Van2 (Pittsburgh Titans, #10)
Sawyer Bennett
Van Turner found fame as part of the Carolina Cold Fury, helping the team bring home a championship. He also found love and married his teammate’s little sister, eventually retiring from the game to enjoy a quiet life in the verdant hills of Vermont. Now, Van’s dark past threatens to unravel his future. I never once regretted my decision to walk away from hockey. I attained what so few in the league are able and retired at the top of my game. Besides, I had the ultimate prize by my side—my gorgeous wife, Simone. We settled into married life in Vermont and were ready to expand our family when I was blindsided by my sociopath of a parent, this time from the grave. Before dying from cancer while in prison, my serial killer father left his private diaries to a journalist. From that one bequest came a tell-all biography detailing his deranged crimes along with a litany of lies meant to ruin my life. Knowing first-hand the horrors of growing up the product of a monster, I know there is no way I can bring a child into this drama. I refuse to allow my kid to suffer the taunting and harassment I did, so I do the only thing I can think of—I walk away from Simone and our beautiful life together. With the knowledge that she will be safe from the publicity of my shameful past and able to find a love she deserves, I return to hockey, joining the Pittsburgh Titans. The long hours on the ice are the only thing that will even remotely keep my mind off everything I’ve left behind and I know that I’ve given Simone her best chance at happiness. But I’m clearly a man who doesn’t learn from the past and I should have known better than to underestimate my wife. The woman doesn’t know how to take “no” for an answer. She’s as persistent as I am stubborn and it’s a battle of wills as she uses all her powers of persuasion to save our marriage. Simone wore me down once, but she won’t do it again. I’m keeping my wits about me and my pants on, no matter how much she tempts me with her sexy ways. But those, my friends, are what they often call ‘famous last words’.
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4.5 stars
This book was wholly unexpected. The author had been teasing about a surprise acquisition to the Pittsburgh Titans. Not only did she not give away the storyline, character, or title, but she also didn’t make it available for preorder. (I feel Amazon dropped the ball in this one because I did get an email about a week before it was released showing me the cover, thereby the title. But the author’s socials kept it mum until publication day!) While I hate seeing any of my beloved characters have a marriage in trouble, it was an interesting twist to the story of Van and Simone. It was also something that made sense with the characters. That’s what made it work so well.
I went back and re-read Van from the Cold Fury Hockey series to give myself a refresher on the characters and their situation. Then, as I read this book, I tried to decide how well it would work if I hadn’t read that initial book. I think this story can still be quite good for anyone who hasn’t read Van, but there will be a lack of depth and a lack of understanding of what Van and Simone have truly been through. On the other hand, I believe you can read Van without having read the rest of the Cold Fury series.
That all being said, Van ripped my heart out in this story. This is not a story with angst balanced with fun, it’s deep with angst. Van is scared and he’s acting out by being terrible to his wife. While he thinks he’s protecting her, all he’s doing is breaking her heart. Simone is always so strong and tenacious, but even she feels hopeless at times. It’s a gut-wrenching story. Don’t worry, they do get their HEA eventually. There’s a lot to work through first. This couple still has amazing chemistry and their connection is something not easily understood because Van’s past is hard to fathom so he’s hard to get to know.
Speaking of that, Simone’s brothers annoyed me in this story. I understand their protective stance. Yet these are also people who have not only been teammates with Van, they’ve also known him as a brother-in-law for years. There is a scene in the story where Simone kind of calls them out on how they’ve handled the whole situation and I was so glad for that.
Finally, I want to mention how much I love the Titans players. Their unconditional support of Van when he’s the new guy says a lot about this group. I adore them all.
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