Cross Check by Kelly Jamieson doesn’t easily fall into one category, and that’s what makes it such a great read. It’s angsty, funny, sexy, and adorable all in one perfect package!

Related: Read an exclusive excerpt from Cross Check by Kelly Jamieson

About ‘Cross Check’ by Kelly Jamieson:

A party girl and a clean-cut college hockey player discover that they’re not so different in this sexy, soulful Bayard Hockey novel from the bestselling author of Shut Out and the Heller Brothers series.

Ella Verran has three goals this semester: get off academic probation, repair her relationship with her friend Skylar, and take some responsibility for her life. All of which are hard enough without hot, snobby hockey player Ben Buckingham around to distract her. Ella can’t stand Ben, and she knows the feeling is mutual. But he’s best friends with Skylar’s boyfriend, so he’s always around—taunting and tempting Ella in ways she never thought possible.

As the star forward of the Bayard College hockey team, Ben has goals too, like playing well enough to land a spot on an NHL roster. Ben is perfectly poised on the ice, so why can’t he keep his cool around Ella? Her wild behavior rubs him in all the wrong ways—and a few of the right ones. But as they skate around each other, Ben learns that there’s more to Ella than her bad reputation. And when the line between love and hate starts to blur, he can’t resist crossing over and sweeping her off her feet.

‘Cross Check’ by Kelly Jamieson review:

If you like new adult and sports romance, then the Bayard Hockey series by Kelly Jamieson might just be for you. Even though the first book in this series, Shut Out, came out last summer I just read it over the spring. So I was excited to find out that the next book in the series was coming out this summer. Because who likes to wait? Definitely not this girl.

Much like the first book in the series, Cross Check deals with some heavily emotional issues. However, it’s balanced out nicely by humor and passion so even the heavier bits of the story line don’t drag down the reader for too long. There were plenty of times where I was laughing out loud at some of Ben and Ella’s lines. Particularly when they were trying to fight their attraction to one another.

When the book starts out, the main characters don’t really like each other. Ella and Ben have mutual friends but don’t like being forced to be around one another. However, when they are pushed together it’s quickly revealed that they have much more in common than they think.

They’re alike in simple ways, like the food that they like to eat, but also in the how they are judged by others. In fact, it takes them some time to accept the fact that they have even judged each other too harshly and maybe they don’t hate each other as much as they think.

Both are going through some tough times too. Ella is on academic probation and has to get her act together, she’s also still mending the fences with her best friend. Ben has some dark family secrets and is also having a hard time navigating the process of getting drafted by himself.

Reading them come together, and getting over all their obstacles was lots of fun and hard to put down. It was also a blast getting updates on the familiar characters from the first book in the series. I did feel like they went from just wanting to be casual to deciding to be a couple pretty quickly, but it didn’t take away from the story over all.

Ella and Ben’s happily ever after wasn’t an easy road for them, but it made it all worth it in the end. I’m looking forward to keeping Kelly on my radar and seeing what’s next in the series!

Cross Check by Kelly Jamieson will release on July 25! Pre-order now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, and Kobo. And don’t forget to add it to your Goodreads!