Review: Dirty Deal by Mira Lyn Kelly (Slayers Hockey #5)

November 20, 2021

Note: An advance reader copy (ARC) was provided by the author.

Friends.

That's what we are. And having that affirmation playing on repeat in my head should be enough to keep me out of crushy trouble. But it's not.

The problem is, we are friends. Maybe too good of friends.

Okay, I admit it: I'm a wee bit addicted to Mira Lyn Kelly's Slayers Hockey series. Every upcoming release has become a highly anticipated read, and then it becomes one of my favorite reads of the year. Five books in, and I'm still obsessed. Dirty Deal is the newest book in the series, and Lordy, it's a single parent romance! Gah! A hot hockey player who realizes that he's a father and turns to his gorgeous neighbor for help? Yes, please and thank you muchly. If you're new to the series, you can certainly read this as a standalone, but why do that when you can get five times the hockey romance awesomeness if you read all five currently available books?!

Dirty Deal is Axel Erikson and Nora Bennett's story. A few months ago, the two had been all flirty and getting along quite nicely as new neighbors, but all it took was one puck bunny's uninvited appearance for things to go south. Now, Nora's known as the fun wrecker, and Axel is the playboy player. When a hook-up shows up on his doorstep breathing heavily, it's not because she wants a second round; rather, she's about to deliver some surprising news...and Axel's baby. With his newborn son, Otto, in tow, and the baby's mother relinquishing all parental rights, Axel is in desperate need of help--and Nora is his best option. Will Nora regret agreeing to be Otto's live-in nanny (and Axel's friend) or could this be the best deal she's ever made?

This book gave me all the squishy, happy feels. I adored everything about it! I loved the back story these main characters had as neighbors and how they got to where they were are the beginning of the book and then how everything changed and evolved once they were all sharing the same space. I think that Nora and Axel going from flirty to feisty neighbors was a good thing because it took him embracing fatherhood and her being his greatest pillar of support throughout those first few months for them to realize that what they could have was something more than a passing thing. The other Slayers are there to provide levity, but at the very heart of the story is how Nora, Axel, and Otto became a family and the reminder that dreams can change when we realize what matters most to us. Le sigh. I'm giving Dirty Deal five-plus stars, and can't wait for Dirty Groom!

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Read my reviews for the Slayers Hockey series: