Review / Blog Tour: Bad Pucking Influence (Colorado Bulldogs #2) by Michele Lenard

BAD PUCKING INFLUENCE BY MICHELE LENARD

Release Date: November 7th

Genre / Tropes: Hurt/Comfort / Gay for You / Sports / Found Family
Get ready for a sizzling, heartwarming read!

Bad Pucking Influence by Michele Lenard is here to score your heart. Dive into a captivating blend of hurt/comfort, gay for you, and sports romance.

Don’t miss the chance to experience the love that changes the game. Grab your copy now and let the passion on and off the ice melt your heart.

https://amzn.to/47ocUOB

Add to Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199150376-bad-pucking-influence

Blurb

I stop pucks flying at 100mph, but even I didn’t see this shot coming.

On the surface, I’ve got it all. I’m the starting goalie and Captain of the Colorado Bulldogs hockey team. I’ve got more money than I know what to do with. I can count an entire team of elite athletes as my friends. And according to the pundits, I’m an eligible bachelor.

That's the image everyone sees, but it’s just a role I play. A part dictated by my career. I have to be just as perfect off the ice as I am on it since everything I do reflects on my team in some way or another. So, those questions I have about why I don’t crave sexual contact the way my teammates do–questions I’m afraid to ask with the world watching… I decided a long time ago it didn’t make sense to look for answers until after I retire.

Then I ran into him.

Tripp is loud, obnoxious, and full of confidence. Some people find his sass off-putting, but not me. I find it intriguing, and I admire his ability to be himself, consequences be damned. Apparently, I also admire the way he looks, since my eyes seem to linger on him longer than they should, and when he sets his sights on me…

Waiting for retirement to explore who I am seems like too big a sacrifice, so when Tripp offers to help me answer some of those questions about myself, I jump.

I'm tired of pretending to be Mr. Perfect… Tripp and his playboy antics might be just the thing I need to figure out who I am outside of hockey. The only problem is, everyone–including our mutual friends–see him as a bad pucking influence.

MY REVIEW

Noah's finding out he's not as straight as he had always assumed. Tripp is Noah's opposite, he's out, proud, and unapologetic about being himself. He's the last person Noah had ever thought he'd be interested in, but he's finding himself increasingly drawn to him, and it puzzles him. He hasn't felt an interest in anyone in so long, and Tripp, a guy, isn't normally someone he'd picture himself with. But Tripp's open to exploring a no strings, no feelings thing with him, who is Noah to say no to figuring out himself and what he wants? He just has to make sure he doesn't let his heart get involved, because Tripp is adamant about there being no feelings, no relationship, nothing but fun.

Tripp made a promise to himself after his parents kicked him out at 16, that he'd never be ashamed of liking men. And he's definitely not ashamed of the way he lives his life. But he doesn't do relationships with them, he just has fun, then moves on. It's better that way, with no feelings, so no way of getting his heart broken. But when a hot hockey player he's nicknamed Thor, comes along, he's suddenly wondering if it's possible to break his own rules. Playing nurse for Noah, being in such close proximity, is messing with Tripp's mind, and heart. Will he let Noah in, or push him away like he always does?

Tripp and Noah end up being a cute couple, even if they aren't actually one for very long. I have to admit I was mostly annoyed with Tripp's insistence on no feelings, it felt disingenuous, as if he was just deliberately making things difficult for both Noah and himself. But once he had that awful encounter with his parents, and his backstory came out, I found myself understanding him much better, and forgiving him for his ridiculous behavior for much of the story. I wanted them to get together a lot sooner, though, and it made me have to put this behind Niko and Xander in terms of how much I enjoyed the story and the couple. I did end up liking the story, though, their hot chemistry, and am glad the two of them finally got on the same page and got together officially. I'm not sure whose story is next, perhaps Luca's? I'm definitely looking forward to him falling in love.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hi! I'm Michele. I was ten when I read my first romance, a Jude Deveraux book I swiped from my mom’s bookshelf. I’ve read anything and everything since then; historical fiction, mystery, fantasy and even non-fiction. I devour it all. But I keep coming back to romance. Though sports romance is my guilty pleasure (I love all things active and outdoors), I don’t discriminate by genre or trope.

I love a steamy story (no closed-door scenes for me) but I also love romance. I want to see the emotion behind the steam, to understand what drives characters to fall in love. And I want to fall in love with the people on the page as they’re falling in love with each other. Above all else, I want the fantasy to feel like it could be reality. That’s why I started writing.

I am an Amazon Best Selling Author in the Fiction Anthology category. My first book series, Mile High Romance, is currently available on Kindle Unlimited. Shameless plug - several of those books have been recognized in the MARA Fiction From the Homeland contest. My second series based in a small Colorado town will debut sometime in the fall of 2022. I live in Colorado with my husband, two sons, and an adorable fur baby.

CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR
Website https://mlenardromance.com/
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/-/es/stores/author/B097NR217C
Facebook https://web.facebook.com/michelelenardbooks/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mlenardbooks/
Tiktok https://www.tiktok.com/@michelelenardbooks?