Review: Simmering Ice by Veronica Forand & Susan Scott Shelley (Atlantic City Hustlers #2)
Note: This ARC was provided by Entangled Publishing in exchange for an honest review.
It's been two years since Atlantic City Hustlers forward Alec O'Meara's beloved wife passed away after her battle with cancer. Since then, Alec's kept his contact with other women very casual, feeling that he isn't ready for a committed relationship. Then he meets physical therapist Annie Davidson, whose red hair reminds him of his late wife but the two women couldn't be more different. He enjoys spending time with the sexy and sporty Annie, but she's always had issues with her self-confidence and now she feels as if she's competing with a ghost. Will she be able to realize that what she and Alec have is real before it's too late?
Simmering Ice is the second book in the Atlantic City Hustlers series by the writing duo of Veronica Forand and Susan Scott Shelley. This is a fairly quick read but is actually longer than its predecessor, Flirting on Ice and is about Alec O'Meara, who was introduced in the first book and is a member of the Atlantic City Hustlers ice hockey team, and Annie Davidson, a physical therapist who happens to be good friends with one of Alec's teammates. Alec loved his late wife for years and her memory still shines brightly and, thanks to her insecurities, Annie wonders if Alec is attracted to her because she reminds him of his wife. Alec's character no longer seems to be mourning the death of his wife, but it's obvious that he's never met anyone who could even come close to inspiring the same intensity of feeling he had for her...until he meets Annie, who is beautiful and successful but still listens to her mother's belittling.
The story doesn't suffer from the same case of insta-love that the first one did, since the relationship between Alec and Annie develops over a longer period of time. They have issues that they need to resolve in order to truly make a go of what's going on between them, but I felt that one of the main issues--Annie's toxic relationship with her mother--wasn't resolved as satisfactorily as I wanted, especially since she was the main source of Annie's feelings of doubt and inadequacy. Alec and Annie are likable lead characters and there's a definite chemistry that goes on between the two of them, one that doesn't feel fabricated or forced. Their interactions with the rest of the Atlantic City Hustlers team was a good opportunity to also see more of the other players and who had potential of getting their story told next in the series. I enjoyed reading Simmering Ice and look forward to finding out who'll be starring in book three. Four stars! ♥
Release Date: 07 July 2015
Date Read: 04 July 2015
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