Shenanigans: A Brooklyn Hockey Romance

Sarina Bowen

Mar 2022 · Brooklyn Book 6 · Tuxbury Publishing LLC

About this ebook

What I meant to do in Vegas: Let my hair down for once and celebrate winning a medal at my first women’s hockey all-stars competition.

What I actually did: Got senior prom drunk and woke up married to Brooklyn’s star winger, the great Neil Drake.

He’s the heir to a billion dollars, and I barely survived my childhood. Our friendship is based strictly on hockey, takeout food and smack talk.

And now holy matrimony. Although we both know it can’t last, especially once his evil family gets wind of our Vegas shenanigans…

Contains: Meddling teammates, meddling parents, ugly jewelry and a pretend-kiss that nearly sets the world on fire.

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For more Brooklyn Hockey books, see:

Brooklynaire

Overnight Sensation

Superfan

Sure Shot

Bombshells

Rookie Move

Hard Hitter

Pipe Drams

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Storylines in this book: married in Las Vegas, billionaires, marriage of convenience, billionaire romance, hockey romance, sports romance, opposites attract.

Ratings and reviews

Soon being fake-married turns into roommates, then roommates with benefits, but Charli has done some things to get by that she's not proud of, and their marriage has an expiry date. This was solid Sarina Bowen, high-living billionaires, Amex Black cards, personal shoppers, and chauffeur driven limousines juxtaposed with a woman being paid $12,000 a year for a full-time job.

I was excited to return to Sarina Bowen's Brooklyn Bruisers world and Neil and Charli did not disappoint! This story had many of my favorite tropes and it was fun watching these two go from friends to oops we're married to falling in love. Sarina does a wonderful job building interesting, relatable characters who you can root for. I found myself drawn in by both of them and rooting for their HEA. There are, of course, cameos by favorite characters from the series, but you could pick this book up as a standalone and still love it. I highly recommend all of the Brooklyn Bruisers books, too, if you want to get to know the rest of the team. Thank you to the author for providing an ARC for an honest review.

SHENANIGANS is the sixth full-length instalment in Sarina Bowen’s contemporary, adult BROOKLYN hockey, romance series (formerly known as the Brooklyn Bruisers)-a series that now includes the all women’s Brooklyn Bombshells hockey team. This is Brooklyn Bruisers hockey player Cornelius ‘Neil’ Drake, and Brooklyn Bombshells hockey player Charlotte ‘Charli’ Higgins’ story line. SHENANIGANS can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary. Told from dual first person perspectives (Charli and Neil) SHENANIGANS follows the friends to lovers, Vegas marriage, fake relationship between Brooklyn Bruisers hockey player Cornelius ‘Neil’ Drake, and Brooklyn Bombshells hockey player Charlotte ‘Charli’ Higgins. An awards ceremony in Vegas ends with our couple, a very drunk couple, pretending to get married, only to wake up the next morning, married for real. Hoping for a quickie annulment, Neil and Charli discover that leaving Vegas was the worst thing they could do. When a paparazzi posts a picture of the couple entering a chapel, not only does the Brooklyn hockey organization begin to round up the troops, but Neil’s well-to-do family, begin to circle wagons in an attempt to protect their family holdings. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Neil and Charli, and the potential fall-out as both extended families take action, but action with varying degrees of threats and intimidation. Neil Drake has lusted after Charli Higgins for as long as he can remember but never thought Charli saw him as boyfriend or marriage material. Charli always presented herself as not interested in the opposite $ex, disguising years of mistrust and threats at the hands of many men. When Charli draws a line in the proverbial sand with regards to their quickie marriage, Neil struggles with his growing attraction to a woman who believes she is unworthy of our hero’s love. The relationship between Neil and Charli is a friends to lovers, fake relationship in which Charli is hoping for an immediate divorce. Targeted and threatened by both Neil’s family and her own, Charli is forced to walk away to protect the man with whom she is falling in love. Neil is quickly falling for the woman he married, a woman who stands up to protect our story line hero. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text. The secondary and supporting characters cause most of the problems and issues in our couple’s lives-Silas (Superfan 3/Brooklyn Bruisers 7), Bess and Tank (Sureshot 4), the Bombshells’ coach Anton Bayer and his significant other Sylvie (Bombshells 5); Charli’s teammates Fiona, Angelica, and Samantha; her cousin Robert, and brother Dennis; Neil’s long-suffering mother Paloma Drake, his uncle Harmon, and his sister Paisley ; personal shopper Vera, and Neil’s ex Iris. The conflict resolution with Charli’s family ends rather abruptly-I was hoping for more. SHENANIGANS is a story of family and dysfunction; secrets and lies; betrayal and vengeance, friendships, relationships, hockey and love. The character driven premise is emotional and intense ; the characters are animated, inspiring and energetic; the romance is spirited, edgy and tender.

About the author

Sarina Bowen is the twenty-time USA Today bestselling author of over thirty romance novels. She writes sports romance, billionaire romance, small town romance, contemporary fiction and YA fiction. She loves Vermont, hockey, and fine stationery. Visit sarinabowen.com for more.