Checking the Center

A hockey romcom

By: Delancey Stewart

Narrated by: James Cavenaugh, Stephanie Rose

Length: 1 hr and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

A forced-proximity naked-man-on-my-couch hockey rom-com that'll have you snort-laughing!

You have to be pretty desperate to consult someone referred to as the "Drunken Psychic" for insight into your perennially single status.

But that's me, where I:

• Work in a bakery despite dreaming of culinary school.
• Hang out with my happily married friends and trying not to be gut-twistingly jealous.
• Rent a blissfully sweet one-bedroom apartment on the banks of a river that has been a much-needed refuge.

Until now.

Because tonight, after trying to make heads or tails of the psychic's mysterious pronouncements about my love life, I arrive home to find a man on my couch.

A very naked, very muscly, very handsome man.

Did I mention he was butt naked?

And things only get more confusing from there. We have a whole conversation, in which he reveals that he's the star center for the Wilcox Wombats hockey team, Rock Stevens. And that Rock is actually his real name. And that he's in town for a week for an all-star pickleball tournament. And that my apartment is actually his apartment.

And then he refuses to leave. Things only get more confusing from there.

As we try to navigate our sudden forced-roommates situation while the landlord gets to the bottom of the mixup, Rock decides to turn the tables. Instead of being annoyed that I'm in his apartment, he suddenly becomes charming. Sweet, even. And even though I know it's a mistake, he charms me right up onto the kitchen counter, and...well, you can imagine the rest.

The guy's only in town for a week. Surely I can protect my silly single heart for that long? But with every stolen kiss and whispered promise, I can't help but wonder if I'm the one who’s getting played.

©2023 Delancey Stewart (P)2023 Delancey Stewart

From accidental roommates to forever

I loved Rock and Drea’s forced proximity, opposites attract romance. It was a wonderful mix of hilarity, sweetness, steam, and real life issues with lovable and relatable characters. Drea works in the bakery in small town Singletree. She’s the last single girl standing and feeling a bit dejected about her chances. Rock is a professorial hockey player who grew up in Singletree. He’s in town to play in a pickle ball tournament. Their meet cute involved naked couch sleeping and a pink fur pillow and made me snort laugh. A week of reluctant roommates should not evolve into more but feelings seldom listen to logic. "Love follows its own rules,.” Despite being short, the story was well written and included witty dialogue, three dimensional characters, and an engaging storyline as shown through sweet moments, steamy scenes, laughs, supportive friends, messy families, painful pasts, and all the love. I love the Singletree series and am excited about a new series about the Wilcox Wombats. 4.5 stars.

James Cavenaugh and Stephanie Rose did a phenomenal job narrating the story and characters into life with enough change of inflection, tone and cadence to voice multiple characters quite convincingly. I really love the added dimension listening brings to a story.

Delightfully cute and sinfully funny

I thoroughly enjoyed this fast-paced romance. Rock and Drea’s story is delightfully cute and sinfully funny. The humor and heart here are just plain simply irresistible! If this novella is any indicator, this new series is going to be too good to miss. I thought the narrators did a great job and their performance made the book very easy to get into.

So much fun

Drea and Rock end up having to share an apartment with only one bed. Ha, funny, we all know what's coming. Not so fast! The lead-up to that situation is just hilarious and not to be missed. And the ending was not at all what I expected. Also, there are quite a few cameos from previous Singletree characters. That's fun if you've read those books, but it's not a problem if you haven't. Now I'm really excited to get into the new series. The narrators do a good job of bringing out the humor and quirkiness of the story.

Wilcox Wombats Forever!

I love hockey romances and if they are true romcoms, even better. This book checked all my boxes. Sexy hero, exasperated heroine, ridiculous meet cute, banter for days. Yes, please. Add in the small town ridiculousness of Singletree, Maryland and cameos from other stories in Delancey’s Stewart’s romcom universe and it’s perfection. I can’t wait to read future books in the Zamboni Diaries series. It’s just a fun premise. I’m a Wilcox Wombats fan!

The audio by James Cavenaugh and Stephanie Rose was a treat. Rock’s voice narrated by James was so sexy. Stephanie captured Drea’s exasperation perfectly. As a team, they perfectly convey both the sexiness and the silliness of the story. What a wonderful introduction to a new series!

Wish it were longer!

This was a terrific audio presentation. I thought the narrators were well suited to the characters. Even though this is a novella, I didn’t feel like anything was missing, though I liked it so much I wish it were longer!