Defending the Reaper

The Playmakers Series Hockey Romances, Book 5

By: G.K. Brady

Narrated by: Tor Thom, Whitton Frank

Take one grumpy hockey player, add one frazzled landscaper, and mix together not-so-gently in one car crash. Will they come out of this with their hearts intact?

My life is as tangled as a wad of skate laces—and it’s a mess I’ve created. I’m captain of my hockey team, on the verge of having my C stripped away. It’s time to piece things back together, and I’m ready for a fresh start. But then I crash into Ellie Hendricks. Literally.

Ellie’s got her own battles, trying to keep her landscaping company afloat. The last thing she needs is someone like me barreling into her world. But I’m determined to make up for my latest screwup, and I won’t stop until I get my way. Ellie says all she wants from me is to fix her van, but as I get to know her, I catch a glimpse of something deeper—and I want it. I want her. I’ve got secrets, though, ones I can’t reveal, and my mixed signals aren’t making it easy on either of us.

Keeping it casual would be the smart play. But the attraction between us? It’s overpowering, dragging us both into the deep end. Sooner or later, my past will come knocking, and we’ll find out if we can keep our heads above water—or if we’ll end up drowning.

©2019 G.K. Brady (P)2023 G.K. Brady

Great hockey series

It’s always a good story when each installment is a true standalone. You’re going to want to read each story, but they all standout on their own. My only downside was when the female narrator spoke the male parts. I kept thinking it was a different character because it sounded so off. But, this is another great story in the line of a great series.

Grimm Reaper.

Absolutely love this series! Story of second chances in love and life.
Tor Thom and Whitton Frank did a great job!
Highly recommend this book.

Love A Cowboy

Yee Haw partner, this book is interesting but fun. I like the whole Wookie thing. I think Ellie and Dave seem to be a great couple, But the cousin and step brother surprised me. My favorite part was the dance. I like the narrators, they did a great job bringing everyone to live. Listening to this audiobook fly right by and screaming for more, thankfully it's part of a series. A series I now have to listen to.

🎧 It’s finally Grim’ s turn ❤️ …

This was a solid redemption story. I have been excited for Grim’s chance at love since he fell from grace back in Gage’s story, and I enjoyed the result overall. I love a redemption story, and while I wish there had been more scenes of Dave rebuilding and repairing the connection to the team, I get why other choices were made. He makes an impulsive decision within the first moments of the story that looms for the rest, and that tension, though not what I expected, was done really well to anchor the plot. I just love the secondary characters in the Playmakers series roster, so I always want more of the guys together off the ice. Still the moments between them that are here are enough to tide me over til the next audio.

I loved the relationship between Dave and Ellie. From their meet-cute via vehicular t-bone, to square-dancing and food box auctions, to the quieter moments when they were just being together - I really enjoyed their love story. In typical Grady fashion, we have some adorable dog moments, as Dave and Ellie have 2 lovable pups between them. I appreciated that it wasn’t all smooth sailing, couch snuggles, and dirty talk. Each MC had their demons and doubts to overcome, but the connection was there from the first sparks. And even though Brady once again fell into the less appealing cliche of including an evil ex for Dave which plays into the inevitable third act break up, it wasn’t the only element at play in that conflict. As in previous books in the series, I thought other tensions were more compelling to drive Dave and Ellie apart for a time than a rather one-dimensional manipulative, materialistic man-eater. But they are great together and their friend/family circles mesh well, which makes for some cute scenes with them, Finn and Sonoma.

The audiobook was another enjoyable installment in the series. Tor Thom as Dave is growly yummy-ness for the ears in intense and passionate moments, but he also plays the quieter redemption moments beautifully. Whitton Frank returns to the series (she previous voiced Natalie in book 2) to portray Ellie and she does just as fine a job as she did the first time around. Ellie has a lot of self-deprecating internal asides, and Frank was deft at handling those. One area where both narrator performances were a let down for me was when they put on their opposite sex voices - both make for less appealing versions of their counterparts. Thom’s version of Ellie and Frank’s of Dave often took me out of the moment, especially in intimate scenes. Still, this is often a pitfall with dual narration, and listeners just have to deal; not all productions can be duet and not every narrator can put a believable spin on multiple genders. The audiobook is worth listening to regardless, and once again, I wait impatiently for the next Playmakers audiobook. It really is an entertaining series.

I received an ALC copy of the audiobook via Home Cooked Books and read via KU. All opinions are my own.

Wookie!

Everytime Ellie or Dave referred to him as Wookie it made me laugh. I enjoyed seeing Dave get a happy ending finally. But man, I wanted to smack him around some letting his ex manipulate him like that. Why are we so stupid to allow that at times? Sadly it happens too often. And I wanted to punch Nicky, such a selfish Bish. Enjoyed the story, happy to see Grimes and Nelson make up finally.