Man Down: A Widower Hockey Romance: A Rookie Rebels Novel

Kate Meader

Jul 2020 · Rookie Rebels Book 3 · Kate Meader LLC

About this ebook

I’ve been texting the wife I lost, the woman I loved beyond measure . . . Now someone else has answered back.

Gunnar Bond is broken.

Three years ago, he lived through the car crash that took his wife and twins away from him—though “lived” barely describes his current state. Giving up professional hockey, going off grid, and drinking himself into oblivion are his coping mechanisms. Another is texting his dead wife about his days without her. Therapeutic? Doubtful. Crazy? Definitely. But those messages into the ether are virtually the only thing stopping him from spiraling to even darker places.    

Until someone texts back . . .

Sadie Yates is losing it.

Suddenly guardian to a little sister she doesn’t know and a misbehaving hound she’d rather not know at all, she’s had to upend her (sort of) glamorous life in LA and move back to Chicago. The nanny has quit, the money’s running out, and her job is on the line. The last thing she needs is her sister’s hockey camp counselor, a judgmental Viking type, telling her she sucks at this parenting lark. Thank the goddess for her sweet, sensitive, and—fingers crossed—sexy text buddy who always knows the right thing to say. In the same city at last, they can finally see if their online chemistry is mirrored in real life. She just needs to set up a meeting …

A ruined man who claims to have used up all his love is surely a bad bet, but Sadie’s never been afraid of a challenge … even one that might shatter her heart into a million pieces. 

Romance, contemporary romance, new adult, new adult romance, sports romance, hockey romance, standalone romance, widower, tragedy, texting romance

Ratings and reviews

Gah! I read it, I think I liked it but it's been so long I can't be sure. Gunnar Bond is a hockey player, former husband and father whose wife and twin children were killed in a car accident. Since then his only respite from the pain of their loss is texting his wife's phone. Then one day someone answers him. After the initial shock Gunnar starts a relationship with this woman on the other end of the phone, working through his pain and loneliness. Sadie Yates feels she hit rock bottom a while back and now she's just tunnelling further. Her father is (I think) in prison, she's had to leave LA and move back to Chicago to take care of a step-sister she barely knows and a dog she loathes. She's having to finance everything herself, including taking her sister to ice-hockey lessons. Of course Sadie is the woman who has been assigned Gunnar's wife's phone number, and of course Gunnar is the professional hockey player who just happens to be teaching at the hockey training. Of course they don't hit it off in real life and moan about it to each other via text (what, you say, yet another riff on You've Got Mail? Why yes I would have to agree). TBH, hot hockey players, stroppy teenagers, unruly dogs, as she said in Jerry Mcguire, you had me at hello!

4.5 Stars This book has so much emotion packed in with heart. I'm not gonna lie Gunner's back story had me ugly crying. My heart just absolutely broke for him. You can feel the emotion and pain bleeding all of the pages from Gunner. This book is also about hope because it's a beautiful thing to witness Gunner finding that once again. I enjoy those Rebels so it's always great catching up with previous characters. Then you have Sadie. Man is she on her own emotional rollercoaster, but in a whole different way. Which makes Sadie and Gunner's connection that all the more special coming out of the storms they both face. This book also had humor that did have me laughing. I mean when you have Theo popping in and out nothing but laughs are a given. I would highly recommend this book!

This book was amazing, I loved it so much! It is an emotionally charged story of a man struggling to get through life one day at a time and the woman who will eventually bring him back to living. Gunnar and Sadie meet in a most unconventional way and their relationship develops just as unconventionally. It's sad, fun, sexy, and heartwarming. These characters will touch every spot in your heart. Don't miss this one! I highly recommend it.

About the author

Originally from Ireland, USA Today bestselling author Kate Meader cut her romance reader teeth on Maeve Binchy and Jilly Cooper novels, with some Harlequins thrown in for variety. Give her tales about brooding mill owners, oversexed equestrians, and men who can rock an apron or a fire hose, and she’s there. Now based in Chicago, she writes sexy contemporary romance with alpha heroes and strong heroines - and heroes - who can match their men quip for quip.