Review: Cage (The New Bradfords #2) by Tia Louise

CAGE by Tia Louise is LIVE!!!

💜BINGE NOW!
Amazon: https://mybook.to/CageAmz

Duet Audio: coming Feb. 6!
*Available in Kindle Unlimited. All illustrations by Laura Moore, https://www.instagram.com/lcm_designss

📚 Tropes:
🏒Hockey romance
🏒Seriously broody single dad
🏒Roommates to Lovers
🏒Hilarious dog antics
🏒STEM FMC
🏒"Just once"
🏒Only one bed
🏒Jealous alpha hero
🏒No cheating, cliffhanger, or third act breakup...

Sometimes fate sends a sign, and sometimes it sends a bloodhound with a hot hockey player holding its leash, dragging it off you.

Owen Stone is not your usual hockey player. He’s a six-foot-two single dad with dark hair, ocean eyes, and muscles for days. He’s also a last-minute trade trying to find a home for his seven-year-old daughter, his psychic sister, and his adoring bloodhound. Naturally, my hockey-star cousin tells him to move in with us. I’m a sucker for a good dog.

Gina Bradford hits me right in my weakness. She’s tall for a girl, with strawberry-blonde hair, bright green eyes, and a sweet smile. She’s also a champion dog groomer, judge, and owner of a pure-bred show poodle, who is also a notorious towel thief. When my new teammate invites me to be their roommate until I find a home for my crew, I should’ve said no. I’ve survived the worst, and I’ve achieved my dream of playing in the NHL.

My focus is on winning games and taking care of my daughter, not romance.

Until our dogs start acting like fated mates whose sole purpose is to push us together. And a charity calendar forces us to work together. And a highway accident strands us overnight in a hotel with only one room… and only one bed.

We said it was just once. We’ve both been hurt. But once is never enough.

My daughter loves her, and even my psychic sister predicted the girl of my dreams would be holding a dog.

It takes a little faith and a lot of courage, but what we’ve found is more than a cage. It’s a love that shows up, even when you’re not looking for it.

(Cage is a hockey romance with a broody single dad, an FMC obsessed with dogs/not love, roommates-to-lovers, close proximity, “just once,” chosen family, and loads of spicy fun. No cheating, no cliffhanger, and no third-act breakup.)

MY REVIEW

Gina's about to get a new roommie and their dogs are about to make a love match. She's grooming her poodle in hopes of perfecting Spanky's look before the national dog show, when in races Owen's bloodhound Ladybird and chaos ensues. Now that their dogs have bonded, will the new roommies bond, too? Or is Owen's broody going to be too much for Gina's walled off heart?

Owen's trying to find his way with a new team, a new place to live, and make sure his daughter Maddie gets the best of him. When he walks into what will be his temporary digs, his dog makes sure he knows this is where he's supposed to be - that Gina and Spanky are supposed to be their ones. If he can get past his own hangups and Gina's, they can become the unit his psychic sister predicted.

All Tia had to do is say dogs and I was all in on Cage. Spanky and Ladybird are the cutest pair of dogs, ever, but their humans are just as sweet as they fell in love, even while not admitting it, not even realizing it at first. I love that Gina's job is so out of the box - I mean a smart af dog groomer?! How could she not be the fabulous, big-hearted heroine she turned out to be. And then there's broody, hockey player single dad Owen...swoon! The way he is with his adorable daughter, and his doggo, and especially with Gina. My heart could not have fallen harder for him. Gina and Owen's families and friends are around for love, support, and the occasional meddling, and made me smile even bigger as they welcomed each of them into the fold. These Bradfords are some of Tia's best, now I'm waiting impatiently for cousin Maverick, and Dove's story, Flow.