Desire or Defense

D.C. Eagles Hockey, Book 1

By: Leah Brunner

Narrated by: Dane Anderson, Alex Picard

Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

I'm the notoriously angry, grouchy D.C. Eagles defenseman who just can’t keep his temper in check—a temper that leads to a fifteen-game suspension from the NHL.

As if that’s not bad enough, I'm forced into a short-term youth-hockey coaching gig—which my manager swears will “rebuild my image.”

But what I didn’t expect was for a gorgeous, spunky blonde to stomp onto the ice on day one and lecture me about being rude to her little brother.

Something about this spitfire of a woman, and the boy she’s so protective of, has my defenses melting.

And if I’m not careful, I’ll burst into flames, forever melting the ice I’ve carefully kept around my heart.

This is a closed-door romcom with mild language. Trigger warnings include parental substance abuse and dealing with grief/loss of parents.

©2023 Leah Brunner (P)2023 Dreamscape Media

Such a sweet hockey romance

I love this sweet, closed door hockey romance and I’ve returned to it a few times. For the most part, I really liked the narrators for both characters but sometimes I felt like it was hard to get into her narration compared to his.

Love the story, but female voice sounded too old

Had read the book already and loved it, so purchased the audio version. The male narrator was great and was exactly what I would have wanted/expected, but the female narrator sounds like she’s in her forties, not a woman in her mid-twenties. The mismatch between the voice and the character age really took away from my enjoyment of the audio version.

cute and sweet

if you're looking for a hockey romance without the spice but does have amazing character growth definitely recommend this series

Cute and sweet.

Very cute and sweet story. Definitely not my usually spicy book but still a good book. Loved the narrators they did the characters amazingly.

A great listen for a Sunday.

This was my listen for today while cleaning my dressers out, it moved at a brisk pace and I loved the flirty banter without the smut, I loved the grumpy sunshine aspect of it, it was cute! I loved Mitch’s voice, very deep and sexy and andies voice was cute and playful, five awesome stars! 😍😍

A very sweet story

The characters were very real and likable. There are no huge misunderstandings where the H/h have a blowout fight or anything major. There is a major thing that they have to overcome, but they both mostly behave maturely. This is mostly a clean book that is story-driven. It’s not explicit, and sexuality is kept to a minimum. It focuses on their feelings for each other and their experiences and connection rather than relying on sex to keep the story going, so if you’re sick of scene after scene of graphic descriptions of sex, then this is likely a good story for you.

It was great

It was a great story. I enjoyed the romance. It didn't contain a lot of anx

Realistic Emotions

Fantastic real emotional characters. The characters felt real. With several laugh out loud moments and a few teary. Can't wait to read/ listen to the next in the series!