Review: ‘Countdown to a Kiss’ by Piper Rayne
Countdown to a Kiss
by Piper RayneSeries: Hockey Hotties #0.5
Published by Self-Published on April 15, 2021
SubGenres: Contemporary Romance
Format: eBook
Pages: 76
Source: Purchased
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Three professional hockey players from the Florida Fury attend a New Year’s Eve party at the team owner’s mansion and spend time with three very different women. As the countdown to midnight begins, each of them is hoping to start the new year off right with a kiss. But if that happens, does it mean they’re destined to see these women again? A sneak peek into Piper Rayne's series, Hockey Hotties!
Reader Note: Story has been expanded since its inclusion in the Jingle Balls Anthology in 2020.
I wanted something quick and fun to read for the start of the New Year. I also wanted to start reading the backlog of books by the authors, Piper Rayne, and Countdown to a Kiss was the perfect novella to start for 2023. It has multiple POVs that introduce readers to the first three hottie hockey stars of Florida Fury, additionally, the women they will fall hard for in their full-length books.
Storyline/My Thoughts: I enjoyed the sneak peek into the Hockey Hottie series by Piper Rayne and what is expected to come when I find time to read My Lucky #13, The Trouble with #9, and Faking It with #41. The hockey stars introduced are Aiden Drake, Maksim Petrov, and Ford Jacobs. You get a taste of each male character’s POV in the novella. You even get the FMC’s POV, too. It’s going to take a lot of work for all of the hockey stars to win over the FMCs. Since this was an introduction to the series, it was just a tease and will make the reader want more. At least that was what the novella did for me, and now I must read each hockey hotties book.
There isn’t really any spice, but there is obvious tension between some characters, while others won’t want anything to do with each other. It was a New Year’s Eve party, so there would be kissing, bets being made where someone has to skinny dip, and maybe a drink thrown in someone’s face.
I give this novella 3.5 stars, and I look forward to diving into each book soon. I’m glad that 2022 introduced me to Piper Rayne’s books because it’s my mission to read all their books now.
Standalone or Part of Series: It’s part of the Hockey Hotties series and is an intro to the series.
Steam/Spice: 🌶
Would I recommend this book? Yes. It’s a quick novella that introduces readers to the Hockey Hottie series. It was right up my alley to start my obsession with more Piper Rayne books.
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About Piper Rayne
Piper Rayne is a USA Today Bestselling Author duo who write "heartwarming humor with a side of sizzle" about families, whether that be blood or found. They both have e-readers full of one-clickable books, they're married to husbands who drive them to drink, and they're both chauffeurs to their kids. Most of all, they love hot heroes and quirky heroines who make them laugh, and they hope you do, too!
My obsession with reading started over 30+ years ago when I went to my first Scholastic Book Fair and found R.L. Stine's Fear Street series. Later, I came across Anne Rice's novels at my public library when I was fourteen when my obsession with vampires started. I was the girl who preferred to be a vampire over a princess any day. My husband says I would leave him a heartbeat for a vampire that looked like Spike or Angel (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) or Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries. (It's true, though, and he's accepted it.)
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