College age - early 20's
POV: Told from the POV of both the male and female main characters.
Series or Stand-Alone: This book is a standalone that does not currently have any announced series intentions.
Length: Long (541 pages)
Ending: This book ends with a happy for now. The final chapter occurs 5 months after the main part of the book.
Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Open or Closed Door: Open door
Spice Level: 5 out of 5 peppers - Several detailed spicy scenes that aren't overly long but feature kinks some may find taboo or triggering including somnophilia, blood and knife play, and dubious consent.
Please make sure you read the introduction of the book for themes and triggers.
While this book contains a lot of spicy scenes, there is also a lot of plot.
Get more information on how I choose my ratings for books.
Book Boyfriend Material:
Carter Masters was my favorite MMC in the book, no question.
He's a truly crazy stalker and certainly not perfect but he's the only one I felt truly cared about what was best for Sydney and would always be there for her no matter what.
And really, I felt he was the only one that didn't totally fail her at some point, including her family.
"Carter feels like home. I don’t know why. He feels safe in an exhilarating way. If that isn’t the most confusing, mind-f*** of a sentence, I don’t know what is."
Penn Walker started out strong and I honestly thought he'd be my favorite until some things happened later on that were bad but forgivable, in my opinion. He's the type that can be a genuinely nice guy on the outside but there's definitely some questionable things that go on behind closed doors and in his mind.
“If you don’t want to pick between us, I think I understand that, too. I would even accept it. For you. Because I fell in love with you ..., and I don’t know what I’d do if you couldn’t forgive me."
Oh, Oliver Ruiz. You had so much potential but when you had obviously fallen for Syd, you still managed to do something so stupid and screwed up our girl so much more than she already was. And you didn't even immediately understand why she reacted the way she did.
It kind of ruined you as a character for me and I would have been totally okay with her never forgiving you.
“Love doesn’t cover it,” he says without pulling away. “I want you to crawl under my skin just as surely as I want to be under yours. You live in my thoughts without fail. I truly think I carved out my heart and gave it to you, and you’ve been holding it safe ever since. It’s the only way to explain how I feel with you and without you. That’s to say, complete with you. And achingly empty without.”
Readability: There were some typos, flow, and continuity errors that didn't overly disrupt the readability. Since this was an ARC copy these did not factor into the overall rating as they may be fixed in the final release edition.
Themes/Tropes: Sports/hockey; reverse harem/why choose; off-limits (coach's daughter); bullying; enemies to lovers; second chance; rival colleges
Possible Triggers: Note that all triggers may not be listed here and could potentially spoil parts of the book. I always suggest visiting the author’s site or the beginning of the book for more information if triggers are a concern for you.
Click/tap to view possible triggers.
- Anxiety
- Blackmail
- Blood and knife play
- Branding with knife
- Bullying
- Chasing
- Child abuse/abandonment
- Death
- Divorce
- Drugs and drinking
- Explicit language and sex
- Hospitalization
- Kidnapping
- Mental health issues
- Murder and attempted murder
- Non-consent and dubious consent
- Self-harm
- Sexual assault/attempted rape
- Slut shaming
- Somnophilia
- Stalking
- Torture
- Violence
PURCHASING INFO
Available On: This book is available as an ebook, paperback, and audiobook on Amazon including Kindle Unlimited.
Please note that the availability options listed were applicable at the time this review was written but may change over time.
SYNOPSIS FROM AUTHOR
Trust no one.
I learn that the hard way after hockey star Carter Masters stabs me in the back and turns our rival school against me.
Suddenly, I’m Public Enemy Number One at Framingham State.
Just a year later, that’s exactly where I’m forced to enroll.
No one has forgotten what I did.
The anti-Sydney campaign is led by two gorgeous, psycho hockey players. Oliver Ruiz, captain. And Penn Walker, the devastating goalie.
They have me in their sights the moment I step foot on their campus. Where they lead, the rest of the students follow. They won’t stop until I’m gone and Carter’s team faces payback.
My only solace from the constant bullying comes from a blocked number that keeps texting me.
But as much as Oliver and Penn want to, they can’t drive me off completely. Because even at the worst moments, I know I’m not going anywhere.
After all, I’m their coach’s daughter.
MY REVIEW
S. Massery has a way of writing that makes you kind of question your own sanity for enjoying her books so much because she writes dark romance so well and The Pucking Coach's Daughter is no different.
We follow Sydney as she tries to get back a family heirloom but makes a pretty big impulsive mistake that leads to her life spiraling downward.
LIKES
- Definitely brings out a variety of emotions including humor, horror, disgust, suspense, heart-melting - pretty much everything
- Plenty of stalking, spicy time, and questionable events that will have you questioning your sanity for enjoying reading - things you likely already expect and enjoy from S. Massery
DISLIKES
- Some flow and continuity issues
- If you like a strong FMC this may not be for you
- Would have liked more male main character building and development of relationships outside of sex considering the length of the book
- Would have liked a better look into the future
After thoroughly enjoying S. Massery's Hockey Gods series I was so looking forward to reading The Pucking Coach's Daughter.
Unfortunately, it didn't quite live up to my expectations though I still really enjoyed the book and recommend it to others who enjoy rather dark romance and the Hockey Gods series.
When I'm in the mood for it, I love books that take me through a range of emotions and this one certainly fit that bill.
I definitely went from laughing at some scenes to wanting to beat up the guys, and give Sydney assistance to pull her head out of her butt.
If you're already a fan of S. Massery and love how she writes stalkers, psychos, and spicy scenes, you'll probably be a fan of this one as well.
I also thought it was neat that there were some Easter eggs included like using the name Elle Thorpe and characters you might have read about in other S. Massery books like Caleb Asher.
I didn't totally love this book, though.
My first disappointment was the female main character.
I don't always need a super strong female lead to enjoy a book but it is disappointing when a female character starts out independent and doesn't care what others think.
Then she takes a sharp turn in the aftermath of a really stupid decision on her part, becoming quite co-dependent and wanting answers and more out of life without being willing to do much to achieve it.
Something quite devastating happens later on and I don't fault her reaction to this event. But I didn't understand the reactions of those who supposedly cared about her, especially those who knew what happened.
There's no way that men who pride themselves in doing whatever they want by any means necessary let things like changed locks, unanswered doors and phones, and locked windows get in their way for days.
Yet, when they get in contact with her they're able to fix her enough to function when it was obvious she needed professional help - they all did.
The book can also be a bit confusing to follow.
There's a lot of sudden topic changes and jumping around, going back to old events, and what I felt was a continuity error.
Early on a MMC finds out what happened to the FMC and then later on when they're discussing it he states he didn't know the finer details of what happened, yet when he originally found out, he did indeed find out that detail.
I also found that there wasn't much character development and history with the MMCs.
We find out a good bit of what happened with the FMC and get brief glimpses from MMC histories but not much.
We don't really get to find out why there can be things like anger issues, why certain family members aren't contacted, or even why feelings started developing.
While there's lots of spice we also don't get to see much quality time outside the bedroom.
No hanging out, dates, or watching movies on the couch. It made the relationships feel more superficial and lust-driven versus something long-term.
I think I especially felt this way because there wasn't much of a look into the future at the end.
We didn't find out if they stayed at separate colleges the next year, or what happened after the move from college to the professional level and things like that.
However, even with these issues I couldn't put the book down and didn't regret reading it at all so I still give it a very positive rating.
I’d recommend The Pucking Coach's Daughter for anyone that loves extra dark why choose romance, enjoys the hockey theme, and doesn't mind a FMC that isn't always super strong.
I can't stress enough to check the trigger warnings on this one, though. And that's as someone that often finds many dark romance books to not be that dark.
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