Review: ‘The Trouble with #9’ by Piper Rayne
The Trouble with #9
by Piper RayneSeries: Hockey Hotties #2
Published by Self-Published on August 10, 2021
SubGenres: Contemporary Romance
Format: AudioBook, eBook
Pages: 201
Source: Purchased
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Trouble.
One word that comes to mind when someone talks about me. I like to think of it as protection, watching out for the ones I love. But now I’m spending more time in the penalty box than on the ice and the team owner isn’t happy.
Finding myself across the room from the hot therapist I kissed on New Year’s Eve only makes me push my problems down further. I want couch time with her but not the kind she’s used to.
I decide to lie to her just to finish off my therapy so I can do what I really want—date her—even if she says she doesn’t date hockey players. Just when my therapy sessions are up and I’ve made some headway with Paisley, it’s my parents who throw another wrench in my plans.
If I abide by my parent’s wishes to marry the one they’ve chosen, I’ll lose Paisley forever. But if I go against my parents, I’m failing my deceased best friend all over again.
Since I was introduced to this author duo this year, 2023, I’m determined to read their backlist. I’m starting with their Hockey Romance series, Hockey Hotties, and finished listening to the second book, The Trouble with #9, in February 2023. Thanks to reading the prequel Countdown to a Kiss, I already knew who Maksim, Florida Fury’s defenseman, would end up with in his book.
Storyline/My Thoughts: What did I like about the second book in the Hockey Hotties series? Forbidden Romances have always been one of my favorites, and the second book is Doctor/Patient Romance. It’s not something I’ve read in a Romance story, so this was new to me. The hockey team, Florida Fury, is being forced to see a therapist explicitly hired for the team. He doesn’t think he needs to see a therapist, but he’ll do whatever possible to get to know the woman he kissed at the NYE party, even if he knows it’s wrong.
Maksim has anger issues; everyone sees it when he’s on the ice with his team. I loved how protective he was of his teammates, even if it got him in trouble, and why he was forced to see Paisley in the first place. Paisley is determined to get him to open up to her, and he has a legitimate reason why he has a protective mode activated when he gets on the ice with his teammates. He’s harboring something inside him, which has affected him, and it takes a while for him to admit it.
The way Maksim was determined to win over Paisley and how serious he was with her was by setting up different dates with her. Readers get another side of Maksim that was adorable when he was on these dates with Paisley, and no wonder Paisley was falling for him.
Unfortunately, this will not be my favorite of the series. Yes, I may like how Maksim was serious about making it work with Paisley, but he didn’t consider that she was risking her license. No, I won’t put the whole blame on him, either. Paisley knew what she was doing and still hooked up with him. I would have made him wait until they could safely date without risk.
Then, that ending and how things were resolved for both characters should have been more groveling, in my honest opinion.
Overall, the second book in the series gets 3.5 stars, and I’m looking forward to Ford’s story, especially with how this book ended.
Standalone or Part of Series: It’s part of the Hockey Hotties series. Each book can be read as a standalone due to following a new couple.
Steam/Spice: 🌶 🌶
Genre(s)/Trope(s)/Element(s): Contemporary Romance. Sports Romance. Hockey Romance. Forbidden Romance. Doctor/Patient. Celebrity Romance.
Would I recommend this book? Yes. If you enjoy Contemporary Romance, that has the following tropes, Sports/Hockey and Forbidden Romances. Forbidden Romance due to the FMC being the hockey player’s therapist, and she’s not supposed to be dating her patient, but he’s determined to win her over.
Favorite Quote(s): I should’ve known he’d fuck like a porn star. He’s got the dick of one.
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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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