Review: Thrown for a Loop by Sarina Bowen (New York Legends #1)


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

Whenever a favorite indie author steps into the traditional publishing world, I can't help but cheer them on. There are a few of them who've done that this year, one of whom is Sarina Bowen. This isn't a case of a previously published book of hers getting the trad treatment for a paperback. Nope, Bowen has a brand-new novel with Forever, aaaaand it also happens to be the first one in a new series! Thrown for a Loop opens the New York Legends hockey romance series, and it features a retired figure skater who becomes part of the coaching staff of the professional ice hockey team her first love currently plays for. 

When Zoe Carson was eighteen, she met nineteen-year-old Chase Merritt. They were assistant coaches and counselors at a skating camp, and fell madly in love, only for everything to fall apart after Zoe makes a mistake that drastically costs Chase more than she ever imagined. A decade passes before Zoe is hired by the New York Legends to serve as the new skating coach--the same hockey organization where Chase is its star player. While he may be experiencing issues with his performance on the ice, Chase refuses to be coached by Zoe, making it clear he's neither forgotten the events from ten years ago, nor has he forgiven her for her part in it. When a video of the two of them performing while at camp surfaces, team management's thrown for a loop but throws them together for publicity. Can Zoe win back Chase's heart?

While you may think of The Cutting Edge--Moseley and Dorsey FTW!--the only similarity between the film and this new Sarina Bowen-penned hockey romance series starter are the sports the MCs participate in. Zoe has her fair share of regrets, especially when it comes to how everything played out at skating camp. Both she and Chase were still teenagers, both on the cusp of adulthood, and while it would be easy to wish that they had communicated better back then, I think that they also needed to experience life as actual adults. I appreciated Sarina Bowen's writing and change in POVs when it came to the present and flashbacks. Thrown for a Loop is a strong beginning to the New York Legends series and gets five stars!

Release Date: 04 November 2025

Date Read: 14 July 2025

Learn more about Sarina Bowen.

Pre-order Thrown for a Loop on Amazon | Apple Books | B&N | Google Play | Kobo.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Him by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy (Him #1)

Image
Four years' worth of meaningless sexual encounters flash through my head as I break the kiss and slide down his body again. All those guys I hooked up with in the past...they're a blur. They're faceless. Sometimes they were faceless even when I was with them. I got off, they got off, but I wasn't fully present. I always held something back from them. Not with Jamie. I can't hold back with him, and never could. Holy book hangover. It's confirmed: there's something seriously wrong with me to have waited as long as I did to read this novel, though I'm counting getting it on sale as an absolute bonus. I get it now. I seriously and absolutely get why Him , the first book in the series by the same name from the writing tandem of Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy, has received and continues to receive the stellar reviews and accolades it's gotten since its release in July of last year. I've read many an M/M romance novel and yes, I've read...
Read on...

Review: Cherry Pie by Samantha Kane (Mercury Rising #1)

Image
Note: This ARC was provided by the publisher via RockStar Lit PR in exchange for an honest review. Cherry Pie is the first book in Mercury Rising , an M/M contemporary romance series set in the town of Mercury, North Carolina and penned by author Samantha Kane. The series opens with the story of thirty-five-year-old retired game designer and millionaire John Ford and twenty-five-year-old former Mercury golden boy turned ex-convict Connor Meecham. They're two very different men looking for the same thing--home--but find even more. Having made millions creating a game that took gamers by storm, affording him to live more than comfortably for the rest of his life, and then losing his partner of a decade led John uprooting himself from California on the west coast to North Carolina in the east coast. For a year, he's been working his way through what locals call the Meecham House, refurbishing it in hopes of making it feel like home. Then he notices the young man acros...
Read on...

Release Blitz: Make the Play by Kaylee Ryan

Image
Make the Play (Nashville Rampage #1) by Kaylee Ryan Release Date: June 24, 2025 About Make the Play Corie Knox Beckett is heartbreak in a helmet. He’s also my brother’s best friend, and so far out of my league, he's untouchable. But a few stolen glances turn into a welcome home that blindsides us both. The rules are clear. We just chose not to follow them. Now we’re sneaking around like we’re running a trick play, hooking up behind closed doors, and pretending our actions don’t have the power to blow up our lives. Knox is under my skin and tackling his way into my heart. Ready or not, it's time we make the play. Knox She’s the last girl I’m allowed to want—my best friend’s little sister. She’s all grown up and looking at me in invitation. The second Corie crashes into me, with her tanned, toned skin, in a barely there bikini, I know I’m in trouble. I shouldn’t look. And I sure as hell shouldn’t touch. My hands are already on her waist, one second longer, ...
Read on...